More Than What Meets the Eye” Ben James

More Than What Meets The Eye

BY: BEN JAMES

The bright, pinkish sun was beginning to set on the dingy, grimy streets of Stockton,

Missouri. Scavenging for any morsels of food, a young man was preparing for a cold night ’s

sleep on the cold, wet sidewalk he called home. By now, he was used to being ignored by every

pedestrian that passed him. It had been a long six months since nineteen-year-old Dallas

Reynolds had felt the warmth of a bed or had the pleasure of consuming clean food or water.

As he began to rest his head on his ratty, worn out jacket, which he used as a makeshift pillow,

Dallas began to think back on how he ended up in his present situation.

Six months ago Dallas was an average eighteen-year-old kid thinking about where he

would like to attend college. After school one day, Dallas went out to eat with his friends. One

of his friends got him a cheddar cheese burger with fries. He could smell the fresh burger

buns being baked. The salty french fries went perfectly with the juicy burger. He thanked his

friends for the amazing meal and headed home. He arrived home at about eight o’clock and

went straight to bed. Dallas had a test first thing in the morning and he was exhausted. At

ten o’clock he heard his mother and father at the door. They had gone out partying, as they

did every Wednesday night, and were considerably drunk. He heard his parents shuffling, half

wittedly towards his room. In an instant, his door was abruptly and violently flung open with a

slam. His parents came at him fiercely, punching and kicking their son. After what seemed like

forever, they stopped and stumbled off to bed. Dallas felt like his ribs had caved in. His parents

rarely paid attention to him, and when they did, it was usually in an abusive manner. He never

understood why they did such horrible things to him. Dallas knew he worked hard and had

several academic full ride scholarships to great colleges.

Around three o’clock in the morning Dallas had decided to leave his home. He was tired

of his parent ’s ignorance and constant torture. He gathered what little he had in his backpack

and rushed out of the window quietly in order not to wake his mom and dad. He walked

for miles and miles through Missouri. On his trek, he traveled from Marshfield to Stockton,

Missouri. In the middle of his journey though, he was robbed and all of his possessions had

been stolen. He had nothing but the clothes on his back. That ’s when he settled in the streets

of Stockton. Even though no one paid him any attention, Dallas believed that God would help

him persevere. He faded to sleep, ready to do it all again the next day.