Date: Tue, 30 May 2000 17:52:49 EDT From: Roman Genesis <romangenesis@hotmail.com> Subject: The Dreamer - Chapter 3 -------------------------------------- About this story: This is my first try at putting a story up on this nifty web site. Please Email me at Romangenesis@hotmail.com with your reaction to this story and any questions or comments you have. I'm only planning on continuing the story if their is interest in it because I don't want to waste anyone's time, including my own. Thank you, and without further ado... -------------------------------------- The Dreamer - Chapter 3 I have a job at a grocery store not to far from my house, and although I find the job itself kind of pointless, I've met a lot of people. I'm a bagger and that means I simply put people groceries in a little plastic bag after the cashier rings them up. Pointless, I know. I came into work a few hours after school got out and I was still kind of bummed about everything. My presentation, Justin, and Steve. I just wanted to get those things out of my mind and work was always a place to just get away and put the past behind you. "Would you like help out today?" I asked the lady I had just bagged for. I must ask that question a thousand times a day. I looked over and saw the one boss I have that I actually like walking over. "Hey, Alex. How are you today?" she asked. Tina is really cool. She is about twenty-seven and likes to hang out and goof around with the high school students that work there. I think it's because she takes this job about as seriously as we do, which isn't very serious. "I'm fine. How are you?" "I'm pretty good. I'd be careful though, a lot of the customers are being A-holes today. Must me something in the water." I laughed and she walked off. Being the brainless job that it is, I always find myself thinking about other things while I'm there and since I had been thinking about Justin all day, my mind slowly drifted toward that subject. I still couldn't believe he had put his hand on my shoulder in the bathroom. I looked over at Tina and saw that she was talking to Tim, another one of the baggers. He was a sophomore at my school and although he is kind of friendly to me, I still don't care for him. He's always doing miscellaneous jobs around the store like he's to good to bag like the rest of us. He's pretty good looking, but I hate the way he and Tina are so close. They are always flirting and stuff. I'm not sure which one I was more jealous of. "Would you like help out today?" I asked the next customer. "Sure, I'm out this way," the lady replied. Damn. I hated when they said yes. It was so hot out all the time. I got behind the cart and started following the lady out of the store. As we walked past Tim and Tina I listened to hear what they were talking about. It was something about what they were going to do after work. Oh god, please tell me they weren't hanging out outside of work. She was like ten years older than him. I rolled my eyes and continued following the lady out the door. Just as we started going out of the store, I thought I saw someone go in through the other door. I might have been crazy, but I thought it was Justin. As we walked out into the parking lot I tried to look back and see if it was him, but I couldn't see inside. I quickly threw the ladies groceries in her car and hurried back inside. I figured if I did the floor check, I could walk around the store and see if it was really him. I looked for the broom in the closet, but it wasn't there. I found Tina and walked over to her. "I can't find the broom," I told her. "Tim's using it to do the 4 o'clock floor check," she said. Damn it. Once again, Tim has found a way to piss me off. I went back to one of the registers and started bagging, always looking around the area to see if Justin was anywhere nearby. I didn't know why I wanted to see him so bad, but didn't care either. After the lady's cart had been loaded I looked the other way so I wouldn't have to do the carry out. "Can you get this out for me?" she asked. I wasn't getting any good luck today. "All right," I said and took the cart and began to follow her out. The sun always seemed ten times hotter the second time you go out. I threw her groceries in her car as fast as I could. She even told me to be careful with her stuff. I had to hide my laugh when she said that. I rushed back inside and looked at the registers and sure enough, Justin was at register five, getting ready to be checked out. He was with some older woman who I figured was his mother. There was no bagger at the register and I rushed to get to it before anyone else did. Fifty feet from the register. Justin looked just like he did at school today. He was wearing the same cloths and he stood with the same confidence that I had witnessed earlier that day. Forty feet from the register. Now that I was close enough, the lady he was with seemed to old to be his mother. She was probably his grandmother or something. She seemed sweet, unlike all the other old women who came through my line who were tight-ass bitches. Thirty feet. I could see Justin's delicate, innocent features again and with every step I took, I could feel myself drawing off his confident youthful energy. I just wanted to be close to him. Twenty feet from the register. Then it happened. Tim swooped down out of nowhere and was at Justin's register bagging. I stopped dead in my tracks. Of all the times Tim decided to actually bag, it had to be now, didn't it. I took the register next to them and glared at Tim. If I had not cared for him before, I flat out hated him now. And then to make matters worse, he was striking up a conversation with Justin. I strained to hear what they were saying. Tim: "Hey, you go to Mandrake?" Justin: "Yeah, I just started today. My family and I moved here from California." Tim: "Oh cool. What grade are you in?" Tim was so outgoing. I just hated him more and more each minute. Justin: "I'm a sophomore this year, but I'm in a lot of junior classes." I stopped bagging and looked over at them. The thought hadn't even crossed my mind that he wasn't in my grade. It was no wonder he looked so young. "Alex, can you help this lady get some mulch from outside?" the cashier I was bagging for asked. I cursed under my breath and said, sure. I grabbed her cart and started for the door. What would Justin see in a guy like me anyway? Why would anyone want to be my friend for that matter? I started to get really bummed out because Tim had taken my place. Knowing Tim and his outgoing personality, he and Justin would be hanging out tonight with Tina. I felt sick. I helped the lady put the bags of mulch in her car and headed back inside. Just before I got to the door though, something happened. The exit door opened up and Justin and the woman he was with walked out. When he saw me, he stopped and so did I. We looked at each other for a moment and then he said, "You're in my English class aren't you?" I stammered for a moment. "Umm, yeah," I said. Didn't he remember talking to me in the bathroom? Of course I was in his English class. "I'm going to car," the woman said. "I'll be right there, Nana," he replied, his voice soft and sweet, just like I had remembered. He turned back to me and gave me a half smile. "I didn't know you worked here. How do you like it?" I began to get nervous and I'm sure my voice was shaking when I answered. "It's great," was all I could say. A man came up behind me and I noticed I was standing in the door way. I moved and the man walked inside. I felt out of place and uncomfortable. This wasn't like the bathroom incident at all. He looked at me for a second as if I should say something else. I probably should have, but where Tim was the perfect conversationalist, I was a bumbling idiot. "Well," he finally said, "I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow." "Yeah," I stammered. "That will be great." It sounded stupid and I was sorry I had said it the second it escaped my lips. He gave me another weak half-smile and walked off into the parking lot. I looked down at my hands like I usually do when I'm ashamed or nervous and walked back inside. I totally fucked that up. I walked inside and Tim was there at the first register talking to Tina. I hated him so much at that moment. He was everything I wished I could be and I despised him for that. I crashed the cart into the others and Tim looked over at me and gave me a friendly smile, not pausing his conversation with Tina for even a moment. He was popular and polite, and most of all good looking. I wanted to destroy something beautiful. It was after 8 when I got home and although I had plenty of homework to do, I didn't feel up to it. I walked into my room and started to get changed. I tore my shirt off and threw it on the ground and then looked where I had thrown it. Right next to my shirt were the props for my failed English presentation. I stared down at it for a moment and then kicked it across the room. What a waste, I thought. My mom knocked on the door after hearing the bang and asked if everything was okay. I told her I dropped something and she left me alone. I laid down on the bed and turned the television on. I just wanted to relax after my long terrible day. Maybe tomorrow my dad wouldn't have to wake me up and my day would be better, but I wasn't holding my breath. There didn't seem to be anything on and I was about to give up and go on the Internet when I came across the Discovery channel. They were doing a show on some sort of snow fox and I couldn't help but watch the poor little snow bunny being stalked by the fox through the thick snow. There was something familiar about the show and I figured I had seen it before. The predator slowly made it's way through the snow and the bunny just sat there. I sat up on my bed and watched intently. I always rooted for the predator. I guess I'm sick like that. The fox was only a few feet away from the rabbit and I was sure it was aware of it's approaching fate. The rabbit was perfectly still now. It seemed that it's very heart had stopped beating. Something about the snow was tingling a memory in the back of my mind, but I couldn't figure out what it was. Some sort of dream... Suddenly, the fox pounced and the rabbit darted away at amazing speeds. The slow motion started and the two creatures seemed to dance through the snow like it was some sort of frozen ballet. The fox was getting closer, claw and fang inches from the helpless bunny. My heart pounded with excitement with every moment that passed. Something about walking through the snow. Did I have a dream about that last night? What did I dream last night... The bunny darted off to the left and the fox followed closely behind. The narrator told us that the fox wouldn't be able to keep up for much longer. I prayed for the quick kill. My dream from the night before was slowly dawning on me. I was walking through the snow, and through the world all alone. The soul survivor of an evil human race. Off to the right the bunny bound, it's energy seeming to increase with every direction change. The fox was getting tired and losing ground. I was plowing through the snow and finally decided it was a a pointless trek that I made. I laid down and allowed the despair and loneliness of this planet to consume my mind. I gave up all hope at that moment. The fox found one last spurt of energy and bound forward with all it's strength, knowing full well that this last effort was going to draw the line between survival and extinction. Suddenly, laying in the snow I felt something. A presence deep within bringing hope to impossibility. I lifted my head from the pure white snow and saw an angel descend from heaven. With it's final lunge, the fox was able to swipe it's front claw across the leg of the bunny and the small creature lost it's footing and went sliding through the snow, sending a spray of white into the air. It hit me like a brick on the forehead. I suddenly remembered where I had seen Justin before. The boy from my dream who had reached down and offered his life to save mine was none other than Justin, the boy from my English class. Right before the commercial, the fox leaped upon the fallen animal and closed it's powerful jaws around the head of the innocent creature, resulting in a sick, unnatural snap. It was over. The beautiful thing had been destroyed. End of Chapter 3 --------------------------------------- Email me and tell me what you think of my story. Questions or comments are welcome. I'm writing this for you all, so feel free to give me some suggestions or whatever. Chapter 4 should come in a few days hopefully (if the feedback is positive).