The Real World--NO LONGER CONTINUING!!!

[Blablob]

"She finished asking me all of the questions. I wasn't prepared for the answer; I really wasn't. But I knew the killer was out there somewhere. I knew he was hiding. And I had to find him, whatever it took, so that no person may ever suffer the same fate as my own son."

This is a quote taken from the story I plan to be working on in place of Kympo. There isn't much more I can tell you, other than the following things:

--It will be told in first-person.

--It will have no relevence to Runouw.com.

--It will involve a killer.

I know that's not much to promise you, but hear me out; this will be as good, if not better, than Kympo.

[Yoshi Boo 118]

Sweet! Love first person stories! Cn't wait to see it, Blab.

[Avo]

Hmm, this sounds interesting........can't wait to see it!

[Blablob]

Some news:

--The title has been revealed

--Chapter 1 will be on the weekend

[Blablob]

Chapter 1

You know, life is like waking up on Christmas day. You never know what to expect, and you either like what you get or you don’t. Sometimes life can disappoint you--sometimes you don’t always get what you want. Sometimes you get things that surprise you, that you weren’t expecting. And you can’t always change what you have.

Like when I was five. My parents had gotten into a big fight. I didn’t know what they were arguing about, and to this day neither of them will tell me. (Actually, my parents died long ago) The argument was so big, though. My parents were throwing things at each other, the neighbors even had to call the cops. It was a day I’d never forget.

That led right up to their divorce, and I lived with my mom, me and my two brothers, for fifteen more years. I had only the chance to see my father once a year, if I was lucky. My parents never forgave each other, and it was absolute hell for me and my brothers. I was the oldest of us three, by only a few years, so they always looked up to me. But they shouldn’t have, because there weren’t a darn thing I could do to prevent anything.

I have to say. Now, looking back, my life as a child couldn’t have gotten much worse. But now, I couldn’t ask for much more. I have a beautiful twelve-year-old boy, a wife, a house; what more could a happy family ask for? Of course, I’ll never forget my younger years of living in fear from my own parents. But as they say, “live in the present, not the past”.

So, yeah, as I said. Life really is like Christmas, because you might not have gotten what you wanted before, but there’s always something new for you to have. And I have my wife and child. I couldn’t bare to see if something horrible were to happen with either of them…

-----------------------------------

Monday morning. I was still in bed, but not for long. The morning brightness of the hot, blazing sun shone through the window onto my bed. Between me just waking up and the brightness, my eyes couldn’t adjust yet. I rubbed them, and stepped out of my bed. I took a deep yawn. The first one of the day is always the most powerful, at least for me. Then I stood up, put a shirt on, and went out into the kitchen.

The smell of hot, delicious coffee surrounded me, which pretty much lured me to the coffee pot. I wasn’t a morning person, but if there were anything to wake me up in the morning, coffee would take the case.

I grabbed a cup from the upper-left counter. I grabbed a blue-glass textured mug--the one only I used--and set it down. I poured some coffee. Then I heard a noise in the room behind me. I glanced over to see that it was my wife, June, only to soon realize that I was pouring coffee everywhere. She quickly hustled over.

“God damn in, Ben! Watch what your doing, wouldja? You’re 42 years old and you don’t know how to pour some coffee?!”

I learned long ago that she was a morning person.

“Sorry”, I replied, “I’m still kind of in a daze.”

“Well, can you at least watch what yer doin’?” The hot coffee was leaking over the counter, dripping onto the floor. Mumbling to herself, June went over to the closet, grabbed a white cloth, then came back over. I stepped aside to let her clean it up.

“I’m sorry” I repeated a second time.

“Don’t you have something you should be doing,” she asked, “like waking Ben up?”

“Ah, right! It’s Monday already?”

I walked over to Ben’s room--that would be my son--and slowly opened the door. I peaked in, to see that he was still sleeping. And, I swear, at that moment, he had the cutest face! It was hard to describe, but it would definitely make you say “Awwww!”

“June, come here.” I spoke to her, “You have to see this.”

She finished getting the coffee off the floor, then got up, set the cloth on the counter, and walked over. “What?” She asked, and then she peaked into the room. She smiled. “We have to get a picture.”

She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, pressed a few buttons, aimed, and took a photo. Boy! Won’t Ben be surprised when he hears we took a photo of him in his sleep?

She put her phone away. I glanced at the clock on the wall. “It’s 7:00,” I said, “let’s give Ben another 10 minutes. The bus doesn’t even come to pick him up ‘til around 7:45. He’s got time.”

“Alright,” she said, with a puzzled look on her face, “But you’ll be the one to wake him up.”

I half-smiled, and gave her a kiss. “I’m gonna get my coffee now.” I said.

“I have to go get ready for work.”

“Okay.”

She went into the bathroom, and I went to pour me some fresh hot coffee. I was a little more awake now, but not much, so I had to pay extra attention not to spill again. Damn, how sad is that? A 42-year-old trying not to “spill”.

Anyways, once I poured my coffee, I went over to the couch, turned on the television to Channel 5 News, and begun the Monday morning routine.

There was a news report of some local bar fights. As I took a sip of my coffee, I turned the T.V up.

“Good morning,” the reporter said, “This is Danielle Williams with Channel 5 news. Late last night, at around 11 PM, there was a bloody and dangerous fight down by the Maureen and Dan Pub. It all started with two men, names unknown, walking into the bar, and having a clash. Suspects said they did not know who the 2 men were, but it is strongly believed they knew each other.” A picture of the two men came on screen. “If you see either of these men, please contact authorities right away at__”

I heard Ben’s door open, and looked to see that he was walking out. He looked drowsy.

“Hi dad” he said to me, and he walked over to give me a hug.

“Hi Ben,” I replied, “you know, I was going to let you sleep in for another 10 minutes.”

He finished hugging me. “It’s okay, I like getting up early. I’m gonna go get some coffee.”

Ben loved coffee, like me and June. And what are you gonna do, huh? The kid can’t get enough of the stuff, and like me he uses it to get himself out of a daze in the early morning.

“Okay, just be careful, walking over there, Ben. I spilled some coffee earlier, and it might still be slippery on the floor.”

“I will”, he said, while walking over there.

I continued watching the news.

“Weather for the day: High of 70 degrees, low of 53 degrees. Sunny skies, with a 1% chance of rain”

June stepped out of the bathroom. She had her makeup on, and when she came over I could tell that she smelled nice.

“You smell nice”, I said, saying exactly what was on my mind.

“Thank you.” She leaned down to give me another kiss. “I have to go now. Love you.”

“Now?”

“Yes, I have to be at work by 7:15.”

“Okay, bye. Love you, too.”

I gave her another kiss. Then she left out the front door. I assume Ben went into the other room to play some video games.

Yeah, my family sure is great. A pretty normal family, if you ask me. Well, not exactly normal. We’re whacky, really. We’re crazy, as some people say. The decisions we make, and the stuff we do. In the morning, we’re pretty tired, and it’s the only time of the day we really act not-ourself-ish. In case you couldn’t tell already, I don’t exactly have a job. The newspaper comes by every day, and I’m always looking. But these times are rough and tough to get jobs.

Also, my son Ben was named after me, just like I was named after my dad. I named him after myself because that’s how much I loved him. And my wife, June…she wasn’t named after anyone, but her birthday is in June.

I have a sad history, but a bright present. No one can take away my family. No one!

There was a knock on the door--the doorbell was broken--so I got up and peeked out the hole in the door to see who it was. It was Bob, our neighbor. I opened the door.

“Howdy, Ben!” he exclaimed. “Got some news for ya!”

“Really? What’s that?”

“Well, you gots a son, amirite?

“Yeah. Twelve-year-old.”

“Give him this.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Game boy and a stack of cartridges. “ I heard he likes video games.”

I took them from him. “Gee, thanks, Bob. What’s all this for, anyway?”

“Wells, those were just some things my older son used to play, ‘til he moved out. I forgot I had them, but then I remembered, so I thought I’d give them to you. My son wouldn’t mind.”

“Thanks, Bob!”

Bob was a nice guy. A real friend. He helped us in situations, like the one time our truck broke down in the middle of the highway. We called up Bob, and he drove 300 miles just to come help us. Also, sometimes he’ll give us some food in case we’re running low. He also knew full well that I had a son, but always asked the same darn question: “You gots a son, amirite?” But he knew. Bob was whacky like that. He was a crazy, hillbilly, 55-year-old man. No wonder he was my best friend.

I went inside to give Ben the games. “Here,” I said, while handing them to him, “these are from Mr. Bob.”

“Thanks, dad! Tell him I said thanks!”

“I will”

-------------------------------------

Around 12:00 that day, I got another knock on the door. I opened it. It was the cops. Then and there I had a spontaneous ♥♥♥♥ in my pants. At least I thought I did.

“What is it, officer?”

“Are you Benjamin Christian?”

“Yes I am, officer.” Yeah, go ahead and laugh. I had 2 first names.

“And are you the owner of that vehicle?” He pointed to the red Dodge in my parkway.

“Yes I am.”

He stared at me firmly. “The license plate expired over a month ago.” I stared at him in awe. “I also saw you driving around a little yesterday, which is illegal for expired plates. I’m afraid this is going to have go on your record. I would usually have to arrest you, but I’ll be nice and write you an $800 ticket. Next time you’re caught like this, you will be arrested.” He started writing out the ticket.

I nodded my head. “Officer, I am so sorry. I didn’t even realize__”

He handed me the ticket. “Just make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

I took the ticket. “Have a good day, officer.”

“You too, sir.”

I closed the door. How in the world could this day be good? My wife would not only be pissed at me, but we don’t even have the money to pay for the ticket. Damn it! Why couldn’t I have just paid the damn thing?! I loved my family dearly, but why the hell would I do this to them? They didn’t deserve this. They didn’t deserve me…

[MICrophone]

This is good so far…though it's hard to tell so soon…keep going!

[Blablob]

Thank you. Believe me, while it is starting out slow, one event will slowly lead to another.

[MessengerOfDreams]

You see, everything worked out in the end. This is your best work yet. The writing style, the hook, the mystery, everything. 10/10

[Blablob]

Okay, the next chapter should be out this weekend, but before I do that, I'd REALLY like it if I could get some more reviews. I have a lot of intentions and ideas for this story, but I need to know what you guys think so far.

[spookyghost]

I'm already crying O.o
Maybe its the Drawn to Life ending song...
Whatever. Good! Keep it up! 10/10