Chapter 1?

after millions of re-edits I finally have the guts to say this "probably" is the final edit of my first chapter of my story... and I'd like to proudly present the NON-BORING edition!


(c) 2010 Andrew T. All Rights Reserved. Via Legal Zoom!

If one's voice is not heard, has a word ever been spoken?

Chapter 1
- Beginning to an End

The sun filtered through the window. His left hand thumbed at his lip while his right played with the warm, sun bleached carpet. As he outside, glistening waters and beautiful scenery appeared. The sand was hot and bright in the mid-day sun and the palm tree cast an inviting shadow that cooled the sand to ice. There were people playing and laughing. The boy smiled brightly as he stood up and looked at the shady tree...
He forced open his eyes and the trees faded away, the warmth settled down, and he was now staring at a lonely patio and a filthy, crumbling brick wall... He held tightly to one of the fibers he pulled from the carpet. He slowly loosened his grip and let it slip from his fingers. It splashed into an ocean of carpet and sunk deep between the fibers. An image of a bright, glistening ocean appeared before the carpet but the boy tried to hold back. He looked up and clenched his fists till his fingernails dug in. He spoke quietly him self, "I can't do this any more! It's time to grow up, it's time to start living in the real world!" and this young boy's name was Long...

6 years later....
"why does it always seem like the memories of old... were the best we've ever had?"

"Look at this place, it's covered in trash!"
"Tell me something I don't know..."
Long was sitting at the table with Matthew who was eating chips and Andrew who ate chocolates. He looked around campus, all he saw was trash and students.
"You hear about what happened last night?" Long asked as Mark sat down. "At the slum town a man spent the day stacking boxes until he made a tower. During the moon festival he climbed to the top and jumped off. He died and the festival continued without him..."
Mark put his hand against his face, "Do you have any good news?" He sighed.
"Well yesterday my little brother Luke finally got hired!" Luke had just sat down at the table.
"I heard no one cleaned the body yet." Luke said.
Mark sighed, "How many suicides happened in the past week, three?"
"I think three maybe four." Matthew said.
"Let's just talk about something else.."
Luke took a deep breath, "Even I was surprised when I first found out the store could actually afford to hire me."
"It's because that store has beer!" Mark started laughing, "The rich and poor people will always have one thing in common, a love for beer!"
"We've been saving up our money! When we get enough, then we can finally leave this trash ridden toilet, worthless giant piece of annoying shi--"
"Okay we get it!" Mark started laughing, "I feel the same way about this horrible town..."
Matt added, "We apply for work every week but we never get hired, Luke was lucky enough!"
"There's nothing much we can do..." Mark said. He gazed out upon a crowd of people talking and laughing. "What do you suppose their talking so happily about?"
"I heard in the other towns they have shiny buildings where the glass isn't broken and where the streets are clean. I want to go there." Long said.
"Hey you guys hear about the new kid?" Luke asked.
"The new kid?"
"Yeah, they say he wears ripped up clothes and torn up shoes but his secret is that he lives in the Land Lord Mansions! And best of all he goes here! This school!"
"I heard about him too!" Matt said, "They say he has more money than everyone in this town combined!"
"I'd sure like to meet this kid." Mark said rubbing his head. "Maybe then we could actually afford dinner every night!"
"I'm sure we'd all like to meet him!"
The lunch bell rang, the commotion of the crowd grew, and the passing hustle and bustle filled the air. Long turned around, "I..." He stopped as he noticed the only friend left at the table was Mark... "I had an idea...." Long said looking down.
Mark smiled as he got up, "I want to meet this kid!" And they both left for their classes.
The bombastic eyes of Andrew stared, he was still sitting at the table and for the first time he spoke, "What just happened? Was I day dreaming again?" He finally realized no one was sitting at the table. The surrounding crowd slowly started to shrink until all that remained were mountains and mountains of trash....