L'imposteur
Leon Kaufmann
Don’t trust him that’s what the note said. I can’t comprehend who is the “he” the note talks about. My dad, my brother, my cousin, Jean, or who? For now, I will be cautious with them. What could any of them want from me? And who sent me this note? I will investigate this.
I find myself in the streets of Paris. The crunch of the croissant in my mouth and the coffee tickling through my throat. “Wassup bro?” Jean asked me, he’s been my lifelong friend, and though the note told me to not trust “him” I highly doubt it would be Jean. Twelve years of friendship can’t be faked. At dinner with my family, I notice my dad has been acting differently. Ever since the market crashed a year ago, he is not his jolly old self. He is now more serious and pessimistic “How long until you go to college?” he groans at me; I know I’m 16 but college shouldn’t be one of my worries yet.
“Hey, wanna chill?” Jean texts me. I don’t want to be with my negative family, I tell them that I’m leaving, and my father says,
“You are not going with that Tête de noeud Jean, right?”
“So what if!? What has he ever done to you?!?” I scream I can’t help but defend Jean, my family has always disliked him ever since they met him, they say it’s because he doesn’t seem trustworthy, but they can eat mon cul.
“Sup?” he asks.
“Nothing much, and you?” I respond. We talk about how we’ve been doing, and I mention my family.
He tells me “They're awful. Don’t listen to what they say”, and he is not lying. I’ve seen this firsthand with them mistreating people whom they see lower than them. I’m not sure if I can trust them anymore, maybe the note was talking about my family, I’m not sure, I’ll be careful when talking to them.
This year our family is going to Nice for our vacation, a beachy city, I’ve told them thousands of times that I hate the beach.
“You should be grateful that we are going on vacation,” my father tells me, he is right, but I would rather stay home instead of going to somewhere I don’t like.
I call Jean and tell him about the vacation, and he answers, “they don’t understand you; they never pay attention to what you say”, I don’t want to hate my family, but he might be speaking some truth. I have always felt like my family has had issues with me, but ever since I started hanging out with Jean, they’ve been more aggressive and trusted me less. I might talk to them less. I won’t tolerate this treatment from them, I can’t let them treat me like this just because I’m friends with Jean.
“Come on, you can’t leave us” my father said.
“Yes I can"
“You should really consider coming with us,”
“All you want is for me to be your perfect son! I am not that!”
“You don’t know what you are talking about.”
“I know what I’m saying! You have treated me differently ever since I was friends with Jean.”
“He is manipulating you and trying to take you away from us, please reason with me.”
“Damn you!”
“Leave, now!”
“Fine!”
I go to Jean’s home and I’m ready to break down I can’t, my blood burns like the surface of the sun. I tell him everything that happened and the weight that I had in my chest fell off. He doesn’t judge me like them. He tells me everything is going to be fine, and he makes me feel safe. I can’t leave him, I won’t leave him, and I will never go back to my family. “You don’t need them” he repeats the sentence multiple times. He is right and I won’t ever need my family. We are better than them. I only need him.
I find myself in the streets of Paris. The crunch of the croissant in my mouth and the coffee tickling through my throat. “Wassup bro?” Jean asked me, he’s been my lifelong friend, and though the note told me to not trust “him” I highly doubt it would be Jean. Twelve years of friendship can’t be faked. At dinner with my family, I notice my dad has been acting differently. Ever since the market crashed a year ago, he is not his jolly old self. He is now more serious and pessimistic “How long until you go to college?” he groans at me; I know I’m 16 but college shouldn’t be one of my worries yet.
“Hey, wanna chill?” Jean texts me. I don’t want to be with my negative family, I tell them that I’m leaving, and my father says,
“You are not going with that Tête de noeud Jean, right?”
“So what if!? What has he ever done to you?!?” I scream I can’t help but defend Jean, my family has always disliked him ever since they met him, they say it’s because he doesn’t seem trustworthy, but they can eat mon cul.
“Sup?” he asks.
“Nothing much, and you?” I respond. We talk about how we’ve been doing, and I mention my family.
He tells me “They're awful. Don’t listen to what they say”, and he is not lying. I’ve seen this firsthand with them mistreating people whom they see lower than them. I’m not sure if I can trust them anymore, maybe the note was talking about my family, I’m not sure, I’ll be careful when talking to them.
This year our family is going to Nice for our vacation, a beachy city, I’ve told them thousands of times that I hate the beach.
“You should be grateful that we are going on vacation,” my father tells me, he is right, but I would rather stay home instead of going to somewhere I don’t like.
I call Jean and tell him about the vacation, and he answers, “they don’t understand you; they never pay attention to what you say”, I don’t want to hate my family, but he might be speaking some truth. I have always felt like my family has had issues with me, but ever since I started hanging out with Jean, they’ve been more aggressive and trusted me less. I might talk to them less. I won’t tolerate this treatment from them, I can’t let them treat me like this just because I’m friends with Jean.
“Come on, you can’t leave us” my father said.
“Yes I can"
“You should really consider coming with us,”
“All you want is for me to be your perfect son! I am not that!”
“You don’t know what you are talking about.”
“I know what I’m saying! You have treated me differently ever since I was friends with Jean.”
“He is manipulating you and trying to take you away from us, please reason with me.”
“Damn you!”
“Leave, now!”
“Fine!”
I go to Jean’s home and I’m ready to break down I can’t, my blood burns like the surface of the sun. I tell him everything that happened and the weight that I had in my chest fell off. He doesn’t judge me like them. He tells me everything is going to be fine, and he makes me feel safe. I can’t leave him, I won’t leave him, and I will never go back to my family. “You don’t need them” he repeats the sentence multiple times. He is right and I won’t ever need my family. We are better than them. I only need him.
After showing his class this work of fiction. Kaufmann got bombarded with unnecessary Among Us memes to the point of a mental breakdown. Thank Wu and Maxwell for his broken sanity, he may never be able to recover from this. If you were to enter his room all you'd find is pictures of Amogus. The only words Kaufmann can recite at the moment are "Sussus Amogus".