It was a late summer evening in August. The sky was filled with brilliant hues of pink and orange, and Wayne stopped for a moment to admire it before continuing down the sidewalk. A series of different voices drifted into his ears. Wayne paused and turned his head to see where the noise was coming from. A family was seated not too far away. It looked to him like they were having some sort of picnic, involving pizza. He studied the family for a moment. He saw a mom and a dad, both smiling as they looked at what Wayne supposed were their children. A girl that looked about ten years old and a young boy that looked… like him. He had dark hair like Wayne, and was solidly built. He was eating a piece of pizza while he listened to his sister talk. The boy looked about 17 years old. He looked… happy. Wayne tried to remember himself at that age. He definitely wasn’t happy. His mind began to fill with images of his younger years. Him at home, yelling at his family, spending all his time in his room on his phone. Wayne didn’t think he’d ever done a night out with his family. His brothers and sister and him never laughed like the ones he could see now. He remembered one night in particular. 

He'd had a particularly gloomy day at school, and when he got home he just threw his backpack and went to his room. He didn’t even say hi to his mom, who had a snack waiting for him on the counter, eager to hear about his day. Wayne walked by without even saying anything. He got to his room and just flopped on his bed, put his earbuds in, and opened Tik Tok. Before he knew it, hours had gone by. He heard a noise, and looked up. His mom was standing at the doorway, her lips moving. He pulled out his earbuds. 

“Honey, are you hungry?”  she asked. 

He was. Very, actually. 

“No, I'm fine, I’ll grab something later. Leave me alone please.” Without waiting for her response, he put his earbuds back in and went back to his phone. His mom slowly left the room. A few minutes later, he got a text from his mom. 

Your siblings and Dad and I are going to watch Joey’s hockey game. Want to come? 

Wayne sighed. “Why can’t they just leave me alone? I hate doing things with my family, they are all so annoying.” He texted back:

No.

Wayne’s flashback ended and he stood alone on the sidewalk. That was his whole teenage years. He had never wanted to do things with his family. His room was where he basically lived. Wayn realized how much he had really missed out on with his family. He was paying the consequences now. The communication he had with his family now was severely lacking. He sighed. It hurt his heart how much time he wasted. He thought about how much he needed to fix that broken communication. It wasn’t too late. With renewed mind and heart he continued on his walk home, ready to fix his family relationships.