Out Ta Get Me

Chapter One

"William," Amy says as we were walking to school "did you get any sleep last night?"

"Yeah," I say. Amy knows about my lack of sleep that I have been having lately. She has always generally considered about me. "I actually had a dream about the future."

"What was it like?" she asks.

"It wasn't that different than now," I say. "I mean I was older and out of the house but there wasn't flying cars or anything. In my dream there was a crowd that I was in. There were saying my name but I'm not sure why and there was this girl and I think she was my girlfriend or wife and kissed her. But that's all I remember from it."

"Sounds nice," Amy says. "Sounds like you would be happy for once."

"That's not true Amy, you make me happy." I say as I smile at her.

She smiles back and says "I love you," as she hugs me. "Bill," she says as a tear runs down her face "You won't leave me will you? You'll take me with you when you go won't you?"

I kneel on one knee and look at her straight in the eyes. I move her ginger hair out her face and wipe the tear off her cheek. "You know Mom won't let me do that," I said as take her hands. "But I promise when you're old enough, I would let you come with me." She wraps her arms around me. No 10 year old kid should have to suffer the way Amy suffers. The shit that Stuart, Amy, and I have to face from Dad is intangible to a person that thinks they know what it's like. But there is nothing I can do for anybody in his line of fire. "If I could, Amy, I would never let anyone hurt you ever again."

"I know, Bill," she says. She lets go and we walk not far from where we go our separate to our own schools. I wave to her goodbye and walk five more blocks to school. 

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I put my stuff in my locker when Izzy comes to my side. "Bill," he says "Did you hear that Aerosmith is going to do a concert in Chicago?"

"No," I say shutting my locker with my first period stuff in my hand. "Why do you plan on going?"

"I want too," he says as we start walking to first period. "I just wish I could get there."

"Yeah, you really can't walk in Chicago from Lafayette," I say.

"Wow, Bill, did anyone every tell you that you eat hopes for breakfast?" Izzy says.

"People have called me many things but never that," I say.

"You're a really motherfucker you know that right?"

"Now that I have been called."

"Fuck you," he says as he walks away to his class smiling.

"Love to fuck you too," I say as we go our first period classes.

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"William, you have to pass this next test if you want to pass this class," Mr. Smith, Mr. Dipshit, says making me stay late before I go lunch to talk about my "problems" in math.

"What makes you think that I want to pass this class?" I say.

"Well if you want to go to Algebra next year with the other Juniors I would say that would probably would want to reconsider you're attitude towards this class," he says as if he just had a breakthrough to me.

"Well what if I don't want to be with the other Juniors? What if I want to go out and be my own person and live out my own life, they way that I want?"

"No one said you couldn't live out your life that way you want to, William."

"Just about everyone says that. Since I was young I was told that you have to do this and this and this so that later in life you can do this and this and this and after that you die. What kind of life is that? Everything that is going to happen to me was planned out by somebody else. Either I work for someone, someone works for me, or I work for the government busting my ass to support my family. Somebody else decided that I will work for the rest of my life and then die. And there is not a damn thing that I can do about it." I grab my stuff from my desk and walk out the door.