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I walked down the hallway, head down, quietly minding my own business. I saw her before I heard her, or at least the sounds of fear that tended to follow her. The elephant herself. Towering above everyone else, a dull smirk on her face and a shirt that read something that I felt dirty just reading. I pushed myself up against the lockers, trying to make myself as small as possible. She got closer and closer, the hair on her face getting clearer and clearer until I could see the specks of her breakfast. I shuttered in disgust. I could only imagine the parents that had the gall to spawn this creature. The mating of a toad and a half demon-undead sloth would probably do the trick. I forced myself to look back at the ground, afraid to take my eyes off her, but afraid to look at the same time. I felt a large, hairy hand grab me by the back of my shirt, lifting me high into the air. The vivid imagery of the elephant came back to me, lifting the poor sloth high into the air with her trunk, and slowly lowering him into her mouth. I had to remind myself that elephants were herbivores. I sailed above the crowd, my feet skimming the heads of everyone underneath, all of them looking up at me with looks of pity. None of them expected to ever see me alive again, so much was clear. She set me down in one of the closet door ways. I stared up at her, knees shaking violently underneath me. She looked back at me, just staring, unblinking. "Your name's Aaron, right?" I nodded slowly. "Good, I was afraid I would be wrong about that." I didn't say anything. "You don't say much do you?" I shrugged. "Well I just thought I would let you know..." Let me know what? That I was dead meat? That she was going to cut me up into a thousand pieces and feed me to her man-eating giant dog that she was rumored to have? "...that I really like you." I just stood there, taken aback. Not only did the elephant lady not want to kill me, but she LIKED me, liked me liked me. Well I certainly did not like her. I was terrified by her, any sane person would be. Even our star quarterback failed to stand up to her. What chance did I have, all five and a half feet, 140 pounds, none of which was muscle? "Oh..." That was all I could muster. "Yeah...guess I'll see you around," she said, walking swiftly away. I didn't move. I paced back and forth, wearing a hole in the floor of my bedroom. Dully I wondered what my parents would do if I suddenly fell into their bedroom. My mind was finally beginning to wrap itself around the day's events, a fact that did little to comfort me. I had to get rid of her, make her never get near me again. But how? I couldn't fight her, that much I knew, and even if I did whatever wrath she would come after me with would be a hundred times worse than whatever was happening now. The only way to make sure she would stay gone was to make her leave entirely, move away, and never come back. But how? That question kept popping up. Grabbing my pencil and a notepad I flopped myself down on the bed. Mindlessly I began drawing random shapes on the paper, a pine cone, a lizard, an elephant, a mouse. At first the shapes were simply random doodles, the product of my troubled adolescent mind, but slowly, the longer I looked at them, the more they made sense. I smiled evilly, a mischievous plan forming in my mind....
A couple of days later I walked through the door of the school. There was nothing special about this action per se, I had done the same thing 180 days a year of the last three years. But today was the day. For a week now I had put up with her constantly following me, talking to me, and everyone else talking about us. In my hand was a box, and in that box was the answer to all of my problems. I walked out into the commons area, holding my box close to me. She would have the easiest time finding me here, and the largest amount of people would be around when she did so. I only had to wait a minute or two before her giant form appeared around the corner. She shoved her way through the crowd, crossing the distance between us with three easy steps. "Hey," she said. "Hey," I responded. "What's in the box?" I smiled. Perfect. "Oh just a little something I bought yesterday." I reached into the box and gingerly pulled out a small snake. I saw her stiffen up immediately. A bully she might be, comfortable around snakes she was not. "o-oh," she said hoarsely. "Want to hold it?" I asked holding it out towards her. "N-no that's fine. I don't really..." "Oh. Alright." I said, pretending to be disappointed. Here came the tricky part. I jerked my foot out from under me, pretending to slip. I began to fall towards her and as I did so I released the snake. It flew through hissing through the air, and landed smack dab on her face. She screamed, which only seemed to irritate the snake more. It climbed up into her hair, tangling itself up tight. Another scream. She grabbed the snake out of her hair and threw it at the girl closest to her, who also screamed. She glared at me angrily. "I hate you, Aaron Roberts!" she screamed, this time in anger, and stormed away, running out into the parking lot. There was a moment of stunned silence. No one moved or said a word. Then the cheering started. I smiled happily. Things had worked out well.
I walked past the line of police tape surrounding the small, decrepit house. The words of the newscaster burned in my mind. Eighteen year old Jane Tholl, a student of American Fork High School, was found dead in her parents' house this morning after apparently commuting suicide. Jane's parents, Robert and Rebecca Tholl, said that they would never have seen this coming. "She has been so happy over this last week. She kept on telling me she had finally found a boy she loved..." It has been simple, a wire from the rafters of the attic. I slowly read through the note she had left me one more time. Aaron, Its time for me to go. I can't keep living how I am now. I've tried and tried but I can't seem to fit in anywhere. I'm so glad I found you. For the first time in my life I feel like I belong somewhere. I know that the whole snake thing was an accident, and I don't blame you for it. I think it just helped me realize it was my time to go. I love you. I'm sorry I never told you that before now. Please don't forget me. Jane Tholl. Brian Rodham © 2009 Send a message by using the Word Catalyst feedback form.
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