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A Wish

Chapter 1

"Yo, faggot!"

The bellow came across the field well after the football had been thrown.

Felix, who had been walking along the edge of the field looked just in time to see the spinning leather ball just as it punched it him in the face.

There was a clatter as a backpack filled with books and binders from school fell, the cheap zipper bursting and spilling the contents across the damp grass.

Felix fell in much the same fashion, landing on his back in a daze as a cheer rang in his ears.

"Fucking right between the eyes," was all Felix could hear between the rapid thumps of his heart beat pounding in his head. His vision was blurred and red and his thoughts, which had just been on the daily algebra assignments his teacher had assigned, were now a mess of confusion.

After a moment, Felix regained enough clarity to sit up and place a hand to the spot on his forehead where the ball had hit him. He felt wetness and the touch stung enough that he hissed and pulled his bloodied hand away.

He was about to get up when he heard the foot steps approaching and looked up to see several figures approaching. Even though his vision hadn't cleared, Felix knew who it was.

"You suck at catching," Gary said, a wicked smirk spread across his freckled face. He then turned to one of his lackeys, some nameless boy who had somehow been drawn in by the bully's air of confidence and power. "Told ya fags can't catch for shit."

The group behind Gary, who Felix could now see was made up of three other random freshmen and sophomores from school, all chuckled in agreement.

Felix didn't say anything. He knew better than to provoke Gary. The boy was obviously not afraid to get physical. Instead he sat there and looked at the grass and the that had stained his pants.

Seeing the lack of a response as permission to continue, Gary squatted down next to Felix close enough that a bit of mushed bread from lunch could be easily seen stuck between his front teeth.

"You didn't catch the ball," Gary said slowly, smiling the entire time. "You know what you gotta do now?"

Felix shook his head, not making eye contact. He didn't want to get hurt more. If he just stayed passive, Gary and his lackeys would move on eventually and do other heinous acts somewhere else.

"Well, I guess I shouldn't have expected some cocksucker like you to know," Gary said and the kids behind him laughed. Gary kept his focus on Felix. "If you don't catch the ball, you go get it." He said the last few words slowly.

Felix looked up and slowly gazed around the field, looking away from Gary first and was relieved when he saw the ball only a dozen feet away instead of having rolled off and away where he would be further humiliated by having to wander around like an idiot, looking for the ball.

Though he hurt, Felix slowly got up and then went over to the ball and reached down to pick it up.

"Not like that," Gary called out, stopping Felix.

Felix's fingers hovered just a few inches above the ball and he looked over at the smirking boy.

"Don't want your faggy fingers all over the ball," Gary said with that same smirk he always had whenever he talked to Felix. "Roll it to me, with your nose, like a circus animal because that's where you belong."

The words were like a knife cutting Felix from his ears and down to his heart. His hand, somehow steady this entire time, began to shake. His heart trembled in his chest and a swirl of conflicting emotions swam through Felix's head. All of this culminated in a sob that burned Felix's nose and stung his eyes.

"Gonna cry you fag?" Gary sauntered over, but he wasn't smirking this time. For some reason beyond Felix, he looked furious.

"Fag gonna cry!" He yelled and picked up his pace until he was right next to Felix. "Gonna fucking cry?!"

At this point, even Gary's goons looked uncomfortable, knowing that a line was being crossed.

"Yo, Gary," one of them called out. "I think that's enough."

Gary's wrath, for a moment, shifted away from Felix. "Which one of you said that?" I spun around to face the others and they took several steps back. Gary then jabbed a finger into his chest. "I decide when it's enough. Not you dickweeds."

"Geeze Gary." One of the others raised up his hands and backed off. "Just chill, man."

It had the opposite effect and Gary began to stalk towards them.

It was all Felix needed.

Moving a lot faster than he thought he could with how much he hurt both physically and emotionally, Felix bolted. He ran away. There was shouting behind him, but Felix just kept running until he was off the field and even when he was back on a sidewalk, he kept running. He ran all the way home. He ran through the front door that was thankfully unlocked. He ran through the living room where his mother didn't even get a chance to say anything and he ran to his room where he slammed the door shut and locked it behind him.

It could have been hours later, but in reality it wasn't even a minute before there was a knock on the door.

Felix brought his head up from wet pillow that had soaked up his tears.

"Felix?" A soft voice called from the other side. "Can you open the door?"

There was a strong urge to yell out "no" or "go away," but Felix held back that urge. Not just because it was his mom, but also because she was one of the few people on the planet who cared for him. One of the few people who didn't just ignore him or outright ridiculed him. And as messed up as he felt at that moment, he knew that he needed his mom right now and so, with gargantuan effort, Felix slid off the bed and shuffled to the door where he clicked the lock open.

The doorknob slowly turned as if even the smallest of sudden movement might scare Felix away.

Felix's mother peeked her head in slowly and then she rushed in when she saw her son, beaten and muddy.

"Who did this?" She asked and pulled Felix into a hug.

Felix limply let her manhandle him; hugging him, running fingers down his face and turning his body.

"Who did this to you?" She asked again when Felix remained quiet. Her eyes zeroed in on the smeared blood just under Felix hairline. "Who hurt my boy?"

Felix still didn't say anything. He was afraid. Not of his mom, but of Gary. He couldn't fathom what Gary would do to him if he told on him because Felix knew that his mom would go straight to the police and report this and would then make sure a cop when to Gary's house. She would raise hell and she would be right to do so, but Felix was afraid.

When no answer still came, Felix's mother put bother of her hands on either side of Felix's face so they made eye contact.

"I need to know who hurt you and why," she said in a voice that Felix knew was the one she used when there was no other option than to tell her.

He pushed down the fear just long enough to whisper.

"Gary from school. He..." he swallowed or tried to since his mouth felt like it was filled with cotton. "He did this because I'm gay."

Felix watched as his mom's eyes dilated and her face went to stone.

"Did he now?"

Felix nodded weakly, his mom's hands still on his face.

With the big piece of information out, the rest of the story poured out of him along with the tears and Felix's mom listened to every word and every detail.

It was nearly an hour later when Felix finally managed to get the last of the details out between the sobs. At that point, Felix's mom had gotten a wet cloth and had wiped much of the blood and dirt from Felix's face which now had a definite goose egg on the forehead along with a nasty bruise.

The two sat on Felix's bed for a moment in silence, mother holding son and just for a very brief moment, Felix felt ok, just because he was with his mom.

"I'm going to call the office and get your dad to go to the field and hopefully get your bag and books," Felix's mom said softly. "Then when he gets here, he and I are going to the station to make a report and then im calling Principal Carson. I can get her number from the school website. We're going to set this right. This kind of behavior shouldn't exist in schools in this day and age. Shouldn't exist at all." She rubbed Felix's arm reassuringly and kissed the top of his head. "While I take care of this, you take a shower and get some food in you. There's the chicken soup i was making for this evening on the stove top. Help yourself to it, once your father drops off your stuff, we could be gone for a bit. Make sure to leave the doors locked. Ok?"

Felix nodded and watched as his mom got up and started to head towards the door to leave and call his dad. He was suddenly filled with emotion.

"Mom," Felix said and she turned around instantly.

Felix was already there and surprised her with a hug.

She hugged him back, rocking from side to side. "It's going to be ok," she said and kissed him again on the top of his head.

He then let her go to set things in motion.

His room felt small and was too quiet once his mom left. Felix felt drained, exhausted, but relieved. It would be OK, he told himself. Mom was on the job. Still, part of him was still afraid of what Gary would do once he learned. Felix remembered very clearly how he had gone from some obnoxious bully to that rabid mainac who looked like he was ready to attack his own friends. Would he come here? How far would he go?

It was unnerving and so Felix occupied his mind with something else, a shower.

The water was hot and it stung the cut on Felix's forehead, but once the initial sting went away, it was heaven.

Dirty water pooled at Felix's feet to be down the drain only a moment later, washing not only away the dirt, but some of the worry as well. The worst for the day was over. He was home. He was safe.

"Honey," Felix's mom's voice came over the sound of the shower.

"Yea?" Felix answered.

"Your father and I are going now. Keep the door locked, okay?"

"Okay," Felix said, not sure if he had said it loud enough to be heard. It must have been since there was no other reply and so he finished cleaning up and quickly dried off before going downstairs.

As promised, a there was chicken soup on the stove, still hot and Felix got himself a bowl and curled up on the couch. He didn't turn on the television, but instead grabbed a book from the shelf that stood, filled up in the back corner of the living room.

Slowly sipping the soup, Felix set the book on his lap and flipped it open to where a folded napkin was. Right where he left off.

A tale of magic and fantasy. A hero from a small village destined by prophecy to slay a great dragon and then become king. But the hero was not alone, he was accompanied by a band of misfits. A disgraced mage who had bungled up a spell at the college of mages and she looking for a way to get back in. There was a bandit who wanted to redeem himself. Then there was an older soldier who came out of retirement to tutor the young hero and keep him true to his path.

The book, this one being the third in a series of six, was filled with so many adventures as the hero struggled to build up all the skills he needs to accomplish his destiny and it was all so perfect to Felix. A world where, even when things seemed hopeless, such as when the necromancer had raised an army of skeletons and was going to kill everyone in a city, it all worked out in the end.

The book took Felix's mind off his troubles as he read and for those moments, nothing in his life was wrong, but all good things come to an end.

After five chapters, Felix's eyes were beginning to feel heavy.

With a sigh, Felix put the napkin back into the book to mark his page and set it back onto the shelf. He then took his empty bowl and placed that in the sink and headed to his room, but he didn't go right to bed. Instead, he took a moment to look outside from his window.

The little neighborhood he lived in didn't have so much light pollution that all the stars were drowned out and a few of the brightest could be seen.

Felix looked up at those few stars and sighed and just before he turned to go to bed, a small streak traveled across the sky just for a moment as if just for him before fading.

"A shooting star," Felix said and without thinking, made a wish. "I wish to go somewhere different where my problems here can't find me. Just for a little. Maybe somewhere like my book."

The moment Felix finished making his wish, he felt rather silly. Wishing on a star, a rock burning up in the atmosphere, that was childish.

Felix snorted at himself for it and then slipped under his blankets and closed his eyes.