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Finding Home

Author: Michael Justice

Illustrations: Courtesy of 

Storyjumper.com

Editors: Brittany, Kaylee, Noelle, Ye, 

Jacob, Hlee, Ashley, Noelia, Lindsay, 

and myself.

    Flying over skyscrapers was always a treat. Looking down below, the bald eagle 

watched as the busy, ant-like people went about their day. He didn’t have to worry 

about any of that; it was just him, the sky, and the breeze on his feathers. He was 

free.

    The eagle flapped his mighty wings again and again, savoring the freedom 

that flight gave him. Freedom from his dark house. Freedom from school. Freedom 

from all expectations.

    While a real bird might not have all of these concerns, thankfully this bird was 

really a boy. A young 12 year-old boy that was just starting to come into his own. 

A boy named Samuel that had hair that matched his brown feathers and sharp 

green eyes. He could change into birds and only birds; he didn’t know why. Maybe 

one of those wishes upon one of those stars actually came true.

     The boy couldn’t help but bring his musings back to his own family. His mother 

was a busy woman; she was the CEO of an affluent business that actually researched 

the human genome. His father was a scientist at the very same company. From an 

early age, Samuel had been taught the subtle art of science and learned to love it. He 

knew how to experiment and was given the freedom to explore his world by his 

successful parents. He spent most of his time when he was little in his bedroom, 

alone, playing with Legos; aside from the rare outing to the park with his father, 

which was a welcome treat.

     Shaking off such thoughts, the boy flew toward the local park. He banked his 

wings to the left and headed toward the large oak tree that dominated the middle of 

the park. He stretched his talons out to anchor himself to the branch to perch. 

Thinking back, Samuel couldn’t help but ponder about why he was even flying…

     BAM! Samuel was slammed into the locker by one of his many bullies: Joel. 

The avian child felt his back slam and pain reverberated through his back, down 

his spine, and into his very toes. That was going to leave a mark. 

Samuel couldn’t help but shake in fear at the boy towering in front of him. Joel 

had tormented him all his life; the brown-haired boy never understood why. He 

had thought that maybe he was jealous of his parents, with their fame and 

wealth. Maybe it was because he got high grades without even trying; his 

mother and father had drilled most of the dreary formulas into his skull before 

he had even started Kindergarten. School was just boring. Whatever his reason, 

Joel was here…again.

    “What’s wrong brown nose,” the bully sneered, pushing Samuel back into 

the locker, “Can’t take a beating?” The conglomeration of students surrounding 

them laughed in derision. None of them seemed to enjoy Samuel’s effortless A’s 

either. 

    “Just leave me alone Joe!” Samuel exclaimed; his voice cracked. He tried to 

push past the small crowd after shoving his ever present bully out of the way, 

his shoes squeaking on the linoleum floor in protest of the violent action.

    The large boy flew into a rage, grabbing Samuel’s shoulder roughly, “What 

did you call me?” His voice boomed before the crowd, “Only my friends call me 

that. You,” he paused, “You can call me sir.” He smirked.

    Samuel looked down and did his best to just walk away. Joel followed him. 

Samuel increased his gait a bit more. Joel kept up with his pace. Soon enough 

Samuel was running. He ran through the front doors with a crash and took the 

steps by twos just so he could get away from Joel, who was lagging behind more 

and more. The boy with the chestnut hair ran and ran and ran. Past Mrs. Caesars’ 

house. Past four year-old Jeremy playing in the front yard. Past the local church. He 

ran for as far as he could, until his lungs felt like they took over all of his insides 

and his heart was playing a beat to the samba.

    He let out of scream of frustration! He couldn’t take it anymore! He was 

done! School was stupid. Joel was stupid. Everyone was stupid! He didn’t even 

need to go to school; he already knew everything the teachers were teaching 

anyway. 

Deciding to let off a bit of tension, he looked around before deciding it was safe to 

transform. Samuel began to slowly shrink before his clothes melded with his skin 

and feathers started to sprout from his body. Then a beak. His legs turned into 

razor sharp talons. Soon enough there was a bald eagle sitting on the sidewalk as 

if it were an everyday occurrence. He lifted off and began to fly toward the city.

    His depressive thoughts were broken by an exclamation of “Look at that 

bird daddy!” He looked down from his branch and spotted a young girl. She had 

a leash in her hand which led down to a small Yorkie its mustached face sniffed 

the base of the tree. 

    “What’s that Princess?” A slightly rotund man came into view. He had black 

hair and brown eyes with a kind face. “Well, would ya look at that. We’re really 

lucky today princess; that bird is a bald eagle. It’s a symbol for freedom in 

America.” He grinned down at his child with loving eyes, “We should be quiet 

though. It looks like the fella’s sleepin’. We don’t wanna wake it up from its nap.” 

The man led his daughter away.

    The duo had reminded Samuel of the days when he used to hang out with 

his father on the hot summer days, just playing catch. Back when his parents 

had time for him and he hadn’t started school or had even discovered his 

powers. His nostalgia eventually broke away into depression. How would his 

parents feel if he just flew away? Would they even notice? They were never 

home and they never had meals together anymore since his mom and dad were 

so busy with their company. Joel wouldn’t have anyone to bully so maybe he’d 

notice, but he wasn’t really important. The more he thought about it, the more 

enticing the idea became.

    To run away.

    It was a novel concept, to leave everything behind. He knew that other 

kids did it; he had seen it in movies. The kids run away from their problems and 

become superheroes. It was official, running away was the only option left for 

him.

    It had been a bad idea, running away that is. Samuel was cold, wet, and 

hungry. The fact that it was raining exacerbated two of the three feelings; the 

third had been there since the end of the first day, as he hadn’t gotten to eat 

lunch before he ran from Joel. It was the third day now. Maybe he should go 

home, just to see how his parents were doing. A giant’s roar echoed through 

the clouds reminding him of the thunderstorm. Maybe it would be best to wait it 

out before flying.

    The storm had lasted all day. He was even hungrier now. It felt like his 

stomach was trying to eat itself, twisting into knots in his abdomen, beating up 

on the rest of his organs. His heart was beating fast, probably trying to keep 

him warm. His lungs felt like they were clogged with all of the water that had 

fallen today; he was probably sick. On the bright side, the storm had ended at 

least.    

     The flight going home wasn’t as easy as the one leaving it. His entire body 

ached with fatigue and a full body tiredness that seeped into his very soul. He 

hadn’t slept much in his tree, the darkness of the night scaring him without his 

covers to hide under. No monsters can get you under the covers his mom had 

always said, while comforting him after his nightmares when he was little.

    Samuel made it after three hours of flight; he was utterly spent. He 

couldn’t fly anymore even if he tried. He landed in the backyard and changed 

back after days of being a bird. He ran up to the back door, lifted the flower pot 

that his parents kept the spare key under, and stepped through the threshold. 

His parents were sitting at the kitchen table.

    They stared at each other for a moment, his parents in shock. That shock 

quickly turned to relief on their faces as they exclaimed, “Samuel!” They rose 

from their chairs and closed the distance to their prodigal son, embracing him 

with all of their might, crying. Samuel couldn’t help but be relieved. Running away 

wasn’t the best idea after all, he decided. His last thought before falling asleep in 

his parents’ arms was, “I’m glad to be home.” He was safe.

    Bullying is a terrible thing. It’s something 

that uses your words and actions that cause 

someone else pain. Sometimes it’s physical 

pain; something that you can feel with your 

senses and body. Sometimes it’s emotional 

pain; this is a bit harder to determine where 

the pain comes from but it is similar to a twist 

in your chest. Neither of these feelings are 

feelings that you would want to feel or even 

have anyone you know want to feel right? 

    There are many different ways that you can bully someone. There is Physical 

bullying (where you punch or kick someone), Verbal bullying (where you call 

someone names), Relational bullying (where you spread rumors and mean things 

about the person), and Cyber-bullying (which is going online and doing mean 

things to the person, usually on the Internet). None of these types of bullying are 

good for anyone.

    The reason that you do not want to bully someone – over not wanting to hurt 

them in any way – is the fact that bullying adds up. Even if you cannot see that 

someone is hurting, they can be. The hurt builds up so much so that it’s painful to 

move, to go to school, to eat, to live. It can lead to someone killing themselves. 

Imagine, if you can, a relative of your died, maybe a grandparent. You know that 

their passing is coming so you can prepare, so that maybe it hurts just a little 

bit less. But, if someone commits suicide, the family and friends do not expect it 

at all and it comes at a complete shock for them. The pain that was caused onto 

one person has spread to multiple people because of bullying. Pain only begets 

pain and nothing good can come from making someone feel like they are less of 

a person.

    What can you do to stop it? Tell someone. It may be hard if 

you are the one being bullied, but why not take your life into your 

own hands? If you see someone being bullied, speak up! Be the Hero 

they deserve; be the Hero they didn’t even know they had. Be the 

one that stops the pain.

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