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[abrightboy]

This is Bright. Leave a message.

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[abrightboy]

I… got punched by some guys in middle school. One time they bounced my face off this stone bench at the bus stop and knocked me out. Apparently, it bled so badly, they thought I was dead and ran away. When I woke up it was getting dark. I was hoping my mother wouldn’t notice but it was kind of hard to hide it when there was crusted blood in my eyebrows. …And all over the rest of my face.

[cactusy]

Those were probably the kinds of kids I punched. Assholes can't pick on someone their own size; they have to go for little kids. Was it because of your dad?

[abrightboy]

I’m not going to lie and say I was one of the popular kids before his very high profile arrest, but… yeah. When the bench incident happened, his trial had started. I had missed some days because I had to be there; I was a witness for the prosecution. Everything was in the papers and on the news. My mother had me home schooled for the rest of the semester and then I changed schools again.

I’m glad the little weirdos at your school had someone to punch those guys.

[cactusy]

Yeah? Too bad you can't tell my mom that; she wasn't thrilled. Her thing was using your words.

I was never popular either, but bullies always got sick of me pretty quick.

[abrightboy]

Using my words is how I get by now. Back then, I didn’t know how. And I wouldn’t fight. So I just got my ass kicked a lot.

[cactusy]

You wouldn't fight because of-- you know, that thing you talked about?

[abrightboy]

Everyone was watching me, looking for something to point to that proved I was like my father. The kids that beat me up called me ‘Psycho’; that was my nickname.

[cactusy]

Can I ask you a personal question?

[abrightboy]

…Sure.

[cactusy]

You tell people your whole history at the drop of a hat - your dad, your childhood, everything. That because having people find out is worse than having them know from the get-go?

[abrightboy]

I’ve gone back and forth on it. In some ways, I thought… better to let them get to know me first, so when they find out, it doesn’t define me for them. But… I’ve discovered that if they find out later, they see it as a sort of betrayal or deception. Like I was hiding something from them that would have changed everything if they knew. It’s easier when they decide not to be my friend from the start than when they find out and quit. So. Yes.