A story of a young boy

His name is Shukri. He's the king of all bullies. And he is one of the most worst student in school. A few months ago, he had a great academic record, outstanding achievements in sports and a clean discipline record. Well, that was months ago. That was the time when he was perfect in almost everything which was why he was called the'Golden Boy'. Now, he is beyond worse. He is a total mess! He is no longer the boy who got straight A's in every exam. He is no longer the boy who created a new record in the high jump event. And he is no longer the most discipline student in school.

I always hated him. Actually, everybody hated him for all I know. Until one faithful day, I saw him crying. Well, that was quite strange. One minute he was bullying his own classmate and now he's crying? I crept closer to see his face clearly. I regretted my action as I had made a wrong step. I accidentally stepped on a twig and he heard.
He spun around and saw me staring with his red eyes. Great, now I'm finished. I expected him to shout at me and do whatever bad things at me.
Instead, he said,
"Oh, it's you. Since you're here, sit here."
I was taken aback. Did he just talked me? Nicely?
Without a fight, I sat where I was told to and just stayed quite. There was an awkward silence.
"You must be confused. I know, nobody has never seen me crying before. And surprisingly, you're the first. I'm really sorry. I became like this because of last year." He finally spoke breaking the awkward silence between us.
In my head, I couldn't stop thinking,
'What was his problem last year?'
"My problem is my parents." He said as if he could read my mind.
His answer was short and simple but full of questions behind it.
"I don't understand." I replied confused.
"My parents just divorced a few months ago after years of arguing with each other. My mother was the one who asked for a divorce. It's because she was broken-hearted after she saw my father walking hand in hand with another woman and they were laughing! Can you believe that?" He said furiously.
I suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for him. It must be hard to accept the fact that your parents are divorced.
"Ever since that day, I never trusted my father anymore. I studied hard to prove him that I'm not weak and I can fight back. But once again, my dreams were crushed into a million pieces after my own parents left me hanging after their divorce." He said with tears welling up in his eyes.
"What happen?" I couldn't help myself from asking.
He was quite for a while which made me kind of worried. I blamed myself for being such a busybody.
"Err... It's okay if you don't want to tell me. I'm sorry." I said as I stood up to leave. But then, he also stood up.
"Wait! Don't leave. You weren't doing anything wrong. I'll tell you the whole thing." He said.
I sat down slowly.  He took a deep breath before continuing.
"Once my parents divorced, none of them wanted to take responsibility of taking care of me. I heard them quarrel over me. My father said that he will be getting married soon so it will be hard for him to take care of me at the same time. While my mother said that she was stressed out and she needed some time alone to clear her mind. The next day, they took me to my grandparents' house. We stayed there. When I woke up early the next morning, my parents were no where in sight. They didn't come home for the rest of the day and until today. From that day, I never saw them and I never thought of seeing them ever again after what they did to me." He said with tears rolling down his cheeks.
"I was too angry and stressed out at the same time that I didn't realize that I had hurt other innocent people. Including you. I'm really sorry." He apologized sincerely.
"It's okay, I understand. You had a hard time dealing with your parents so it must be hard for you at school too." I said with a smile.
"Thanks, I really appreciate that a lot. For the last five years, I've been really stubborn and I really messed up everything." He said shamefully and burried his face in his hands.

"It's okay, Shukri. Everybody has flaws. But, why are you telling me all this? I don't mean to be rude but its quite strange, actually." I said softly at the end.
He raised his head.
"Because you seem kind. I was really mean to you because I was jealous of you. Ever since I started creating trouble everywhere, you became the top student in school. Although I was really rude to you, you never reported me to the discipline teacher unlike the other kids. I have to admit, you really impress me." He said with a smile on his face.

I smiled back. Today, I see a different boy sitting in front of me right now. The 'bad boy' was no longer there but I saw a new light in that boy. Because of the pain he locked inside himself, he became the pain itself to everyone else around him. But now that the pain is gone, I am sure that the spotlight will be on him again.

I learnt that some secrets are meant to be kept but some might be deadly if locked inside your heart.