It all started with a bang, the loud shot of a gun, children screaming, and a man shaking with a gun in his hands; but in order fully to understand the extent of this event, we need to back up a bit. The date is April 9th, 2012, a normal day to most, some feeling grief for people they lost, others being happy with their new found love. Charlie was different, for this day was his 18th birthday, the day he hated most. He'd lived a rough life, being bullied throughout school. From kindergarten to high school, he was always the weird kid. Charlie had thought about killing himself many different times; he wished he was never born. He was always the outcast; he had no friends, and an abusive family. He just wished he could get away from it all. The only thing he ever had, was school. No matter how much he was abused and harassed throughout all his childhood, Charlie always did his school work. He had good grades, and was on track to graduate from high school with a high GPA and high test scores. Charlie knew there were only two ways to get away from his abusive life, to leave everything behind and further his education at college, or just end it all. He wanted to study law, but had no money to pay for college. He'd been applying to hundreds of scholarships, but had yet receive any. Today he decided to make a choice. He wanted today to be the day that ended it all, ended all the pain and suffering he'd been through. He figured there was a reason he hadn't gotten any scholarships. He thought it was god's way of saying, there's only one way out.

Charlie went to school that day, contemplating whether he was going to do it or not, and if he was, how he would do it. He started thinking, if he did it, would anyone even notice, would anyone even care. Probably not, he figured. He looked around the room to see if anyone was looking at him, and he noticed a student looking around the room, shaking, beginning to sweat. The student became anxious, he stood up, pulled out a gun and shot. He then yelled "I'm tired of this! I'm tired of all the judging!" Charlie was shocked as his hearing recovered from the loud sound from the gun. He looked around, and saw the fear on everyone's faces, but Charlie didn't feel scared. He looked at the gunman, slowly stood up, put his hands forward and began to talk to the man. The gunman turned quickly, and pointed the gun and Charlie and said, "What are you doing up? Get down or I'll shoot you!" Charlie responded, "Ya' know it's funny actually, I was just sitting here thinking about killing myself . Guess that's the reason I'm not afraid to be standing right now. Why fear death, when you're already a dead man." The gunman was stunned, pointing the gun and Charlie he asked, "Yeah? And why would you go and do that? You have a future, you've got it easy!" Charlie laughed, "I've lived a hard life, sure I drown myself in my school work, and put on a fake smile every day, but that doesn't mean I'm happy. Why shouldn't I kill myself!" The gunman began to shake even more, he yelled "You don't know what a hard life is! I've been ignored my whole life. All I've ever had were a few friends, and they're all starting to slowly fade out of my life too. I'm alone, and constantly being mocked by everyone in this room!" Charlie looked him in the eye, and began to shake his head.

"Let me tell you a bit about myself, and maybe you'll understand what a really hard life is like." He said with a look of despair in his eyes. "When I got to high school, I had no friends, nowhere to fit in, and no one that cared about me. At home I had a drug addict mother and father who would beat me for saying anything. I've been alone my whole life." Charlie closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. "My first day at high school was horrible. When I got to my first class it was full of the kids who had bullied me in middle school, and to no surprise they hadn't changed. They were harassing me within the first few minutes of class, as I did my best to ignore then. After class I was greeted by a few of them, as they held me down and began to beat me." Charlie looked around the room, and one of the students who had beaten him, and gave him a sharp glair, took a deep breath, and continued on with his story. "A teacher came by while they were doing it, and told them to knock it off. He went into his room, and did nothing as I fell to the ground in pain. After school that day, I went to the park, to do my school work like I normally had, because I knew if I did it at home, I'd be beaten for something, and it would never get done. After finishing my work, started walking home, on my way I got jumped by some of the neighborhood kids. Thankfully they didn't still my backpack, this time. When I got home, I was greeted by my father yelling at me for being late, with no care about my cuts and bruises. He then started pushing me around, and eventually told me to piss off. I went to my room, and went to sleep hungry, which was pretty normal for me."

The gunman, still pointing the gun at him started shaking even more, as a tear began to run down his face. Charlie looked around the room and noticed, there was no longer a look of fear on the faces of the students, only faces of remorse, and regret. He looked back at the gunman, as he lowered the gun and began to walk toward Charlie. "You're right, my life is nothing compared to yours, I've got friends that care about me, you've got no one." He said. He then set the gun down by his feet and said, "Thanks for standing up, otherwise, I could have made a huge mistake today." Police began to enter the room, and detained the gunman. An officer began to question Charlie, about what it was he said that made the man put the gun down. Charlie chuckled and said "I guess I made him realize, he's got too much going for him, to just end it here, or to kill someone, and end up facing life in jail. It just wasn't worth it to him."

After the incident, Charlie was interviewed. He was on the news, and in news papers everywhere. They call called him a hero. His family didn't care though. They were still abusive to him every day. They didn't care that he was this supposed hero, in their eyes, he was still a mistake. Things were different for him at school. People were much nicer to him. Past bullies would apologize to him, and Charlie began to even make a few new friends. When he finished high school, he graduated at the top of his class. With his face all over the news, he began receiving scholarships left and right. He did what he planned to do; he left his family behind, and attended the college of his dreams. With his heroic actions, he received a full ride to Harvard Law. Charlie's new life started to begin the moment that man fired that gun. His new life truly, started with a bang.