Phoenix

December 10, 2004
The word, “weird” means to suggest something supernatural. I’m positive that Antonio Peters was not “supernatural”. He wasn’t eerie or uncanny, but he was weird. I know you’re saying, “That doesn’t make sense” Hold on let me explain. Every human being is weird. There are different kinds of weirdness for instance, there’s “brilliant weirdness” that gives you the gumption to discover that E=MC2. There is also a “hood weirdness” that makes you the “coldest” rapper in the game shout out to “Lil Wayne”. There is that “slayer weirdness” that compels you to murder six million Jews. If you’re unlucky you may even be blessed with that “dark weirdness” that has you doing all types of crazy things like murdering a boy’s parents and leaving him with a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. If fate is on your side you may be blessed with that “Badass weirdness” that makes you the best at everything you do in an adamantium laced skeleton. However more than often many of us have that “generic weirdness” that allows us to conform to the norms of society. Antonio Peters had his own kind of weirdness.
Antonio Peters moved to Mississippi from the great state of New York. He was the only child of his mother. The two of them were alone a single child and a single mother. In the fourth grade Antonio was introduced to the class. It was just after Labor Day and our teacher Ms. Brown stood him up before the class and said that he was a new student and we should all welcome him. The only problem we all had was that “welcoming him” meant that we would have to talk to him. It would have been easier for us if we didn’t figure out after two weeks that this kid only owned five shirts. On Mondays he wore a blue and white striped button down, Tuesday an I “heart” New York shirt, On Wednesday a dark blue shirt, Thursday a New York KNICKS shirt, and on Friday an ash gray shirt that said, “TGIF” in black letters. We kept track of the days of the week by looking at the shirt he wore. Sometimes we would come in early in the morning and Ms. Brown wouldn’t have the days date written on the board so instead of struggling to figure it out we’d look over at Antonio and the revelation came via the choices of MTWTF. The entire year we always argued over what shirt Antonio wore on the weekends.
On top of not having any clothes Antonio failed at fitting in. During recess the boys always played four square, kickball, or basketball. Antonio was the only boy in our class that sat at the picnic tables and watched us play. Whenever one of us would try and ask him to play he would put his head down and look away. He wouldn’t look us in the eye. Everyday he had the same lunch, a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich and chocolate milk. It was the lunch that the cafeteria provided for kids that forgot their lunch or lunch money. We always debated over what he ate for dinner. Megan Flowers figured that it was probably something exotic because he couldn’t possibly eat two plain and boring meals during the day. Justin Johnson concluded that it was probably peanut butter and jelly with strawberry jam because he had grape jelly on his sandwich from his school lunch. Me, I figured that he only ate when he was at school. Antonio always rushed to lunch to get his free sandwich and chocolate milk. He was always the first kid finished and the first kid to be on the playground after eating. He was obviously hungry. Antonio and his mom were dirt poor and he was really skinny. His mom dropped him off at school in the morning. She drove a faded blue Buick that was rusted at the bottom. After school Antonio walked home alone.
I know you’re thinking that Antonio wasn’t weird he was just poor and we were jerks but I know him. We grew up together. The cliché statement is true, “The only thing constant in life is change.” When we got middle school Antonio got weirder he was a late bloomer everyone was bigger than him including the girls. He started wearing all black, black shirts, black pants, black socks, and black boots. He was well on his way to becoming one of those “gothic” kids that were always smoking a couple of blocks away from the High School. In middle school we were all divided up into our cliques. Megan Flowers was rich she had money and was the first to get a cell phone in fifth grade so she was fated to become the Queen of Snobs. Justin Johnson was also a spoiled brat he played football, basketball, and baseball so he was crowned the King of “Jocksnobs”. Together he and Megan set the dress code for our grade. Abercrombie and Hollister were in. If you didn’t wear clothes with those labels you were lame. Antonio didn’t fit into the Geek clique, the druggie clique, the band geek clique, or the Manga clique. He existed in his own little world. In Seventh grade Antonio’s mom bought him a cell phone. Now everyone in seventh grade had a cell phone that flipped open. The phone came from Sprint, Verizon, or Cingular (Now AT&T). Antonio’s mom made the mistake of getting him a non-flipping phone from Cricket. He was the laughing stock of our grade. It wouldn’t have been so bad if he didn’t have the audacity to take out his phone and ask Megan for her number. She laughed at his phone and called him poor. Justin the King of “Jocksnobs” happened to be walking down the hall when he saw what was going on. He took the phone from Antonio and he and his entourage started throwing the phone around. Antonio’s face was horror burdened. His mom spent what money she had to provide for Antonio and all he could do was watch as the Cricket phone was thrown like a ball from jock to jock. She warned him to no let anyone see it. All Hell broke loose when Tommy Holden aka The Benchwarmer fumbled the phone and dropped it cracking the screen and breaking the cover for the battery. Antonio lost it, he charged Tommy and knocked him into the locker. Justin and his lackeys rushed over to aid their fellow Jock. Antonio got his butt-kicked hard. Mr. Horton the assistant principal arrived moments too late and had to lift a bloody Antonio off of the ground. That little incident happened the second to last week of our seventh grade year. Antonio didn’t come back to school in the fall. We didn’t see him again until 10th grade.
Antonio had finally hit his growth spurt. Unfortunately by now he had even more people that were aware of his unfortunate ability to stand out in the worst possible way. The Antonio that returned was still skinny and dressed in black. His weirdness matured, he was incredibly smart. The teachers loved him he was the perfect teacher’s pet. He was on time to class, sat in the front, answered all the questions, and always had his lesson done. The teachers could also count on him to “rat” other students out. Antonio could have had it all if he would of left Megan alone. Antonio liked Megan a lot. She was a slut now, but he still felt that he had a chance with her. One day after a pep assembly he followed her to her locker. There he asked Megan out. Megan was one of those girls that losers like Antonio could only dream about. She was attractive every guy wanted to date her and all the girls wished they could be her. Antonio just couldn’t take no for an answer. He asked her out again. Megan being as “advanced” as she was dated a senior guy. She told him what happened and he was irate. The next day he yanked Antonio out of his chair in the cafeteria and started beating his hand up with Antonio’s face. The assault didn’t last long the security guards broke it up and Antonio was escorted to the nurse.
Antonio missed the next day of school. The day after he returned. He should have stayed at home another day because what happened the next day changed our lives forever. It was second period when we heard gunshots. We were in Mr. Jefferson’s U.S History class when three men in Armani suits burst into our class. They put a gun to Megan’s head and said they were taking hostages. Everyone started crying and screaming and one of the men fired a shot into the air. The class was silent, but none of us were prepared for what happened next. Antonio still bruised from his fight the other day stood up and asked the men to take him instead. Antonio asked the men to let everyone go and keep him as a hostage. No one stopped him. The men smiled and took Antonio into the hallway. They closed the door and we heard three gunshots. We sat frozen in our seats as Antonio’s red blood flowed underneath the door into our classroom. We were silent as we watched his life flow onto the floor at our feet were we had stood on him the entire time we knew him.
After his murder the school was closed for an entire week. No one knew why the men had come and why they wanted a hostage. It was really strange. It was weird. After a couple of weeks we got a new student. By now, everyone was wearing shirts that had Antonio’s picture with text that read, “In loving Memory”. Megan led the whole thing after all Antonio had given his life for her. She even got his initials tattooed on her wrist. The new student just watched all of this go on. He never asked what happened. It was weird of him to not be nosy and want to know what went down. Everyone figured he must have watched it on the news.
The new student was me, Adam Porter. Antonio Peters was weird. After the phone incident in seventh grade, Antonio went back to New York to be with his father. He spent his 8th and 9th grade years in New York. There he became close with his father, the crime lord of Brooklyn’s biggest mafia. There Antonio learned one life lesson, “People always fall in love with a dead person.” Antonio asked the men to come to the school and pretend to take hostages.
Everyone underestimated me; I just wanted Megan to love me. I did what I had to do. I faked my death and created a new life for myself. As Adam Porter I watched as my peers who rejected me made a shrine to me. The girl who turned me down now wore my initials on her body. I wanted to be reborn. I was doused in humiliation, set ablaze in the fire of rage, mourned in the ashes of death only to rise again to be worshipped. I am now Adam Porter and everyone loves me. In my own special way I am weird just like you.

The above is an excerpt from the Diary of Adam Porter/Antonio Peters. The boy suffered from a multiple personality disorder. He spent the rest of his life “murdering” himself in various ways, from High school to college and various jobs around the country a man with the initials A.P was “murdered”. All of his (their) deaths revolved around a rejected person sacrificing himself for people that didn’t care for him. Days later a new person would show up to observe the memorial before moving on to a new life. A.P is known as the first ever real life “Phoenix”. He has/They have a “method to his(their) madness”…