Hiram slowly slid out of his bed and walked to his closet in the darkened room. As slowly as he could without making any noise he opened his closet and went inside. Once inside he looked around at all of his pants hanging up. He then looked around on the shelves, he looked past the hats and shirts and then saw the small shoe box. He took it down and then walked to his window seat in the dark bedroom.
The thin blue moon gave him good reading light. He sat down and uncovered the box. Inside he took out some papers. They were papers he got in school a week before. They were papers on enlisting in the Navy.
Hiram wanted to enlist so bad, ever since he was little he wanted to be in it. He worked hard on his grades and stayed in shape in order to enlist one day. But his mother had different plans. Before Hiram was born he had a older bother. His name was John.
John was a smart, bright boy whom his mother loved to death but he died in a car crash with his father a month before Hiram was born. His mother was lost in grief and did not care about Hiram anymore. He was always mistreated as a young child. His mother would always be off crying at old photos of his father and John.
She had drinking and drug problems and was known to be a world class bitch. She taught him to always do things over and over until he got it right, to always do what she said and if he didn't then he would get a world class beating. Some times she would beat him with anything laying around, or just her hands. Once Hiram forgot to put out the cat and he was hit over the back with a baseball bat until he was rushed to the hospital.
His mother also was a clean freak. She made Hiram wash his hands ten times a day, to never get his shirts dirty -- which Hiram hated to wear. So Hiram was respectful to his new mother. He always tried his best to do what he was told but sometimes he would lay awake in bed wishing that he would just die and get taken away from this nightmare.
Always ringing in his mind was his mother's words.
"John was always better! Why can't you be a good son?"
Hiram looked over the papers. He wanted to join so bad but he knew what his mother would say.
Hiram tried his best to be good that year. He did not have a lot of friends and didn't go out a lot. He never drank or smoked because he knew what his mother would do if she found out.
He never had a girlfriend but wished so bad to.
The only thing that seemed to brighten his week was when the teacher passed out the papers. Hiram looked them over and knew this was what he wanted to do. He was trying to think of a way to tell his mother but he knew she was on the edge of a nervous breakdown and she would kill him for leaving her alone.
But Hiram was sixteen now. His childhood was a waste and he wanted to move on.
His heart almost stopped, when he heard the door slowly starting to open. Hiram's eyes grew big and in a rush he shoved everything back into the shoe box. He then ran to his bed and with the shoe box jumped under the sheets.
The door opened and there she stood, dressed in a blue blouse and skirt with her hair a mess. Her face looked like pale cooking dough around her black eyes. In one hand was a half full glass.
She looked at Hiram, who had his eyes shut faking sleep. She then walked over to the bed and she stood over Hiram. She bent over him and in a hiss of a voice she said, "I know your faking."
Hiram knew it would be smarter to lay still but he knew better. He opened his wide, scared eyes and looked into his mother's scary big black eyes.
"Why are you still awake?"
"I had a hard time falling asleep."
"Really."
Hiram knew she was mad so he spoke with an uneven voice, "Yeah, I have a lot on my mind."
He knew that was dumb of him but it slipped out.
"About what? Girls? You should know Girls are dirty little sluts and will screw you and leave you."
Hiram felt her lower herself closer to him.
"No... not about that mother. I was thinking about the future... about what I'm going to do with my life when school finishes."
"That's not until next year."
"Yeah, but it's coming up. I really don't see anything I'm really good at... so I was thinking about joining the Navy."
He saw his mother's eyes grow wide. "The Navy?"
Hiram slowly shook his head and then he then pulled out the papers that were hidden under the sheet with him. His mother took them in her hands and looked them over. She then looked up at him.
"So you want to go off and get killed... join those dirty men and get killed and LEAVE ME ALONE... DO YOU?"
Her mother then took a handful of his hair and threw him off the bed. Hiram screamed in pain when he landed on a small glass table that sat near his bed. The glass broke and tore into his skin. Hiram held up his bloody hand and screamed. His mother then started to tear up the papers.
"You bad boy. You bad boy..."
Hiram looked at his hand and saw there was a piece of glass sticking right out of it. His mother looked at him in a enraged way.
"You're dripping blood all over my clean floors."
Hiram looked down and saw there were small red drips on the white carpet. Before he could get up his mother ran to him and took him by the hair again. Hiram screamed and tried to fight as he was dragged across the room and into the bathroom. Inside he sat on the floor, holding his cut hand. He watched his mother drew a bath. He could also see the steam coming from it and he knew the water was boiling hot. His mother then turned, her eyes still looking like two black stones.
"Get In the tub."
Hiram felt tears fall from his face. He shook his head as he held his bloody hand. "No please...No..."
Her mother once again raised her hand ready to slap him. Hiram then stood up a little. His legs felt weak and blood dripped down his pants and onto the white tile floor. Hiram stood a good two feet above his mother. He looked at her and then everything snapped at once. Why was he scared of her? Why did he let her waste his childhood?
He then made his hand into a tight fist as the blood fell to the floor. His green eyes grew wide.
"No, Mother. I'm not going in."
"YOU WHAT?"
She went to hit him again but he grabbed her hand and held it tight, and then looked at him confused and mad, trying to fight him. He held her arm tight making her eyes water.
"I'm not afraid of you anymore. You hear me? I'm joining the Navy... and there's nothing you're going to do about it. I'm leaving Mother. I'm sixteen. I'm a full grown man. I'm not John."
He then let her hand go and she fell to the floor holding it. She looked up at her son in shock. "Hiram, how dare you treat your mother like this?"
Hiram just shook his head and walked into his bedroom. He then opened his gym bag and stuffed some pants and shirts in it, then he took his hidden money he was saving since he was seven. He then slipped on his coat and shoes and was about to walk out the door when he saw his mother still lying on the floor. She looked at him with deep hate.
"I hope you die screaming."
Hiram looked down at her and shook his head. He then opened the door and walked out into the night. Once he was walking down the road he started to think about the future. Tomorrow he would enlist and maybe... just maybe his life would get going. Before walking into the main road he looked up at the moon and gave a sigh.
"I hope you die screaming."
His mother's words rang in his head. Little did he know that in seventeen years time she would be right.