Fairly Tale

Fairly Tale

            It was a tale of revenge and romance; it was a story with a beginning and an end; it was plot full of angst and anger; it was about teenagers. It had to be told by a fool fallen out of luck who had once been wise beyond his years although he had missed most of them. It could have been fiction but the truth was in this case better, it could have been entirely based on real people but the threat of the following lawsuits scared the teller into changing all of the names even his own. He wants us to call him Mike.

            Mike’s story start in a small town in a small county in a shady state somewhere in the south- we are going to call the town Knoxville and pretend it is located in Tennessee. Now Tennessee is in the South but it is not so much south that you don’t find regular things such as cell phones and republicans. In fact, this town is teeming with the GOP. This little town also has features of other towns like gas stations and rabid sports fans. Knoxville which is a metaphor for our story since every sane person should realize is just the fictional setting for this town is really a much nicer place to live filled with much nicer and thus more civilized and rational people than those found in this story. But I digress.

            Knoxville was where Mike grew up and went to school, however this story concerns Mike’s life in high school and not the fact that he may have grown up in this fictional version of Knoxville. Mike is a pretty normal sort of fellow, in fact he could be said to be a frantic, pimple pushing, always horny, badly dressed young man which would in truth not make him stick out at all from his fellow teenagers. What made Mike different is that he truly knew about life and loss. He had no idea why or how and that made him assume that all teenagers knew the same thing as him. It took him awhile to figure out that despite claims to the contrary teenagers are basically clueless to such concepts like life and loss.

            When Mike realized this at fourteen he felt alienated and left out as his fellows blissfully sped by him on their semi immortal happy course like bottle rockets in the autumn twilight. This was scarcely odd though since almost all teenagers feel alienated and left out though many discover ways to hide or ignore the feelings. Mike could not would not and did not, thus his days were bleak with truth and despair. That was until he met Rebecca…

            The morning light was warm on the bed in the small room in which he slept, the bed clothes and white sheets were tangled around his body. He slept with absolute stillness in the early hours opposite to the restless hours in darkness troubled by dreams of another life he could almost remember but never quite grasp. His face had taken an almost serene expression with only the corners of his mouth recalling the disturbances from hours before. The boy’s name was Mike.

            He was a tallish boy who tended to slouch enough as if life was constantly dragging him down. His shoulders had yet to take on the rounded shape of true slouchers that would have made him like the slackers who gloomed in and out of A building at DHS. He had shaggy brown hair and a lopsided smile that only appeared at odd times when nothing was funny to anyone but himself. His eyebrows were thick and unplucked like most boys who were clueless as to their own appearances.

            Mike was on the verge of turning sixteen that year, literally in two months and fourteen days and three hours which he may have been aware of if he had been a girl or an idiot savant. All Mike knew was that soon he would be able to drive and freedom would be his at last! Although this would not be completely true since he had no car nor would be getting one soon. What was worse, his parents weren’t inclined to give him one or let him use theirs as they had been exposed to car insurance commercials and MADD commercials displaying what would most likely happen if they let Mike out on the roads on his own. Still, they had allowed him to drive them places on his learner’s. Maybe he could talk his buddy, Ken into letting him drive Ken’s Jalopy- even if the car was older than any of his friends and most likely their parents to boot.

            The alarm on the night stand shrieked to life with a shrilling ping like an insane game of breakout. Mike sat bolt upright in bed scaring the cat that had been asleep in his armpit. The small white and black cat popped shot out like a gray bullet streaking from the bed across the room and out the cat flap in Mike’s bedroom door. Mike yawned and stretched as the alarm continued to scream.

            “Mike, shut that damned thing off already!” His sister, Mercy, screamed from the next room before pounding on the wall between them.

            Mike gazed blankly at the shaking wall until he blinked and turned around and shut off the alarm. A new silence followed in the wake of the loud little machine.

            “Your welcome.” Mike mumbled as he slowly climbed out of his bed and stumbled towards the bathroom.

            He paused in the middle of the room to stretch and yawn before continuing into the small bathroom he shared with his sister. There he washed his face and shaved what would barely pass for stubble, but that he took great pride in doing every time the bits of hair appeared.

            He was rubbing his jaw and considering brushing his teeth when he became acutely aware that the other door had opened and his sister was scowling at him from it. He looked over at her, despite her scowl, Mercy was quite beautiful even at fourteen. Tall and willowy and thin she was just coming into her own body- she also spent time grooming her few blessings but seemed to believe that Mike had known worth wasting time on. He gave her a lopsided grin and shuffled sideways as he grabbed his toothbrush and made for the Crest.

            She marched over to stand next to him and glowered as she took stock of her near flawless image in the mirror. I say near flawless because there was, of course, one major flaw- a pimple. Mercy’s glowered darkened as she gathered her forces to do battle with the cursed invader to her near perfect skin. Her hands involuntarily gripped the sides of the sink and she grimaced as she prepared to let the little bastard have it.

            “Yoush couldsh coversh its with a bandagesh” Mike said around his toothbrush as his lazily brushed.

            Mercy turned her glower upon him and snarled. Yes, she actually snarled- which unfortunately for her was quite cute- since beautiful girls can never carry of a snarl with anything but a clownish expression. Mike choked on his toothpaste and had to spit it out in the toilet while stifling his laughter. When he returned Mercy’s was still half snarling and almost on the verge of tears. She would gather her reserves and reach up to touch the wicked thing it white cap shining only to jerk back at the shock of pain it caused her.

            Mike decided that after watching this drama for two days that he must act and act swiftly or this battle could drag on all week. He put a comforting arm around his sister and hugged her gently. She relaxed a little and slowly, guiltily looked over at him.

            “Sis, I am about to do you a favor, one that will end your pain and mine as well.”

            “What? Are you going to move to Mongolia and I can finally get some sleep?”

            “Better.”

            “What? Are you going to admit that I was right about the D&D and let me play?”

            “Almost as good.” He turned to look into her suspiciously hopeful eyes.

            “What is it then?” Mercy said a pout forming on her lips.

            “I am going to do…” and he place both hands on her shoulders “this!”

            And with that he swiftly clasped her head with both hands and like his vicious uncaring mother had demonstrated on his own poor head time and time again, he placed his thumbs on either side of the pimple and squeezed. Mercy squealed in panic and tried to pull away much like he had when their mother had first pulled this dirty trick on him, but he held on until the entire thing was out and the red blood flowed. Then Mercy punched like she had be taught by their equally uncool father and Mike let go.

            “You! You! You!” She screamed as spittle flew from her lips. Mike wisely backed away wiping his hands on his tee shirt as he went.

            “Someday you will thank me.” He said as he got out the other door and closed and locked it as something large slammed into it. There were screams of frustration, anger and hurt then some silence in which Mike wrongly assumed that all was well, then sobs of despair and pain. Mike felt rotten about it- he had gotten over his mother remonstrations to his face quickly each time and realized that it was better that way despite the pain and embarrassment. Obviously, Mercy, did not share in this enlightenment, maybe she would come around to it.

            “Michael Isaac Benjamin? Are you fighting with Mercedes Angelina Grace again?” He hated how his father used their full names when he addressed them about anything important.

            “No dad, just a minor misunderstanding.” He replied as he crossed to his closet to consider his wardrobe options for the coming school day. Should he wear jeans and a clean tee shirt or jeans and the shirt he slept in. He looked down to see Mercy’s goo and considered briefly off washing it off but decided on a cleaner tee instead.