Simon

Simon

Day broke, the sun glared through Simon’s window. It began to creep slowly up the blankets, getting closer and closer to the quivering 12-year-old boy. He screamed and jumped from his bed. He would have hidden under his blankets but the creeping brightness could go through blankets so he hid under his bed. He waited.

A quivering head stuck out from underneath the dense blankets. It was OK. The vile light had swept through his room without befouling anything. Once the light had shone through his window and had made his paper turn evil and black. Luckily, Simon had jumped vigorously upon it and had broken the demon-infested thing before it attacked him. He waited a bit longer and cautiously emerged from underneath his bed. He walked to the door but before he reached the towering monument it opened and his mother stood there. She looked at him and showed her teeth. Simon wished he had stayed under the bed. The tall woman reached down and squeezed him! She was trying to choke him! He squirmed and screamed violently trying to get out and she let go. Her eyes started to turn red and wet. Then she tottered out of the room making sucking noises.

Simon quickly dressed and walked out of his room. His mother was at the bench. He walked over to her and she turned around. Her eyes were still red but she had stopped sucking in air. He ate his food and stood outside. His mother came and they walked briskly down the street. When they arrived at his school she put her lips on his head and wet his hair. Revolted, he rubbed it off and walked into his class.
The teacher was talking to the kids in the class, everyone looked around when Simon entered but he walked straight to the back of the class and sat in his chair. He heard people making laughing noises but he ignored them. He had learnt that when they made that sound they were teasing him. The teacher told the class to get out their books and start writing what was on the board. Simon had no difficulty at this; he looked at the board once and then wrote down all the strange lines that were on it. He was the first to finish.

The teacher came over to his table, looked at his book, showed his teeth and hit him on the back. Simon started to cry ... but then Amy walked through the door. Amy was nice. She taught him how to draw those lines. Simon liked Amy. Amy sat down next to Simon and looked at him. She didn’t squeeze him. She didn’t wet him. She didn’t show her teeth. She just looked at him and he stopped crying. The teacher walked away and Amy sat quietly on the chair next to him. She had to sit on a big chair because she was old but she bent down next to Simon and he started doing real work.

The bell rang and Simon jumped in fright. He started to cry but Amy looked at him in the eye again and he stopped. He stood up with a smile and walked out of the class and into the playground. All the kids turned around and made laughing sounds. Simon ran to his hiding spot away from all the mean kids. Just as he reached his hiding place he felt an arm on his shoulder and he spun around. It was a big kid. He was showing his teeth. He turned around to go back to his hiding spot when he felt hands on his back. The boy threw him. He skidded across the ground and his leg and face hurt a lot. He curled up in a ball and started crying. The kid snorted and walked away.
Simon stayed where he was, curled and crying. The bell rang and no one came to help, no teacher, no Amy and no Mum. He tried to stand up but that hurt so he curled up into a ball again. Someone helped him back to class.

When he got into class the teacher looked at him, and started talking to him. Simon glanced to his right and the bully was standing there showing his teeth. Simon screamed and flung himself backwards. He then curled himself up into a ball and cried. The teacher looked at Simon, then the bully and his eyes narrowed.

Simon sat there crying listening to the loud voices in the room. Soon they stopped and he felt hands touching him. He withdrew even more into his ball. Then through a crack between his hands he saw two eyes just looking at him. It was Amy. Simon uncurled himself, stood up and for the first time in his life, he squeezed Amy.