Glitch (boyxboy/android)

Chapter 27: Dream destroyer

"I will never be a doctor...never!"

☆

Leo pulls out the script he had printed off on line. Just something small, to practise and recite for his audition. He reads aloud the words once more...

"I like you, whether you're a man or an alien, I don't care anymore!"

He smiles to himself as he thinks how relevant the sentence is to his life, as he gazes up at his tutor. 

He then looks over to the sparkly blazer, resting on a hanger, the thought of the prom and all which that implied, just bearable with the knowledge that he was going to this audition. 

Maybe if he was successful, maybe if he got this chance, his mother would see that he isn't a loser. Someone to be ashamed of. Maybe she would actually be proud of him for once.

His thoughts are interrupted by a knocking on his bedroom door. "Come in." He replies. 

His mother enters the room, looking at Leo sitting on the end of his bed, she then sees the cream jacket hanging on the handle of his cupboard. She walks straight past him and heads for the garment, looking with interest as she runs one of its sleeves through her fingers. "So, this is what you're wearing to the prom." She declares, her voice showing a hint of excitement. 

"Yep." Leo replies, trying to match her enthusiasm. 

"Leo, you're very lucky to have such a beautiful girl on your arm. When you become a doctor, with the perfect wife beside you, you will be the envy of everyone." She rambles on, as if going into her own little fantasy bubble of how she expects her son to be. 

Leo finds his body tensing a little at her words, his father clearly not talking to her about their own chat a few days back, unless she just refuses to believe it. "Mum.." Leo says, a little wary of what was going to come out of his mouth. 

"Yes?" She replies, dropping the sleeve of the garment and looking down at Leo, arms folded. 

"I'm going for an audition." He lets the words escape, the feeling of temporary relief from getting it off his chest, soon dissolving with the way she now looked at him. 

"What do you mean...audition?" She looks at him through piercing eyes and Leo instantly wishes he hadn't said a word. 

"I...I want to audition for an entertainment company, they are here, in town right now. This could be a big break for me mum. You know I want to be an actor..."

'Enough!" She snatches the paper from his hand, glancing over the words. "This...This will not get you anywhere in life Leo. This is a dream. A fantasy! You need to get this ridiculousness out of your head." She begins to tear the paper up in front of him.

Leo can feel his eyes stinging, he stands up and looks down at his mother, his fists clenching. He looks her square in the eyes. "No mum, you are the dreamer. Not me. I will never be a doctor...never!" 

A blow is suddenly struck across his head as his mother reacts very badly to his words. Leo grabs the back of his head and falls to sit back down on the bed. "You...you will listen to me, once and for all!" Her breath is fast, her body tense as she points a finger at her son. "You will go to medical school, you will go to the prom tonight and you will make me proud...got it?" 

Leo doesn't answer straight away, his hands slowly lowering onto his lap, his eyes now watering with tears. He eventually mumbles out the words "Got it." 

"I can't hear you." She says, her voice cold. "Look at me and tell me you understand." 

Leo raises his head to look at his mother. She must see the sorrow in his eyes, the emotional pain she has inflicted on him, but she doesn't waiver, or change her stature. "I got it, ok? Loud and clear." 

His Mother finally lowers her hand and places it by her side. She looks at him one last time before turning her back on her son and turns to face the tutor. She goes right up to the tutor staring at it closely looking so still, as she assesses its features. "It seems so real." She comments. It's almost like a passing comment "It's hard to believe it's just a machine." She chuckles to herself before exiting the bedroom. 

If only she knew. If only she could understand that inside that machine as she called it, was a real soul. A soul screaming and shouting, wanting to get out and protect the boy in front of him, instead it was having to just watch, as Leo curls up onto his bed and sobs into his pillow.