Tuesday, July 17, 2012

The Boy and The Rabbit Hole, Chapter One

There once was a boy who lived on the fringe of some major city, in a comfortable house, with regular parents and a normal sibling. He had an average social life and a perfectly fine number of friends. He was, in all sense of the word, simple in almost everything he did. ALMOST everything.

He excelled in a few places. He was the brightest in his school. He was overly involved in his church and held a major national position in the Boy Scouts of America. To add on to that, he was a senior in high school, and beginning to face the biggest decision of his life: college. It was a avenue that would not be open to him without many hours of work, simply because his family was relying on him to get a NUMBER of scholarships to afford college.

Needless to say, he was under a lot of pressure.

However, one day, while walking though a small forest near his house, the boy stumbled across something he had never seen before. It was a hole, hidden between the roots of a crooked tree. The hole wasn't small by any means; he could easily fit himself inside the opening. He figured it was some kind of animal, like a badger or family of rabbits. Whatever it was, it was deep. The sun was almost directly overhead, shining straight into the hole, and he couldn't see the bottom. The boy reached his hand as far in as his arm would allow, to see if the tunnel turned or got narrow, but it just seemed to go on forever. Already getting bored, he retracted his arm, but not before brushing up on what felt like a sheet of paper stuffed in the roots at the opening. The boy grabbed the corner and dislodged it, discovering a small envelope with the words To Whom it May Concern scrawled in sloppy handwriting on the front. By the look of the envelope, it had been there for quite some time. No doubt the person it was meant for never found it in the roots. Becoming intrigued, he opened it.

Inside he found two sheets of paper folded neatly, a small slip of paper, and a pen. The boy pulled the sheets apart to see both sides of each sheet covered in the same sloppy writing envelope from the envelope. He began to turn back to the front, then changed his mind. Wanting to see who wrote it, the boy flipped to the back of the second page and his eyes jumped to the bottom.

Be cautious,
Anthony Maxwell

The boy gasped and dropped the page in shock, not even noticing that the dropped page was falling deeper and deeper into the hole, until it was completely out of sight.

Anthony Maxwell was a former student at the school that the boy attended. However, Anthony had something wrong with him. He was an orphan, but always rambled about his parents, saying they were just going to come back. His grades were horrendous, always had been, and he seemed none too interested in improving them. Honestly, he seemed to have no interest in improving ANYTHING in the world, and claimed he wouldn't until his parents came back.

Then he just vanished one day. No one knew where he went. The search began, but was declared cold a year later when no headway was made. Soon everyone, including the boy, forgot about him. It was a terrible story.

But this letter could help! It might have been the one clue that they needed to find him! The boy looked down at the first sheet and eagerly began reading.

To Whom it May Concern,

It is doubtful you know who I am, but my name is Anthony Maxwell. If you have found this, then I have no doubts you have found the Rabbit Hole as well. This isn't any normal hole. I don't totally understand it, but this is the extent of my knowledge.

I'm sure you have sources of stress in your life. Everyone does. I'm also sure that you've tried to rid yourself of that stress in a number of ways. No doubt most of them have failed.

The Rabbit Hole offers a foolproof way to escape specific sources of stress. Allow me to explain, because I'm sure you're skeptical. Take a slip of paper (I have included one and a pen in the envelope) and write a minor source of stress in your life (ex. "overdue homework"). Drop the slip into the Hole. Only ONE slip. Then go home and sleep through the night. Tomorrow, go and talk to your teacher about the overdue homework and try and explain yourself. If something seems off, then flip this page over. Until then, DO NOT KEEP READING.

The boy scoffed. This was rubbish, obviously some stupid ruse to learn people's problems. Still, he was interested in disproving the letter, so he grabbed the pen and wrote "traffic tickets" on it with the pen (he had just gotten a two hundred dollar ticket the past week and neglected to inform anyone of it yet. His copy of it was still sitting in his wallet, in a zipped up pocket with other recent receipts). He dropped the slip into the opening and watched it flutter away. He was laughing, thinking just how stupid he was to try this. The boy slid the letter back into the envelope and stuffed it back in the roots. When nothing happened the next day, he wanted to come back and laugh at the stupidity of Anthony Maxwell. He stood and turned, leaving the hole behind him, and returned to his simple life, with Anthony on his mind, wondering what exactly had happened to him.



MAJOR THANKS TO AARON KOEHNE FOR HELPING ME BREAK MY BLOCK. I DEDICATE THIS STORY TO YOU!

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