Belonging_Creative_Writing

It was the first day back at school for a new year. Many of us still longed to be on holiday, carefree and careless. It showed on our faces as we grumpily and wearily made our way along the corridors to our House Room. This year our form (11) had a new student. When we walked in we all just looked at him, scrutinizing, mentally noting anything unusual. There was something about him though, but I couldn't quite see it. Nobody interacted with him at first - the teachers were all around him, then he was set free, for us students to talk with him, I didn't talk to him myself, rather I just listened to the questions of others, which, he answered them faintly. They ask him questions to get him talking, to get him relaxed, but he simply answered the questions and nothing more. Soon the interest wore off and he was left all alone. Sitting in our usual spots in class, the new kid separated himself from us, sitting alone at the back. We thought he was shy so we left him, expecting he would loosen up at recess. The bell rang and we all went back to our lockers, laughing and mucking around. It was half way through recess before we saw the new kid again. He was sitting by himself looking out onto the oval, we invited him over to join in, but he simply said no thanks and walked away. Now we were mystified. I didn't have any lessons with him for the rest of the day. That night on msn he came up in the topic of conversation. All my friends online thought he was weird. I told them he was probably just nervous and hed be alright tomorrow. But he wasn't. In the morning before we went to classes we saw him again sitting down near the oval and gazing out at it, I walked over to him and said "Hey what's up your new here right" And he replied saying "Yeh" "How're you finding it all'" "Good" "What do ya reckon about the school' Better then your old one'" "It's ok" "Why don't you join us in the cafeteria, we usually hang out there" "No,thankyou, I'm OK" He suddenly stood up then walked off. I went back to my friends beginning to believe that maybe the new kid was just weird. We had English up next, he tried to run away to hide at the back, but the teacher forced him to sit with the group like it was second grade. He sat next to some guys who ignored him for a while, then tried to talk to him, but like all of us, found it was hopeless and ignored him again. That afternoon we had PE. We decided that if he didn't act like a normal human being whilst playing sports, we were going to classify him as a lost cause. We lined up, did our warm-up's then lined up to be put into teams. I noticed that the new kid was one of the first to be picked, I thought to myself this was his chance. The game began, and the first goal scored was by the new kid. For the 30 seconds afterwards he was praised with shouts and pats on the back. He even showed a sign of life by smiling. But it seemed that the goal had just been a one off lucky one. For each time he received it after, he quickly lost it. Nobody really cared though, we didn't really mind, until the new kid started becoming less enthusiastic in the game. Soon he was slowly walking the very edge of the field, looking down at the ground. Just as he gave up on the game, I gave up on him. I didn't take much notice of the new kid anymore. He was there, but he wasn't at the same time. We all just ignored him, and almost a week later I didn't even remember there was a new kid in our grade. But all of a sudden his name kept popping up in discussions everywhere. Apparently the new kid was a Muslim. I didn't particularly care, but most of the school had a different opinion to me. Then the teasing started. Nobody in the school was a Muslim. People started verbally abusing him because of his religion. Some began resorting to physical violence, the students didn't do anything about it though, they either walked past ignoring them, or they just didn't care. Teachers weren't much help either. They hated him as much as the students did. I was and am a morally and ethical responsible person, so seeing anyone bullied really affected me, and I was often questioned about what I should do. One day after school I chose to follow the New Kid after school, just to see where he hanged around and such. Then it all began to come clear. At first I did not know where I was, what he was doing here or why he would want to be here. It took me a few seconds to put it all together, and once I realized I felt terrible. He had walked to the city hall where they were doing counseling for refugees. It had never occurred to me that he was one. I questioned myself asking "Should I have known'!'!'" "Could this really be true'!'!'" I waited outside an hour or two until the session was over, then I walked in as everybody was walking out, hoping that the New Kid would not see me. Inside was a twenty year old man, packing up his papers, and shaking his head slowly, as if going over the events that had just occurred. I took up my courage and talked to him, trying to find out more about the New Kid, I walked over and said "Hi my name is Danny, I go to one of the people who come here's school." He replied saying "Oh you mean Atai'" "Yes I think that's his name" "So why did you come here'" "I wanted to find out more about him, he seems extremely shy, and I want to help" He walked over to a bench sat down and said "You are a very lucky person. You have grown up in a safe loving neighbourhood, you have no idea about the horrors of the world, but Atai is the complete opposite" "What do you mean'" "Atai was born in iraq and there is terrible bloodshed and horrors there that Atai has seen, things that no child should see, it is that reason why Atai does not care if you tease him or ignore him at school, he is just thankful he is here all the time. Something you all take for granted." "But why couldn't he just say that, or let us know somehow, we all tried to be kind and nice to him, to try and let him talk, but he just ignored us" The man then sighed and said "He isn't ignoring you. You just do not understand. About a year ago before Atai came here, there were some terrible men in Atai's town. Heartless and Careless men who kill for fun. One day they had heard a rumour that one of Atai's family members had stolen a basket of fruit from the group's garden. They became so angry, that they seeked revenge on Atai's whole family, even though they had not stolen it, and the men came and killed Atai's family, but luckily Atai was not in the house. Afterwards a man met Atai and knew who he was, and that he was one the men would try to hunt for, he told Atai that he must remain quiet at all times, and must never talk because he might give something away. Atai did not say a word more then he had to for a year, and it is why he doesn't talk now, he has gotten used to it." Suddenly it all made sense It hit me like an electric shock, why he was so quiet, why he looked out onto the field and simply gazed on it, why he did not fight back when people were teasing him, why he liked to be alone. I walked outside of the town hall thinking of these things, feeling guilty about the things I had thought about him, feeling sorry for Atai and what people did because they did not understand. The next day things changed at school. I now sat with Atai, even if he said nothing, and I talked to him, and I knew he was listening and would talk when he was ready. I stuck up for him when anybody said anything to him. As a result I was deemed a "freak" and all my "friends" left me, and chose to hassle me. But I did not care. They did not understand,a nd yet they were making judgements. They did not understand and yet they were verbally abusing him. They did not understand and yet they physically abused him. I would not take it anymore, and it is this reason that I did not care about what my "friends" now thought of me. I had a feeling atai knew what I knew about him. He did not seem to mind, but one day, I know we will be great friends. Friends that never stop talking.