A Short Story

 

He hated every second of Lakeshore Indian Residential School. Not a day went by that he wasn’t abused by a priest or nun physically, psychologically, or sexually. He had been taken forcibly from his parents by a priest and Mounties when he was only 5 years old. The school was 400 kilometres from his home, and he only got to see his parents once a year at Christmastime. Of course he wanted to stay home with his parents, but the priest and the Mounties would always come to forcibly take him back to the school for another year. 

At school, they took away his traditional Indigenous clothing, and punished him severely if he spoke Cree. 

He hated the school so much, that he tried to run away on several occasions. Only to be caught and dragged back to the school. Every day was a day of torture. 

One day, when a priest tried to abuse him for a third time, he summoned all the courage and strength he had and kicked the priest between the legs as hard as he could. The priest fell to the floor and, in anger cursed him. He then ran away again. Tragically, a nun saw him running and was able to send another priest after him, who brought him back to school. 

When the abusive priest cornered him, he punched him in the face and he fell back onto a sharp edge of a desk and was killed instantly.

30 years later, his body was found in an unmarked grave, and all of his family and members of the reservation had a day of remembrance to mourn his death and the deaths of other students who were discovered in a mass unmarked grave behind the school.