Golden

He didn’t want to be like everyone else. He’d been raised to be poised perfect, and professional, but inside he was none of those things. He loved his family with all his heart, but their expectations were crushing and unrealistic. He wanted to change all of that. 

He wanted to be free to make his own decisions, but even if he viewed the world differently–society pushed him to conform. It was suffocating, but he hadn’t found a way around most of it. He hid his passions well, he felt lifeless and unfulfilled. 

He found people like him in school, and they were bonded by the mutual pressure they all felt from all sides of their lives. As time went on he felt that pressure beginning to lessen, but the freer he was at school the more constrictive things became at home. His younger sister noticed what his parents were oblivious too. She tattled on him to gain parental favor and remind him of his place in the family. 

He resented her for it, but he understood why she did it. She was suffering too, so shifting the attention away from her allowed her some room to breathe for a few precious moments. He would never be so malicious in his methods, but he was doing the same thing at school. 

He suffered for months before losing his cool and standing up to his parents before storming out the door to meet his friends for a concert. He marched to the corner and slung his arm over his best friends shoulder and stood at the corner waiting for the light to change. 

His father came out of the house shouting at him, but he shrugged off what his father had to say and hustled his friend across the street while the light was still read. 

Breaks squealed and his eyes grew wide as he saw the car barreling toward them. Time slowed down as the horn blared and the smell of burning rubber filled the air. 

He and his friend dove for the sidewalk and hit the ground hard as the car sped by. He was scraped and bruised, but they were both still alive, and they missed death by mere inches. 

He sat there stunned for a moment not knowing what to think. That’s when he felt his father’s strong arms wrap around him and haul him to his feet. He was shocked to see tears in his father’s eyes, and the older man embraced him in a fierce hug. He knew from that moment that things were going to be different. 

He wasn’t grateful for the careless driver, but he was grateful for the change it incited. His parents weren’t perfect, but they were trying and he was doing his best to meet them half way as much as he could. 

What good was being stubborn when life could change in the blink of an eye.