(Com) How To Be Late (T)

I wrote this story to be put in a little book of short stories for the young authors fair at my school. It was inspired by a friend of mine who never showed up to our concert, and when I asked him why, he simply said,

"Its a long story,"

So here I give you,

How To Be Late

High in the sky, the bright orange sun had begun to set, casting warm rays of light down onto the earth. The gentle rays managed to slip through the crack of a set of white curtains in a little blue house. They flitted across the face of a sleeping boy, laying on his bed, lighting up his pale face. His dark brown eyes snapped open, and he gazed around at his room monetarily before shooting up off of the bed. He glanced at the clock next to it which read six o’ five. The boy yelped and ran over to his dresser. From it he extracted a pair of black slacks, and clean yet somewhat wrinkly white dress shirt, and a matching black jacket. Then from the top draw he pulled out a tie and some socks. Within two minutes he had everything on properly, then he started to rush out of the room when he realized that he didn’t have any shoes on. The pale boy ran back to his closet and pulled out a pair of shiny black shoes and shoved them on his feet. Then he rushed out of the room once more and went into the one adjacent to his, where a woman sat on a couch watching TV.

“Mom! the boy yelled. “We have to go, I’m going to be late!”

“Go where?” the woman asked sleepily.

“My concert! I’m supposed to be there by six fifteen and…Gah! Its six thirteen!” the boy shouted looking at the clock on the wall.

“Oh yeah, that. Well come on them Chris,” the woman simply said, getting up from the couch. The boy made a run for the door, stopping only for a second to grab the keys, then bolted out of the front door. Once outside, he unlocked both sides of the car and hopped in. While waiting for his mother who was slowly making her way outside, Chris ran one hand through his short black hair. Making sure he was presentable. His mother finally got in the car, put the keys in the ignition, and the little car roared to life. She pulled out of the driveway and got halfway down the street when Chris realized that he had left his flute in his bedroom. Definitely not good.

“Mom, we have to go back! I left my instrument at home!
His mother rolled her eyes, then muttered,

“And you complain about me forgetting things.” She made a quick U-turn and headed back toward the house. Once back in the driveway, Chris ripped the keys out of the ignition and ran back up to the house. He unlocked the front door and went to his room, frantically searching for the forgotten flute. After a while the small black case that held the silver instrument was found under a pile of dirty clothes. After making sure I was actually inside of its case, Chris quickly got out of the house and got into the car once again. The engine roared to life as his mother put the keys back into the ignition and backed out of the driveway.

“I just might make it,” the boy said hopefully. It took about ten minutes to get to the school pavilion where the concert was being held driving. Even though he was supposed to be there by six fifteen, the band would not be leaving the band room until six thirty, and even then they wouldn’t be performing till about seven fifteen.

At least I don’t have to walk, Chris though. Then it would have taken like, half an hour. They had driven about a quarter of the way there when they were forced to stop. The crossing arms in front of some train tracks had prevented them from going any further, and a train was slowly making its way across the tracks.

“No!” Chris cried in horror, as with every passing second the train became slower, and slower, until it finally came to a halt. Black clouds of smoke began to rise from different parts of the train, and men began to run around like crazy and yell things Chris could not understand.

“I am not waiting for this train to move!” the boy shouted and threw himself out of the car. Her grabbed his instrument and music, and began to head toward the train.
“Don’t come any closer!” a man in a conductor’s hat shouted. “It’s not safe!”
Chris ignored the man and slid through a crack in between the train cars.

I can still make it in time! He though. He walked down the street behind the train and came to a corner were a small group of yellow lilies were growing. In the distance he could see the light poles for the football field. From here it would take about fifteen minutes to get to the school. With a sigh, Chris continued walking, and then a voice called out,

“Hey kid! Think you can help a guy out here?” The boy stopped, but with no intention of helping anyone out. He looked around him and saw no one.

“Where are you?” he asked a little impatiently.

“I’m down here! Man you humans are blind.” the voice said. It seemed to be coming from the flowers, so Chris squatted and examined them. Then quite suddenly, one of the flowers leaned closer to him and shouted,

“Boo!”

Chris jumped backward in shock, then shouted stupidly,

“You’re a flower!”

“No S*** Sherlock! Maybe you also wanted to point out that I’m yellow? Anyway, I need a little help here. See this guy next to me?” he asked, pointing a petal at a weed next to him. “He’s being a real jerk. Mind pulling him out of here for me?”

Chris stared at the weed stupidly for a few moments, then shouted,
“Your going to make me late!” and took off down the street.

“Yeah, and your mama’s got a fungus!” the flower yelled, shaking a balled up leaf at the boy.

Chris finally stopped running when he stumbled into a semi dark ally. He looked over his shoulder to make sure he was not being followed.

Like a flower could follow me anyway. But it could talk! Who knows that else it could do. the boy thought suspiciously. He continued walking, not sure of where he was until he came to what looked like a delivery dock for some kind of warehouse supplies.

I know where I am now. I must be behind Flormart, he thought with relief, but that feeling was shattered when he heard the sudden scream of,

“Haaaaaaaaa!”

A man garbed in black who had only his eyes showing lept out from the shadows in front of the boy. Front the roof of Flormart lept another figure who was also garbed in black, but this one had a pair of nun chucks in his hands.

“Oh my god! Ninjas!” Chris almost screamed in horror, but stopped himself. They hadn’t seemed to notice him yet. The first man pulled a Katana out of a sheath he had been wearing on his belt and held it up to the second man.

“Your skills are no match for mine!” the first man shouted and struck out at the second man.

“We shall see soon enough who the true warrior is!” the second man yelled as he jumped out of the way. The first man began a rain of blows onto the nun chuck wielding man who barley managed to block them with the chain of his weapon. The second ninja kicked the other in the shins, giving himself some time to get out from underneath the first one. He lashed out with his weapon and hit Ninja #1 between the eyes. The first ninja shook his head, then yelled again and lept upon Ninja #2, knocking him to the ground. Chris took this chance to attempt to escape the scene. Then to his horror, the first ninja looked up and spotted him. He gasped in horror then shouted at the man underneath him,

“You bring this boy to stab me in the back right before I defeat you! How dishonorable! You shall die one million deaths for this!”

“I swear that I have never seen this boy in my life!” the second ninja shouted pitifully. While they were busy arguing, Chris slipped away, running down a few more blocks to make sure that the ninja’s did not follow him. Then he had to stop. The boy stood on another corner, panting and clutching his things to his chest.

“One of those guys could have killed me!” he whispered to himself. He stood there for a few moments, catching his breath, then began to walk toward the still far off light poles of the football field. The once clean clothes he had been wearing were now covered in sweat, and he had gotten his shoes muddy somehow. After a few minutes of walking, Chris sat down on the curb. He was tired from running and still afraid that the ninjas might come back. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and put his head into his hands.

“There you are! I have been looking everywhere for you!” a smooth, silky voice sang right next to his ear. Chris attempted to turn around, but suddenly everything grew hazy, and then he blacked out.

When he woke up, he was laying on a field of lush green grass. A few strange looking flowers grew in a clump next to his head, and he could hear the sounds of running water close by. Chris sat up slowly, and gasped at what was around him. He was on the top of a hill overlooking a beautiful valley. It seemed as though the sun was just rising, illuminating the multiple trees and flowers that littered the valley floor below. A large river full of sparkling clear water ran through the middle of it, and strange exotic birds flapped overhead.

“So you have finally awakened,” the beautiful singing voice sighed. Chris looked up and saw the most beautiful woman he had ever seen standing above him. She had waist length silver hair and golden orange eyes. She was wearing a robe that seemed to be made out of a rainbow, and her feet were bare. He was at a loss for words.

“You see this beautiful land? All of it is in danger. An evil man is at works at the coldest peak in the north, and only the chosen human child of the prophecy can save us,” the woman cooed. “Do you understand? Only you can save our world Nick!”

“Wait, Nick? Who’s Nick? My name is Chris.”

The woman started at him blankly, then said,

“Oh,” her singsong voice suddenly gone. “Oops, wrong boy” the woman laughed and touched him on his forehead. The next thing he knew. Chris was standing in the middle of the school football field. For a moment he could not understand what had just happened, but then he shouted in triumph when he realized where he was. But ten he noticed that the sky had also gone dark and the moon was out.

“Oh no How long was I out?” Chris screamed in horror and began to run toward the pavilion. As he got closer, he realized that there seemed to be a bonfire burning outside of it, and figures dancing around it. He realized as he got closer that they were also chanting and wearing strange-feathered clothing. One of them, a girl left their dancing circle and grabbed Chris by the arm.

“Come and dance with us! We are calling the rain!” she shouted happily and forced Chris into the circle.

“I can’t, I have to go!” Chris tried to tell her. But she would not listen. Instead, she put a bead necklace around his neck and put a feathered headdress on him. They began to dance faster and faster, Chris being dragged through most of it, when finally a clap of thunder was heard. The rain began pouring out of the sky like the heavens themselves where crying and the strange people around the now put out fire began to cheer. In this moment, Chris managed to get away from the girl. He ran over to the front of the pavilion where a great mob of people were gathered. He pulled on smaller boy aside and asked him,

“Where is everyone going?”

The boy snickered at the way Chris was dressed, then answered,

“Everyone is going home.”

“Why?” Chris shouted.

“ Because the concert is over now. Duh.” The boy said and snatched his arm away from Chris. Chris fell to his knees and stared blankly at the concrete sidewalk. Hid mom puled up in the car right next to him.

“Ready to go home?” she asked him. Chris stood up, walked over to the car, and began to bang his head on the roof of the car over and over again.
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Critique me all you want. That way I know what to do better next time.

That was WONDERFULL! I loved reading that. Though it really could have had more of an ending.

I know the ending was somewhat lame. i want to fix it someday though. I guess thats what I get for writing the last half of the story at one in the morning the day before it was due.

Hilarious :XD

Seriously, brilliant. The lady with the singsong voice cracked me up.

Really, the only complaint other than a few spelling errors is that which Desquode mentioned, because otherwise I enjoyed it thoroughly.