Chapter 26

Remembering his past memories, Mike goes back to the day it all started. The day he joined the army.

At that time I was young and immature, I thought I knew the world very well, but the truth that my arrogance hid things I couldn't see with my eyes, it blinded me. When I turned 18 I joined the army force, it was not very difficult for me as I had an athletic body and an above average physique. (Mike)

“-All soldiers gather! I will go over the place where each one will stay. (commander)"

I ended up staying in a hut along with 9 other soldiers, but what caught my attention the most was one with dark skin, he was clumsy, silly and short, he was like a mirror for me who was always serious and stayed in mine without interacting with nobody. (Mike)

“-Nicely my name is Dean. (Dean)"

With a smile on his face he extends his hand to shake my hand, but I just ignore him and walk away. I thought that with that he would understand the message, but I was mistaken, he didn't see evil in my actions and kept trying to get closer to me.

“-Wow! You're so tall, do you happen to like to play basketball? (Dean)

-Not. (Mike)

-I see, but you should try. I love basketball, even though it's bad, hahahaaha. But I bet you'll do really well. (Dean)"

Later that day we started training at the training camp with obstacles, before long it attracted glances from the superiors. But there was someone who also drew a lot of attention that day, however, it wasn't in a good way. (Mike)

"-Hey! Look at him. (recruit 1)

-What does he think he's doing? Hahahahahaha. (recruit 2)

-My God just look at how he runs. Hahahahahahah. (recruit 3)"

People started to make fun of Dean and it got worse and worse as time passed. He was isolated, the only ones who came close to him were to bully and tease him. Like me, he was isolated from everyone, but not because he wanted to, but because no one wanted to be friends with someone so “useless”. It had been a week since I arrived in the army, Dean's happy expression no longer existed, he walked with his head down, refused to look into the eyes of others out of fear and always spoke in low tones. We were doing our morning walk, but instead of me pulling her, I preferred to stay back watching Dean, he called me a lot of attention. Why was he still in this place when he was suffering so much, what was it that motivated him at that level. Dean ends up losing his balance as he runs, tripping and falling facedown on the ground. He scratched his face and his knees a lot, that was really a miserable sight to behold. I stopped at the spot right in front of him while he dusted off his body. (Mike)

“-Are you hurt? (Mike)

-No, it's alright. (Dean)"

I knew it wasn't something a complete stranger should ask, but my curiosity got the better of me making me lose my composure. (Mike)

"-Why are you here? You know it's not mean, but you don't have any decent fitness, you're not good at anything, and you're not even smart. Why do you insist so much on staying here? (Mike)”

Those words of mine were cruel, in his face I could see they made him suffer a lot internally. But even so he didn't stop smiling and with that smile on his face he answered me. (Mike)

“-You know, I have a mother, she is a very kind person and she did a lot of things for me, I am very grateful to her, so I promised to do anything for her. (Dean)

-Was she the one who asked you to come in here? (Mike)

-No, she didn't ask me for anything. In fact, she couldn't even do it. My mother has a rare disease and is in a dormant state right now. The treatment is very expensive and with normal jobs I would never be able to keep the treatment and as you said yourself I don't have any special talents, I'm just an idiot guy. (Dean)"

That answer moved me, Dean's motive was something very noble, while I entered just because I was physically good and that I should enter, Dean did it for someone else. In that moment I realized how insignificant and arrogant I was. (Mike)

“-But I don't mind being just an idiot. (Dean)

-Like this? (Mike)

-It's just my thoughts, but I think all groups need a dumb guy. Someone whose mere presence makes them laugh, no matter what the reason, I'm sure everyone needs an idiot person in their lives. (Dean)"

At that moment I couldn't see the meaning behind those words. But one thing changed from that day forward and that thing was that I was no longer alone and neither was Dean. I started walking and talking to him, we became friends and he was my first friend. People started to stop bullying because he always walked with me, after all, nobody wanted to get in trouble with me. A few months passed and our first battle was about to begin, we were sent into a desert field to face enemies of the state, but we had no battle experience and our inferiority was evident during it, we panicked. Some began to cry in despair knowing that perhaps this was their last day alive. We were dominated by fear, in that state we had no chance of winning. (Mike)

“-Hey Mike, I don't remember how to recharge, can you help me? (Dean)

-On here. (Mike)”

Everyone looked at Dean with confused looks and soon after that they started to laugh. (Mike)

“-Pffff. Haahahahahah. (soldier 1)

-Hahahahahah, what do you mean you don't know how to reload a weapon? (soldier 2)

-Hey, guys! We cannot lose this battle. We have to get back to camp alive to teach Dean how to reload his weapon! (soldier 3)

-RIGHT!! (soldiers)"

By magic everyone forgot their fears and were taken by a great dose of adrenaline. By some miracle that day we managed to win the battle, that's what everyone had thought, but I knew the reason we won. While the rest of the soldiers hugged Dean laughing a lot and stroking him on his head I looked delighted at that person with 1.60 tall, knowing that it was because of him that everyone managed to forget their fears and face the battle. From that day forward I knew how important an idiot person was to the world.