Little Lost Boy: The Upsetting Story Of Gareth Pokitaru Follow story

That was all that I could remember of Sandia Pokitaru, my dear mom screeching out like a banshee at my exhausted dad before I ran away from home and deep into the heart of Cytorae City in the dead of night. I was emotionally drained, so fed up with my mother stuck in a perpetual state of anger at everyone she loved for some unknown reason. Her lovely smile, which would always warm my heart whenever I saw it, was replaced with a disheartening frown as well as a soul piercing stare. The image burned itself into my mind, having made me shed tears when I found a dark alleyway to take refuge in for the night and avoid being spotted by a passersby that could report a miss child. I would soon regret that decision in hindsight, as I ran into a weird looking person with glowing red eyes before everything went black.

2 weeks earlier...

I was home with my male babysitter, who I nicknamed 'Pat', when Sandia Pokitaru, my mother, came home from her job. I thought nothing of it at first, taking a quick look at her and saying the stereotypical 'Hi, mommy!', to her. Now, looking back at this moment, though, I realized that not only her face was dramatically blank but also that my mom's beautiful white shirt was in tatters! I had no idea what happened to her, but whatever it was, it had to have been extremely bad since Pat immediately rushed over to my mom, went upstairs, and into her and my dad's bedroom. And then, I heard it.

I heard crying. Extremely hysterical crying. My mom was in emotional distress. So much so that I did what any 10 year old kid would do: See what the heck was going on. I would then cautiously walk up the stairs of the Pokitaru Household, and upon my arrival at my parent's bedroom door, I soon pressed my right ear up against the black metal door to hear what was being said between my mom and Pat. And the things I heard sent chills down my spine.

I don't know exactly what happened, but from what I heard my mom say, she apparently had to let Sheldon, her boss, do something very adult to her in order to not get into trouble with the cops of the the city. I then heard my mom tell my babysitter not to tell Robert, who was my loving father, anything about what they had talked about. Unfortunately, though, I wasn't so lucky.

When I finally thought to move away from the closed bedroom door, I was terrified to see it quickly open up as Pat and my mom both stepped out and stood in front of me with utter shock on their faces! However, Sandia's face would soon contort into one of pure rage and had frightened me so much that I instinctively began to run away from my parent's door and downstairs. That would be my biggest mistake.

"GARETH!" My mom roared out ferociously, her loud voice echoing all over the Pokitaru Household.

"GET THE F*CK BACK HERE! NOW!"

Shortly after hearing that, I felt the back of my pink shirt being tugged on aggressively before being yanked backward! I would then fall onto the carpeted floor and onto my butt before slowly looking up at my mom, immense levels of anger that I had never seen before being displayed on her face. I couldn't have been more visibly terrified in my young life.

"What were you doing, young man?" My mom asked me with fake intrigue in her angry voice, myself hesitating to answer out of petrified fear.

"Do I need to ground you and take your pet snail away from you?"

"You're not laying a finger on Mr. Shell, mom. Don't be a meanie just because a bad thing happened to you!" I said with a large amount of conviction in my voice, deeply concerned for my mom at seeing in real time who she was becoming.

"You have not right to---

"Say one more word, and I promise you will never see him ever again!" My mom barked out viciously, causing my babysitter Pat to look over at her with visible concern.

"D..." I heard him say with utter disgust in his voice before then seeing my mom turn around to face him, giving a simply shrug.

"What on Cinthyatar is wrong with you!? You can't be seriously considering doing something horrible to your son's pet snail because of what Sheldon did to you. And Gareth's right. You shouldn't be cruel to due to what happened!"

"Okay then. Get the f*ck out of my house, Patterson. You're no longer welcome in the Pokitaru Household ever again." My mom angrily demanded, myself soon seeing the look of absolute heartbreak on my now former babysitter's face as he waved me goodbye and promptly left the house.

"As for you, young man, you're grounded for talking back to me. Now, gather up your toys and bring them all to my room. You won't be needing them anymore..."

"Yes..." I mumbled furiously in a low tone of voice while facing away from her, being stopped by my mom with a fierce yank to the back of my shirt before being able to walk down the large staircase.

"Yes, what?" She asked condescendingly, frustrating me greatly on the inside.

"Y-Yes... Ma'am..."

"Good boy!" My mom cooed mockingly before releasing the back of my pink shirt and crossing her arms.

"And just wait until your father gets home. Oh boy, you'll be in for a spanking for sure..."

"Why would I be spanking Gareth, babe?" A male voice said from behind the front door of the Pokitaru Household, soon opening slowly and revealing a tall man with white skin, yellow hair, and glasses on over his face.

"Dad!?" I yelped loudly, rushing downstairs and hugging my father tightly while also not caring that I had ignored all of my mom's commands.

"I missed you so much, dad!"

"H-Hey, I missed you too, Kiddo. But the Rusted Sub needs their manager, too! Plus, you and mom over there owe me a seafood dinner for the last time I bought home those crispy popcorn shrimp orbs with extra cocktail sauce, haha!" He said playfully before picking me up and sitting me on his right shoulder.

"Yer gonna be daddy's little parrot today, are ye!?" He asked me while doing a salty pirate voice, almost making me burst out in laughter.

"BAA! DADDY'S LITTLE PARROT! BAA!" I replied with the silliest sound tone possible, making my dad laugh almost hysterically.

As he and I laughed, I would see my mom standing atop the staircase with visible irritation all over her face as she slowly walked down each step one by one. My very enthusiastic laughter would soon stop altogether when stepped off the final part of the staircase, with my dad soon noticing her negative demeanor as well.

"So babe, you mind telling me what our baby boy Gareth did wrong? Because you and I both know that he's not the talking back type..." My dad said casually before noticing rage building up in my mom's face, prompting him to set me down onto the floor and off of his right shoulder.

"Gareth, head up to your room now. Mommy and I have a lot to discuss. Very adult things..."

"Yes, sir." I replied nervously before running up the staircase, noticing the death stare my mom was giving me while passing by her as well.

Looking back at this moment with the power of hindsight, I thought that my mom and dad would work something out, and that would be the end of that. But I couldn't have been more naive. Or wrong. It was only the start of my mother's descent into cruelty.