Erik, Castor, and Arthur were probably the two worst people in Paul’s family and of Erik’s friends. “And I remembered Erik’s fingers prying my eyelids open. Then Vincent Castor sprayed white paint into them” (263-4). Mom and Dad don’t want to see how psycho Erik and his friends are. “You guys don’t see how psycho Erik is” (83). Mom and dad don’t see how Erik is always trying to hurt or kill someone and most of the time it’s Paul who is the target for everyone. So again, Erik is a huge Psycho and mom and dad don't even want to see. “Because Erik is a psycho, Mom. Do you really not know that?” (209) Than finally, Paul has a pretty rough life if you can’t tell, being called Mars or almost getting killed by Erik. Paul feels like he is a freak for not standing up to Erik and Arthur. After a while in the book he didn't feel like a freak even though he was still afraid of Erik (86).
Paul can finally see how good he can be. Paul can see a lot more than his parents even though he is supposed to be almost blind. Keeping the truth from loved ones is hard and painful. They will always eventually end up digging up the truth. The worst truth is better than the best lie. The thing to really think about is why did Erik hate Paul and always want to kill him so much? Is it because he wanted to act “cool” in front of his friends because what he did there was way too