Strike of Knowledge (Epilogue)

 So this brings me to where I am now. So far, my life is getting better. It is not fantastic, by all means. The scar that my father left on our family still remains. Even though he treated us like trash often, we all miss him at times. Now that I look back, I feel not anger or hate, but pity for him. The fact that he wasn’t willing to share his past with his loved ones broke my heart.

 We are gradually adjusting to our usual routines. My mom started to work out at the gym and she is slowly becoming more confident about both her appearance and her self- esteem. Unsurprisingly, Ashley recovered the fastest out of all of us. Her grades went back up, she socialized with everyone again and she even went to her soccer games with a new nice guy that she liked.

As for me? I went back to campus and thankfully, didn’t encounter Catlin or Jason again. In fact, I made several new friends that I didn’t expect would stay. To try something new, I practiced shooting some hoops with Nicholas, (even though I suck at sports in general). He has the biggest muscles and the strongest build I could imagine, but his heart was as soft as a teddy bear. No one knew teamwork, encouragement and dedication like Nicholas did.

I also had an interesting experience during my first music club meeting. Before it started in an unused band room, I talked to Flynn about what happened in private and he listened to me the whole time I spoke. He was very supportive and wasn’t afraid to give me a long, tight hug. “I am here if you ever need to talk,” he said to me. With him around, I might as well skip seeing Ms. Johnson.

 Samantha was one of the coolest people I met. Her blue hair stood out among everyone else’ locks. She would wave at me as she rode her black skateboard down the path to class. She could tell the craziest amazing stories. Also, she was a proud LGBT ally and would attend club meetings frequently. If only Wendall had someone like her in his life.

During this meeting, we would practice playing musical instruments and some of us did it for fun. Flynn jammed on the guitar, I played the piano, and Samantha comically sang off key on purpose. Afterwards, we talked about various bands that we liked, and I lead a discussion about my music classes. One student showed us how he made music on his laptop. I wanted to use FL Studio to make music on my own, but I had to complete Music Theory class first.

A ray of hope started to shine in my life when I was with my new friends and immersing myself into amazing music. As of what’s next? Who knows? Only time will tell.