It had been the best week of the boy's life. He had been accepted to every college he had applied for, gotten thousands upon thousands of dollars of scholarships offered to him, found out that he no longer had to do homework, and was almost constantly being pursued by females on campus that had suddenly developed a massive urge to date him. All in all, a much better week than any other teenage boy.
He was at the top of his game. However, what REALLY caught his attention was that no one seemed to think anything was different. It was as if the boy had always been exempt from homework, extremely desired, and was incredibly successful. This was, of course, not the case. The boy simply assumed it was the magic of The Rabbit Hole that was fixing everything. As long as he was happy, he didn't care if it was Satan himself at the bottom of that hole.
*********************************************************************************
Yet, when the boy went to his car at the end of the day on Friday, he found a note stuck under his windshield. When he picked it up and read it, he broke out in a cold sweat.
Alright, I know exactly who you are and what you're doing. You need to stop using The Rabbit Hole. There are a few of us at this school who know what happened to Anthony. We don't want it to happen again. If you use The Rabbit Hole again, we will personally take it upon ourselves to make sure that you NEVER go back to it. We WILL know if you use it. Once you use it, you're connected to it. We can tell when something has been Changed. Don't make us hurt you.
The boy didn't understand. He was almost one hundred percent sure that no one knew, simply because no one had asked any questions about his sudden increase in luck, including his closest friends.
Whoever left that note must have used The Rabbit Hole in the past and got what they wanted. They probably don't want someone else taking up their days. But what do they mean they know what happened to Anthony...?
That evening, the boy did the only logical thing he could think of. If these people knew what was going on, then by throwing the note in The Rabbit Hole would make them forget all about it. It was a perfect plan.
And he did just that.
*********************************************************************************
The boy was woken up by a loud rapping on his window at one o'clock that following Saturday morning. When he finally gained the consciousness to respond, he could just make out four figures crouched outside in his side yard. What the hell....
He crawled across his room and turned on the lamp by the window. He was shocked to see his four best friends, glaring at him through the glass. James, his oldest friend and neighbor, mouthed "Open up," which the boy did.
"What the hell did you try to Change?" He whispered this as he and the three others slunk through the open window.
The only noise the boy could make was "Huh?"
Hallie, his other neighbor, slapped him across the head. "We figured you would actually listen to us."
Again, "Huh?"
Emma, who he'd just met this year, shook his head. "We told you we would know if you tried to Change anything."
Beginning to understand, the boy turned to the last person, his ex-girlfriend turned best friend Camille, and uttered a halfhearted "Huh?" She didn't say anything, just shook her head.
James took control again. "We left that note. I'm actually amazed you didn't listen to it. Amazed and ashamed at the same time."
Finally the boy's mind connected with his mouth. "Explain. Now."
Camille took the boy's hand and sat him down on the bed, while the other three sat on the floor of his room. "Listen to us, please. We know about The Rabbit Hole. We know how it Changes things. We've all changed somethings about our lives. But we realized that The Rabbit Hole is just as dangerous as a drug. You get addicted to the amount of control that you don't normally have."
The boy looked up to find that the other three were nodding their heads in agreement when Emma piped up.
"The worst thing about it is that there is no 'Undo' function. You Change something, it turns out to have a negative impact, you have to live with it. That's why I stopped. I didn't want to take any more risks. I already screwed up once."
He gave her a questioning look.
"You don't remember him, but I had a brother. He was an absolute pain in the ass, so I threw his name down before I realized just exactly what The Rabbit Hole does. When I woke up, no brother. No pictures, my parents didn't know who he was, his old room was now a guest room. I still think about him every night and day. We want to make sure the same thing doesn't happen again."
That's when the boy flashed back to the note. "You wrote down that you know what happened to Anthony. Can you tell me?"
The four looked at each other and Hallie nodded. "This is what happened. He was a lot like you, actually. Until he found The Rabbit Hole and decided that he had a lot that he wanted to Change..."
*********************************************************************************
By four o'clock, the boy had learned it all. What had happened to Anthony. The exact way The Rabbit Hole worked. Everything. His four best friends looked even more exhausted than he did, so he decided that he needed to call it a night. As he was saying good-bye to each of them, Hallie turned back towards him. "Oh right, the whole reason why we came over. What did you Change?"
The boy paused for a second. He didn't want them to know that he had thrown the note into The Rabbit Hole., or else they would probably get quite upset. So, he just decided to do what he was best at, tell a lie. "You won't believe it. I got pulled over AGAIN on my way home to school today, so it was just another one to get rid of traffic tickets. You got your feathers all ruffled up for a traffic ticket."
Emma, James, and Camille laughed when they heard it and climbed out of the window, but Hallie seemed a little more skeptical. "Okay...sorry for keeping you up so late. Go back to sleep." With one leg outside, she paused, then turned back and gave the boy a bear hug. "Please don't do anything stupid with The Rabbit Hole, okay? We all love you, and don't want to see you do anything to hurt yourself. Okay? I love you, you stupid kid." And she slid out the window without a glance back.
As the boy turned off the lamp, he noticed that Emma had left her purse on the floor. He picked it up and hung it on the handle of his door so he would remember to take it to her house in the morning. The boy climbed into bed, happy that now he not only understood what he had found, but he had such a fantastic group of friends that all knew exactly what he was going through.
*********************************************************************************
When his alarm blasted into his ear three hours later, the boy groaned. Why the hell am I so tired? I got nine hours of sleep, I should be fine right now. What the heck? Why is my window open? Maybe Mom shut the air off last night and wanted me to be cool. That makes sense.
He got out of bed and walked to his door, grabbed the empty door handle, and twisted, walking out into his living room to find his mother sitting on the couch. "Mom?"
"Hmm?"
"Did you open my window last night for whatever reason?"
She looked up from her magazine. "No sweetie, I had the air on all night. Why did you leave your window open ALL night?"
"I'm honestly not sure! I don't remember opening the window at any point last night. And I was in bed at ten, and didn't wake up until seven, but I'm freaking exhausted. I didn't work yesterday, so I'm really confused."
"Son, did you drink last night?" His mother's voice was dripping with sarcasm.
He laughed. "Oh yeah, totally trashed. Have you gotten the paper yet?"
"No, but it's been delivered I think. Can you go grab it?"
"Of course, Your Majesty. Don't get up from your throne, I'll do it."
"Oh shut it you."
The boy walked out into his front yard and saw the paper sitting on the sidewalk. As he bent down to grabbed it, he looked at his neighbor's yard on his right. The "FOR SALE" sign that had been there his entire life was still standing, as was the one to his left. He sighed. Why did we move into a neighborhood where two houses can be empty for seventeen years? I really wish there had been some kids in them growing up. Maybe we could have been friends.
With that the boy turned on his heel and waltzed back inside to his house, yawning.
*********************************************************************************
Author's Note: Oh no, what happened to the boy's friends???? If you don't get it, go back and re-read it, you'll understand.
And, if you're mentioned in this chapter, I love ya <3
No comments:
Post a Comment