After this post, it will be back to fresh new content (though I doubt that I will be able to post as frequently as I have with these pieces). This short-short story was one that I wrote in 8th grade.
“Nice job, Jake!”
Jake turned his head to see someone from the stands wave and holler excitedly. He grumbled and walked away. One of his friends jumped off from the stands and walked over to him.
“You did really well back there,” he said.
“Oh thanks,” mumbled Jake shrugging off his comrade’s hand.
“You okay?” he asked. “I mean I know you’re sad about… you know…”
“Yeah, thanks,” Jake cut in curtly and walked away.
He got to the bus stop and waited impatiently. He fought back the urge to cry, gripping the bench. Five months. Five whole months since that tragic news Why did that have to happen? He missed seeing his dad telling him “Good game, son!” He missed his mom pampering him with hugs, even though at the time he would push her away.
“I should have gotten over this,” Jake muttered angrily. “It’s stupid to cry about this.” But then again it wasn’t. He now worried about his future.
“Hey!” Jake heard someone yell. He turned his head and saw his 12-year-old sister.
“What?” Jake asked, annoyed yet pleased at the same time to see her.
“What’s wrong?”
“Whenever I look up to the stands, I have to get used to not seeing their faces,” he said, standing up. “Now, winning isn’t as fun as it used to be when they were around to cheer me on.”
At that moment a beat-up Saturn drove up to the sidewalk. The window rolled down to reveal a woman’s face. They both groaned. Their aunt was a kind person but it was just that... well, she never kept in touch. She might have had some sort of disagreement with their mom in the past, so the pair never knew she was alive until now. She never had kids, so for her it was a bit hard to talk or communicate.
“I got a surprise for you Jake,” Aunt Leah said excitedly, turning the ignition and speeding away.
“What about me?” Tina pouted. Jake snorted. That was his sister always thinking of herself. It was one of the things he loved about her.
“I’ll get you something, Tina, my dear,” she said “but I just want to give Jake a gift for winning some of his football games!”
“If you really wanted to give my brother a gift you should come to one of his games,” Tina scolded looking out the window. The light turned green. Their aunt drove away.
“You will love it, Jake. I guarantee you that,” their aunt said happily.
They finally arrived at the house. Their aunt briskly walked into the house and rushed into the bedroom.
Their aunt squealed while lifting the tarp off a brand new Xbox 360. Jason sat there dumbfounded.
“I knew you would love it!” Aunt Leah shrieked. She quickly brought over a cardboard box.
“So here are controllers so when your friends come over, you can all play,” she said
“Next are the games,” she said “now I didn’t exactly know what kind of games a fourteen-year-old would play so I got these,” their aunt said pulling out two games.
“If you don’t like them feel free to return them,” their aunt said placing the two games next to the controllers. “And here we have…“and so she began.
“STOP!” roared Jake.
His aunt was so shocked she fell backwards and landed on the Xbox 360. Even Tina seemed taken aback, and she had been known to withstand tornados.
“So you don’t want the Xbox,” Aunt Leah replied sounding a bit annoyed.
“No, no, I love it,” Jake said quickly. “I’ll play it, but I would really like you to come to one of my games. Cheer me on, you know,” Jake said.
“Fine, whatever,” she said throwing her arms up in the air.
Jake headed down to the basement. Whenever Jake went down here he felt as if his parents were there with him. He sat down in his father’s rocking chair. Then Jake noticed something under his old bed. Curious he went down to pick it up. It turns out that they were two handcrafted wooden boxes. Jake opened one of the little boxes. Inside it looked as though there were thousands of pieces of paper, cards, and objects. There was so much it was hard to believe the little box would hold so much. He opened them. Tina came down to the basement to investigate.
Jake picked up a piece of battered paper. ”Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified…” Jake and Tina both looked at each other and began to laugh.
“Remember when he wrote that?” Tina laughed.
“How could I forget,” Jake chuckled, “I can’t believe he still kept this after all these years.” They both smiled and looked back on that fateful day.
Outside there was a severe thunderstorm. The power was off and Jake was 12 at the time and Tina was 10. “Daddy, I’m scared,” Tina had mumbled huddling in her blanket. The thunder boomed again, and it nearly shook the whole house. Smiling, Jake’s dad grabbed a piece of paper and wrote those words. “Now darling,” he had said bending down and placing his hand on her. He beckoned for Jake to come over. “Whenever you’re scared I want you to think of these words.” he said stroking her hair and giving Jake pat on the back. “Okay daddy,” they both responded with confidence. “Remember: don’t worry about your life or your future or what will happen to you. Your mother and I will always be here for you both whether in body or in spirit.”
The dynamic duo glanced at each other; their frowning faces transforming into half-hearted smiles.
“I guess it’s a start,” Tina said breaking the spell.
“Hopefully,” Jake said, nodding his head.
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