Sad
Yesterday my mom and I were going out to get pizza and there was a boy not much younger than my brother standing on this big hill, near two areas you really don't want to be in the evenings or even necessarily during the day on your own--some bad crowds hang around there.He was obviously waiting for someone, but nobody was coming up the walk. He wasn't near any houses--well, he was technically near them, but there was a thick hedge and fence between.
When we drove back from the pizza place maybe fifteen minutes later, he was still there. We had to stop and ask if he wanted to use our phone. He said no.
It didn't feel right going home so we waited nearby until we thought we saw someone turn around and pick him up--no luck, he was still there. We saw a group of young adults pass him and one girl stayed behind--I knew her so we called out and asked if he was okay and if they knew him, and they said no, and the girl said she'd offered her phone and he hadn't wanted it. We kept an eye on him when they left--we couldn't just go home.
Then it got dark and we had to approach him, although we knew how it looked--couple of strangers have been watching you and now one's coming towards you. I offered him my sweater and asked if he wanted to use our phone again because it was getting late, and he said okay and asked how late it was--his mom had been supposed to pick him up at 6:45.
Guys, it was 8:30. I forget how it came up but he ended up mentioning he lived near a building all the way on the other side of town. When he phoned his mom he was asking her, "Where are you, why didn't you pick me up and drive me?" And all she kept saying was, "I never said that, I never said that, I never said that," and then she told him to walk.
In the dark. Across town. Where you really shouldn't walk at night. Alone.
We said we really wanted to drive him and he said that would be nice, and we told him our names and my mom explained where she was going to turn around and so on, so we could get in the right direction. Someone did see him getting in our car and asked if everything was alright, and we told him the same things, and he said okay, he'd been sent by the same group of people who were from my school and was just checking up. We drove the boy home and got the following information from him (he volunteered it during casual conversation):
-His mom 'changes her mind a lot' (re: "I never said that, I never said that, I never said that.")
-He was worried she was so late picking him up because "she got in a car crash again. She has anxiety so she does that a lot."
-She was going to be 'really really angry' that he had gotten a ride home, and even moreso if my mom came in to explain what she'd done and why and how he'd acted so appropriately and so on.
You didn't see his face when he was listening to her saying, "I never said that!" He looked so...hurt, and he just kept saying, "What...?" so confused and I just...I couldn't help more. I hated dropping him off near his house. What's in store for him there? I don't even know.
I feel so helpless and wrong and sick. I just went home and cried.
Markl died. I can't even keep a fish alive for more than five months. I'm hopeless.
When we drove back from the pizza place maybe fifteen minutes later, he was still there. We had to stop and ask if he wanted to use our phone. He said no.
It didn't feel right going home so we waited nearby until we thought we saw someone turn around and pick him up--no luck, he was still there. We saw a group of young adults pass him and one girl stayed behind--I knew her so we called out and asked if he was okay and if they knew him, and they said no, and the girl said she'd offered her phone and he hadn't wanted it. We kept an eye on him when they left--we couldn't just go home.
Then it got dark and we had to approach him, although we knew how it looked--couple of strangers have been watching you and now one's coming towards you. I offered him my sweater and asked if he wanted to use our phone again because it was getting late, and he said okay and asked how late it was--his mom had been supposed to pick him up at 6:45.
Guys, it was 8:30. I forget how it came up but he ended up mentioning he lived near a building all the way on the other side of town. When he phoned his mom he was asking her, "Where are you, why didn't you pick me up and drive me?" And all she kept saying was, "I never said that, I never said that, I never said that," and then she told him to walk.
In the dark. Across town. Where you really shouldn't walk at night. Alone.
We said we really wanted to drive him and he said that would be nice, and we told him our names and my mom explained where she was going to turn around and so on, so we could get in the right direction. Someone did see him getting in our car and asked if everything was alright, and we told him the same things, and he said okay, he'd been sent by the same group of people who were from my school and was just checking up. We drove the boy home and got the following information from him (he volunteered it during casual conversation):
-His mom 'changes her mind a lot' (re: "I never said that, I never said that, I never said that.")
-He was worried she was so late picking him up because "she got in a car crash again. She has anxiety so she does that a lot."
-She was going to be 'really really angry' that he had gotten a ride home, and even moreso if my mom came in to explain what she'd done and why and how he'd acted so appropriately and so on.
You didn't see his face when he was listening to her saying, "I never said that!" He looked so...hurt, and he just kept saying, "What...?" so confused and I just...I couldn't help more. I hated dropping him off near his house. What's in store for him there? I don't even know.
I feel so helpless and wrong and sick. I just went home and cried.
Markl died. I can't even keep a fish alive for more than five months. I'm hopeless.