Short Stories

No Control

You're in control. You got this. You got this. Don't let your thoughts get in the way. What's the worst that can happen?

Paper Towel walked up to a random group of kids. He was about 20 feet away before stopping. He froze and turned around, away from the group of kids. He pretended to look around at the view, but he was actually panicking.

No, there's no way you can do this. They're gonna think you're weird. God you fucked up. They probably noticed you and are staring at you.

A bead of sweat dripped down Paper Towels face. His mouth quivered. He was glad he was wearing a hood to shield the sides of his face.

He slowly loosened up and walked away from the group of kids, who didn't bat an eye to him. They just kept playing their game of horse on the basketball court.

Cmon. You're in 9th grade. This shouldn't be that hard.

Paper Towel took a seat on an empty bench, leaning against the table and rubbing his forehead.

But do I really want friends?

Paper Towel frowned and rubbed his eyes hardly. The shade of the tree he was under covered the sun from blinding him as he looked up at the sky.

Why is this so difficult for me? Why do I always question everything I do?

His eyes widened as he looked back straight. He watched all the different groups of friends do their own things. Laughing and enjoying themselves.

Paper Towel stifled a laugh and laid his head down on his arms. The wind brushed his hood and pushed it off, revealing his hair. Then the wind blew on his hair.

He didn't bother to fix it.

Why can't I be normal?

Why can't I..

Why can't..

Wh..

Why..?

The sounds of crickets chirping was what he heard when he woke up. He opened his eyes and he was met with darkness. It was cold. A few owls hooted.

Paper Towel shot up and looked around to see nothing. He reached in his pocket for his phone and turned it on. The time read 10:23. How long had he been out there?

He enabled the flashlight mode on his phone and started following the trail, hoping to find his way home without any trouble.

Unfortunately he was a good mile away from home. His phone was overflowing with messages from his parents and sister, wondering where he was. He reassured them he was fine and kept walking.

It was so quiet. Only the sound of gravel crunching underneath his shoes was all he heard. As well as the occasional car that drove by.

He felt a raindrop tickle his hair. He grunted softly. He put up his hood and walked down a nearby biking trail to get away from the incoming storm.

He found it convenient that it was raining. It gave him an excuse to go to his favorite spot. The biking trail he went down was his favorite place to go. As he went down the trail, a little pond sat there. Behind that pond, a house. He felt jealous of whoever lived there. He would always come down to the spot there and just meditate. Ease himself of his worries and stress.

It was nice to be by himself for a bit. He made his way to the bottom. He sat down. The trees leaves caught the raindrops and stopped them from falling. Thunder boomed in the distance.

He sat down and put his hands on his lap. He shut his eyes and breathed.

Ah...

A crunch of a leaf came from behind and his eyes shot open. He turned around to see a female figure about his age standing there. Paper Towel gulped.

"Hey, I've seen you come here a lot. What're you doing here so late at night?"

Paper Towel stilled and gathered courage to speak. "Just.. getting away from the rain. You want me to leave? Cause I can."

The girl shook her head and walked closer to him. "No need. Is it alright if I sit out here with you? See why you like it here so much?"

Paper Towel nervously smiled. "Y..eah.. I don't- I don't care, do whatever.." he mumbled.

So the girl came beside him and sat down, about 3 feet apart.

Paper Towel avoided eye contact, flustered. He hated being next to anyone. He just couldn't find the courage to look at them with a straight face. He'd always awkwardly smile, and looked like an idiot. He was glad he had a helmet on, to avoid looking at her.

There was a bit of silence before the girl spoke. "So what's your name?"

Paper Towel sunk into nervousness. He looked just barely enough to see the girls eyes for just a moment. Even with the very dark lighting he could see her light blue eyes glowing at him. "Pa-per Towel." He stumbled on words.

"Hm.." The girl thought to herself, which cause Paper Towel to ease a bit. He started to think of ways to leave the conversation as quickly as possible. Tons of different solutions and timelines appeared in his mind. But all of them ended in something that he couldn't explain. He didn't want to be rude to this girl. He wanted to leave without offending her. But she could ask this or that, and he wouldn't have a plausible explanation for the question, which is suspicious. And it's raining, so where would he go after that?

"I see you come here often." She speaks softly.

Paper Towel snaps out of it and he is tense once more. "..Yyeah. I just... Find it relaxing..?" He keeps avoiding eye contact, looking away constantly.

"Hm.." The girl seems disappointed.

Paper Towel flushes red and keeps looking away. Great. He weirded her out.

The girl gets up and walks back to a house. Once it's silent again, he looks back at the house behind him. She isn't anywhere to be seen inside the house. He sighed and took a deep breath. He looked up at the trees that covered the night and rainy sky.

Thunder roared. Paper Towel grabs his phone and texts his parents, telling them he'll be late getting home due to the rain.

A sliding door opens from behind him and out comes the girl from earlier. "You don't seem like much of a talker," She starts.

Paper Towel avoids eye contact.

"But you seem as if you need to get some things off your chest." She is beside him again and sets a sticky note beside him. "That's my phone number. If you need to talk to someone, I'm open, stranger." He grabs the note.

The girl walks back inside. He looked at the number quickly and stuffed it into his pocket.

God. I'm so bad.

-

Wow my day has been pretty bad. I want to disappear from the world. Goodnight.