Miranda
glanced around frantically. The key could be anywhere on the cruise ship!
“If
only I had more time,” she mumbled.
She
ran her fingers along the seam of the door jam in the cramped closet that she
had been thrown in.
“Ah ha!” she shouted triumphantly.
She
picked up the key that had fallen with a ding. Just at that moment the ship
lurched, knocking her off her feet.
“Oh, I
hope I’m not too late!”
Her
fingers worked frantically as she inserted the key in the lock running from the
closet and up to the control room undisturbed. Sitting on the desk like an ugly
center piece was the bomb. It was odd that there was no one around on the ship.
Pushing the thought aside, she stumbled towards it just as the countdown read ‘5…4…3…’
Monica
snapped the book shut with finality.
“If
only my life could be that exciting,” she said to no one in particular.
She
stood up grabbing ‘Time Bomb,’ a New York best seller and walked out of the
deserted library.
“Why
is it that I’m the only one who ever comes here?” She thought, “But then again
I suppose other people have more important things to do than fawn over fiction.”
She
hopped on her bike at the same time that she glanced back at the receding
building.
“Their
loss,” she smirked.
Monica
was a librarian in the making; in fact, when the librarians weren’t looking she
would put some of the books away herself. She once made the mistake of telling
her best friend Zeke this.
He had
feigned surprise and muttered in fake belief, “Were you arrested?”
Since
then she had kept her library life in the dark and from prying eyes.
“I
guess a life is beyond boring if all I have to hide is my secret library
meetings from my friends,” which for the record weren’t so secret considering
they were always advertised on the bulletin board at school.
She
smiled as in her mind, she dramatically portrayed her anguish.
“I’m
so good, I could go big screen,” she chuckled while waiting for a stop light.
As
with all people, Monica was a star in her own mind. Some would argue that
spending so many years reading fiction and fairy tales would give a girl an
unhealthy imagination. Monica disagreed, most days it was her daydreaming that
was the only thing keeping her going. Oh but all of the adventures she had had
in her mind. The thing that amused her friends the most was the fact that she
was nearly sixteen and yet still had her nose stuck, in what they considered
kid’s books. They were constantly trying to get her to open her eyes and see
the real world.
“They
just don’t understand,” Monica thought, “What I read is the real world. They’re
the ones deluding themselves into believing that what they are living is the epitome
of real life. I pity them.”
She glanced
at her watch as she set her bike in front of the mall, 12:57, three minutes
early as usual. She walked past the expensive stores, latest fashions, and
hottest trends to the food court where her friends had agreed to meet.
As she approached, she spotted her friends
already at a table and ran up to them, exclaiming as she sat down, “Carol, why
the forlorn expression?”
“As
always Monica, I have no idea what you are saying,” Carol quipped.
Monica
sighed, “It’s an expression I-”
“Let me
guess,” Zeke interrupted, “You read it in a book?”
He
smiled triumphantly at Monica’s downcast eyes.
“So
tell us, what does it mean? We’re all dying to know.”
Monica
mustered enough courage to say in an airy voice, “I don’t think that you would
appreciate it, so I won’t tell you.”
Zeke
snickered as she changed the subject. She asked Carol how her soccer practices
were going.
Carol
replied cockily, “I have no doubt we’re the best in our league.”
And
Monica didn’t doubt it either. They had been undefeated for two seasons now.
Monica had tried soccer once in 6th grade, but has managed to break
a kid’s nose and score in the wrong goal in the first fifteen minutes of
practice. So she never gave it another glance. She brought her thoughts around
as she noticed that Carol was still rambling on about victory. She had to admit
that she loved her friends, but she couldn’t help but notice a huge chasm
between her and them. Was she the only one who saw it? Was she the only one who
noticed that as they grew, they drifted apart?
They
had been friends since the playground days, when the over assertive Carol had
waltzed up to Monica wearing a tutu with a bewildered Zeke on her arm.
“We
all live on the same street,” she had announced, “So we should be friends.”
Surprisingly
they had been inseparable since then, even going to the extreme of taking the
same high school classes regardless of their futures. That is, until recently.
“Perhaps
I shouldn’t have changed classes halfway through the year. Maybe that’s the
cause of the drifting I’m feeling,” she thought.
Then
she considered the opportunities she would have by taking chemistry rather than
physical science again, she put aside the silly notion. She had a life to live
after all, regardless of the classes her friends were taking.
Zeke
shook her shoulders, “Earth to Monica! Are you still here?”
She
blinked the thoughts from her eyes and turned to Zeke, “What?”
She
really should stop drifting like that.
“We
wanted to know if you wanted to come to a movie,” Carol asked.
“Oh I
can’t, being poor and all.”
Zeke
shrugged, “That’s a shame,” he didn’t sound too sincere, “Let’s go Carol so
that we’re not late.”
They
left without a backwards glance.
“Bye,”
Monica called half heartedly, but they were already too far away to hear.
“Typical,
now all I have to do is read, because my real life has deserted me. Although,
it deserted me because I read,” Monica shuddered, “Think on that.”
She
glanced around the decidedly empty food court and made to get up, when she
noticed a small flash of light outside the double doors. She focused and saw
two guys stealing her bike! She barreled past a janitor, yelling, even though
the guys were outside. She burst through the doors just in time to see the guys
riding away on her bike and another one they had probably stolen as well. Tears
welled in her eyes as she set off for home.
“Now
would be a good time to own a cell phone,” she choked out between silent sobs.
She
stumbled on until she tripped on a crack, essentially ripping her jeans, while
at the same time skinning her knees and hands.
“How
could this day get any worse,” she mumbled as she stood up examining her hands.
She
realized her mistake too late. She probably shouldn’t have said that, lest
something worse did happen. But it was already too late to take it back, for as
she turned to pick up her shoulder bag, a truck drove by, splashing muddy water
up on her.
“What
the!” she exclaimed, “It hasn’t even rained in weeks!”
This
was just beyond belief. She needed to get home fast. She glanced around and
made a mad sprint for her house, which was just a few blocks away. Over the
sounds of her ragged breathing, she heard a dog bark, or was it three? She
glanced back to realize in horror that there were at least six pit bulls
bearing down on her.
“Maybe they’re not chasing me,” she thought,
and then, “Probably not, what with my luck.”
She
nearly laughed at the absurdity of the whole thing, but she couldn’t spare any
breaths as she caught sight of her house and dashed up the lawn. She reached
for her bag to grab the key and remembered that she had forgotten it on the
sidewalk in her haste. She pulled on the door frantically, but it wouldn’t
budge. Nothing left to do but jump the fence; she nearly cried at the prospect.
The dogs were nearly to her porch as she struggled over the fence. She barely
made it before a dog tried biting off her leg.
“Success!”
she yelled.
That
was when she looked down and noticed she was standing in fresh manure. Another
one of her mom’s garden pet projects attempts.
Then she thought, almost desperately, “I just
bought these shoes!”
She
stumbled to the porch, muttering not so nice things under her breath. She
paused at the door to remove her soiled sandals.
“The
one time I buy designer shoes.”
Then
the floodgates opened and she sank to her knees, tears pouring down her face as
she laughed hysterically. She felt
ridiculous, but she couldn’t stop. Her mom meandered through the kitchen in
yoga garb and noticed Monica in surprise. Bedraggled, alone, and sitting
outside with an almost crazy glint in her eyes. She rushed over to the door
yanking it open with concern showing on her face.
“Monica,
do I want to know what happened here?”
Monica
stood up, sure now that she was dreaming and that is when she noticed her mom’s
new blonde hair.
“What
happened to your hair?” Monica asked once her jaw snapped back up.
Yes,
definitely dreaming.
Her
mom grinned slightly, “I decided to try a blonde look, I thought the brown was
a bit old.”
“This
is surreal,” Monica thought, “If I look down are my hands going to be blue?”
She
sneaked a quick glance down just to assuage her doubts.
“Ah,
thank goodness,” she exasperatedly whispered.
She
glanced at her mom, realizing that she was still looking at her like she had
just climbed from the sewers, which she had for the most part done.
She
cautiously took a step inside and said, “You would not believe the day I’ve
had.”
Her
mom smiled, “No, I’m sure I won’t.”
Jessica
paused, “What’d I tell you? This girl is just
like me.”
“I
wonder who writes those stories for the paper?” Mikey wondered.
“I’m
not sure, but it is going to be a weekly thing, so the next installment comes
out next Sunday.”
Five
miles away, Ms. Anderson turned to her 4th grade class, “So what do
you think Monica has learned?”
One of
her students raised his hand, “That when dogs chase you, you should grab your
house keys.”
Ms.
Anderson chuckled, “Definitely.”
Halfway
across town a girl stared at her laptop as she read the comments on her story.
“Who
would have thought that my English assignment would be so popular?”
And
then she started on next week’s adventure, “Maybe I’ll add a vampire this time.”
She
paused, with barely a smile on her face, “No, definitely a werewolf.”
What is reality?
Life isn’t always clear.
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