“Time to get up, honey!”
It was a fine sunny morning in the small town of Webson, close to Sacremento, California. In a small suburban home, Wendy Desmond stood at the foot of her son’s bed, as he groaned and wrapped himself tighter in his blue rocket-ship covers.
“C’mon my little scribble, you need to go to school!” Wendy pulled away the covers where her toon son Little Shadow was curled up, dressed in his pajama shirt and shorts.
“Uuuugh…but Mom, I’m tiiiired.” The young toon sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
“I know son, but you don’t want to miss school the first day back from winter break,” Wendy said in a concerned tone. “Besides…..Dad’s making pancakes.”
“PANCAKES!?” In a flash, Little Shadow got dressed into his oversized black jacket, grey shirt with a red x, sweatpants, and sneakers. He then immediately ran downstairs, leaving a small cloud of dust behind him.
Wendy chuckled a bit. “That’s my little toon.”
Downstairs, the smell of pancakes filled the kitchen air as Leroy Desmond was cooking them up. Little Shadow immediately ran in, and jumped up onto the table, ready to eat. “Morning Dad!”
Leroy chuckled “Good morning, my little man! How’d you sleep last night?”
“Pretty good! I had a dream where I met a talking fish wizard, who gave me the power to fly, and then I became friends with all the birds in the sky!” He smiled, but then it faltered for a second. “I wish the kids at school would be friends with me like those birds….”
“Hey, don’t be like that,” Leroy said, giving his son a reassuring pat on the back. “You just need to assert yourself more, and let the kids get to know you a little better.”
“Dad, they’ve kind of known me for about half the school year already.”
“And..?”
“They all call me names, like 2D and Big Eyes.”
Leroy squinted his eyes in anger. “I thought you told the teachers about that?”
Little Shadow scratched his head in nervousness. “I did, but now all kids just tease me when the teachers aren’t looking.”
Leroy lifted his son up in his arms, and hugged him tight. “Well, no matter what some kids say, I hope you know that you’re very special to me and your mother….okay?”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Little Shadow smiled a bit. “Okay Dad!”
Suddenly, there was a loud beeping outside. “Well, sounds like your bus is here,” Leroy said, putting Shadow back down on the ground. “You better go get your bag before it leaves without you.”
“Gotcha!” Little Shadow ran back upstairs and was immediately back down with his bag before you could say cheese Danish.
“ByeDadseeyouafterschool!!!” He quickly blurted out as he ran out the door.
Leroy peeked out the window as the bus drove off, concern showing in his face.
“Do you think he’ll be okay today?” Wendy said, joining her husband at the window.
“I hope so honey….I hope so.”
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As the bus arrived at Webson Elementary School, Little Shadow jumped off the bus full of glee.
“Maybe the kids won’t make fun of me today,” he thought to himself. “I’m sure that if I just be myself, everyone will finally learn to appreciate me!”
With that thought, Little Shadow walked towards the front like a western cowboy, full of confidence. As he threw open the school doors like the swing doors of a saloon, all the kids took notice and looked right at him.
And then all of Shadow’s confidence went right out the window.
“Uuumm...” he stuttered a bit, then slowly waved to everyone. “….howdy?”
There was silence for a minute. Then everyone just went back to what they were doing.
Little Shadow sighed in both relief and distress. “Guess its back to the old ignore Shadow routine…”
He made his way to his homeroom class, and took his seat at the back of the class.
“Well well, looks like the DRAWING is back from winter break, huh?”
Little Shadow sighed, and turned his view over to a sneering kid sat across from him, narrowed eyes glaring at him with contempt and disgust. His name was Eric Creedler, and he was practically the bane of Shadow’s existence.
“Hi Eric,” he said in a disheartened voice.
“Heh, so what did you do over break? Dance with a bunch of Christmas skeletons?” He chuckled a bit at his bad joke.
"No..." Shadow said with an annoyed huff. “As a matter of fact, no. I went skiing with my mom and dad.”
“Y’know, I don’t know why you call them that. They’re not you’re REAL parents.”
Shadow flinched a bit. “…what did you say?”
“That they’re not your real parents. Think about it: They’re human, and you’re a toon. I bet they couldn't have REAL kids, so all they did was draw you up, and BAM! You came to life.” Eric smirked as he looked Shadow in the eye. "You're nothing but a 2D substitute for a kid."
Shadow shook with anger, so much so, that small streams of steam came out of his ears. “YOU TAKE THAT BACK!!” he yelled, as he started flailing his sleeves at Eric.
Eric laughed, and easily held him back with his hand. “Aw, did I get the little doodle all riled up? Heh, too bad you can’t put up a REAL fight!” He pushed the toon boy down to the ground. "Face it, 'Little Sha-dumb,' you're jsut a stupid toon that no one would want anything to do with!"
Shadow growled angrily, and sat back down in his seat. No matter what, Eric and all the other kids always made fun of him, just because he was different, making him feel lower than an ant beneath an anthill.
"Who cares what they think anyway......" He thought to himself. “One day…..I’ll find someone…someone who does care about me.......”