Mark was always a shy timid guy. Most of the guys in his neighborhood always picked on him because they knew he could not stick up for himself. Growing up Mark was always quiet no one could ever understand why. I mean we all knew that his parents had passed away a couple years ago, but ever since then we didn’t hear a peep out of him.
No one on this street seemed to care about his feelings. It was mainly every man for them self. If you were caught walking around by yourself you were pretty much asking for it. They got the joy they wanted picking on him because that was their fun throughout the day. Even the days when Mark was not at school people just missed him because they had no one to laugh at.
Mark always walked with his head down. Mark was a cute guy a lot of the girls thought he was attractive. Even girls that were the most popular ones in school had tried to talk to him at one point. Mark would occasionally have a conversation with them, but it was no more than, “how are you doing?” No one really got more out of Mark at all.
Until it was his senior year in High School, Mark loved science and was really into his science class. His Professor Larry always tried to interact with the students and make them talk. He believed in dialogue for his teaching. Professor Larry was the hardest teachers to get an “A” in. For Mark though it was like the icing on the cake. He was naturally smart. The thing that really pulled his grade was talking to Professor Larry. A couple days a week Mark would stop by his office just to ask him questions on the papers. He tried his hardest in this class.
Once students started seeing this they wanted to be friends with Mark. They wanted him to tutor him. Mark of course refused to help out people. He did not want to interact with the other students in the class. Not only were those but the majority of the students that wanted his help were the ones that picked on him every day.
After school one day a couple kids named Jerry, Louis, and Josh were walking home. They lived a street away from Mark. When they were about half way to their house they saw Mark sitting on a bench starring off into space. They walked over to him slowly just staring at him. Josh whispered to the other guys, “Watch this, this is going to be funny!” Louis and Josh just chuckled at each other. Not knowing what was going to happen Mark looked up frightened not knowing what was going to happen. Josh went and sat by Mark and asked him, “How have you been?” Mark just glanced at him and simply replied straight and started to get up. Right when he was about to stand up Josh grabbed the back of his shirt and asked him where he was going. Mark started to turn red and told him he was going to go wherever he wants to go. Josh got upset with his slick mouth and punched him right in the mouth. Mark, with blood dripping down from his face, told him he was going to regret that and walked away. Josh just simply laughed and though it was hilarious what Mark just told him. As Mark walked away he continued to mock what Mark said. Josh, Louis, and Jerry just started laughing so hard that Mark could hear him.
Later the next day the boys all had the same lunch. A couple girls were talking about Mark and asked a group of guys what had happened to him. Of course, no one knew exactly what happened to him because Mark never talked. Josh, Louis, and Jerry just sat there and chuckled. Sally, which was one of the most popular girls in the school, asked Josh what happened to him because she said his lip looked really busted. Josh without answering the question just told her that if he watched his slick mouth then maybe he would not look like that. Right then Sally knew he had something to do with it.
After school that day the four boys ended up running into each other trying to walk through the door. Josh saw Mark out of the corned of his eye and decided to shove Mark right into the poll that was by the lockers. Mark hit the poll so hard he fell on the ground. He laid there for a couple seconds and could not get up for a couple seconds. Everyone that was around was laughing hysterical. Josh, Louis, and Jerry just walked away chuckling talking about how Mark claimed that Josh was going to regret it. Right when Mark heard this he got up quick to his feet and ran from behind and tackled Josh right into the ground. Mark jumped on top of Josh and hit right in the jaw. Before Mark could take another swing Louis and Jerry drug Mark off of Josh and began to punch Mark in the face. Right when Josh had the chance to get up Josh kicked Mark right into the ribs. Before they could get another hit in a teacher split all the boys up and told them to get out of here. The teacher held the three boys and let Mark leave first. Then about fifteen minutes later let the other boys leave and let them know they were lucky they were not getting sent to the principal’s office.
The next three days Mark did not show up for school. Pretty much the whole school had heard about Mark getting beat up, but no one heard from him. The couple people that saw the fight said that Mark was probably in the hospital because he was so badly hurt.
The next day Mark showed up to school with bandages all over his face. Not knowing that everyone had heard about what happened to him. When Mark walked anywhere around the school people were constantly laughing at him. One guy came up to Mark telling him he should never mess with Josh again. Mark ended up leaving school early that day and never came back.
The next day of school Mark showed up with a smirk on his face. Josh was walking through the hall going to the bathroom with all his buddies. When Josh came out of the bathroom all people heard was BAM BAM BAM! Mark chuckled and walked away! People screamed and Mark walked away satisfied.
When I finish reading this story, I'm left wondering more about Mark's inner life. Clearly, he is a troubled person. But since he never says much--and we don't have access to his thoughts--it's hard to tell who he is. We do see some of the things that he does--like talking with his teacher and then shooting John (those seem like contradictory things)--and of course we see how people interact with him. Also, is he really satisfied after shooting John? Surely, his feelings must be more complex than that, or mixed, unless he has become a total psychopath (literally).
ReplyDeleteOverall, it is a sad but (I think) meaningful story. Obviously, on a shallow level, it reminds us about the impact that bullying can have on people. More deeply, reading a story like this can help us reflect on our own darkness--not that we are going to kill someone, but perhaps we are likely to lash out in a sense of helplessness in much more mild ways.
I do wish, however, that there was some redemption or beauty reached in the end. But perhaps, to stay true to the story, you couldn't have added any positive closure in this particular story.