//------------------------------// // Declan Hunt, backstory/untold secret // Story: The CMC in the real world // by DarkyBoode32 //------------------------------// My name is Declan Hunt, and I am an average boy living in the city of Duluth in Minnesota. I have been known as a very cheerful and successful person as my friends at school look up to me whenever they see me. I see myself to be really successful, and I’m only twelve years old and only halfway through the school year. I feel proud of myself when I look back at what I’ve achieved during my time in elementary school, I have achieved a lot of awards and I am the one who usually is seen out and crowded at my school. Even though I am in fifth grade and it is my last school year before I graduate and move to middle school, I recon the teachers will make history out of me when they see me go on and move on with life. When I was born, I was born as a cesarean child and sadly my mother died once I was born. I just never knew her, she died of severe blood loss before I could open my eyes to see my own mother with my own new two eyes. From what I heard my father say, the doctor was blamed for his faults due to mistaking a syringe of botox for anesthesia. Then when I was only a few hours old the doctor that tried to help deliver me was arrested and sentenced 12.5 years in prison for manslaughter. Later in life, I was diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder when I was only five years old. It was pointed out by my caretaker in preschool when she noticed me reacting to certain things in a strange way. However I was lucky as I didn’t have enough of the disorder to be able to feel fully detached from myself, there are times when I do and those times aren’t that great. I usually rage and tell my dad and that helps me. I also take some pills which can also help me calm down for whenever I’m having an episode. I can remember my first day of kindergarten, when I was extremely nervous to speak to my teacher or any students in my class. But I remember one person who looked up to me and helped me ever since he first laid eyes on me. That person’s name was Drew Perez, he was a friend I had made for my first few weeks of kindergarten and he is very symbolic in a way I cannot describe. He is a boy about my age from Colombian decent, and he’s a bit more obese than me but I feel as if I like him that way because I appreciate him. Nobody was friends of me during preschool, but during kindergarten I had gotten my first friend in the first few weeks. When I look at Drew today I cannot imagine him falling apart with me, he is just a symbol of a never ending friendship. Drew helped me overcome my fears when I met him, he would always follow me around whenever I went out at recess, whenever I needed him he’d be there and I’d tell him what I needed. I know Drew wasn’t my only friend I’d made during my elementary school years, I’d made a few other friends years later. I can distinctively remember from second grade making two new friends, they’re names were Gordon Fuller and Willy Chong. Gordon and Willy were the funnier bunch of my friends. As soon as Drew met my new friends, he back friends with Gordon and Chong. Gordon was rather a crazy kid who always played games with me whenever he went over to my house, he was always the one in the lead beating me hard but I appreciated his ways just like Drew. Willy was a kid who’d moved to the US from China not long after I’d met him, his family were of Chinese decent and when I’d first met Willy he couldn’t speak English very well. Later however Willy could speak fluent English as well as having a habit of jumbling up the words while trying to say a simple sentence. I kind of liked Willy that way though and appreciated him for who he was, just like Drew and Gordon. Later on in fourth grade I’d gotten my first girlfriend. Her name was Alecia Becks and she was a lovely blonde girl with possibly the cutest face you could ever get on a girl’s face. I can remember our first kiss and how potent it was. However the funniest thing about Alecia was that she wasn’t really acting like a normal girl. She loved me with all her heart but she couldn’t choose out of me, Drew, Gordon or Willy who to love so she loved them all. I’m sure that because of Alecia’s relationship, she’s gonna make some half children in the future for us due to all the breeding to each of my unidentical friends. I made a few more friends over my elementary school years and since I had a terrible backstory and a severe mental disorder that I had a fragment of, I was able to succeed and win some awards during my elementary school years. My dad was proud of me and my friends and classmates looked up to my like I was a king or a god. I really think I deserved being in that position, after all I had achieved so many great things over the years and in the end I ended up being the successor. One and a half years ago however I’d become hooked onto a show known as My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. When I’d first heard about the show and the MLP universe I found it weird to find some grown men liking a show that had a target audience of girls aged 6-10 until I discovered the brony fandom. As soon as I’d discovered the brony fandom I decided to check out the show myself and I started watching the first episode to see what the show was all about. Once I’d gotten hooked onto it I didn’t consider myself a brony at first but then halfway through season 2 I officially declared myself as a brony. I decided to collect some action figures and buy them on eBay without anybody noticing until my dad discovered that his credit card was being used. I just simply told him that there was some kind of scam going on to avoid being caught and boy did it work. After I watched some episodes and collected the figures I then told my friends. Gordon said that he was too cool for MLP, however Drew respected me for who I was and Willy didn’t really care that much but would usually have a session with me every now and then while also watching some episodes. Today I am a super brony, yes that is right. I’ve caught up on all the latest episodes, Drew likes the show too and occasionally loves to watch it with me, I’ve collected the mini figures for each character, I know Babs Seed word by word which is by far one of my favourite songs in the show. The mane 6 characters don’t really interest me, the characters that I lean towards the most in the show are the Cutiemark Crusaders, especially Sweetie Belle as she is undoubtedly the cutest character in the show uncompared to Fluttershy’s cuteness. With being a brony however my dad eventually discovered me getting hooked onto the show. It was tragic when he caught sight of me obsessing over a show that he logically thought was meant for little girls and not for boys like me. The craziest thing about my dad was that he was obsessed with brandy, and would usually drink it on a weekly basis. The day he discovered that I was a brony he’d already drank three glasses of the beverage and wasn’t acting normally due to being intoxicated. Later however he acted normal and told me that I shouldn’t be watching the show. It really broke my heart to hear that from a man like him, he was my father after all and as I was a huge influence on the fandom that broke my heart. Many moments in life just come and go, but those things that I elaborated on were the important parts of my life. I’ve had some success, I’ve had some downfall and some great moments, but there hadn’t been a moment greater than anything else in my entire life. I was currently on vacation, visiting my grandfather who lived in Louisiana in the designated area of Cameron. We usually come to visit my grandpa during the cooler seasons as Louisiana isn’t too cold in the winter time unlike the frigid patch of land known as Minnesota. It was December now, almost Christmas and snowfall had just started within the northern portion of the United States. It wasn’t snowing in Louisiana, instead it was nice and sunny here and I was currently sitting in a beach chair after a long session of canoeing. While we visited my grandfather, he’d usually take me down to the southern coast to go play out and swim at sea and also go canoeing in the nearby rivers. It was a area to have fun and spend time in to escape the cold winter. And as everybody knows that while you’re on holiday, you have nothing better to do than just enjoy the outdoors instead of staying inside and doing what you usually like to do. It happens to everyone, it’s no surprise really. I was enjoying my relaxation in the nice warm sun of Louisiana, nothing of interest happened until my grandpa broke the silence. “Well, ah bet you Minnesota folk would be freezin’ up there. Wouldn’t ya think?” I removed my sunglasses and turned to face him “Yeah, you’re right grandpa. While it’s freezing in Duluth, I can just chill here in the blazing sun of Louisiana.” My grandpa began to kneel up off his chair, as a man in his late sixties he was still holding strong and hard in those old growing muscles of his. He has a long history of being strong and I can doubt that in another decade the strength that was once present in his body would have vanished. “Hey Declan, are ya free for a moment youngin’?” He asked me as he stood up. I stood up too and answered. “Yes” I spoke while tossing my sunglasses onto the sand “what do you need?” He beckoned me, “Come here.” I came up to him and he spoke to me very sternly “Ah need ta tell ya something.” “Okay what is it?” I asked. “Come on” He said as he motioned me forward “sit down.” I sat down on the chair that he’d sat on earlier and faced him. “Okay, Ah need ta tell you somethin” he said. I remained silent, he hesitated however as to what I assume was trying to find the right words. My grandpa then began to speak. “Ah love you youngin” he spoke has he kneeled down to come level with me. He then grabbed me, and kissed me on my left cheek, showing how affectionate a grandparent can be towards their grandchildren. “But that isn’t all” he continued, as he pulled away from me. “There is a secret ahve been wanting ta tell you for a long time” he spoke sharply with a serious look on his face. “Okay, I’m listening grandpa” I said, but didn’t contain any excitement before hearing what exactly the secret was. “Well ah’ll tell ya what happened” he said as he began to tell me one of the most important things I was unaware of my whole life. “It was 12 years ago, a few days before you were born. Yer mother was gettin all excited to see you for the first time out of that womb of hers, after 9 months of painful deathly pregnancy.” I winced, I had always had a habit of remembering when my dad first told me where babies came from, when somebody mentioned anything related to gestation. “Ah went up ta Minnesota to check on and visit her, and boy was her belly bulgin’ big” my grandfather continued. I really wanted to speak, but I knew that I had to stay silent and listen to what he had to say. “Ah asked her if she’d give me something in honour of being a grandfather. This necklace ah have around my neck is all I have left of her.” My grandpa showed me the necklace, as he unbottoned his shirt to reveal that necklace that I’d spotted around his neck at times. I didn’t see it all the time whenever I saw my grandpa, but what was weird is that it was so common and that he almost always wore it. “Ah haven’t taken it off, ever since she gave it to me” he spoke pausing in between his lines. “It’s turquoise, and it reminds me of the umbilical cord and especially your birth” he spoke as he looked up at me. Those eyes of his were gazing into mine with deep thought. “She also allowed me ta collect some of her breast milk as a sample. Ah don’t know how ah managed ta obtain a woman’s breast milk, but ah managed ta do it.” At his words I gasped in astonishment, who wouldn’t collect some of your mother’s breast milk as a sample? My grandfather did, and this made me feel very special indeed and my mom special, even after she’s long dead. I slowly began to feel a tear trickle down my cheek, I was proud and astonished by this great discovery. “And by tough luck ah still have it. In a freezer, nicely preserved like its fresh milk out of the breast.” I chuckled at his words there. I always found it funny when somebody mentions the breasts of a woman. Gets me everytime. “And in honour of your mother, ah keep what ah got from her to this very day” he smiled and began to cry. I was astonished and proud to finally know this, and he was by far happy that I knew all this. “Come here youngin” he said as his voice began to break. He pulled me forward into an embrace, and kissed me once again. This time on my right cheek. “Ah know yer mom is long gone dead” he began to speak “you never got ta see her alive with yer own two eyes, and she never got ta see you.” He sighed as he spoke again. “But at least we have 2 pieces of her, that I’ve kept to this day” he said then hesitated. “Ah love ya youngin” he said once again. I began to speak as I sobbed “I love...you too grandpa.” We sat there for about a minute of silence embracing each other in silence. I was so proud of my grandfather, he’d managed to collect my mother’s breast milk a few days before I was born and before she died. That necklace around his neck was also symbolic as it was another piece of what we had left of my mom. If only I’d seen her with my own two eyes alive and she would’ve seen me, my inner being would be complete. But sadly that was not the case. My grandfather let go of me and kneeled up into a bipedal position. I was yet to try some of my mom’s breast milk and see if it was any good or not, it was for her. We’d been at the beach for about 2 hours now and I was starting to get bored. I stood up too and asked my grandpa if we were ready to go yet. “So grandpa” I said finally feeling joyous again “are we going now?” “Yes” he answered “Ahm all tuckered out and tired, and I need a nap. So we should leave now, your dad is probably waiting for us back there.” I was beamed with excitement, now that it was soon enough that I was gonna get a taste of my mother’s breast milk. We grabbed our belongings and got into my grandfather’s car. Although just before he drove off I remembered that I’d tossed my sunglasses onto the sand earlier and quickly went to retrieve them. The drive back to my grandpa’s house wasn’t that far, Cameron was afterall next to the beach. It took about 2 minutes to drive back and my dad was on the lookout for us on the front porch. He waved at us as we drove by, and we waved back. My grandfather then pulled up in the driveway and parked the car. He was the first to get out, but I was interrupted before I could get out. “Hey Declan” my dad greeted as I stumbled out of my seat before slamming the door behind me. “Hi dad” I greeted. “So how was the beach with your old grampy?” He asked “Was it fun?” “Yeah it was fun” I said “we went for a swim, we sunbathed, all was good.” “Yeah, it’s great that we came down at this time of year isn’t it?” My dad stated “Louisiana is meant to be boiling in summer.” It was true afterall, although I have visited my grandfather in the summer before. Although I keep complaining about the heat and usually wait to get back inside with the air conditioning on whenever we go down to the beach. That’s why it’s usually better to go in the winter when there’s just a nice warm breeze. “Well, I can’t wait to get back to Minnesota” I beamed “it’s gonna be blanketed with lots of ice and snow.” My dad chuckled “Yeah, but I thought we came down to Louisiana to escape the cold. And besides grandpa briefly visits us during the warmer seasons to escape the intense heat.” “Well I actually kind of prefer winter over summer” I stated, “I mean, it’s great coming down here every now and then. But when you really think about it summer just looks plain and old and not very great with everything covered in green. However in winter there’s a great aura created by the speckles of snow and ice. It just feels almost mystical.” My dad chuckled again at my words. “Well you do have a point” he said “However I prefer summer more and I like the warmer weather better. But while we’re here just enjoy the sun and the warmer humid weather of Louisiana while you can.” I smiled, “Okay dad.” We then walked inside, my dad lounged on one of the sofas in the living room while watching some NFL. I should say though, after being a pro in sport at my school I wasn’t really into sports. However my dad was as he would go for the New England Patriots. Since none of it interested me though, I decided to let my dad do his thing and searched the house for where my grandfather hurried off to. My grandpa’s house wasn’t really as great and modern looking as ours. It only had a few rooms and some scrubby old curtains and carpets like it was meant for an old man like him. After having no luck of finding my grandfather on the first floor I decided to check the second floor. He wasn’t in his room napping so I didn’t know what he could’ve been up to. I decided to go downstairs and check the basement. To my surprise however he was afterall behind the door to the basement. “Hey youngin be quiet” he whispered “yer dad can’t know about this.” “Okay” I whispered back as I followed him down to the basement. I wondered what my grandpa was up to, sometimes he’d have big surprises for me that only he and I could know about. He did this everytime he had a surprise for me, and let me tell you it never got old. Now that we were in the basement, we were able to speak up. “Okay, great job” he said. “Why are we down here?” I asked him, wondering what this surprise was about. “Yer mother’s breast milk” he stated “yer dad can’t know that ah have it or that you drank it.” Rather than a surprise this was more of a secret, although my grandpa did this to let me know of his secrets too. I beamed with excitement. “Yes” I exclaimed quietly “no wonder you have it in this freezer in the basement.” I was ready. So ready that I would just pull open the freezer and drink it all in one go. I tried to open the freezer, but the door wouldn’t budge. “What?” I said in bewilderment. I tried tugging the freezer door but no matter how many times or how hard I tugged it, it just wouldn’t open. “Stop” my grandfather hissed at me “it’s password protected, ah just need ta type in the combination. You can watch if ya want.” I decided to, afterall it made sense for my grandfather to have my mother’s breast milk in a password protected freezer. My grandfather typed in the code and pulled the door open. Some fog began to rush out of the freezer like it had been enclosed in there for years, but now it was finally free. However as soon as I caught sight of what other things the freezer contained. I’d noticed a rusty iron nail which was now all white and covered in icicles, a huge block of ice that sat on the top shelf, a few frozen bits of oranges and a glass filled to the brim with a brown block of ice. I could not find my mother’s breast milk contained within it though. I was bewildered. “Um grandpa” I spoke up. “Yeah” he said. “Two questions, when was the last time you’d opened this freezer? And why do you have other stuff in here too?” “Well it hasn’t been opened for a while now” he answered “the last time I opened this boy was about 2 years ago, but that was just ta get something out of there. And ah put some of this other stuff in here ta experiment on. These oranges haven’t decomposed, ah guess we can eat them. And this glass of frozen brandy will one day get ya dad ta realise that he can save it all up.” I sighed, knowing how much of a genius my grandfather was to freeze everything in time. He should’ve been a scientist before he retired. “Okay” I said “well that explains why there was a huge fog in there to begin with.” I was tempting to actually start drinking my mother’s breast milk, I turned to my grandpa. “Let’s just get this over with” I spoke as I was wondering where my mother’s breast milk was contained. But before I could start searching, my grandpa pulled open a small draw in the bottom of the refrigerator. The drawer contained an average bottle filled to the brim with a white substance which would be my mother’s breast milk. My heart melted. I grasped the bottle in my hand “I never got to see her alive with my own two eyes, and she never got to see me.” I hesitated as my grandfather’s words from earlier that day flashed through my mind. “But at least we have 2 pieces of her, that you’ve kept to this day” I began to briefly sob, as I placed the bottle on the top of the freezer. I then embraced my grandfather tightly, however he didn’t seem to appreciate it. “Woah, easy there youngin” he managed to speak out “we have ta melt it first.” I let go of him and was completely shook at his words. How long would it take to melt? It had to be quick though before my dad found us. “How long will it take?” I asked in a slight squeal. “Well about ten ta twenty minutes” he answered “ah just need ta get mah bunsen burner.” “Okay” I said, while my grandfather was going over to a cabinet to grab a bunsen burner of his. “I think that’s enough time. Dad just started watching the game, so it’ll take a while for it to end especially with all the commercials getting in the way.” I was filled to the brim with excitement at this point. As my grandfather turned the on bunsen burner with the breast milk sitting atop a trip above the flame, I sat there and watched the white liquid of my mom’s melt in pride. It however fortunately and unexpectedly didn’t take long, about five minutes to melt every last drop of the white substance. My grandfather turned the bunsen burner off. “Not yet” he said “we need ta let it cool down, that won’t take long either.” I had to agree with him on that one, the breast milk was still way too hot for me to drink and I didn’t want to enjoy warm breast milk. It had to be lukewarm. The milk took about 10 minutes to cool down to room temperature. However now that I was free to drink it, I was still a bit uncertain of whether it would be safe to consume. “Um, is it safe to drink?” I asked my grandpa as he put away his Bunsen burner. “Of course” he answered “It’s been frozen for 12 years, it should be in perfect condition.” I took his word for it, and I was ready to drink it. “Wait!” My grandpa interrupted “don’t drink all of it, it’s valuable and we still need that piece of yer mom.” “Okay grandpa” I said “won’t do.” However before I started taking a sip I stared at it trying to find the best words to say for my mom. I started sobbing a little before I could actually find the right words. “Mom” I started as some tears began to stream down my eyes “I never got to see you alive with my own two eyes and you never got to see me. But at least we have 2 pieces of you that my grandpa kept to this day.” I began crying hard as I starred sharply at the white liquid. “I’m so sorry mom” I sobbed as my tears began to stream down my face “I’m so sorry that a doctor mistakened botox for an anestetic. Your belly wasn’t even that wrinkly or muscular.” I stayed there and hesitated as I brought my eyes right to the edge of the bottle. I began to slowly calm down as I gazed at the white liquid contained within the bottle. “But...this” I started as I grapped the bottle and unscrewed the cap “this is for you.” I then brought the edge of the bottle to my lips and let the white liquid pour into my mouth. I was doing it, I was drinking my own mother’s breast milk and I was doing it with pride. Eventually I began to take huge gulps and the white liquid began to pour down my dry throat more and more. It tasted rather good, better than that of diary milk from a cow. My grandpa watched in astonishment as he began to sob heavily. However I didn’t forget what my grandpa told me earlier, to not drink all of it. As instructed I stopped drinking and parted the bottle from my lips, only half of the milk had remained in the bottle. I then put the lid back on and screwed it back on. I placed the bottle down on the top of the freezer and made eye contact with my grandpa. “Grandpa” I started, he smiled back at me. I hesitated trying to find the right words to say, but eventually I spoke out. “Thank you” I said after more tears began to stream down my face “You don’t know how much that meant to me.” He and I then tightly embraced. He kissed me thrice, one the left cheek, the right cheek and on my forehead. “That’s mah boy Declan” he said as his voice began to break. We held each other for a few minutes, probably three, just embracing each other in joy and astonishment. He eventually let go of me and started to look serious “But ah think the football game is nearly over, we’re gonna have ta put the rest of the milk away before yer dad finds out what we did.” I nodded “right then.” The cleanup of this whole event didn’t take too long. My grandfather did the usual and put the half empty bottle of breast milk back into the freezer. He placed it back into the drawer on the bottom shelf exactly where it was before. He then closed the drawer and shut the door of the freezer tight. To my intention it was probably locked once closed, and it turned out to be the case and my grandpa didn’t have to do anything else after closing it. Now that everything was all secretly done, my grandpa and I slowly walked up the stairs and out of the basement. “Stay behind youngin” he warned “yer dad could be out on the loose.” My grandpa slowly opened the door and he and I tip toed out into the living room unnoticed. To my surprise my dad was still watching the game. I guess we were that quick that the game wasn’t even over yet. We spent the rest of the day having family time with my dad and my grandfather as we had a great dinner that consisted of turkey and chips. My grandfather always had a fondness for turkey and chips, it was just his way of living in this area. To me though, it felt like a mix of thanksgiving and Burger King. Although we didn’t have any burgers, sometimes my grandfather would make some or go to Burger King with me at times when I felt like it. Today however was my last day at my grandfather’s house. Tomorrow my dad and I were gonna pack our stuff and head on a road trip north to Duluth. We’d always done road trips to my grandfather’s house and it usually took a total of 2 days to complete, I enjoyed it nonetheless though. It was also rather surprising to find out that my grandfather had managed to collect a sample of my mother’s breast milk and keep it stored in a secret password protected freezer for 12 years. However it meant a lot to me, knowing that I got something from my mom and since breast milk tastes much better than that of dairy, one question lingered in my mind. Why couldn’t we just drink breast milk instead of farming some cows and getting their milk? It just makes dairy all the more pointless when you think about it. I also can’t wait to get back home and start watching My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic again, I miss watching that show. My grandfather didn’t have any wifi, so I couldn’t really do anything at his house for fun other than just play offline games for a while to keep me entertained. There was so much I needed to do once I got home, but that just had to wait after another successful vacation of visiting my grandfather.