Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Broken


Broken - By: John Fischer

Wes woke up at five in the morning and peered out of the window. Gray clouds blanketed the sky as usual, and he thought to himself that it was just another crappy day. He flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. He wondered why life had to be the way it was. Wes was a hopeless romantic, starved of the love he so desperately needed. He felt broken inside like a machine that was missing a part or something not functioning the way it ought to. Nothing he ever did worked out right. He slid out of the bed and made his way into the bathroom. He gazed into the mirror and wondered who he was.
Wes sighed and smacked his hand on the sink. He was so tired of waking up to a new day completely hopeless. He looked at the row of lights above the mirror and watched as the filaments burned brightly. He saw the little coils glowing and lighting the entire room as they surged with electricity. He shook his head and wished that he could be like the filament shinning radiant light instead of the black-light that he was. He flicked the lights off and walked back into his bedroom. He put on a pair of jeans, a black t-shirt, and slid into his black canvas shoes. He walked downstairs and sat at the kitchen table as he waited for the clock to say it was time to leave.
The sun rose behind the layer of clouds and tried to force its light through. The gray clouds took on a violet hue as they glowed from the intense luminescence that wished to disperse them. The clouds held strong as time ticked by mocking the Sun’s strength. Hidden behind them it could never do its full job of illuminating and warming the earth. Wes walked out of the door and hung his head. He cursed the overcast sky and got in his car.
He drove to school and made his way to his first class. He slid through the throngs of people with ease as he walked to the building in which his classroom was. It was the first day of the second semester, which meant new classes, new teachers, and new people to meet. Wes hated the first day of any semester since he always had a good teacher the semester before. He wished he could have kept the same teachers the whole time, but that was not possible. He dreaded the idea of a teacher he liked being replaced by a crabby, obnoxious, elitist who acted like the king of the universe when they lectured.
He slowly climbed the empty stairwell to the fourth floor where his class was located. He stopped on the third floor and looked up the spiraling stairs. He put his head down and sighed as he continued up the steps. He reached the fourth floor and smacked his head against the door. He shut his eyes and wondered why he even bothered, there was no point to anything. He pushed the door open and walked down the hallway. It was desolate and silent, just the way Wes liked it. He found his classroom and sat down. As usual he was the first one there, he had nothing better to do than to sit in an empty room.
He sat in silence staring at the clock on the wall. He waited for other people to start showing up so he could find out who was in this new class of his. The clock ticked by and Wes finally dropped his head onto the desk. He put his head in his folded arms and shut his eyes. He daydreamed of a reason to go on, the thoughts only sent chills down his spine. He imagined a bright day filled with love and joy, but his pessimistic attitude fought the idea off throwing him back to his harsh reality. The sky remained cloud coated and the Sun’s function remained broken just like Wes’ spirit.
The minutes passed and the classroom began to fill. He sighed as it was mostly filled with people he could not stand. The time drew close to the start of class and there was only one seat left. It just happened to be right next to him too. He was in the middle of the room on the left side, which meant only one person would be next to him. He wondered who the last person would be, the lucky soul that got to sit next to the black hole of the room.
There was one minute left on the clock when the girl walked in. Wes’ jaw almost dropped. He had seen her around campus before, but had never met her. He had thought about trying to talk to her once, but his broken attitude prevented him from doing so. She was gorgeous with full lips, big brown eyes, a curvy figure, and to top it all off long wavy brown hair. He crossed his fingers in the palm of his hand praying that she didn’t have the wrong room. She checked her schedule with the teacher and sat down next to Wes. He almost melted away into dreamland.
He glanced over at her and she noticed. She turned to him with a big smile on her face and said, “Hi”. His heart began to race and he barely eked out a ‘hey’. Class began shortly after, but Wes could not care less. There was no way he could possibly pay attention that day. Wes was always good in class, he paid attention and never missed a word or a note, unless he was thrown into a fairy-tale, imaginary land by someone or something. He drifted away dreaming of what the possibilities were of the small quirk that fate had thrown him. The clock ticked by and class moved on, but he was completely out of it, just waiting for the right moment to say something to the girl.
Wes snapped back to reality when he heard the teacher say that class was dismissed. He threw his books off of the desk into his bag and immediately turned to the girl. He quickly spit out, “Hey I’m Wesley, but you can call me Wes. How you doin?”
He could not believe that he had just said, “How you doin?” with the little accent he put on as a joke with his friends. He almost smacked himself in the face, but maintained his composure. She giggled and said, “You’re cute. I’m Jackie. It’s nice to meet you.”
Wes was in heaven, she didn’t flat line him, and she actually said he was cute. He tried his best to be clear and cool. He said, “Hey so you wanna grab lunch later or something?”
She looked at the clock and pondered it for a bit. Then with a cute little grin she nodded her head and said, “Twelve thirty outside the cafeteria.”
Wes was immediately thrown into shock. He responded, “Alright, see you then” with the biggest smile he had ever worn. Jackie walked out of the classroom and Wes was left alone to revel in his glory. A small glimmer of hope shone in his eyes. He felt it surge through him and it was such a good feeling. He had not felt hope in the longest time and was on the verge of giving up, when destiny chimed in and kept him from throwing in the towel. He was thrilled; he was beyond thrilled he was ecstatic.
He stood up and walked to the door with his bag. He took a deep breath before he left the room and smiled. Behind him the window began to glow. Beams of light shattered the seemingly impenetrable wall of clouds. They shone down brilliantly onto the dull earth. The clouds broke and revealed the hot shinning ball of fire in the sky. Wes walked outside and gazed up at it. He snickered to himself and said, “No longer out of order.”