Skipping Stones - Karlnap

•1|Bridge to Terabithia|1•

Isle of Flightless Birds - Twenty One Pilots
Somewhere Only We Know - Keane
—
Everyone is destined for great things. Everyone except for Sapnap, who discovered early on that his life is nothing more than a stepping stone. One that would be used by the more special people for leverage. He's the charity case that the more fortunate donate to to prove just how great of a person they really are.

But he has long since accepted it. Why dwell on what you cannot control, right? He learned early on that not everyone could be special. After all, if every single person in the world was special, then special simply wouldn't exist at all.

Look at his best friends for example. Extremely successful at the ripe age of twenty-three. Both of them are special, having found their purpose in the world so effortlessly. All they had to do was take a required computer science class in high school before becoming successful business entrepreneurs within the video game industry.

Yet Sapnap was in their class and look where he is now; walking aimlessly down the neighborhood streets in the same clothes he wore back in high school. His best friends had moved forward, yet it feels as if Sapnap took a step back. He still remembers when they left him to move to New York seven months ago to pursue their shared passion of game design and creation. He still remembers what his best friend Dream had said to him at the airport: "Don't worry, Sapnap. Once you finish college, we'll come back and take you with us."

Little did they know, however, that Sapnap would drop out. That he'd realize he doesn't share the same passion they do. That he has no idea what his passion is, actually. Or what he wants to do with his life. The way he sees it, it doesn't truly matter what he does because, in the end, he isn't special. He isn't meant for great things. He is meant to be the person one would compare themselves to as a way to realize how special they really are.

As the sky above begins to turn a pastel shade of pink, Sapnap turns around and walks with the most sense of direction he has. Down the street, exiting the neighborhood, he finds his old rusty bike chained to the stop sign where he had left it. Unchaining it, he flips the hood attached to his yellow and black flannel and hops on. As he rides down the street, the wind combats him, threatening to flip off the baseball cap Dream had given him back in their freshman year of high school when he invited him to attend a baseball game with him.

The road winds long down the hills and passed an old trailer park that rests alone at the bottom. The lights had begun to seep through his neighbors' windows as the sun lowered behind the mountains in the distance.

Sapnap rides by the gates that enter into the park. Up ahead marks the end of the tiny town Sapnap constantly finds himself trapped in. Every evening he passes by the large sign that on one side says "Welcome to Sleeping Willow Creek!" and on the other—the one that faces the town—it says, "Say Goodbye, Sleeping Willow Creek!"

Oh how Sapnap would love to leave and never return. However, all that lies ahead are miles upon miles of forest with no other towns or cities in sight for days. He does enjoy leaving town until sundown, though. And he'll embrace every second he gets in the forest until he inevitably has to return home to microwave dinners and physically and mentally absent parents.

He parks his bike against one of the trees. The potent aroma of the green grass and tall pine trees immediately makes its way into his nose. He takes it all in as he enters the forest. The grass is still wet from the morning rain and the leaves of the trees sway as the cold, dusky breeze raced between the branches. It creates music for Sapnap's ears. The sound of purity—nature. It goes into one ear, sweeps up all of his loud cynical thoughts, and leaves through the other, taking all the baggage collected throughout the day with it.