NATHAN BONNERMAN | Everton's Playground: Chapter 1
“Nasty Nathan! Nasty Nathan!" the kids heckled aloud as he walked by. Nathan walked anxiously with his head down as he passed his classmates to enter his classroom. Oddly enough he didn’t mind his given nickname, in fact he kind of likes it. His clothes were damp and he thinks—great, now I am going to stink and these assholes are going to notice
. . . idiots!
As Nathan sat down at his desk he felt his chest tightening, his stomach felt twisted, and blood rushed to his ears and the back of his neck. He is constantly harassed and made fun of by the other eighth graders, and most of the teachers didn’t like him, but did their best to hide the fact that they find him appalling. Only a few teachers inadvertently acted inappropriately and un-teacher-like towards him, and then there was this fucker—at least Mr. Daniels didn't try to hide it, not like the other teachers who pretend to be nice to me.
Mr. Daniels belted loudly and sarcastically across the room projecting his emphasis on the word boner. “Well, hello there Mr. BONER-man, looking fresher than ever!” The other students turned their attention to Nathan and began snickering and laughing with facial gestures to express their approval.
—It’s pronounced Bawn-ner-min, B-O-N-N-E-R-M-A-N, you illiterate fuck!— Nathan sighs. “Hello Mr. Daniels” he replied almost in a whisper refusing to make eye contact. His anxiety is increasing making him sit awkwardly and having involuntary muscle movements causing his legs to move in-and-out, in-and-out. His classmates noticed and started passing rumors he was trying to fire one off in his pants again because he’s a pervert.
A few weeks ago in a similar setting Charity Lawrence, who sits behind him, and is unarguably the most beautiful girl in the school, tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and knocked his number two pencil on the floor. She picked it up for him and she happened to have worn a shirt that was loose enough to expose her developing chest cradled in a white bra. He couldn’t help himself, his anxiousness got the best of him. He starts moving his legs in-and-out, in-and-out. He makes awkward faces and groaning sounds to sooth his anxiety. It was a disaster.
—If I didn't live in the town’s mobile home community [as he liked to call it] and wasn't born into this family who were known as the town's trailer park trash, it would be much different for me. His dad was in prison for being the town’s drug dealer, amongst other things that came along with his choice of lifestyle, and his mom was his dad's number one customer and punching bag. Needless to say his life was shit—I hate my life and I hate these jerk offs even more. Fuck! I just want to leave and be anywhere but here. Someday. Someday I will be a great storyteller like Stephen King.
Half way through the school day, during lunch, Nathan decides he’s had enough of whatever today had to offer and jumps the school's perimeter fence to the hidden path leading to the woods. Everton is a small town and is plagued with horror stories of witches and warlocks performing evil rituals and sacrifices. Its a small town in Washington state, west of Seattle, across the Puget Sound, and only one ferry ride away. Someday Nathan plans to move away to the Emerald City, but in the meantime he’ll earn enough money working in the family business to save-up, move-out of this godforsaken dump, and buy a ferry ride East to be a famous writer so he can be rich as fuck.
Nathan has a secret spot in the woods where he can read his favorite Stephen King novel [It] and imagine to be Pennywise the clown. Oh how Nathan desires to instill fear into the town's people who have done him and his family wrong—Its not my his fault my clothes are dirty and my shoes are old and muddy. He can’t ride the bus to school because he lives outside the “city limits” [whatever that means] in the rural parts of town. To make matters worse, his trailer park is isolated in the outskirts of Everton inside the boundaries of the woods, known by the town’s people as Everton’s Playground or simply the Playground. Nathan didn’t care nor was he afraid of the stories. After being humiliated day-in and day-out escaping to the Playground is probably the most peaceful place in his world. Here he can be Pennywise the clown and be the one terrorizing little kids with paralyzing fear. But in his imagination he is not Pennywise, he is far worse—I am Nasty Nathan and I am what nightmares are made of.
Good read!