What Mother Said

By Scott Horn

It is the first day of school and I am late. Mother refused to drive me there, stating that I needed to learn from my own mistakes. “What goes around comes around,” she said. She always says that. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a saying. It is an almost unbearably cold day and the school uniform is doing little to protect me from it. The rain crashes upon me from above while the wind violates my front with its vicious gales. I am almost brought to tears by the cruelty of Mother and the equal cruelty of the savage storm. In my sorrow I almost walk straight past the destroyed vehicle. It is a car but it is far too damaged to make out what kind. Looking at the car, I am reminded of something. I am reminded of an incident that occurred a long time ago.
I was thirteen years old when it happened. I had barely hit puberty yet I was under the impression I was ready to do anything. My friends had invited me to a party, and despite Mother’s warnings, I agreed. I fed Mother a simple white lie and she ate it up like a small animal that had been deprived of food. I told her I was going to a friend’s house for the night. That part was true. What Mother didn’t know was that there was going to be swarms of strangers there taking part in desperate drug-taking and violent sex. I drank alcohol for the first time that night. Because of my young age paired with my small, frail body it wasn’t long at all before I was sucked into that other world. In that world; words lost all meaning and actions became blurred and unrecognizable. I was happy there. All my troubles had disappeared and everything was peaceful. Things that I once found disturbing and uncouth were now things of beauty. Because of this newly developed ignorance it wasn’t difficult to accept a ride home with one of my friends. I remember being so proud of myself. I thought I was so damn cool and nothing could get in my way. Pride is a sin, I should’ve known that. Maybe it was God’s judgement, maybe it was my fate, maybe it was just pure bad luck but then suddenly everything went wrong. The car took a sharp turn and it glided off of the road, tumbling into an inconveniently placed tree. I don’t remember much after that except for screams of agony from myself and from my friends. We stared helplessly at the crimson flames engulfing us. Embraced with heat and burning with terror, I was sure that this was my end.
I am much better now. Everything from the broken legs to the third degree burns has healed and I am back to normal. As I stand alone on the pathway, leering at the wrecked car, I realize something. It was not God, nor fate, nor luck that caused the accident. It was karma. I had chosen to go to that party, I had chosen to get drunk and I had chosen to get into the car. Mother always tells me, “What goes around comes around” and now, as I stand in the frigid cold due to my own inability to be organized, I finally understand what she means.

Awfully Twilight

OMG, only read this if you're in a good mood and are willing to laugh at something awfully Twilight. If not, piss off. This will just make you hate everything, and hate me.

It hadn’t really been long since I last saw Him but whenever I wasn’t around Him every second went by like a decade and every minute like a century. But He was here with me now. Although He wasn’t with me in the way that I wanted, at least He was here. He was sitting at the far back of the classroom with His friends. I manoeuvred myself as close to Him as possible without making anything too obvious, like I always did. My friends followed and sat down next to me. They didn’t know of course, they just thought I chose where we sat randomly. As I waited for instructions from the teacher, I turned in my chair just enough so that I could see Him. I sat quietly and studied His actions while listening to my friends talk. I had done this so often now, I should’ve been tired of it, but I wasn’t. If there was ever an exam on the way He moved his lips when talking or how He played with His hair when bored I would score full marks.
The teacher started talking and He turned around to look at her, we met eyes as He did so. That happened sometimes, He would look at me the same time I was looking at Him and I felt something in my chest. I felt that indescribable tugging feeling on my heart. When I was young I never understood why people always talked of emotions came from the heart but now that I was older and had more experience I understood why. It was definitely a mixed feeling. The warmth and serenity that came with felt so good but at the same time it felt so unnatural and somehow disturbing. Did He feel it too?
As quickly as it had happened He looked away again and the feeling disappeared. With the feeling gone, my body became hollow and stiff. Longing to fill the emptiness, I kept looking at Him, knowing that if I looked for long enough it would happen again. It wasn’t long before my friend interrupted me; she wanted me to read her essay. Stupid friends – they were great when you were in the mood for them but when you weren’t they should’ve just been dead.