Chapter Two

Chapter Two

*I*

Ryan woke up shaking, half expecting to see Chris. “That couldn’t have been a dream, no, it was too real,” Ryan thought. He remembered seeing the sweat on his own face. From what Chris had said, he was witnessing himself living in the past. He was witnessing what happened before the accident. He concluded that he was “watching a movie of the past, and Chris was selling the tickets.”
Although Ryan did not know this, what he thought was exactly right. I will tell you that no one dreams so vividly that they can see the sweat one someone’s face, and remember it in the morning. That’s the equivalent of you going to an amusement park and seeing a man in an orange shirt, and remembering it 5 years later.
Ryan glanced at the clock. It read 6:30. According to the clock the dream had taken hours, but according to his teacher the average dream only lasted 2-10 seconds. By the time it was 7:00, Ryan had convinced himself that he must have had other dreams, but just forgotten them. He had other theories too, but the rest were more disturbing.
Maggie was the only thing Ryan could think about that day at school. He couldn’t figure out if it was her looks he was so focused on, or her words. They both seemed worth paying attention to. She tried to tell him, but he didn’t listen, and was mean about Lindsey’s picture. Ryan wasn’t sure why he dreamt about that particular moment, but it was really bugging him. He remembered that on that day all he could think about was how good Maggie looked, and how he was too ignorant to notice anybody else’s existence. If he had just taken the time to look for 2 seconds maybe he could have prevented the picture from being mutilated, and maybe, just maybe, he could change the past, but that was just a small idea tucked into the back of his thoughts.
Ryan tried hard to remember what Lindsey’s picture looked like. He knew the one she drew was a giant pink heart, with the outlines of other hearts around it. It was the family picture he was having trouble with. He didn’t know why this was suddenly so important to him, but he figured he owed her some respect. All Ryan could come up with was that her family was standing in front of a white backdrop, and that the entire family was wearing very fancy clothing. Lindsey was wearing a red dress with a white rose pinned onto it. She looked beautiful. Ryan wondered why he didn’t think this 46 days ago.
The thing that was puzzling Ryan the most was why Lindsey had just laid her prized possession out in the wide open. It was like she was asking for it to be destroyed. The more and more he thought about it, the more and more convinced he became that the incident was just meant to be.
Ryan’s daydream was abruptly interrupted by the screaming of the bell. He grabbed his stuff and headed for the door, but Mr. Blatino stopped him. Mr. Blatino, Ryan’s science teacher, let the entire class filter out before he began to talk.
Mr. Blatino was not a large man, and was not very intimidating. Ryan could probably of just pushed his way out of class, and left whatever what was about to be said in the past, but he figured he probably also get in more trouble than it was worth.
“I don’t have a class this period, so I thought we could talk,” he said.
“I don’t want to talk about the accident, and I refuse to do so,” Ryan replied.
“What accident?”
“Don’t play stupid with me, I know that you know!”
“Well maybe I do know, but let’s forget about it…”
“Forget about it?!” Ryan interrupted. “Forget about it? You witness 30 deaths and then tell me to forget about it!”
“You know what I mean, come on, don’t be silly.”
“Me, being silly, I don’t think I do know what you mean! Goodbye Mr. Blatino!” With that Ryan turned around and stomped out of the class, slamming the door on the way.
When Ryan arrived home his mother informed him that Mr. Blatino had called. Ryan thought he knew what was coming next, but to his surprise he was wrong.
“He just wanted to let us know that you were doing great, and wanted to thank you for being such a good student.”



*II*

When Ryan finished his homework he headed outside to his favorite climbing tree. He loved this tree over all of the other trees because you could see all around you, and there always seemed to be the perfect breeze, passing through the leaves. Even on the hottest day in the summer, he swore he still felt it. He climbed into the tree and thought about the number 30. Forty-six days ago the number 30 would have meant nothing to him, but forty-six days ago 30 less people were dead. He would never forget the number 30. Even after the accident he counted the bodies, knowing that there had been 30 people on the bus. As much as the number 30 bugged him, the fact that the number wasn’t 31 bugged him even more.
Right after the accident Ryan considered suicide, but he figured that would do nothing but shatter his family’s life, and make things more difficult. He figured his death would cause more problems than it would solve.
After he had thought about the number thirty, Maggie, Zach, and Jen enough he went back inside and hopped into the shower. For once the shower didn’t feel so cold. Even though the dream disturbed him, it helped him get over the accident. Although the shower felt warmer, it smelled different. It smelled like Maggie’s favorite perfume. He would always remember that smell. Ryan didn’t know this, but later on that week he would be reminded of it even more.
When Ryan crawled into his bed he routinely said his prayer, but instead of asking to wake up, he thanked God for letting him have a better day. Surprisingly he didn’t even think about the fact that at midnight it would be night 47. Ryan didn’t ever pray before the accident, and Maggie had always tried to talk him into it. After her death Ryan felt like he needed start praying, but soon he no longer did it for her, but for himself. He felt that God was always there for him and that he would always listen, no matter what a terrible thing he had to say. Ryan learned something about himself after the crash. He learned that he liked people who listened to him.
Ryan put his I-pod onto the song Chasing Cars. He loved that song. It was sad, but he could relate to it so well. The song ended and the next one put him to sleep.
Ryan saw the picture of Lindsey’s family, and then Chris. He realized he was at the bus. This time he made sure he took a good look at the picture. He never knew Lindsey had a brother, and a sister. He always thought she was an only child.
“This is now part two,” Chris said.
“You mean I’m going to be dreaming the same thing over and over again?” Ryan asked.
“No, well yes, well I guess you have the right to know. We’re giving you a second chance. Make sure you notice all of the things you have done that ruined the other person’s day.”
“But I thought you said I couldn’t change or prevent the past.”
“I never said anything about changing it; you just can’t prevent what happens.”
“Wait, I am so confused!”
“Just watch."
Ryan watched as his past self walked over to the entrance of the bus. Ben, the youth director said hi to him, but Ryan completely ignored him. Ryan then noticed a girl carrying a huge pile of papers trying to get onto the bus. He assumed that it was all of the permission slips, health forms, etc. He watched as his past self pushed past her, which caused the pile to come toppling over onto the girl.
“Watch it klutz,” the past Ryan said.
“What did I just say?” said Maggie.
“Why did I do that?!” Ryan said to Chris.
“That’s for you to answer,” said Chris.
Once again Ryan woke up shaking.

The Writers Block, An Everlasting Disease

The Writers Block Disease is caught by the unfortunate writers who no longer have the burning ideas to feed them. I'm sorry to say, but I am a sufferer of this disease.

Mountain

This is a brief look at what Mt. Tenras is...

The road shown would be a small road at a low elevation leading to the mountain with the cloud over it. The clouded mountain would be Mt. Tenras.

Chapter One

Chapter One

*I*

Forty-five days had passed since the accident. Forty-five days of suffering, with 3 less friends to help him through it. It had been 45 days since all the innocent lives had been lost, except one. One life was saved, and Ryan was wondering why it was his life. Why not Jen’s or Zach’s? Why not the 5 year-old boy’s sitting in front of him? These questions were buzzing in Ryan’s head, and he was having a difficult time going to sleep, but he was used to it. For the past 45 nights he couldn’t sleep. Ryan did not sleep that night, and when the alarm went off at 7:00, he was not to enthusiastic about getting up. Forty-five days ago he might have been happier.
When he got into the shower he felt freezing, but when he looked at the faucet it was on hot. The shower had felt the same way every morning to him, for the past 45 mornings. He got out of the shower and saw a lousy image staring back at him, instead of what the girls called “the hottest guy in the eight-grade.” The lousy image staring at him had long blonde hair, a few freckles, and a fairly muscular body. The normal energetic, happy face he carried with him was now a sad, gloomy face, and he blamed it all on the accident, and not an ounce of it was his fault, or so he thought.
At school everyone was bustling around. It was the typical morning, shouting, pushing, and the occasional curse word. As he walked through the hallway people gave him “waz-up”, and routinely he said nothing. People always told him how great he was, but to himself he was nothing to look up to. Yes, he was popular, and had tons of “friends”, but lately he just wished he was normal and he that he was no longer obsessed with fitting in. For once he just wanted to be average.
“Hey, how’s it going?” Jake, his friend, asked as he entered science. Jake was a fairly tall fellow, with short brown hair, that looked out of place if you stared at it too long. Ryan was so angry that people acted like the accident never happened. The accident had ruined his life, and he had been miserable for over a month. If you were going to talk to him you might as well acknowledge that the accident happened. Stuffing his thoughts back inside his mind, he responded, as usual, with and O.K.
Ryan walked over to Lauren and Peter, two new friends he had made. They were not popular, and honestly Ryan really enjoyed their company. He liked them more than all of the “populars” put together. When he was around his two new buddies, he could relax, and he knew that they knew that he was sad. Even though Ryan had only known them for several weeks, he could tell them everything. He always told them stories about Jen and Zach, and even Lindsey, who 45 days ago meant nothing to him. Ryan liked Lauren and Peter because they knew how to listen.
At 10:00 Ryan was called out of class to the counselor. His mom had signed him up, and he hated it. All they ever said was, “And how do you feel about that?” To him it was completely pointless. Once again he sat through and idiotic hour in the guidance counselor’s office.
When Ryan was dismissed to the busses he was so happy. Lately his grades were slipping, and he had just gotten lectured by his math teacher, Mrs. Shapokowski, his least favorite teacher.
*II*

That night when Ryan was getting ready for bed, he realized that at midnight it would be 46 days since the accident. It killed him inside that he was the only one… the only survivor. He would give his life to save all the lives and prevent the accident.
He said his prayer, and for the 46th night he asked that this was all just a really bad dream, and he pleaded that he would wake up. He slowly dosed asleep thinking about Maggie, someone who was a little more than a friend to Ryan. This was the fist night that he had fallen into a deep sleep, in now, 46 nights.
He began to dream about a parking lot. He did not know this, but it had just stricken midnight. Suddenly the lot burst into life. He had a suitcase, and Maggie was standing next to him, pretty as ever. She had her natural long blonde hair hanging loose, and it was blowing in the wind. Her soft features soothed Ryan, both past and present.
He now knew was dreaming about his church trip to the mountains. He tried to talk to Maggie, but there was no response. There was a tap on Ryan’s shoulder and he turned to see Chris, a dorky kid in his youth group.
“This is the beginning, and there is only one rule, and that is you can NOT prevent the past,” Chris said. “Oh, and there is no way for you to communicate with any of the kids. It’s like this is a movie of your past, and we are the audience. I am your guide.”
“What is going on?” Ryan asked. Ryan watched as his past self walked up to Maggie and the both walked over to the bus. Suddenly he saw Lindsey with Chris. They were putting their luggage in the bottom of the bus. He saw Lindsey put a very well drawn picture of a heart with a note attached under her suitcase, trying not to let Chris see. Then she put a picture of what Ryan thought was her family, on top of her suitcase. The past Ryan was focused on Maggie, and did not notice what was going on.
“This is my favorite picture, I take it everywhere with me. That way I can have a piece of my family everywhere I go. If anything happened to it I would be crushed,” she said to Chris. Chris seemed concerned, and he also seemed like he cared. Ryan knew that if anyone had ever told him that he would have probably dismissed the comment and started talking about himself again. After Lindsey looked right at the real Ryan and completely ignored him, Ryan concluded that no one could see him, and that he was here for the show.
Next he saw himself throw his suitcase on top of Lindsey’s. To his terror he watched as Lindsey’s family picture was destroyed completely. It was torn and was full of crinkles. The picture was soiled, and Ryan didn’t think it was fixable. “I am such an idiot,” Ryan thought.
“Look at what you did!” Maggie said. Her tone was silly, but the present Ryan noticed her eyes. They were cold and unforgiving. He never realized how much his attitude bothered her before. He knew he had heard rumors that she liked him, but at the moment Ryan couldn’t come up with anything to like, besides his looks, which was pushing it, and I mean really pushing it.
“She’ll get over it, she’s a dork anyways! Ha!”
“Can you please try to be nicer, you’re awesome and all but your attitude can really make you a mean person,” Maggie said in a friendly tone.
“Fine,” Ryan replied in an un-serious tone.
The “real” Ryan felt terrible. He turned to the “real” Chris.
“Why are you showing me this, I know I screwed up, but all your doing is making me feel worse. If you are trying to help you are doing a horrible job!”
Simply Chris said, “It’s time for you to go.”

Does This Make Sense To You?

Do the following paragraphs make sense to you?
The cremation was to be scheduled May 10th, a Saturday. It had been a week since Ryan had been released from the hospital, and even though he should feel better, the slight blurriness of conscience was still lingering in the vicinity of Ryan’s many emotions. The fact that his last living relative was no longer living, but on a stone slab at the undertaker’s.
He only had one thing to look forward to. This was just a minor thing to look forward to, and he was wondering if he was even looking forward to it anymore. He had been looking for a good friendship, a sincere friendship. Moving in with his current best friend could strengthen the friendship, or it could brutally and unmercifully slaughter it.

First Paragraph

Forty-five days had passed since the accident. Forty-five days of suffering, with 3 less friends to help him through it. It had been 45 days since all the innocent lives had been lost, except one. One life was saved, and Ryan was wondering why it was his life. Why not Jen’s or Zach’s? Why not the 5 year-old boy’s sitting in front of him? These questions were buzzing in Ryan’s head, and he was having a difficult time going to sleep, but he was used to it. For the past 45 nights he couldn’t sleep. Ryan did not sleep that night, and when the alarm went off at 7:00, he was not to enthusiastic about getting up. Forty-five days ago he might have been happier.

Please Disreagard

This was a messup post.