"I Can Finally Leave"

1 Day had gone by, and then a week. Haden had the calmest week in his middle schooling time since his parents died.

…

"Today, all the students in this assembly will be going to a new grade next year. But only grade our grade 7's will be leaving our beloved school and going to their chosen high schools!"The principal stood in front of the podium and spoke into the microphone. His words were echoing throughout the Assembly hall.

"I would like everyone to please give a round of applause for your seniors leaving and to wish them best of luck for the future." The principal rotating to the left, where the seniors were sitting, and clapped into the mic. Everyone else in the hall applauded heavily.

The principal carried on with his speech about the year that had passed, the school's future, and what the kids should look forward to. He made educational statements and even quotes such as, "...all the hard work you put in now will eventually show maybe today, maybe tomorrow or maybe in a few years, but it's always better to know you have something to back you when you fall, rather than fall and not have anything to back you...."

The assembly continued for a few hours; the children yawned and spoke amongst themselves to pass the time as the Principle speech went on.

After the assembly, the children started to mingle amongst themselves; some talked about what they would do in the summer, while others cried as they might not see their friends. But there was only one person who spoke with no one and just left, and that was Haden.

Haden left as soon as the principal announced the assembly ended and that people may go home or stay and chat. His disappearance made no difference; everyone still laughed and cried. No one even acknowledged his existence or the fact that he was not there. He left the school with nothing holding him back.

On his way home, Haden put his headphones on and his hoody over his head, avoiding everyone's gazes and making sure he didn't make eye contact.

"*They don't miss me, pfft~, I bet they don't even know I exist, so why should I say bye to those people? I am nobody, a ghost, a shadow, so there is no need for me to shine a light on me that is not even there.*" Haden ramping the music up and drowning himself in his personal music playlist mix. Walking home, he kicked stones cans in frustration.

Haden had arrived at home, no one had been home his brother Seth was still at school socializing with his friends, "*Another day passed, but at least now, I can be free and enjoy myself maybe?*" he dropped himself on the bed. A tear ran down his face. The tear was warm and slid down on the side of his face as he laid down with his back on the bed and his face facing upwards.

"Stupid tear, I am not sad, I am happy I can finally start a new life. Let me look on the bright side; I can make a good first impression in high school. I think the first step is needed to eat more, hahaa~~" he felt his stomach and laughed awkwardly.

"I think I should just start Gyming, eat more, cut my hair because it looks like a mess, and a bunch other things I can't think of right now but will remember later.*sigh*."

Laying down thinking to himself, he ended up falling asleep.

Hours passed by, and his brother finally came home, and to his surprise, his older brother had not cooked anything but instead was asleep. He decided to tuck his older brother in bed properly without waking him up and decided to order food instead.

"*Sleeping already? You must have been exhausted, and it looks like you were not crying this time. I am happy*" He smiled at his brother Haden, who was lying in bed. Seth picked up the phone to type in the number of a food delivery place, which leads to the conclusion of the day of the end of school assembly day.

…

Haden woke with drool coming out of his mouth.

"School?!" Haden shouted as he woke, moving his head to look left then right, noticing a packet of take away food.

*Yawn*, Seth woke up at Haden shouting, "Why are you shouting so early in the morning? There's no school, remember, it's the end of year summer break..."Seth rubbed his eyes and checked his phone.

"It's 6.34 am; just go back to sleep, because *yawn*, I am too tired, and you should get good amounts of sleep in." Seth was twisting himself around on the bed to find a comfortable position to lay in.

Haden swung the sheets open and jumped up to stand and stretch, "Why you up? Do you have something planned today? Because I am pretty sure you don't usually go anywhere or do anything other than watch anime or read manga with headphones on?" Seth curled up in his blanket turned over to look at Haden.

"Well, I have decided that from now on, I wanna start doing new things like running, gyming, and reading Light novels, etc.," bending down to pick up his clothes on the floor, Haden proceed to do his routine cleaning of the house.

Seth's eyes shuttered, and he went back to sleep as his brother was moving around.

Haden picked up the clothes everywhere in the house, separated them into colors, and started the washing cycle. The washing machine had been on, and he proceeds to the bathroom and then the kitchen to make food and clean up.

"*Morning cleaning always takes so long, sigh, but I should at least do this. I can't let Seth do anything too tiring. Oh yes, I should make breakfast then leave it on the table for him because I am going to leave so I won't be able to make it for him*" Haden was frying bacon in the pan, the filled the room as it sizzled. The bread got put in the toaster and toasted to a golden brown. The eggs were fried sunny side up, and together they made his morning breakfast with 4 pieces of bacon, 2 fried eggs, and 2 slices of bread.

Haden went to go sit at a table and looked at his plate, "This is way too much food for me. Do I really think I can eat all of this?" Haden eats very little food in the morning; it was just not his cup of tea to eat a lot.

"Well, let's eat up and leave, I; I got places to be and things to do. This is the first time in a while I 'actually' things I have to do. Feels kinda nice to wake up and have a purpose." Haden finished eating his breakfast and cleaned up his plates and pans.

He put Seth's breakfast on a plate and in a microwave so that the flies don't get to it. Haden had also put a sticker with instructions on making the toast and how long he should warm the food. Once everything was complete, Hade had set out to begin his day!

Walking out Haden took out his phone and starts typing up everything he could think of he wanted to do for the day. The list had been, 'Groceries, Get a gym membership, walk 10km, and take time to read webtoons while listening to music in a cafe'. Haden felt the need to practice being outside and busy being in public.

"I can do this, I pretty sure I can. It's just going outside and being around other people nothing too scary. It's not like there's someone who wants to kill me." he spoke to himself as he laughed nervously. He continued to walk to his first destination, the time was now for him to learn to interact with others.

For him will it be fearful