The Majestic Rainbow

By Mona Latiolais Sphar

Fifteen-year-old Roy’s once happy life is now hopeless. His home life and school life are spiraling downhill at an astronomical speed. He has no friends and no one to turn to. He’s getting desperate. Then one day, Roy is lured into a mysterious swamp by a magnificent rainbow where a Creature evolves right before his eyes. The Creature offers Roy a rare opportunity to acquire the treasures of His special rainbow. All Roy has to do is cross the seven-colored steps which hold special adventures designed just for him. Roy is all for acquiring treasures; so with nothing to lose, he agrees to go. Will Roy have the courage to complete these adventures? What exactly are the treasures of this special rainbow? And last of all, who is this Creature of the rainbow? Join Roy on his many adventures as he travels on the steps of THE MAJESTIC RAINBOW.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Dec 23, 2019
• ISBN: 9781684703869

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Sphar

Copyright © 2019 Mona Latiolais Sphar.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

ISBN: 978-1-6847-0385-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6847-0386-9 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 05/29/2019

DEDICATED WITH LOVE TO

Andrew Latiolais and Ruth Lewin Latiolais, who were selfless, hard-working, kind, and loving parents: Thanks for bringing us up in a disciplined and Christian home.

Ernie, my husband: Thanks for all the good times we have shared, and for putting up with me for the many hours I stayed at the computer trying to make this book perfect.

Johnny, Pris, Ricky, and Eddie: Thanks for being the best siblings one could ever have. We sure shared some fun times together. I love you all.

My dear children: Monica, Trisha, James, Ryan, Samuel, and Amanda; my son-in-laws: Terry and Kemp; friends: Naomi, Dylan, and Lisa; my grandchildren: Talyn, Kassy, Addison, Hannah, Ethan, and Kayden; and all my future grandchildren: I love you all so much. May you know the power of prayer.

Special Dedication:

To all the Jewish people who were senselessly murdered in World War II: May their souls rest in peace.

PROLOGUE

Quotations from Students of Northside High on a Friday Afternoon on Mr. Babo’s School Bus:

The weekend’s finally here! I’m so excited. My family’s going to the beach for two days.

Hey, Luke, want to go to the basketball game tonight?

Bye, this is my stop. I’ll call you tonight.

I can’t wait until tomorrow. A whole bunch of us are going to that concert in the park. It’ll be great!

Jack’s birthday party is tomorrow night. About twenty of us will be there. He’ll be so surprised!

I’m so glad this week is over. I going camping with my scout troop.

I’m so nervous. My church choir is singing at mass on Sunday, and I have a solo part.

My sister got her first paycheck. She’s taking our whole family out for pizza tonight.

My grandparents are spending the weekend with us. Dad will do his famous barbeque on Saturday.

Roy sits alone in the back seat of the bus listening to his peers happily chatting about the fun times they’re going to have this weekend. Roy desperately wishes he had a friend to talk to and share the weekend with; but he doesn’t. He heartily wishes he could spend just one good moment with his own family this weekend; but he won’t. He tries with all his might to keep his tears from falling down his face as his eyes swell with sadness.

Mr. Babo’s bus stops in front of Roy’s house. With his head held down, Roy quickly exits the bus, brooding over his lonely and dismal weekend ahead.

This is his story…

CHAPTER 1

My Life Now

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It’s Friday night again. I lie in my prison cell waiting for it all to begin. It happens every Friday night around eight. It’s the same scene over and over. The clock slowly ticks along as my near-explosive mom waits impatiently in the living room, glaring at the front door. As the door finally bursts open, my volatile, buzzed dad staggers in. The face-off immediately begins as their weekly drama erupts:

You’re three hours late, and you didn’t call. How many times have I told you to call me if you’re going to be late? And don’t tell me you were at work. I know where you were. You were at that no-good bar again, says Mom angrily. I’ve told…

Dad interrupts her and responds back in a loud, slurred voice, Yeah? So what! I can have a drink with the guys if I want. What’s it to you anyway? I deserve it. At least someone in this house works hard all week.

Mom answers back lowering her voice, Keep your drunken voice down. Roy will hear you.

Dad replies even louder than before, Roy’s not stupid. He knows what’s going on here.

My mom shouts back, now crying, You don’t care about anyone except yourself. You’re nothing but a pathetic drunk.

And furiously Dad retorts, Me, a pathetic drunk? Why don’t you stop and look at yourself for a change? You’re the one who’s pathetic. All you do is stay in this house all day long and do nothing. This house looks like a pigpen. I come home late from work just one night a week, and you complain like it’s every night! You’re lucky that I come home at all. He pauses for a moment, and then continues, And you know what? I’m not staying. I’m out of here. Who in their right mind wants to stay here with you? He turns around and starts walking toward the door, and just as he gets there, he looks back and shouts, You can sulk in your own self-pity by yourself. At least I have friends. Then my dad leaves slamming the front door, while my mom cries hysterically as she heads toward her soon-to-be-slammed bedroom door…

That’s what I get to listen to every Friday night. These repeat episodes have been going on for so many months that I know the script by heart. And it’s about to begin again because I hear my dad’s truck in the driveway; and as I quickly glance at the clock, I see it’s seven fifty-eight.

There’s the door. And as if on cue, I hear my mom yelling as the weekly drama unfailingly unfolds…

I try to drown out their harsh words with my pillow, but it doesn’t do any good; I can still hear them shouting. I wish they would stop. If I had any friends or any places to go, I’d never be home on a Friday night. But I don’t have a friend or a single place to go, so I’m stuck here.

Luckily these episodes don’t last too long. After their bitter argument ends, my mom stays in her room crying until she falls asleep. My dad usually staggers in about one in the morning, plops himself on his recliner, and passes out. For the rest of the weekend, they hardly look or speak to each other. I stay away from them as much as I can and try to get their hurtful words out of my mind.

I usually have no trouble avoiding them throughout the weekend, or even on school days for that matter. However, lately they have developed this incessant need to find someone to take out their frustrations on. And guess who they’ve found? Me! All weekend long, they become the most nit-picking parents that anyone could ever have. They’re constantly on me to clean my room, fix my bed, stop slouching, get a haircut, read a book, and the best one yet, to stop playing video games. They just love using me as a scapegoat for their own anger against each other. I wish they would just leave me alone. I guess they feel that since their lives are miserable, why not make mine miserable, too.

Well, I finally got to a point when I had enough of their constant nagging. So about five weeks ago, I resorted to defending myself by yelling back at them. Even so, my defense really didn’t do me any good; it even made things worse. It actually helped them form a temporary alliance with each other against me. They got together to discuss ways to make my life even more unbearable than it already was. For example, the other day my parents told me to clean up my room about ten times; so I finally responded, Why should I clean up my room when our whole house is a mess? I then continued to tell them, I’m the one who lives in it, so I’ll leave it any way I want to.

Needless to say, they didn’t like my response. My mom whispered something to my dad, and then my dad informed me that I was banned from my computer for a week. He went on to tell me that if I didn’t show them the respect they deserved, I would be banned from my computer for a month!

I answered back bitterly, Why should I respect you when you don’t even respect each other? It must have hit a nerve or something because neither of my parents answered me. They walked out and left me alone for the rest of the day. But the next day, they were on my case again, and they actually took my computer out of my room for an indefinite amount of time. And boy, were they both so pleased with themselves.

My mom and my dad both knew that was the worst punishment they could give me. Now, they’ve been keeping my computer away from me every chance they get. They know how much I love to play my video games. However, what they don’t know is that without my computer, I can’t keep up with events that are happening at school while secretly longing to be a part of them, and I can’t look at posts made by some of my classmates and pretend they’re posted for me to read. The little fun I had left in my life was now gone.

I feel like a prisoner in this house. I’m lonely and isolated. My parents hate me, and they seem to hate each other, too. No one will ever be able to help me. I feel that I have no purpose for living.

I can’t take it much longer…

My name is Roy Garland Biverson. I go to Northside High School with a school enrollment of 1800 students, 500 of whom are freshmen like me. With so many students in my school, I should have been able to find one friend by now, but I haven’t. Most kids start high school with at least a few friends from their middle school with them, but not me. Jack, who used to be my best friend, moved away, and my other three friends from middle school went to private schools. That left me friendless and alone to start a brand new school, and I’ve been that way ever since high school started six months ago.

One might think it’s kind of strange how I can say I’m alone at school with so many people around, or that I haven’t even made one friend. But it’s true, and I’ve really made an effort to make friends even though I’m very shy. Take for instance, on the first day of school, I was standing near a group of people in the gym, waiting for the bell to ring, yet no one talked to me. I was actually listening to the conversation and tried to be a part of the group. I laughed when they did and commented on something one of the guys said; still no one reacted to my comment. It was as if I hadn’t said anything.

And there were the times I rode the bus to school during the first week. I attempted to talk to a few people on separate days, but they ignored me by looking out the window or pretending to sleep. It seemed as if everyone did just about anything to avoid a conversation with me. Was I that boring? Was I that ugly to look at? Was I invisible?

Well, after so many rejections that first week of school, I gave up. When I rode the bus to school, I found an empty seat in the back. As soon as the bus arrived at school, I got off and walked to a corner of the gym and stood by myself until the bell rang. Then I walked to class alone feeling very worthless and dejected.

After a few weeks of school had passed by, I decided to give it one more try. Since a few of my teachers had started to divide their classes into small groups, I figured it might be easier for me to talk in front of just a few classmates; possibly then someone might listen to my comments. Unfortunately for me, it didn’t happen. When we were in groups, there was always someone who took control and only let his or her friends from the group talk. I tried to do my part by offering a suggestion in my history group one day, but the guy who had put himself as leader looked at me and said, That’s dumb. In my English class, I gave a comment, and the girl in charge just laughed. So now, even in small groups, I just keep my thoughts to myself.

My very last attempt to feel like a part of this school was during homecoming week when everyone seemed happy and full of school spirit. I had to admit that I even felt a little enthusiastic about it, too. The homecoming dance was two days away, and I kind of liked a girl in my history class who was nice to everyone, including me. So after debating with myself for a while, I found a small bit of courage inside of me and decided to ask her. I walked up to her after history class and said, Hi Sue. Are you going to the homecoming dance?

At first she was speechless and looked stunned. Then she quickly said, No, and turned around and just left me standing there. She didn’t even offer me an explanation. I couldn’t understand why she didn’t say anything else to me when she had always been nice before.

Well, that was it! That rejection was the last straw; I truly gave up! I vowed NEVER to make any more attempts to be a part of this school. I resigned myself to always being alone.

Ever since that day, I’ve kept to myself all day long so no one will have a chance to laugh at me or reject me. In the morning, I huddle in my corner of the gym by myself. During the school day, I remain inconspicuous to my classmates and teachers by keeping all my thoughts to myself and by sitting way in the back of the classroom. I skip lunch and sit in a bathroom stall until it’s time for my next class. At the end of the day, I sit by myself on the bus or sometimes walk home alone. I definitely feel that I could stay away from school and no one would notice that I was missing. And I’m really positive that no one would miss me if I was gone for good, either at school or at home.

It’s kind of strange how my thoughts are constantly on school, even on a Friday night. I guess it’s because home and school both make me sad and hopeless. They both keep me from sleeping.

As I look at the clock, I see it’s three in the morning. My parent’s weekly Friday drama has long reached its climax, and I have the whole weekend at home with them before I have to go back to school.

I bury my face in my pillow as I try again to fall asleep; but as I close my sleepless eyes, more tears stream down into my already tear-soaked pillow.

CHAPTER 2

Flashbacks

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You know, I haven’t always felt or been like this. I used to like school. My opinion on things used to matter. My elementary and middle school teachers actually liked me. My parents used to love me. I even had friends! As I mentioned before, my best friend was Jack.

Jack and I had been friends forever. We lived next door to each other, and because