After school, I was walking alone in the street, lost in my own thoughts. Other kids were laughing and joking around, birds were chirping, car drivers blew horns, and trees were making rustling sounds with their leaves, but all of this was inaudible to me. All that I could hear were Danny's words echoing in my head. Over and over. The same words.

“What he does is none of my business. I only take care of him because I’m obligated to.”

For a moment, my vision became blurry with all the tears that welled up in my eyes, and I suddenly felt like throwing up. Then, suddenly, something hit me hard on my head and I fell to my knees. My hands became cold, unresponsive to my reaction, and my blurry vision was now blinding me. I didn't know what was going on outside, but I felt something was happening inside me. Something terrible that I could never imagine.

I started screaming. All the anger and emotions gathered inside my head, and I wanted to cut myself to transfer the pain from my mind to my skin. Because I didn't know what that feeling was or how to get rid of it. It was like someone had pointed out that the earth didn't belong to me. I didn't have anyone to look after me. Like I was just a homeless kid who was dependent on someone who had even refused to accept that he was my guardian. I wish I had been adopted or sent away to an orphanage. That would have at least hurt a little less. The feeling was horrible. I didn't feel like I wanted to go home, because that wasn't my home. I was just an intruder or an unwelcome guest that everyone was trying to avoid. I realized that I was actually a lonely teenager who had never met his parents. Tears blurred my vision to a level where I couldn't figure out the faces molesting me. One of them yelled, "Hey, are you blind? Didn't you see the ball coming?"

Before my tongue could form any words, one of them grabbed me by my collar and I struggled to stand on my feet, which were buckling underneath me.

"Why are you wasting our play time, kid? Can't you just stay away from us?" the boy spat on my face, but I was so devastated that I could not say anything back. So, I stayed silent. My whole body was hanging on his grip on my collar. As soon as he'd let go, I would fall straight on the ground again, failing to protect myself.

And then, he released his grip from my shirt, and I hit the ground hard. Like, really hard. I thought I had broken my hip bone. I felt a sudden surge of pain. But my mouth was too dry to let out any sound.

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I wish I knew, just then, what was coming. One of those guys hit me really hard on my stomach, and I grunted. I figured they were making fun of my situation and it needed to stop. But I couldn't think of anything that could have made them stop. Instead, I let them hurt me with random kicks until they got tired and bored. I just wanted to feel the pain in my body rather than carry it inside my head for the rest of my life. I just wanted the world to stop spinning. But everything was happening in such slow motion that my mind couldn't react. My hands couldn't react; they were just numb. I spat out blood and saw random kicks being thrown at me, all with my blurry vision. And for a moment, I thought I saw my mom.

I closed my eyes and reopened them to describe the image, but it was gone, replaced by the image of four boys kicking me randomly on random areas of my body. I shut my eyes tight and heard a familiar voice screaming my name.

"JOE!"

I didn't try to look up and see who it was. Because I recognized the voice already.

Standing against four boys, wearing a red-colored hoodie, Justin glared at each of them. Though his expression was barely visible to me, I knew he was scowling at them, threatening them to leave me alone. Threatening them to back off.

"Don't hurt him," he said with a very powerful voice. "Who are you?" one of the boys asked, with the same kind of tone as in his voice.

"He is my brother. You cannot hurt him."

That's all. That's all he said, and the boys did nothing and left. I was so grateful that Justin saved my life. Not that I particularly wanted to live. I opened my mouth to thank him, but the words got stuck at the back of my throat, and I choked on my blood.

I coughed hard when Justin offered me his hand to help me up. I couldn't take a good grab of his arm because mine was too weak. Understanding my situation, he himself reached out for mine and pulled me up. His strong arms held me protectively and helped me fight against my weak legs.

"Shit, you're bleeding! We have to take you to the hospital," Justin's expression was that of panic, but he somehow kept his voice under control.

"No," I murmured.

"What? Why? Look, you are bleeding, okay? And I have to take you to the hospital. Just shut your mouth and let me call us a cab."

He watched out the road in search of a cab but got frustrated when he couldn't find any. He let out a deep, exhausted sigh before giving up.

"Okay, let's go to your house. Hold on to my waist carefully." I wrapped my left arm around his waist, and he held me tightly with his right arm. We started to walk, I at my own weakened speed and Justin, at the same speed as mine, to keep it up with my pace. Halfway through my house, I remembered the truth of my life.

"I don't have a house," I murmured weakly.