Why am I posting this? Because I can, because it's copyrighted and because this is probably the most attention and publicity it will ever get... honestly... So enjoy!
(c) Copyright 2010 Andrew Taraba. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication, montanization or reproduction is punishable by law. Copyright provided via Legal Zoom. Remove this after final publication.
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 stared outside, glistening waters and beautiful scenery appeared. The sand was hot and bright in the mid-day sun and the palm tree cast a deep 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 had pulled from the carpet. Slowly, he 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 live in the real world!" and this young boy's name was Long...
6 years later....
"Look at this place, it's covered in trash!"
"Tell me something I don't know..."
Long was sitting at a lunch table on a school campus that was covered in trash.
"Hey Andrew scoot over will you?"
"Huh? Oh sorry..." a boy with long hair moved over and let a yellow haired guy sit down.
"Uh... Hey Andrew, could you scoot over one more time?" Another smiling boy asked.
Andrew scooted over again, he was now sitting the farthest away.
"Hey Mark, hear about what happened last night?" Long asked the yellow haired boy. "At the slum town a man spent the day stacking boxes until he made a tower. During the moon festival he gathered everyone around for his show, then he climbed to the top. He looked around at all the people watching him and then he dived 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!"
"Are you serious! My dad couldn't even get hired!" Mark turned to the second boy who had asked Andrew to scoot over.
"I heard no one cleaned the body yet." Luke said.
Mark sighed, "Where's the good news?"
"I heard there's a shortage of food in the slums." Long 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'll be saving up our money! When get enough 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..."
"Hey! Where's Matt?" Luke asked.
"Who's Matt?" Mark pushed a blade of golden hair back between his eyes.
"You don't remember Matt? The guy who has a guitar?"
"I don't recall..." Mark looked around the table and at Andrew who was isolated from the conversation. "I'm kind of sick of having more guys sitting at this table, does anyone know any girls who would sit with us?" Mark gazed out upon a crowd of girls talking and laughing. "What do you suppose their talking so happily about?"
"Maybe their talking about the rich kid!" Luke added.
"The rich kid?" Mark replied.
"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! To this school!"
"I heard about him too!" Long 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 clothes without holes!" His red jacket glittered with tears and holes.
"Then we can have less cardboard on the walls and more wood!" Luke replied. "Why do you think he keeps it a secret?"
"Because then people would beat him up and ask for money! I would!" Mark laughed.
Long replied, "I was thinking we should---"
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 rich kid!" And they both left the table.
The bombastic eyes of Andrew stared, he was still sitting at the table and he started looking around him. For the first time he spoke, "What just happened? Was I day dreaming again?" He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, the surrounding crowd shrunk until all that remained were mountains and mountains of trash. Andrew sat at the table alone, the entire campus was quiet. "This place... I already know what to do..." The orange sky looked down on him while he walked around school and picked up bits of trash.
"Hey you! Get to class!" A man grabbed Andrew's hand but he jumped out of his clutch. Andrew flew to the ground and grabbed tightly to his right hand. Running from the back of his middle finger down to his wrist was an "S" shape scar. "Uhh..." The man hesitated, "Did I hurt you?" The scar was on both sides of his hand.
Andrew held tightly to his hand with one eye opened, "Don't worry about it." He stood up.
"You need to get back to class... Why were you out here?"
"Oh don't mind me, I'll get back to class." Andrew walked off clutching his right hand. The old man bent down and picked up the piece of trash Andrew had left, he tossed it back into one of the many mountains of trash...
