Chapter 1: The Church and Cherry Blossom
Mikey Appleton: March 1, 1964
I wake up, several minutes before the alarm clock rings. I look around my room, it’s messy, it’s always been messy. I would have kept it clean if I wasn’t for my parents coming in and intentionally ruining it. Well… at least the morning is when I can be to myself, no dad yelling at me, or mom teasing me, or any bullies picking on me; I’m to myself. I go to my desk, there I find my comics! I sit down and start to work on it. I’ve always enjoyed comic books, I can easily afford them with my spare lunch money change, and the art on them is really nice! Though, my parents never see their worth and think they’re a waste of 12 cents. Oh well… At least reading them I can also focus on myself.
Well, I should probably say who I am… I’m Mikey Appleton. Well, I don’t really know how things are going; I’m always shy and quiet, I don’t do much in terms of sports; I’ll probably just get trampled by the much bigger and louder boys anyways. Speaking of them, I don’t really have much in terms of friends, they either pick on me or just are neutral about me. Even if I do try to chat with them, my stutter would probably just annoy them. Well, to get this out of the way…
To a lot of people in my town, they’ll hear my name and say, “That’s Dennis’ son!” Well, my dad is a little special in this town; he was a pretty honorable soldier in the Second World War. He saved one of his friends, Johannes, in Belgium and got recognized as a hero… Though in reality, I don’t really know if that’s the same person as my dad. At home, he’s always yelling at me; saying I speak too quietly, taunting me for my shyness, and picking at me for my comics. And well… My ma is not as great either, she likes to drink a lot; the smell of beer is essentially her perfume. They hide it well outside, to a lot of people it just looks like I was always just shy… Except for one per-
“Mikey! Get up! We’re going to be late for church if you don’t get the hell up!”
It’s my dad… as always, I get up from my room and head towards the kitchen. I see him here, mom is still asleep.
“Come on Mikey, sit down and wait; I’ll cook you and your mother’s breakfast.” He says, already sounding annoyed for whatever reason.
“O-Oh alright t-then…” I reply, sitting down at the table.
I see him cook, it’s scramble eggs… again. Well, it’s fine… at least I actually do get a breakfast this time, usually it’s either they’re too lazy to do so or because it’s my “punishment.” Then again, it’s Sunday so there’s that. After a little bit of waiting, I hear my mom walk downstairs.
“Good morning dear!” She says cheerfully to my dad. They give a little kiss before she turns to notice me.
“Oh, hi Mikey.” She says, with less enthusiasm.
“H-Hi Mom… G-Good morning.” I quickly mumble out.
“Oh Mikey, speak up please?” Mom tells me, already annoyed.
“G-Good morning m-ma.” I say, much louder.
“That’s more like it.” I see her respond.
We sit down and eat our eggs, I drink orange juice. The eggs are a little too spicy, my dad likes to add pepper; even though I always tell him I don’t like spicy food. Even if I turn to protest he either ignores me or just taunts me… Anyhow I finish up my food, and I go to change. Since we’re going to church, I have to put on something a little more formal; I just put on a polo and some black pants. Well, I can’t wait for the brunch after the service; cause then I get to play with one of my friends! Well… I just need to brush my teeth real quick and I’ll be going.
A hour and a half later
Well the service is over, and we walk out the building and head over to the community center right next to the church. As we enter I scope around to observe the people chatting, it’s until we observe the drinks we find them. I see her, it’s Cherry! Her and her parents walk up to us.
“Hi Mikey!” She says first.
“H-Hi Cherry!” I reply
I see Mr. and Mrs. Way greet my parents.
“Hi Dennis, hi Josephine.” I hear them say.
“Hi Johannes, Hi Alice!” My mom replies with, also sounding excited.
Cherry and I head off to play around the community center. Well, before I was cut off, there was one person who knows what’s going on at home… It’s Cherry, probably the only actual friend I have. She’s a nice person, always willing to hear out what I say, always there during school to lift me up; whether it’s during sports or even helping me through math. Speaking of math, she’s a pretty smart person; I hear some people say she’s a child prodigy. Usually during recess I see her read a math book, though it’s kinda weird because there are a lot of letters used instead of numbers.
“Hi Mikey! How’s your comic going? Are you working on the latest release?” She asks me.
“O-Oh yeah… I a-am! It’s g-going along nicely.” I say.
Oh yeah! My comic series! It’s called “Mighty Man & Techno-Girl.” I actually inspired Techno-Girl from Cherry, since she likes to play around with technology, plus wears glasses which I used in Techno-Girl’s design. We play around for a bit, glad to be out of my parent’s reach… That’s until…
“Hey Mikey! Time to go!” I hear my dad say, in his fake happy voice.
“O-Oh… Well I-I guess I’ll see y-you tomorrow, Cherry…” I say, a little sad.
“See you Mikey, you’ll make it through the school day—I promise!” She replies.
I return to my parents, and we head towards the car. I am not ready for tomorrow… I am not ready for tomorrow… I am not ready…