Kai's History

14 - 15 Years Old

It had been a week since I ran away from home. A week since I had given up on my family and started to rely heavily on my 'friends'. I felt better and steadier even though I was living on the streets. I wasn't the type of homeless person that sat there and begged for money. I wasn't and I didn't want to be. Nevertheless, there was a point where I needed to eat. Desperately needed to eat.

It was the end of a school day and I was going 'home', I was exhausted and hungry and I remember just wanting to sleep. However, I didn't make it 'home', I just collapsed on the path. It wasn't near my school so nobody, like my teachers, saw me. Except for a kid called 'Cody'.

He was in my year and was a popular boy at school. You know, the ones that have their own group of friends that would do anything for him just because he's popular and not because they are his friends? The guy who has all the girls in the school practically kissing his ass? That's him.

Nonetheless, he was nice to me... At the time that is. Back then, I didn't really know why a popular kid took the time to help me out like that. Regardless of the reason I made it up to be, from what I've heard from him, his brother picked him up from school by car and, for some reason, Cody saw me and reckoned he should take me to his house. For hospitality.

Now thinking back on it, I was so nervous about what he would do. If he would ask me questions, or if he would beat me up like I've seen him do with other kids at school, or even if he or his brother would call the police. The amazing thing was, he didn't do any of that. In fact, all he did was lay me on his bed and get me some junk food. At the time, I never actually heard of any of the popular junk food brands. I didn't even know what the term 'junk food' even was. My parents didn't get me anything like that so he was surprised when I asked what it was for. He proceeded to then laugh for at least 2 straight minutes once I told him that.

When I actually looked at my surroundings, I notice that his parents must have a vast amount of wealth for him to have half of the items he had. He had everything ranging from his own TV and game console to having his own surfboard. I don't know where he surfed or if he even surfed in his life. Perhaps it was something to remember a holiday he had. He sold it a couple of years later so it couldn't have been very important. He noticed me looking around and especially staring at his game console and all he did was smirk (all proud of himself) and turn it on.

When he gave me the controller, I didn't know what to do. His confused/shocked expression was priceless. He taught me how to play his favourite games like 'Duty Calls' and kept getting me snacks. I felt a warm, familiar feeling of being re-welcomed into an old world that I had been taken away from me long ago. It felt wonderful to have that feeling again. The feeling of trust and having the access to relax in someone else's home. I needed something that could help me out; I needed someone to lean on and Cody soon became that someone.

And yet, I felt uneasy. I found it quite strange when I realised that the only people that I ever saw in his house was him and his brother. To this day I have never seen his parents or understood where they were. Cody never spoke a word about them and neither did his brother. I had no idea about his past and when I asked, he would just change the subject and plainly ignore me. I never dared ask his brother that though.

Once I was better, he insisted on me staying there for the night. At that age and at that time? Why wouldn't I comply? If it wasn't for him I would either die from starvation, get sent back to my family (which would not have gone down well), or get sent to a different family who might be better or worse than my parents and I didn't want to take that chance.

At school, he invited me to join his group and soon enough, I became popular too. I'll admit: I cherished it. After everything that had gone on in my life, this was my peak. My time to shine and finally feel like I was important.

Because I was friends with Cody, no one would dare pick on me or bully me in the slightest which really let me, finally, be free with my actions. I did refuse to join in the fights though; I didn't want to be like my parents. Cody somehow understood the rough reason behind it and always let me off. The others in the group didn't pick on me but sure did give me certain looks and didn't appreciate me being a bystander. A spectator just meant a person that could go and tell the teacher without getting into trouble themselves. A 'threat', if you will.

Yet, one thing that I probably should have refused, but probably wouldn't be able to refuse even if I wanted to, was smoking. When I turned 15, I started to smoke along with everyone else in the group. I know it's illegal to smoke at the age of 15 but I was in a popular group at school. Peer pressure was a big thing back then. But the biggest problem was quitting it. Smoking is hard to quit but at the time it was necessary. Not only to join the group and be like them but also to release stress. It also prepared me for things later on.

Cody never told anyone at school that I was living with him, nor did he tell them anything that I opened up to him about. Either way, I didn't tell him about everything, some things I kept secret, for example, I didn't tell him everything about what my parents did. He respected me and let me keep my secrets to myself. But when I did tell him something, he was my only shoulder to cry on. I was lucky, and I felt lucky. He was essentially my older brother in many of these scenarios, but an older supportive brother (not those who pick fights with their siblings).

I lived with him for a while. Like, a long while. Probably longer than I should of but I still think it was necessary. Again, where else would I have gone to? He was the only person that cared about me whilst everybody simply looked down upon me or left me. He was the only person that supported me both mentally, physically, and financially. That is until my 16th birthday came around. Another hormone spurt occurred.