Short Story

I've decided to post a story I wrote for a Tools of Fiction class I took last semester. It's not the best example of my writing, considering that I didn't have a legitimate plot when I began writing and more or less wrote it as an exercise in creating realistic dialogue between characters. However, it's about time for me to post something new. Hope you like it. And don't no one be stealin my stuff now.



Shade sat with his back against a tall conifer and recited from a wrinkled sheet of paper.

We’ll revel in our decadence and hope the world will say
We love you though you’re lost
We love you though you’re strange
We’ll revel in our decadence and pray when we’re afraid
I’m sorry I’m so lost
I’m sorry I’m so strange

The girl’s eyes shifted to his face.
It’s your best yet. You should add music to it.
He lay down beside her on the carpet of leaves and took her hand.
I already did.

Shade sat on the hard bleachers that surrounded the dark and empty football field. He had wrapped headphones around the black fabric warming his head and was thinking of how his friends couldn’t appreciate the music he listened to. Shade’s friends didn’t like screamo because of its lack of lyrical coherency; no, they picked out a phrase or two of a popular song to gush about its significance. Shade thought music was written to help people forget, not to think.
Shade lit a cigarette and took a long drag. He held the pallid tube between the first two fingers of his right hand and watched the smoldering end leak ash onto the ground. Smoke cascaded from his nostrils as he stood and walked across the field to his cobalt Camaro. He pitched his nicotine-coated jacket in the trunk and ignited engine.
Shade headed for his parents’ house. He didn’t feel like he belonged there anymore. It was his senior year of high school and his parents were ready for him to leave for college. They seemed to be waiting for him to finish high school before filing for divorce. The two were trying to ends things properly, refusing to fight in front of him and or raise their voices when he was around. But they were quiet around each other, and any conversation between the two was terse.
The family typically ate dinner late and the boy sat down just after it had started. His father was eating fast.
How was work dad?
It’s work. It pays.
Yeah. Anything interesting happen today?
No.
Okay. Thanks for dinner mom.
Of course. You were out late today.
Just doing a little jogging.
His father excused himself and deposited his plate in the sink. Shade heard the television crackle to life in the next room. He left the table and took his plate to the sink before slinking outside. He called his girlfriend and arranged to pick her up later that night.

Her name was Evelyn, and her straight auburn hair brushed against her shoulders. She waited on the sidewalk.
Ready to go?
Hop in.
The boy revved the engine and sped off toward the woods.
How are your parents?
I don’t know. Good I guess. Still trying to end it without hurting anyone.
Yeah. Are you okay?
Yeah. I’m leaving soon anyways. It’s not a big deal.
The two were silent for a few minutes before Shade turned on the radio to a station he knew Evelyn liked. The full moon brightened the night and he could see its light radiating against her face. Tall evergreens lined both sides of the road, separated from the pavement by two grassy medians. Everything but the top few branches was barren and dead and colorless. Evelyn turned down the radio’s volume.
Don’t you wish they’d fight or talk or something? Just get it out there in the open?
I don’t know.
Seems like the tension would be pretty unbearable by now.
I guess so. I try not to spend much time at the house. Just dinner, you know.
Shade parked his car near a tree marked with bright yellow paint. He exited the vehicle and opened her door. Evelyn took his hand and the two walked into the shadows of the forest. Shade used his flashlight to find the scarlet ribbons he’d used to mark a trail. Eventually the two entered a small circular clearing pockmarked by small clean shaven stumps.
My father brought me here before he let me hunt with him.
Why?
He told me a story about this place. Said that a long time ago a hunter had killed a doe that was looking after a fawn. He thought it would be good for his son to have some experience so he let him shoot the fawn. God himself took offense to this and sent an angel that cut through all the trees in this clearing before holding the fawn against itself and disappearing in a rush of flame.
The girl didn’t speak for a few moments.
Do you miss hunting with your dad?
I guess.
Your parents still mean something to you, don’t they?
Shade looked away into the woods.
It’s hard to know what to think when it’s the people you love the most who cause you the most pain.
Maybe you should talk to them.
Conversation’s not exactly my strong suite.
Just saying, it couldn’t hurt.
The boy pulled a large blanket from behind a nearby tree and laid it on the ground. They laid down on it and he pulled a sheet of paper from his shirt pocket.

Let’s wait and watch
The innocent die
We’ll sit and sing
The sorrows they cry
I’ll take your hand
And you take mine
Let’s just forget
Let’s close our eyes

I love you Evelyn.
I love you.
The two lay on their backs staring up at the stars. The boy always liked looking at the stars when she was next to him. He thought gazing into darkness felt better when you did so with someone at your side.
I wonder if they were ever in love.
Who?
My parents.
She thought for a few seconds.
I guess they at least thought they were.
Yeah. Does it have to last forever? To be worth anything?
I don’t know.
I bet if we went back and looked at them when they were young they would be a lot like us.
She hesitated.
Maybe. I hope not. Or maybe not everyone ends up like that. Even if they start at the same place. Maybe if they’d done some little thing differently they’d still love each other.
Maybe they can start doing some little things totally differently now.
Maybe.
The two got up and replaced the blanket. They walked to the Camaro and the boy drove her home. He crept into his parents’ house after having a cigarette and pulled the covers over his head to try to fall asleep.

Shade woke late the next morning and stumbled toward the shower. He nearly tripped as he stepped onto the half tiled bathroom floor. As he rinsed his body and scrubbed the grit from his hair he thought of all the projects his father had only half finished. His interest had seemed to wane when he realized that he probably wouldn’t be keeping the house. Shade had always thought of his father as a strong and motivated man and seeing him wallow in front of the television every night while the house lay in disrepair made his stomach sick.
He sauntered down the stairs and saw that his father had driven off for breakfast while his mother was still asleep. She had recently started sleeping for much longer than she used to and sometimes the boy had to wake her so that she wasn’t late for work. But it was Saturday so there was no reason to disturb her.
Shade spent about an hour reading the three newspapers that were delivered on Friday to his parents’ house. He felt a perverse comfort at seeing that the problems that human beings faced were widespread and severe. His father returned from breakfast and turned on the television to a football game. His father was putting on weight as eating became his easiest source of pleasure. He would never acknowledge it, but Shade knew that his father was losing confidence because of his physical condition. Sometimes Shade could feel the heat of the man’s insecurity looming just under the cold hostility that he would show when he felt challenged.
The man walked into the kitchen humming a jingle from one of the commercials he’d seen on the television.
I’ll be back for dinner. I’m meeting some of the guys to watch the game.
Okay. I’ll see you then.
At about three in the afternoon his mother awakened. She no longer bothered with looking nice or even presentable. She didn’t dress up unless she had to for work and her hair was fading to gray as she neglected to color it. Makeup was out of the question.
She cooked this night’s dinner in her pajamas. She made chicken parmesan and garlic bread and poured the family’s best wine into the family’s best crystal. The tablecloth covered every inch of the table and the napkins and silverware were set in just the right places. Shade jogged outside while she prepared the meal.
Shade’s father never showed up for dinner. His mother eventually realized that he wasn’t coming and left the table to return to her bedroom. Shade sat at the table. He stared at the uneaten food for a few minutes before calling Evelyn and departing with her for the woods.
She sat on a stump across from him as he recited from memory.

The earth will wither
Before it dies
The sky will darken
The sun won’t shine
Try not to worry
You’ll be just fine
Death’s always better
Than living a lie

The sound of Shade’s alarm clock was a tangible sting. He inhaled deeply and sat up in bed before turning it off. He showered and put on his clothes and poured cold cereal for breakfast before having a cigarette and climbing into his car.
Shade parked in the front of the student parking lot. His classes were easy and he got out of school at twelve. One of his teachers approached him outside while he smoked another cigarette.
Those’ll kill you someday you know.
Yeah. I don’t think I’ll live long enough to care. And if I do they’ll have some cure for it by then.
Don’t count on it.
The man walked away. His gait was decidedly arrogant. Shade thought he felt pity for him but he didn’t know why.
Evelyn walked out of the school and the two got into the boy’s car.

The pizza smelled good. It was shimmering with grease and topped with thin slices of pepperoni.
I think I should talk to them.
Your parents.
Yeah. I don’t know. My mother looked really bad yesterday when dad didn’t show for dinner. Got me thinking maybe you were right that little things like that can make a big difference in a relationship.
You should talk to them. Maybe you can put them back on the right road.
It’s worth a shot. I think I’ve got enough time to change things if I really work at it.
Do it soon. Sometimes people reach a point when they won’t turn around.
My mom’s off work today. I could talk to her alone first. That might be better than trying to talk to both of them together.
He ate with building excitement and finished his food quickly. The two entered the car and Shade drove to his parents’ house. The girl sat on a bench on the front porch while he went inside.

Shade called for his mother. There was no answer. He walked up the stairs to her room and knocked on the door. No answer. He opened the door. The covers of the bed were pulled all the way up. Someone was underneath. He walked closer to the bed but stopped abruptly. Pills of every size and color littered the floor.

The police arrived quickly followed by an ambulance followed by Shade’s father. Evelyn would not allow Shade to look at his mother. The police asked him an extensive series of questions as the ambulance drove away. His father sat on the porch running his hands through his hair. When the police drove away Shade looked at his father. The man’s eyes were wet. His face was dark and swollen. His father glanced up at him, and Shade walked over to where he was sitting. This was the first time Shade had ever seen his father cry. He would make his father remember this.
All this over a woman you didn’t love.