5miles

It’s not every day when one can say that a fortune inside a cookie changed their life.
_________

The plan was set. There was no turning back. All the pent up anger and frustration of never being good enough had surfaced in a single moment of clarity.
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All the times they laughed because his pants were too short

“Hey Jonny! When’s the flood? Ha ha!”

His glasses were too thick

“Nice coke bottle glasses Jonny..4 eyed freak ha ha!”

Last to be picked to play

“Jeez do we have to get Jonny again?”

Nobody knows what it’s like to be Jonny….except Jonny.

Even he is tired of being Jonny. He knew how to change it all.
_________

He just woke up one Monday morning and it came to him clear as day. He knew where his Dad kept the key to his gun safe. The .45 was always loaded and his Dad wouldn’t miss it. Heck, he would be at work anyway. So he took it and put it into his backpack before he left for school.

He walked out the front door and headed for the bus stop with a new confidence.

A new day has risen.

A new Jonny has risen.

And they would fall.

They would beg him to stop.

And he would not.

The new Jonny wouldn’t allow it. It was time for payback…redemption. To be the giver of pain instead of the taker. The “cool kids” needed to taste “hot lead”, the “jocks” needed to be “jacked”. Their comedic side needed to meet his tragic side.

Later was now.

He turned the corner to the bus stop just in time to see the bus pulling away. He tried to catch up but the driver wouldn’t stop and the kids in the back seats just watch him run and laughed at his disposition. He would now be late. But that didn’t worry him. It just gave him more fuel to know he was doing the right thing.

His anger continued to swell.

It would be long walk to school but a walk with a purpose.

As he travelled through the streets he came across an elderly Asian woman who appeared to be having trouble getting her groceries from her car to her home.

“You need some help ma’am?”

“Oh, you child so kind. Thank you.”

He helps get the groceries inside and was about to leave. The woman stops him to give him a gift.

“I cannot pay you money for your kindness….but with this you may be granted change of heart.” She gives him a fortune cookie and says, ” a little morsel for your travels…and a message for your soul.”

Jonny gives her a puzzled look, but takes the cookie and returns to his quest.

He breaks open the cookie and puts half of it in his mouth and bites down.

CRUNCH

The sound fills his head and it makes him a bit woozy. He closes his eyes and tries to shake off the sick feeling.

He opens his eyes and reads the fortune in the small slip of paper.

“Closing the space between 5 miles will bring you to happiness.”

He thought to himself, “that’s dumb”

As he ponders the fortune, he places the other half of the cookie in his mouth.

CRUNCH

Again the sound fills his head. He closes his eyes and rubs them with the knuckles of his index fingers to shake the feeling. He opens his eyes and realizes he is not where he was.

Everything was gone.

No houses.
No cars.

Just a dirt road intersecting 2 fields with tall grass.

He did what anyone else would do. He took the gun out of his backpack and started to walk.

He walked

And walked

And walked until he saw the sign.

He took the slip of paper out of his pocket. Looked at it. Looked at the sign. And decided to follow the arrow.

It was a quiet walk. But the more he walked the more he heard the voice in the wind-

“Your problem lies not with them. It is that you believe their lies. Believe your truth and stop living their lie…..”

It repeated over and over as he walked.

Jonny blocked it out to try to decipher the meaning. He thought about their verbal abuses….and slowly began to realize….he didn’t care what they thought anyway.

Maybe some people just aren’t good at sports…..maybe I don’t want to be like them….maybe they are jealous of me.

Yeah..that’s it. I’m a good kid. I’m ok with who I am. Screw them and their want everyone to like them way of thinking. If I shoot them I am worse than them….I’m not like them.

He stops where he is at and grins. Strangely he has reached the same sign in the road only it’s slightly different….

Instead of

“Happiness 5 miles”

it reads

“Happiness 5miles”

Then it changes again to

“Happiness Smiles”

BZZZZZZZZZ
BZZZZZZZZZ

His alarm clock awakens him.

It’s Monday morning. Time to get ready for school. He sits up in his bed and days, “Stupid dream. It felt real but of course it wasn’t.”

He gets out of bed and places his feet on the floor. He steps on something and turns on the light to see what it is.

Right next to small chunks of what looks like some kind of cookie is a small slip of paper. He picks it up and reads the inscription.

“Closing the space between 5 miles will bring you to happiness.”

A new day has risen.

A new Jonny has risen.

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