I was 16 years old and I was completely enamored with M, but had never spoken a single word to him. I spent countless hours on the local basketball court, because that's where M spent all of his time. He could handle the basketball better than anyone I had ever seen, but also appeared kind. Everyone liked him. Of course, this was all observation as I NEVER spoke to him. For nearly 2 years. In the meantime, I became pretty good at basketball. Finally... the ice broke. And it's funny, because I have no idea how it happened or why it happened but he asked me for my number and we started dating. A "romance" that lasted for nearly 6 years.
Let me tell you about M. He came from the worst situation of anyone I had ever met. His father was dying of AIDS, his mother incredibly abusive, and this has been his life since he could remember. And yet, here he was. The most creative, sweetest person I had ever met. He was excited about everything. He was ambitious and a big dreamer.
I went away to college, and surprising everyone except me, he enrolled in a local college. Not only would he be the first person to formally finish high school in his family, but he was in college and he was thriving. He loved his art classes and was really good. We stayed together, but things began to change when he transferred to my campus.
He became so easily irritated. A joke among my friends, he threw his lunch tray off the of the table and stormed out of the cafeteria when I asked "How was film class?" He started having trouble holding down a job and when he did he would spend his entire paycheck to buy me something ridiculous, like a pair of diamond earrings. And then he would ask to borrow money. I didn't understand and I couldn't talk to him anymore without him flying into a rage. I started dating other people and he didn't seem to mind as long as I gave him a lot of attention. This seemed odd to me, but I felt too guilty cutting him out of my life. I felt responsible for him.
Things got progressively weirder. He was an incredible artist and on a whim he decided to apply to art school. Although he had some great stuff, he showed me what he was sending in for his portfolio: it was a drawing of palm trees, on notebook paper, done with a highlighter. I thought it was a joke. It wasn't.
And then he started to scare me. Late at night he would call me in my dorm room and tell me his new theories about other worlds, time travel and the great conspiracy to keep it all a secret. I was barely 21 and perhaps naive, but I just thought he was trying to get a reaction from me, so I would play along. It seems so stupid now. I continually held out hope for him, if he could just catch a break.
I left to study abroad. I heard nothing from him and nothing about him. Until I got back and the first thing my mom said after not seeing me for 3 months was "we need to talk about M." Okay, I thought. What stupid thing did he do now? "Well, he is being charged for kidnapping." What? I still don't know the real story. His account was that he had started to date this girl and they were living together. They were out one night and he got out of the car to buy cigarettes. When he came back to the car, there police were ready to arrest him. Apparently, while he was in the store, the girl had called and told the police that she was being held against her will. They arrested him. My response: what a crazy girl. Poor M, can't catch a break.
My family got him a lawyer and was paying his legal fees. We all had so much hope for him. He met with the family lawyer and the lawyer was astounded. Nothing M said made any sense. Then M never showed up in court. Luckily, his charges were dropped on some technicality. With deep pangs of guilt, I cut my ties with him.
A couple of years later, I was at my parents' house visiting for the weekend. The phone rang and I answered. I heard his voice. It was haunting, and terrified me. I was silent for a few moments, trying to decide whether I should just hang up or pretend he has the wrong number. But I didn't. He was calling from a local mental health clinic after a recent arrest. They made a mistake and were treating him for Schizophrenia. It was all a part of the conspiracy because the government was afraid he would tell people the truth about the other worlds.
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