A Distant Dream

~~~Suspicion~~~

Past:

"This is a serious offense, Mrs. Dander. We cannot and will not tolerate this type of attitude. It's been 3 years since your boy joined our school, and he almost broke all the rules that the institution has established within his first year here. Just when I thought he was gaining responsibility, he pulls out this sick prank, Just imagine the level of grief, Mr. Tuddle is going through right now. You must be glad that I'm only offering suspension. If this was any other school, your boy might be expelled or blacklisted," Principal Winter was usually mad all the time, but at this moment, he was raging inside waiting to explode but stopped by a strong cork of discipline.

"But Sir, I would never ever dream of doing such a horrible thing to Matt..... I mean Mr. Tuddle," Zeke argued to prove his innocence.

His mother looked pitiful hearing all the counter arguments between the other two. She couldn't understand what drove her sweet boy to do such a thing or if someone is trying to frame him, the theory she herself believes, what could have possibly happened to cause this much trouble to a 17 year old.

Unfortunately, Principal Winter was not having it. He seemed fixated in believing that Zeke was capable of doing even more heinous acts.

"Sir, I understand why you suspect me, but you can't just accuse me like that. It's true that it was my locker but why would I give myself away. I could have done it to someone else's locker and pretend to play dumb. Why would I drag myself down the road?...... Let's check the cctv. We can know for sure right?"

"The CCTV's under maintenance", there goes Zeke's only hope when Principal Winter checked the janitor's report that came in the morning.

But Zeke's statement had a ripple on Principal Winter. Judging his silence, Mrs. Dander couldn't hide her resentment.

They couldn't just blame her boy without proof.

"Sir, my boy could not have done this. I believe him. I hope you find whoever's responsible and punish them. If you have proof that my son is the culprit. I won't deny any consequences that he may face. If not, I will sue for false accusations." Her cold tone was chilling and so unexpected coming from an happy going mom. Zeke's eyes lit up when his mom, his strongest pillar stood up for him.

She got up and left with her son leaving Principal Winter at loss for words.

Four days went by. Mr. Tuddle was still recovering and didn't come to school. There was no progress on the incident. It seemed like the 'prankster' was very careful on his/her tracks. And no one raised suspicion. Miri felt bad when other students were gossiping about him, mostly doubting him as the one who did it. No one wanted to sit beside him, play with him or talk to him anymore. Miri was secretly a bit glad that there was no one between them anymore. She got him all to her self. But she can't bear to see his deteriorating cheerfulness that drew her to him. He lost his confidence and was absent a lot of days. A heavy blow that struck was his dismissal from the Exploration club since the leader Sara Wellington did not want drama.

Miri was furious. She burst open the club room door, Tore the dismissal order infront of the whole group.

"Sara, this is wrong. He didn't do anything. Even Principal Winter is keeping quiet. If you dismiss him, then everyone would have the wrong idea. He is innocent until proven guilty. Can't you see that? You really beleive that he is capable of doing that. He really trusted you Sara. If he can't be in the club. I would leave too."

"You're free to go. I won't stop you. Here sign this form." Sara handed the form to a dejected Miri.

"Unbelievable, how could you be so cold?", tears were welling up in Miri's eyes. John and Christy, the two other members of the club also felt bad for her. But they couldn't defy Sara. She is scary when confronted.

"Look, Miri, I understand your situation and also Zeke's. But this club is important to me more than anything else. I have to protect my members. Zeke already had a history with Principal Winter and I, at first had no intention of welcoming him to our club. I did it only because of you. You begged me for three whole days and I was sick of it. But it turned out that he was a good addition to our team. I also understand that he feels wronged when I kicked him out. But you must understand my side of the situation too. It's beyond me and I don't wanna be on Principal Winter's bad side anymore. Please leave if you want to and don't come barging in from now on when you want to talk about this matter."

Sara had no emotion when she spoke and it was hard for Miri to make out what she was actually thinking. But she knew that it was pointless arguing with Sara. She had a reason to do it. With a heavy heart, Miri went out and found Zeke outside, clearly looking like he had heard the whole conversation. He hugged her and cried.

She hugged him back and stroked his hair.

"It's gonna be alright. Be strong Zeke"

And 8 days later.

He died.