Windows in Time by john thompson

Chapter One:
     
    Jonathan, a 14 year old eighth grader at a public middle school in his hometown, was lying on the floor in the hall. It was just after 4 th period had begun and he had been on the way to the bathroom. Another boy, Travis, had knocked him out.
     
    "Stay down freak," Travis said with disdain on his voice. He had only one real problem with Jonathan. Jonathan was from the boys home in town. Jonathan had no family of his own, and Travis was from a very important family.
     
    One might think that it is crazy to hate based on being an orphan, but sometimes middle school students hate for the stupidest reasons. Jonathan had never done anything to the other student, and couldn't understand why he hated him. Jonathan wouldn't strike back, but it meant he was easily pushed down.
     
    Something inside of him snapped when he was knocked down. This time he got up.
     
    "Leave me alone you jerk," he shouted.
     
    "You finally found your voice. I'm surprised."
     
    Jonathan stood up and gave his meanest look at Travis. "If you try to hurt me again, you will be sorry."
     
    "That was the wrong thing to say," Travis said with murder in his eyes. He looked around and saw that no one was coming. Then he put his hands out and pushed.
     
    Right at that very second, one of the assistant principals was walking around the corner. He saw Jonathan go down the stairs and Travis start to laugh. Travis turned around and saw who was about 50 feet away. He ran down the steps and out the door, while Jonathan lay on the floor screaming in pain. One of his legs were broken.
     
    "I'll get an ambulance Jonathan. I saw everything, and will make sure the police catch Travis."
     
    Blood started coming out of the wound where the bone was sticking out. The vice principal called the nurse on his walkie talkie and told her what had happened. She said she would be there in 1 minute.
     
    Jonathan felt he was going to lose consciousness. "I don't think that I'm going to make it," he said.
     
    "Stay here Jonathan. You have a future that is bright. Just stick around."
     
    But everything went dark.
     
    When he began to regain consciousness he found himself in a hospital room. There was only one visitor there, Ms. Titus who was one of the house mothers at the boys home.
     
    "How long....?" Jonathan asked.
     
    "You've been out for an hour. The doctor said that it was more of the shock of what happened than the broken leg."
     
    "Travis did this to me. He's on the loose."
     
    "Not any more. The school security guard caught him at the front gate to the school. He was taken into police custody. With the witness, he will be going away for what he did."
     
    He looked down and saw his leg was in a cast. "I'm so tired of having people hate me. I shouldn't have to go through this." He started to shed a tear.
     
    "There are a lot of evil people in this world. It isn't your fault what happened. I would suggest that if anyone tries to pick on you again, stand up to them. If they are coming at you, hit them first. At school you can do anything like take a text book and smash them in the face. But only do this if they come after you. Don't start anything."
     
    "I would never. I just hope that Travis gets sent away."
     
    "I brought something for you," Ms. Titus said. "It's a new copy of the book about that Jewish boy that was killed back during the Nazi time. Your copy was pretty worn."
     
    "Thanks," he told her. "It will be something to keep me entertained till I can get out of here."
     
    His house mother had to go see the nurse at the front desk, so Jonathan opened the book and started reading from the first page of the book. He had read it 10 times since the first time he had gotten a copy of it two Christmas's ago.
     
    It wasn't just the story that got to him. Jonathan had read many sad stories. This story got to him because he wished that he could be friends with a boy that had died at the same age Jonathan was now. Seth had drawn a picture of himself