Bruises and Pom Poms, Part 3

(Pov: Axel)

Rather than visiting the bright cheerful world that I was accustomed to whenever I watched an episode of Magical Pom Pom. I was now watching a nightmarish hellscape of fuzzy static.

I couldn't make out anything on the tv except for a few brief glimpses of the show before it cut back out. From the glimpses, I can see that the episode took place in a school.

Two girls were standing in front of a locker, having a conversation about something I couldn't hear. One of the girls had wavy teal hair, she has to be Pommy’s best friend Botan, but I couldn't make out the other one.

“...going… again.” said the one girl I couldn't see. The constant interruption of buzzing made it impossible to hear the whole sentence.

Is my TV really going to break down right now?

I turned the channel a couple of times to see if it’s the tv. Nope, from cooking to animals every other channel seemed to be fine. I turn back to Magical Pom Pom and the screen was completely blue with a high pitch ringing noise that made my headache even worse. There was a symbol of Ragnarok lays on top of the blanket of blue light.

Is this intentional?

I kept on watching the screen for what felt like ten minutes when the screen lifts. Instead of seeing Pommy -which is the only reason the tv is on- I see a...armadillo I think. C’mon really?

This must have been the monster of the week. A giant armadillo with two drills for arms was fighting against a group of magical girls.

“Pommy……gone…” came out of the creature's mouth in a creepy distorted voice.

The title of the episode came back to my mind. The world that Pommy abandoned. What is this show even trying to do?

The image on the screen was getting darker and darker as the girls' faces one by one started getting more and more unsettling. Their mouths form to create an uncanny smile and their eyes turning black-

I turned it off.

“What the hell was that crap!” I yelled as I threw my remote control at the tv.

In a torrent of rage, I grabbed my coffee table and flipped it over. About twenty miniature Pommys went scattering around the room.

One year, one whole frickin’ year I wait and this is what my patience rewards me? Either the tv studio frigged up or this was some pathetic attempt to be artsy-fartsy from a pretentious asshole. This is a kid’s show dammit!

I had shown my dedication to this stupid show for three years. I had every single piece of merchandise I could find and out of dedication, despite not being either a writer or artist, I had created fanart and fanfiction.

Out of the mess on my floor, I grabbed my notebook. I was so excited yesterday I filled the whole thing up. Flipping through the pages, I skimmed over a story about me and Pommy meeting one cold winter day. In it we are madly in love with each other and go on dates, hang out at the arcade and celebrate Valentine's Day together.

Now thinking about it, this story was about my ideal life, a complete fantasy, one with a kind girl that actually likes me. Every girl in school is a bitch, no one in real life is like her. Maybe that's why I was so mad, it’s like Pommy herself was rejecting me too…

Wait….what the hell am I doing? I’m getting so worked up over a girls' show… and I even wrote a whole story about being in love with its main character. What’s wrong with me!?

Creases formed on my notebook as I tighten my grip. With a sweeping motion, I threw the notebook off towards my dresser. A large crash comes from that direction.

Putting too much strength into my throw it flies onto the top of my dresser and had knocked everything over.

Realizing what I had just done I immediately stood up. Despite my body telling me to keep sitting I ran over to the side of my dresser.

“Dad!”

A picture frame was laying on my floor. I picked it up and glanced it over.

Phew. Luckily there wasn't a scratch on it.

In the frame is a picture of a small gang huddling around a motorcycle. They all have on leather jackets and jeans, some even wore sunglasses. This picture was taken when my dad was in his youth. Everything about my dad and his friends screamed badass carefree punks.

In the picture, there was now another person I see. He looked weak with his busted-up nose and that somber expression on his face. Nothing about him was like the others. Nothing at all.

“The hell you lookin’ at!?” I yelled at my reflection as I slammed the picture down onto my dresser.

What am I lacking?

I dressed and acted like them. I got strong enough to be able to say I’m the toughest kid in my school. But I still wasn't happy, not like how they seemed to be.

Turning around I walked over to my bed when I stepped on something. Looking down I saw the letter my mother had written me under my foot.

After taking the letter out of the envelope I started to read it.

"Dear Axel,

I’m sorry that I'm going to be leaving you alone for the week.

You're tough like me so I know you will be fine. I’m counting on you to take care of things while I'm gone.

Also, don't get into any more fights. If you do, I will make sure you regret it!

Looks like I already let you down…sorry mom. You should have known better.

I laid the letter down as I sat on my bed. The pain was getting worse and my body is demanding that I went to sleep."

After my beating and the disappointing start to Magical Pom Poms' third season, I got into my bed. That’s when I saw a face as I went to grab a pillow. From it, Pommy was staring right at me.

Pommy was on my bed, on my walls, on my floor. She was is in every nook and cranny of my room.

It’s you, isn't it?… It’s your fault…

The reason I wasn't like those guys, the reason I was so weak, the reason I couldn't get a date wasn't that I was lacking something, no, it was because I had something holding me back.

It was obvious now that I had thought about it. What kind of man watches Magical Pom Pom?

"Starting tomorrow you are out of my life...” I said as I punched my pillow.