text: The kid who lived in the dark It was a beautiful, great day for a little boy to go outside, get dirty and have fun. Otis put on tons of sunscreen all over his face and body in order to ensure he wouldn’t get burned. But just as Otis walked out of his house and into the glaring sun he felt a sharp pain. This was no ordinary sharp pain, the pain was rapidly moving throughout his entire body as if he was thrown in a fire pit and left to suffer. The little boy scream in agony, but the ball of fire that was up above was unforgiving. The ray from the fiery was shooting down on the little boys' skins like lasers. he still felt like a burt rotisserie chicken. HIs skin was bubbling and rough and bumpy rashes appeared all over his skin. He began to smell the gut wrenching smell of burnt skin. Little Otis was running around like a chicken without a head screaming and yelling, flopping his hand as if he was under a bee attack. Otis began to scratch himself in order to relieve the pain, but that made it worse. The itchiness and burning sensation that he felt was getting worse and worse. He fell to the floor exhausted. Then all of a sudden a dark figure brought him inside. Otis imagined that it was his father, but couldn’t tell because his eyes were in the process of dilating. The father set him on the bed, asking him what had happened and what was going on. “What happened out there son, it looked like you were trying to dance all by yourself” The boy couldn’t speak a word, his eyes were blanked and looked as if he had just seen a ghost. After that day the Otis would never go outside. He couldn't risk the chance to feel the agonizing pain he did that one day. Otis wouldn’t even think of going outside even when all the other kids were playing and having fun. Instead he would stay inside of his little dark room and work on stuff like homework or play video games. It became concerning to his parents, They decided that is was time to take him to the doctor for a check up. The doctors weren't any help they said “Everything seems great with otis, no sign of any allergies to the sun. We are not certain, but we believe it may have been an anxiety attack.” Otis knew it wasn’t an anxiety attack, he knew it was real and it didn’t matter to him if anyone else believed him or not. His parents thought it was an anxiety attack as well and tried to encourage Otis to come outside and try it again. “ Come on Otis just come outside it will be fun, you have to get out of your comfort zone and just try. Come on!” Otis was not taking any chances. “No I told you once and I’ll say it again, I know I have a sun allergy whether you believe me or not.” After week’s of trying to persuade him to go outside without any luck they gave up and accepted that their son will never go out in the sun again. Months passed, And Otis will finally be starting school. The butterflies in his stomach were flying around in his stomach, he was nervous for the first day of kindergarten. As he walked through the gates of the school he was wearing a full body cover beekeeping suit. He looked like an astronaut on the moon with all that gear and protection from the sun. Everywhere he went there was someone looking at him with a smirk on their face laughing at him as he passed by. He felt embarrassed, his face became hot pink and his ear became burning hot. His head sunk into his shoulders as he walked to his class. During lunch time it was even worse for Otis, nobody would even want to sit near him. “ This is for sure the most embarrassing day of my life.” Claimed Otis. Years have passed and things didn’t get better for Otis he was still getting made fun of and messed with all of the time. Otis is leveling up the rankings of school going from Elementary to Middle school to now in High school. Otis was know as the kid who would stay inside during snack and lunch and read a book. Otis was also very musical oriented and loved to draw. As a ninth grader he felt it was about time to step out of his comfort zone and try a sport. That day he sprinted home and was on a mission to figure out what sport he would be trying out for. He went through the list putting an X on all of the sports that he didn’t like and all of the sports that were outdoor, in the end the only sport left was Ping pong. “Perfect!” Exclaimed otis excited and confident. Otis began to love the game and got better and better. Instead of being insecure about himself and worry about what people said about his sun allergy, he grew a priority in Ping pong. He wasn’t the best at Ping pong but his love for the game kept him going. Their practices were held inside the gym and everything was going great. Otis didn’t have to worry about the sun allergy and he was playing the game he loved. He was playing well against his opponents and was building his confidence around in classmates and fellow teammates. The day came when Otis wouldn’t be so lucky. When the gym was under maintenance nobody was able to practice inside, meaning Otis would have to face his fear and step out into the sun. However Otis’s fear of the sun was far more that his love for ping pong, He stayed home locked in his little room and would begin to miss practicing. After no Practice for two weeks he got an email from the coach telling him that if he were to miss one more practice he’s off the team. After hours of hard thought and contemplating he finally made the decision to go and practice. He dressed up in his sun protective suit and headed to the school for practice. Once he got there it was even worse the coach told that he couldn’t wear that suit for practice, anxiously Otis went into the locker rooms and took it off. Just as he was coming out of the locker room he grew scared, He took a step into the sun and he could feel the beaming sun hit his face. He began to feel the heat warm his skin, Otis felt a sharp pain go throughout his body. He wanted to scream out loud until suddenly there was no pain, the sun felt great on his body the warm sun cradle him like a warm blanket. Confused he proceeded to go to practice and he didn’t feel a single pain. Later that day his parents took Otis to the doctor to see what had happened. The doctors finally had the answer that Otis had been waiting for his entire life. “After running a test on Otis here we came to the conclusion that your son is allergic to Sunscreen. It seems that the sunscreen you put on that day many years ago was what caused the allergic reaction.” Everyone in the room was looking at each other in such awe. Otis couldn’t believe that this entire time it wasn’t the sun, but instead the sunscreen that kept him away from the outdoors.