Being Theo Fernandes

Chapter 2

It had been a year since Theo's father had passed away. Time had not been going any fast. His mother had gone when the boy was nine. To where, he didn't know. From then on, it had always been Theo and his father. Being always out at work, the boy rarely met him. But having someone to call family was something he cherished. It was Theo's fourteenth birthday when his father met with a terrible accident. He had been hospitalized since then. Theo was shifted to his distant uncle Einrich Burke's house, and was given a room on the attic.

Theo had never been on the best of terms with his uncle. Though he never despised him, his uncle had already made decisions for him. He had already decided on which schools Theo was going to take, and where he was going for his future.

The boy wanted to live his life the way he wanted to, but all these years, he had been crippled. He never did too good at school, much to the dissatisfaction of his uncle. Once in three years, when his uncle and his wife went on tour, the boy was dropped off at the town dormitory for a few weeks. Today was one such day.

Theo was woken up early by his uncle's maid.

"Up, up!" she muttered, poking him in the back with the broom she was using toclean the room.

"What?" mumbled the boy, rolling away from the broom's reach.

"You're off to the dorm today, so up fast!" she snarled, reaching out to poke his stomach.

Theo groaned. He hated the dormitory. Dirty rooms, dirtier bathrooms, and a horrible stench all over. But most of all, he hated the big boys. Bullies who were abandoned by their own parents, found home in the dormitory.

"Theodore!" growled a voice, immediately identified by the boy as his uncle's. As though out of reflex, Theo sprang out of bed, raced past the maid and tore down the steps, and in an attempt to leap over the pile of suitcases at the foot of the stairs, he toppled over the handle of one of them, and crashed down into his aunt's makeup table.

"Get a grip, boy!" shrieked his aunt, grabbing a color dipped Theo by the scruff of his neck, and plunging him back onto the suitcase stack.
His aunt was short and fat, had a chubby face with little eyes, and understandably, was obsessed with makeup.

The boy scrambled back to his feet, trying his best to wipe the color on his face on the sleeve of his shirt, but only managing to smear it even wider. If given a choice, Theo wouldn't have picked this moment for his uncle to enter the room.