The weather outside was quite charming but the climate in the Bynes house was turning unpleasant as Ariana Bynes was simmering with fury. “Jason! Jason!”, she bellowed at top of her lungs.

Eyes gazing at the floor and heart-wrenching with fear, Jason appeared before his stepmother.

"How many times do you need a reminder? Why can't you remember to lock the gate," Ariana's scream made the 15-year-old flinch.

"I am sorry!" Jason's voice came out like a little squeak. He cleared his throat and Ariana leaned forward turning her ear towards him,

"What did you say?" The tone in her voice was surging and Jason's heart was thumping so hard he could hear it drumming in his ears.

This time Jason knew better so he stayed quiet.

"You are absolutely useless and nothing more than a burden!" Ariana shouted waving her fist. He wouldn't be able to take another hard blow after the beating he had suffered last week.

So, he ran like his life depended on it, pulled at the latch on his room door, and slid inside clicking the lock. Jason lunged on his mattress and wept like every other night when he would be scolded, shamed, or beaten. Though Jason had grown into a young man, the harsh treatment by his stepmother would always leave him shattered. A distant click and rustle made Jason pull himself from his mattress and look around for his usual visitor. A tiny beetle crawled towards him as a smile began forming on his lips. Jason stretched his arm sticking out a finger and placed it by the floor. The beetle crept on his finger and Jason lifted it to bring it closer to his eyes.

"Hey, little one! I've been missing you," his voice sounded as a hoarse whisper. The teenager looked around if any more of his acquaintances had stopped by to see him. His world was full of these little friends that he would play with.

Jason's room was a snug and gloomy quarter with only a mattress and a few insects who he had befriended over time. He placed the beetle back on the floor, its tiny legs clicked on as it moved around the mattress to stick by Jason. Lying on his back, Jason reached under his pillow and procured an old frame. His fingers ran over the glass of the frame as he gazed at the image that brought solace to his soul. His parents, smiling back at him holding each other, their eyes warm with love and comfort, were captured in a photo that Jason kept close to him. He yearned to be held by them, to know what it would feel like to be loved by them. Jason shivered and closed his eyes to the bangs and screams that began ringing in the house again. He hugged his frame and listened to every loathsome word his stepmother uttered, "That kid is nothing more than a burden! The expense that comes with feeding him, the kind of problems I go through because of him, and he can't even lock a door!" Ariana's voice traveled through the house and Jason could hear every word she said.

A pool of tears trickled down his cheeks again and Jason's heart was covered with a thick cloud of gloom that lingered till he finally fell asleep.

The next morning, Jason's eyes flicked open at the usual time, 7:00 am to be precise. He jumped out of his mattress and freshened up. It was his favorite time of the day. Just like every day, he strode towards the window and paused. He secured his patience and waited to watch the scene he woke up for every day.

Jason gazed at the birds in the sky. He looked at their flapping wings that took his breath away. Gawking at the flying little creatures he wondered what gives them the strength to travel miles fluttering their wings. The birds glided freely while Jason was confined within the walls of a home where he was deemed "useless". He thought how it would feel to have wings and fly right out of this window to a much better part of the world. Somewhere where he was loved.

Jason moved his gaze from the sky and looked below.

"They are here," he said to himself as the bus stop opposite the Bynes residence began getting crowded with school children carrying backpacks. They waited for the school bus to arrive as Jason soaked in the perfect view he wished to see every day.

There was something he wished for more. He desired to be among those children, holding his backpack straps and waiting for a bus to take him to school. Only if his parents were still alive, he would live like a normal child, have a perfect room, wait for the bus at the bus stand, go to school, complete homework assignments; but most desirably, he would be LOVED. Soon a bus honked in the distance and Jason's eyes lit up with longing. The school bus soon halted opposite his home and a trail of children went rushing in ready to begin their day, learning and playing together. While Jason stayed in his quarter, alone and hungry, ready to face the stepmother and her unconditional and irrational beatings.