From an outside perspective, Adim had it all. He was charismatic. He was athletic. While he wasn’t very good at school, he was smart. He was handsome. He had nice teeth. He even smelled good.

 He was someone that most guys would trade anything to be like, and someone most girls would do the same to be with. He was perfect in seemingly almost every facet, giving off a vibe that made him feel almost untouchable.

Of course, life is rarely what it seems.

To say Adim had it rough would be an understatement. 

For the first couple years of his life, the only emotion he truly felt was joy. He spent his days surrounded by mainly three people. There was his always smiling mother, her lovely best friend, Azalea, and the best friend’s playful younger brother, Chrys. 

His mother was a bundle of energy, always ready to embark on an adventure, roping Adim into her endeavors. 

Ms. Azalea would attempt to act as the sensible one, trying to pacify Adim’s mother. This was usually to no avail, and the best friend would flip her standing entirely, adding more onto whatever nonsense was going on. 

Chrys seemed to always have words ready for any situation. He would often add even more fuel to the fire, making for the most of every situation.

Needless to say, Adim enjoyed his time with them and loved all three of them very much.

Unfortunately for him, most good things must come to an end. 

This ‘end’ came on Adim’s seventh birthday. Azalea and Chrys came to pick him up from school as a surprise. Right in front of the school, they were hit by an enraged truck driver in his massive eighteen-wheeler. Their car was decimated, killing both of them instantly.

Witnessing the whole event, Adim’s eyes glazed over, as he felt a big part of him had been crushed along with the car.

His mother, who was registered as an emergency contact for her friends, arrived at the scene shortly after receiving the call. When she got there, she collapsed with a heart attack. She had a weak heart due to a hereditary disease, and the sight of her dead friends was just too much for her. 

Adim’s eyes lost more of the light within them, as he watched his beloved mother perish before his very eyes.

The things that ensued after this were a blur to Adim.

When he came to his senses, he was in front of his home.

Waiting for him at the door was his father.

Adim didn’t really have any genuine impressions of his father. The man was pretty mysterious. The amount of interactions they had during Adim’s seven years of life could probably be counted on two hands. 

He was rarely ever at home, and when he was, he would be in the garage. Which was strictly off limits for both Adim and his mother. 

If he cared about his wife or son, he definitely didn’t show it. The man made no attempts to even speak to his son, far less console him over the death of his mother. 

He simply stared at Adim for a few moments before turning around, opening the garage door and closing it shut behind him.

Days went by, with Adim going to school, shouldering his despair alone. He had no real friends, and his teachers chose to not bring up the subject, as they assumed he was handling it well enough on his own.

He began to notice his father’s car show up in the driveway less and less frequently. Eventually, it stopped appearing all together.

After a few months, a ‘concerned’ neighbor noticed the child living in the unkempt house and called the authorities. 

An investigation ensued, with evidence clearly pointing towards abandonment. 

This resulted in Adim being pushed into the foster care system, with no consoling for the death of his mother and her friends or the abandonment by his father. 

Eventually he landed up at some run of the mill orphanage on the rough side of the town. 

At first, Adim had no real feelings toward the place but loathed it all the same due to his persistent mental state. 

Then came the abuse from the ‘caregivers'. They were ugly-spirited adults that were mad at life and had decided that Adim was the perfect punching bag to vent on.

After that came the bullying from the children who somehow found out about his past. Nicknames like Disaster Dimmy began to be pelted at him constantly. 

The attacks just weighed Adim down more and more. He was about to give up.

Then he met her.

She was like a cool breeze on a hot day in July.

She made the abuse, the name calling, and the bullying all roll off his back.

Adim couldn’t place what it was about her that put him at ease.

Maybe it was her soothing smile.

Or possibly the ever-present sparkle in her eyes.

It could’ve also been her lovely voice.

Perhaps it was the mature aura she exuded.  

Or maybe it was all these and more.

Frankly, he was too relieved to even care. 

She was a transfer from another orphanage, and she arrived a couple months after Adim had. 

But unlike the rest of the inhabitants, she didn’t pick on him.

In fact, she did the opposite.

She protected and looked after him and he did the same for her. She treated him with respect and kindness. She even gave him an affectionate nickname, Brighty.

This pillar of hope allowed Adim to blossom. 

He began to do better in school. 

He began to smile again. 

He started to laugh.

He even started dreaming again.

All because of her. 

Adim soon realized that he held feelings stronger than friendship towards her.

He was unaware if his feeling would be reciprocated, so he felt a bit nervous taking the first step and hesitated several times.

After some time, as well as several pep talks in front of the mirror, he finally mustered up the courage to ask after school one day.

That day, she had cheerleading practice after school, and he had been forced into doing others' chores to do so he had to rush to the orphanage. Thus, he decided to wait until she came back to the orphanage to ask.

Unfortunately for Adim, that chance never came. She was fatally shot during a mugging on her way back to the orphanage…. Or at least that’s what was reported.

This time, with the experience he had and the maturity he was forced to obtain, he attempted to take her death in stride. And from an outside perspective, he succeeded. 

He continued to bloom, becoming someone everyone else wanted to be.

He grew tall and handsome.

His grades continued to improve.

He eventually graduated within the top 10 percent of his class.

Even though he despised school, he enrolled into a decent college in the city shortly after, in an attempt to follow the wishes of his mother.

With the thought that money might help fill the void in his heart, he delved into the stock market. He quickly began to dominate the market, along with a number of other questionable business opportunities, raking in tons of money. 

Unfortunately for Adim, the monetary gain did very little to quell his inner turmoil or the ickiness felt towards his body around the time puberty started. 

At a loss, Adim eventually found himself drunk and sobbing in front of four graves within one of the town’s cemeteries. Somehow, she ended up right next to his mother and the others. 

He cried for hours, all while trying to drink away his sorrows. Screaming at any and everything in a drunken fury, even though he hadn't even made it through a single can.

His heart beat wildly.

WHUMP! WHU-WHUMP!

Unbeknownst to him, he had inherited the heart disease from his mother and his agitated emotional state along with his low tolerance to alcohol made for a disastrous combination.

His legs gave out below him, making him faceplant into the grass.

As he laid splayed out in front of the gravestones, his consciousness began to fade. The thumping of his heart began to stop. His life waning, he heard the whispers of a beautiful melodic voice resonate within him.

It’s time for you to open your eyes to the blooming soul that has always been within you.