Breaking Him

Octavio was a broken teenage boy, branded 'psychopathic' by the townspeople of Rocco. He was the outsider, a boy judged because of his past. He killed his father when he was twelve years old because he cheated on his mother. He'd come home from school and found his mother sobbing on the couch. She told him she was unhappy and he knew it was because of his father. It was always because of him.

Later, when his drunken father got back home, Octavio gave him a glass of cold water laced with mice poison. His father went to sleep but never woke up. Octavio had never been a violent child. He was a sweet little child who sometimes engaged in mischievous activities like other children of his age.

He was not psychopathic or murderous but at that moment, he felt that his father had gone too far. As a child, he did it thinking he was saving his mother. The court decided it was not premeditated murder so he was sent to a Rocco's Correctional Facility for Juveniles where he stayed for two years. When he got out, he was full of remorse about his action but the people of Rocco were not ready to accept him into their community.

Five years later, the townspeople still feared and hated Octavio. They had never accepted him which brought a lot of pain to his heart, pain that broke him. No one desired to go near him including the students at school. They didn't want to sit near him because he was an outcast. Except his mother, the only person who said anything to him was Juliet Fetterman. She said 'hello' to him whenever they bumped into each other and also sat next to him in the classes they shared. He just nodded, not saying a thing. She might be the town's golden girl but he didn't want to talk to anyone. Juliet was a happy person who probably had no idea what being in deep emotional pain was. She wouldn't understand what it was like to be rejected by everyone you knew.

One morning when he was eating his late breakfast in the kitchen, his mother was cleaning the kitchen counter with a wet cloth. She looked out of the window for sometime before speaking, almost to herself.

"Joan was a very optimistic person," she said. "I never thought she was capable of suicide."

Octavio remained silent. Mrs. Joan Miller had been found hung on a tree branch in the forest reserve outside town that morning. She'd committed suicide and the public didn't know why. All they knew was that Mr. Macpherson, a man she worked for had fainted on hearing the news. Since Rocco was a small town, people had started talking and pointing fingers already.

"We were very good friends. She was dating James when I was with your father. We went on group dates and had so much fun together. She was supposed to be my maid of honor, but Manuel-" His mother started sobbing on mentioning his father's name. She still loved him; Octavio thought bitterly, he'd broken his own mother by killing the love of her life.

"I'm sorry, mom." Octavio said.

"It's not your fault," she said. "You were only a child. You did what you thought was right, you wanted to see me happy. It's Manuel's fault. He's the one who broke my heart. Even if he was still alive, we wouldn't be happy together. We'd be separated."

"Still, I can't forgive myself," he said. "I killed my own father. He might have been a jerk but he'd done a lot for us. And you always dreamed of having lots of children. Why don't you find someone, mom?"