Once upon a time, there was a boy named Bonnie and a girl named Clyde. They are both in grade 12 and attend the same high school. They have both been introverted throughout their lives, and they are very similar in certain aspects of their personalities. For example, they both never really fit into the partying and social media lifestyle that most high school students live. Bonnie and Clyde don’t like to post or display anything on social media, and Clyde hates people being on their phones so much that she even decided to smash her phone spontaneously for no reason whatsoever. In Clyde’s free time, she typically stays home watching movies, shows, and playing video games. She has never had anyone she could call a true friend; all she needs to make her happy is herself. Bonnie is similar in some aspects; he has also never had someone he could consider to be his friend. However, instead of staying home all year, Bonnie has a passion for killing small animals like a squirrel or bunny with his hunting knife. Bonnie would even put their limp bodies on a train track and watch them splatter everywhere, like a water balloon popping as the train drove over them. Similarly, they both hate how most people from their generation are and don't have anyone they can consider a friend. But on a regular school day, the unexpected happens.
During the lunch break at school when everyone is eating in the cafeteria with friends, Bonnie was sitting and eating at a table by himself as per usual. Clyde was also sitting and eating on her own at a different table by herself. Day after day, lunch break after lunch break, Clyde would sit and eat by herself and just stare at all the other kids in the cafeteria. She would watch all the other friend groups interact with each other, like the nerds, jocks, and more. As each day went by, she would start to notice Bonnie sitting by himself and eating, and thought to herself this guy seems a lot like me the way he’s very introverted and doesn’t fit in. The crazy idea sparked in Clyde’s mind that she should impulsively walk right up to him and just sit next to him; she thinks they would click and become friends since they are the only kids in the entire school to sit and eat alone at lunch on a daily basis. So out of nowhere, Clyde walks right up to Bonnie and sits directly next to him.
She knew she had to break the awkward silence so she said “I’ve seen you sit on your own everyday, it's kinda sad to see”.
Bonnie replied with a blunt “okay”, and then thought to himself I've also seen her sit on her own everyday, why is she saying that?
Clyde then said: “I think we should get out of here”
Bonnie replied with “and go where?” in a confused tone.
To which Clyde replied with “I don't know… Just somewhere away from here”.
Clyde then grabbed Bonnie's hand and started to tug him aggressively as if she wanted him to follow her. Bonnie, said to himself in that moment: fuck it, lets see where this takes me; my life is boring enough as is. So he decides to walk with her through the halls, then out the doors to the school, and into the doors of her car.
They both sit down in the car and sit in silence for a couple minutes, before Bonnie breaks the awkward silence by stating “Why don’t we go to a diner and get some food? It’s on me!”.
Clyde decided she would also like to do that because she can’t say no to free food. They both arrived at the diner, walked in, sat down, and then began looking through the menu thoroughly.
The waitress walks slowly up to the table that Bonnie and Clyde are sitting at and says “What can I get you guys to eat?”, they both decide to get a banana split each.
After eating, Bonnie then says to Clyde “I probably should’ve said this earlier, but I don't have any money”,
Clyde said “I know but it doesn’t matter”,
Bonnie replied with “thank you so much, I promise I’ll pay you back as soon as possible”.
But to Bonnie’s surprise, Clyde did not have any intentions of paying.
Clyde said “No need to thank me… Now get the hell up, let's go”.
Bonnie continued staying seated as he never liked getting in trouble or being rebellious in life; however Clyde grabbed his arm firmly and tugged which gave him no other option but to get up rapidly and run fast through the diner, burst through the doors, and sprint to get in the car.
Bonnie and Clyde are also similar in the sense that they both experienced severe childhood trauma. At the young age of 11, Bonnie’s mom had killed herself by driving into a pond and allowing herself to drown. One day, Bonnie’s mom offered to take him out to the pond so they could feed the ducks bread together and spend quality time together. But as they arrived at the pond, Bonnie’s mom opened the door for him, gave him a kiss as well as some bread, and then drove full speed right into the pond with all the windows and doors closed to confirm she couldn't escape. Bonnie stood there by the waterside, just watching the car slowly but surely submerge in the water. He just stood there feeling shocked, sad, and empty; he was in disbelief. From that point forward in life, Bonnie always struggled to feel emotions. It was as if nothing mattered in life; he became numb to all different emotions and pain. This is why he would start to murder innocent small animals, because it was his only source of feeling any sort of emotion. Despite the feelings he got from murder, he would never feel sad or happy; his dad would even ask himself, "How have I never heard my son laugh?" Bonnie has gotten used to living life emotionless, and he perseveres through each day with a constant depressed look on his face.
Clyde on the other hand has also experienced a traumatic childhood, but for different reasons. Clyde’s father had randomly packed his bags and abandoned his family when she was only 10 years old. Afterwards, Clyde was left alone with her mother who had already found a new boyfriend just a week after her husband walked out on her. After just 6 months of dating, they already had identical female twins on the way. Now that Clyde was growing up with a step dad, her mom, and newly birthed twins, all the attention that her parents were able to give were all given towards the twins. It’s as if Clyde didn’t even matter to her own mother anymore, and she felt as if her step dad hated her guts and just wanted her gone. After a few years went by, Clyde had started to become depressed because she had felt abandoned and like she wasn’t loved. Her mother doesn’t treat her the way a mother should, her step dad could care less about her, and all day everyday the twins are the main topic of interest and she feels as if she is just a mouth that they have to feed. Eventually when Clyde turned 17, her mom and step dad decided to have a wedding and get officially married. Clyde’s mother knew for a fact that her daughter hated her current life since she felt like she didn’t matter, but her mother didn’t care one bit; she was just happy to show off her new husband and twins. Clyde sometimes wonders if her mother would be happy if she died. During the wedding when everyone is sitting together and drinking, Clyde decides to make the most of this awful situation and get really drunk from her step dad’s private expensive alcohol collection. As she was at the bar in the basement by herself having a few shots, her step dad walks down in hopes of grabbing a bottle to bring outside; and then he finds Clyde drinking from his highly cherished $3500 XO Henessey bottle. Her step dad immediately went into a fit of rage, his face became noticeably red as a tomato, his voice became deeper than usual as if he was a monster, and his veins started to pop out of his neck.
He screamed aloud to Clyde “What the hell do you think you're doing?”
Clyde responded with “I’m just having a drink, it’s not that deep”
He then said “Ya, that's my drink. You know we all wish you weren’t at our wedding right? It would be better off if you were just gone.”
And after hearing that, Clyde did not say a word nor bat another eye to anyone else at the wedding, including her step dad that was right next to her. She just immediately walked right out the door and smoked a cigarette at the park. She waited until 9 pm and then went home in order to sleep. Clyde loves sleep. She sees it as the only possible escape to the world that she lives in. The following day when she went to school, she was feeling more rebellious than ever and felt as if she didn’t have a care for anyone else in humanity. She wanted to do something new and live a different life than she was currently living. That’s why she decided to randomly approach Bonnie, the weird kid at school and take him on an adventure to the diner.
Reflection
I was hoping to convey a secret message behind this story about the kids at school that people typically look down upon. There are always one, two, or maybe even three kids at every school somewhere in the world who are considered to be "weird" because of the way they act, the things they say, and overall just their personality. But what kids at school don't realize is that typically whenever there is a kid who is “weird” or "odd," it is childhood trauma or specific circumstances that led up to that point and is the reasoning for why they act the way they do. A big problem that the "weird" kids face is that they are known to be emotionless, which means they don't care about anything in the world. They simply go about their lives, following instructions such as attending school, securing employment, and so on. But all they need is someone to actually care about them, or something for them to actually care about and be passionate about. Despite all the childhood trauma that Bonnie and Clyde have endured, causing them to act and be the way they are, they eventually find happiness in each other, despite all the reasons they have to not be happy. This demonstrates that you can find happiness regardless of your circumstances.
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