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A Story by Katy

This story is about a teen named Joseph who was bullied to death. It was inspired by an embroidery I saw at a local art museum. It's meant to raise awareness to the consequences of bullying.

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Marina wept as she read her son Joseph’s suicide letter. It said: “I love you. I’m sorry. I forgive you.” She tried to imagine what life would be without Joseph, but just couldn’t. She had always known something was upsetting Joseph, but he never told her; whenever she tried to speak with him, he would shout: “Leave me alone!” and he would run to his room. Now that he was gone, she felt like she had nothing to live for. She contemplated suicide.

Around seventh grade, Joseph began to be bullied, because of his overall physical appearance. Joseph was only three-foot-eleven inches and had hideous burns on his right arm. He had been in a fire accident when he was younger. At first, it was only a couple people that picked on him, calling him “midget.” By the time seventh grade let out, half of his grade picked on him. Then, in the middle of eighth grade, the new seventh graders picked on him and would steal his homework and put it high up in a tree, out of reach for Joseph. Since he couldn’t get his homework, his grades started to drop drastically. When he told his teachers what had happened, they would reply, “Just because you’re short doesn’t mean you don’t have to do your homework.” To Joseph, that hurt even more than the kids’ insults because, so he thought, that the teachers were supposed to stand up for him. At the end of eighth grade, the insults increased dramatically. Joseph was no longer referred to as Joseph; he was called “Midg.” Even some of the teachers called him that. But the worst insult of all was making fun of his burns. One day, the meanest kid in school, Bradley, said, “Maybe I’ll go as Midg for Halloween; his burns scare the living crap out of me!” As soon as Joseph heard this, he raced into the men’s room and started bawling. He had done nothing to receive this treatment; he was one of the smartest and nicest kids around. Joseph felt worthless and useless. He decided that he would kill himself later that day when he got home so he would no longer be tormented for his appearance.

The walk home from school was beautiful; a perfect breeze, no bugs out, no clouds in the sky, birds chirping. Joseph thought to himself, It’s a beautiful day to die.

When he got home, he was all alone; his mother was at work, as was his father. Joseph walked up to his room and made a noose out of one of his belts. He tied the noose to the pull-up bar in his room. He then wrote his suicide note that his mother would find an hour later next to his body. After he wrote the note, Joseph fastened the noose around his neck. On the count of three, he jumped off the chair he was standing on and died a couple seconds later. Right before he died, he had one last coherent thought, I won’t be bullied anymore.

Around five p.m., Joseph’s mother found Joseph hanging by the neck in his room. She started weeping as she read his suicide note. After she read the note, she ran to call 911. The police, fire department, and an ambulance came. The head investigator, Leslee Nelson proclaimed: “Your son has been dead for a little over an hour. I’m very sorry, Mrs. Tiy,” Marina just gaped at her.

“Were there any problems at school?’ Leslee asked.

“I’m pretty sure there were, though he never wanted to talk with me about it,” Marina cried with a sniffle.

“I’ll interview his teachers and his peers tomorrow,” Leslee assured her.

Marvin Tiy, Joseph’s father, returned home and saw many emergency vehicles in front of his house. He immediately began to panic. He suspected they had something to do with his son, Joseph. Joseph had told him about the problems in school and Marvin was in fact on his way to pick up Joseph and go to the principal about the bullies.

When Marvin heard the news, he began to cry.

After a month of why Joseph had killed himself, Bradley was arrested for bullying Joseph and one other boy to the point where they killed themselves. All of the teachers who had made fun of Joseph were stripped of their teaching rights and were arrested. Marina and Marvin Tiy continue to live without Joseph. The school that Joseph attended built a memorial for him and every other teen who has committed suicide.

This story was inspired by: Memory Cloth-I LOVE YOU by Leslee Nelson