Every day, Oscar did everything his way. Oscar ate what he wanted, played the games he wanted, and decided when he wanted to sleep. If his mom asked him to clean up after himself or come down for dinner, he’d shout ‘later!’ and continue with what he was doing.
One day, Oscar came home late from school after playing with his best friends in the park.
‘I’m home!’ he yawned as he walked in. He was exhausted after playing all afternoon.
‘Hi, honey!’ Oscar’s mom called back.
Oscar went on to do the next thing on his daily list. He grabbed a handful of snacks from the cupboard and then played on his PlayStation until the sun went down. The room started to get extremely dark. The only light came from the TV.
‘Oh, come on!’ Oscar slammed the controller down on the couch. He grabbed a handful of chips. Half of them crumbled to pieces before they even reached his mouth.
‘Just give me a chance!’ he exclaimed to his friends in the game. They responded with loud grumbling.
‘Oscar!’ his mom called from the kitchen.
He didn’t respond.
‘Guys, come over here!’ he shouted at the screen.
‘Oscar!’ his mom repeated.
She had shouted louder this time, and she sounded a bit tired.
‘Yes?!’ Oscar said, taking off his headset.
‘Dinner is ready!’
Oscar rolled his eyes as he put his headset back on and settled on the couch.
‘Later!’ he called back.
Time passed and Oscar’s mom came into his room. She was carrying a plate of food for him. She stopped suddenly just inside the door.
‘Oscar, can you clean up this mess?’
The more Oscar had eaten, the more crumbs had spread around him. He was surrounded by food remnants, wrappers, and all the other mess accumulated on the couch.
‘Later!’ he shouted while glued to the screen.
His mom sighed as she began to clean up the mess.
The next day, Oscar came home angry and frustrated because he had struggled with a test at school. He decided to treat himself to a cake.
Just as Oscar was about to take the first bite, his mom called him from the other room. He sighed, dropped his cake, and tried to run off before his mom arrived.
She looked stern, her arms folded. The envelope Oscar had brought home was torn open, and a letter was in her hand.
‘Oscar, we need to talk about something that happened at school.’
She pointed for him to sit next to her.
Oscar sat down. He knew what was about to happen.
‘Oscar, I read this letter from your teacher. She says you cheated on your test and copied your friend’s answers.’
Oscar suddenly got angry. He only copied because he didn’t understand any of it.
‘But he let me copy him!’ he sighed heavily.
His mom sighed too but then gave him a small smile.
‘It’s okay, Oscar. Look, if you try, I can help. Let’s start tonight, okay?’
Oscar was tired. Why couldn’t she just stay out of it?
He jumped to his feet, clenched his fists, and placed them at his sides.
‘Later!’ he exclaimed. He ran off to his bedroom.
Later that night, Oscar grumbled, tossing and turning from side to side in his bed. He couldn’t sleep at all.
Why was everyone after him? Why did he always have to do something? Why couldn’t they all just let him do what he wanted? He promised himself that he would do everything for himself in the future, even if it meant cheating on tests.
That night, Oscar dreamed of eating his favorite snacks and playing in the park with his best friends all day long.
The next morning, Oscar woke with a start after a good night’s sleep. A thunderstorm raged outside his window. Rain pounded hard against the glass.
‘Mom?’ Oscar called to the quiet house.
But no one answered him.
He ran downstairs, but no one was there. Oscar shrugged, sometimes his mom got called into work at the last minute. She would usually leave a note letting him know she had made his favorite breakfast and wrapped it on the counter. He looked everywhere, but there was no note or breakfast to be found.
‘Oh well,’ Oscar said aloud to himself and ate his breakfast.
Oscar reluctantly went to school, remembering that there was another test that day. When he got to class, he realized that the friend he usually copied from wasn’t there. He hadn’t told Oscar he wouldn’t be there. It seemed he hadn’t told the teachers either.
Oscar wasn’t too happy about coming home from school that day. He was upset about the test. Oscar hated the rain, which didn’t seem like it would stop anytime soon. It meant he couldn’t play outside.
‘Well, at least I’m home now,’ he thought.
‘I’m home!’ he shouted to an empty house.
His mom was still nowhere to be found.
Oscar thought it was strange. Normally, his mom would have someone look after him if she was gone for a long time.
He shrugged.
‘I’ll worry about it later,’ he said to himself.
He began playing his favorite game. He ate lots of candy, skipped dinner, and went to bed late that night.
The next morning, the wind and rain pounded harder against Oscar’s window.
‘It’s Saturday!’ Oscar woke up with an excited smile. He remembered that he and his mom had planned a day just to have fun together!
Oscar ran downstairs but stopped quickly when no one was home. Finally, he started to worry. That day, Oscar looked everywhere his mom could have gone. He called everyone he knew, but no one answered. He asked around town, but almost no one was there because of the rain. Of the people Oscar knew and could find, no one had seen his mom.
Oscar went home feeling hopeless. He started to cry as he looked for something to eat amid the mess in the kitchen. The house looked like a bomb had hit it. Oscar couldn’t even find his favorite toy under all the trash.
Oscar was too sad to sleep that night. He looked up at the sky through the window.
‘I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,’ he said out loud. ‘I didn’t mean for everyone who cares about me to go away. I wanted a break, but not like this! I want everything to go back to normal. Please, I didn’t mean for this to happen.’
The following morning, the sun shone brightly on Oscar’s sleeping face. He woke up feeling refreshed. He had forgotten everything for a moment. Suddenly, he remembered.
Oscar ran down the stairs, two steps at a time, trying not to trip as he called out for his mom.
He stopped at the bottom of the stairs when he saw her. She smiled as he ran to hug her.
‘You’re back! You’re back!’ he shouted.
She laughed and held him tight. ‘Did you have a bad dream, honey?’
He shook his head as he hugged her tighter, and she laughed louder.
Oscar had missed that laugh so much.
‘Come on. It’s Friday, get ready for school, or you’ll be late again.’
Oscar kissed her on the cheek.
‘Later!’ he was about to say. It was an old habit. Instead, he took a deep breath and said, ‘Okay! I’ll get ready now.’