I knew that the statue was the key that I could return to the time I belonged. This is something that I wanted. I had problems and worried when I was a middle-aged man, but who did not. The thing was that the good times and bad times made me the person that I was. The gift that I never thought that I had was an unchartered future, and the final stage of my life could be golden years. This was my second childhood, and while there were some good things about it, I did not want to relive my childhood with the problems, challenges, restrictions and routine that I had already gone through once.
I figured the answer was to touch the statue and think of my future life. This would most likely reverse the magic that bought me back to my childhood. I knew that I would have to be alone in the Church. Something in my head was telling me the magic of time travel would not work when others were there. Besides this, It would break my mom's heart or give her a heart attack at seeing her son disappear in a fog. I just had to wait until I could visit the Church by myself and touch the statue.
The priest noticed that we were in the Church. I remembered him as a nice old man that was very saintly. As we were leaving the church, he told me that he was happy to see us in the Church. He thought that boys like me should visit the Church a lot more. It was often that the priest said that what the world needed was more prayers. Then he asked me if I wanted to be an altar boy. I agreed straight away. I always wanted to be one and now was my chance. Besides this, it would give me an excuse to visit the Church and possibly be alone with the statue. Mom was delighted that I agreed and told me it could mean that one day, I would want to be a priest. She was proud that I was now doing something for the Church and lifted my grounding. I was once again a free bird!
Things were getting worse at school. A few days after I was no longer grounded, I was walking to school with Bethany, Adrian (the school bully) appeared out of nowhere. He started teasing me that I was talking with a girl, and then without warning, he started punching me. I was always a pacifist so I found it harder to hit back at Adrian. This seemed to encourage him as he continued to hit me until I collapsed to the ground. He kept yelling things at me and laughing as he pounded me with punches. He ended up giving kicking me, so I found it hard to breathe. The pain was unbearable and despite my best efforts, I was crying. My thoughts were full of hatred and regret. I should have hit him back and done my best to protect myself. Now I was curled into a ball on the ground in pain, agony and humiliation.
Adrian left me there, and Bethany tried to help me as much as she could. She was advising me on how I should breathe and telling me the pain would go away. She was also telling me how much she hated bullies and there was no reason for him to beat me up in the way he did. Bethany joked that Adrian would grow up and be a politician. This made me laugh and I found out that it hurt more when I laughed. The truth was that Adrian would grow up to be a politician. As I always said, the world is run by idiots.
This was a bad day and it was getting worse. We had exams and I was not in the best mood to do them. I did study! However, when I looked at the questions on the paper, it seemed as if they were dancing around. I was confused and did not know where to start. My mind was in turmoil, as I was having flashbacks of Adrian punching me. I was shaking and I was getting an anxiety attack. The teacher must have noticed as she asked me was I sick. This was my chance to tell her about Adrian, but I was no snitch. I tried to concentrate and do one question at a time. I quickly found a rhythm and the only thing that I could think about was getting a good grade. When the exams were done, I was relieved. Now I would have to wait for ages to get the results, which was torture in itself.
Bethany and I walked home. We were talking and laughing like we usually have done. She made me smile and think that things were not so bad. I noticed that Bethany was mature in many ways. When she spoke, it was not childish or rubbish. At times she can be very deep and thoughtful. One thing that I liked about Bethany was her compassion. She loved life and wanted to make the most of it.
Mom asked me how my day went. She knew there was something wrong when I told her that I did not want to talk about it. She was not stupid as she could see some black and blue marks on my body. I explained that a bully hit me but I was fine. This must have made mom worry as she wanted to talk to the teachers and his parents. I was firm and told mom that I did not want her to interfere. If she did, I would be known as a snitch and a momma’s boy. This was my problem and I would sort it out myself.
Mom finished the discussion by telling me that Adrian was just jealous of me. That is why he picked on me. I did not answer this. This was an answer all parents gave when they could not think of anything to say. Adrian was not jealous of me. He just thought that it was fun to torment me and make my life hell. It was a hobby for him to tease me and inflict pain on me. His problem was that he did not care about others and only thought about himself. I knew that somehow, I would have to stand up to him or he would make my life a hell.
It was the weekend and I was just chilling. Rocco came to visit me so we had fun as we were watching MTV while we talked about school and football. Time goes quick when you are having fun with a friend. Rocco understood me and he liked the same things that I did. I wished that he could have stayed all weekend but I still had a secret about wearing diapers to bed. In a way, I knew that I should have told Rocco, as friends do not have secrets from each other. I was afraid of what would happen if he knew. Would he think that he found out? Would he think that I was weird or even a baby? I felt safe that he did not know anything.
This was the plan. Plans do not always work.
One thing about having a friend over is that you hoped that your mom will not embarrass you. I did not think twice when mom suggested that we go to my room. This is where things went wrong. The first thing that Rocco noticed my bed had a rubber sheet. He was confused and started asking me why I would have it. I stuttered as I tried to make excuses, but it was too late. Rocco found the bag with diapers and asked me why would I have diapers. This made me blurt out that I wet the bed and needed them. There was silence as I was worried about what he was thinking. After a while, Rocco shrugged his shoulder and told me that it was no big deal. He hoped that I would get better.
I tried telling Rocco that I was sorry and that I did not mean to keep this a secret. He could now understand why I did not want a sleepover. I was just reminded that friends do not need to keep secrets from each other. I could feel my heart beating quickly as I decided to tell him that I was sent back from the future. I did not get a chance to do this, as Mom told me that I had a guest. It was Bethany. Her presence was not what Rocco wanted. He told me that he would leave if I wanted to be with my girlfriend. Despite that we both told him that we were not boyfriend and girlfriend, he did not believe us. I was a bit frustrated as he was telling me to choose between him and Bethany. When I tried explaining that we could all be together, he just huffed and scowled and said that he had to go.
Bethany could see that I was disappointed when Rocco left. She thought that he was like most boys, that did not realize that girls did not have cooties. This would change over time. This made me laugh. Once again, Bethany knew how to cheer me up. I considered her a real friend and maybe it was because of this that I told her why I had a rubber sheet and diapers. Bethany told me that I was not alone. She recently started wetting the bed. This was another thing that we had in common. She disliked it as much as I did. She thought that diapers were very embarrassing. We both knew that the problem itself would solve itself someday. We just needed to have patience. The problem was that I was not born with patience.
Bethany changed the story and asked me if I was going to Church. I told her that we usually went on Sundays. Bethany was silent and then asked me did I like the statue in the Church. She was talking about THE statue. I nearly choked when she mentioned it and did not know what to say. Bethany laughed at my reaction and told me that she thought it was a strange statue. Then she told me that I could always confide in her about everything. If she only knew what that statue meant to me! How would anyone believe my story?
Mom interrupted us and said that we had to go shopping for clothes. This was a nightmare. I wanted to have clothes that everyone my age wore. I wanted cool clothes. Mom would make excuses that it was hard finding clothes for me, as I was small for my age. She would look at clothes that an 8-year-old would wear and tell me how cute they were. Then she would get mad that I was causing a scene that I did not want to wear “cute” clothes. I felt as if everyone in the shop was looking at me. They most likely thought that I was 8 years old. It ended up that we bought the “cute” clothes. It was at times like this that I was happy that we had a school uniform.
I was also happy that I was now an altar boy, as I was dressed as one. It was hard for me to concentrate on the mass, as I kept looking at the statue. For some reason, I knew the magic would not work if there were people there. I had to be alone. I managed to get through the mass and the priest thought that I have done a great job. Mom and Bethany and her family were waiting for me after the mass. Bethany's mom thought that I looked cute in my new clothes. This made me want to scream. Once again Bethany saved me and told me that we would wait for them outside the church. When we were alone, she told me that parents can be so annoying. This made me laugh. Then she said that she noticed how much I looked at the statue!
While things were going well with Bethany, they were not going so well with Rocco. He ignored me at school. Every time I tried to talk with him, he would just walk away. When I kept on persisting, he told me that I have chosen who I wanted to be friends with, He thought that I picked Bethany over him. I told him that this was so childish. I could have more than one friend. This was one time when I spoke before I thought. Rocco was not impressed that I now thought that he was childish. He answered that we were no longer friends.
Rocco continued ignoring me and it hurt. It hurt when he told me that we were no longer friends. I blamed myself. There must have been something I could say or have done that would not have made Rocco think that he was no longer my friend. The thing was that I did not know how we could once again be friends.
Being a child is not easy… not even when you were doing it for the second time.
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