Dominic Walsh
1/7/09
THE COIN
*Beep beep beep beep beep* Kevin reached over and slammed his fist on the snooze button. He was definitely not looking forward to today. As he sat up on his bed, about to get his slippers on, he looked up in time to see his little brother Josh pull the trigger on the super soaker. He flinched as the blast of cold water hit his face. His brother jumped through the doorway and started running. Kevin roared and sprang up off the bed in hot pursuit. But he missed the trip wire that was set up in the doorway. His face planted into the wall on the other side of the hallway and fell to the floor with a thud. He quickly got up and resumed pursuit. He looked and saw his little brother laughing hysterically. He could kill him. That stupid, chubby, 12 year old little kid with his 3 chins wiggling, giddy with delight as he was cramming a blueberry pop tart into his face. His eyes popped out in surprise at the sight of Kevin rushing towards him. Josh quickly ran into the kitchen, kissed his mom, and ran out the door. Kevin slid across the floor in his socks, and jumped out the door after his brother. Josh looked over his shoulder at Kevin, then looked at the school bus pulling up. The door opened and he dove in just in time. Kevin, close behind, slammed against the doors. He looked up and saw Josh sticking his tongue at him through the window. Then he looked at all the other windows, and noticed all the other kids laughing. Then he looked down, and noticed he was still in his boxers. That was not an unusual morning for Kevin. He sighed as he went back into the house to prepare for school.
He met up with his two best friends Abby and Ryan at the front of the school. They proceeded to walk into school together, when they were confronted by Robert and his bully friends. "Hey loser" he said. Kevin replied with "Dude, just leave me alone...". " Not a chance" was the comeback Robert gave, as he proceeded to take a pumpkin pie out of his bag, "there is no way in hell I would let you escape from this pie." Following that, he threw the pie at Kevin's face with such a force that Kevin was knocked over. Robert and his buddies started to burst out laughing, along with most of the kids passing by them in the hallway. Damn, I want to kick his butt. He suddenly stood up quickly and got in Robert's face. "You don't want to do that again" said Kevin, as he wiped whipped cream and pumpkin off his face." Oh really?" said Robert with a snarl, "What are you gonna do about it nerd?" Crap, I didn't think ahead to that part. "I don't know man, I might get angry or something." Robert threw his head back and roared with laughter. "Let's see what happens when you're angry." He quickly walked to the other side of the hallway and brought back a garbage can with wheels on the bottom of it. Then he gave Kevin a swift punch to the gut. After the strike, he picked up Kevin and put him in the garbage can face first. Then he started sprinting, pushing the can, and set it on course for a flight of stairs. Kevin felt about 2 seconds of free fall before he rocketed down the stairs. Then he finally crashed to the bottom of the stairs. He touched the top of his head, and felt it was matted with blood. He climbed out of the can, and looked down to see himself covered with garbage and what smelled like vomit and other human excrements. He looked up and saw the Dean of students looking at him, and caught him chuckling to himself. The Dean quickly gained composure and readjusted his face, and walked off. A teacher that was passing by however, could not contain himself quite as well. As he turned the corner, sipping a cup of coffee, he quickly spotted the cesspool of blood and garbage that was Kevin, at the bottom of the 15-step flight of stairs. He spit out his coffee, and dropped his mug which shattered on the floor and rained a barrage of boiling hot coffee drops onto Kevin. Then he fell to the floor and appeared to be having convulsions. His eyes were rolled back into his head. Kevin quickly went over to him to see if he was alright. As he turned the teacher's head to see if he was still conscious, he noticed his lips forming a smile. Then he exploded in a raging fit of laughter. Kevin fell to his hands and knees in utter humiliation. As he lay there writhing in self pity, a kid in a wheelchair passed him and ran over his fingers. Kevin just looked up. He saw the wheelchair rotating to face him. The kid's head was hanging limply to one side. He slowly raised a hand to touch a control panel on his right armrest. Suddenly a robotic, monotone voice came from speakers somewhere within the wheelchair. "Watch where you're going, loser".
Finally lunch came. He went to his usual table to go sit with Abby and Ryan. He sat there quietly for a few minutes, picking at his tater tots with his fork, reflecting on his, to say the least, "mediocre" day so far. "Hey cheer up dude, that kind of stuff happens to everybody sometimes" said Ryan. "Hey you wanna go roller skating today?" Abby asked Kevin. "No, I'm tired of being a nerd. I want to be cool" Abby sighed. "You mean you want to be like him?" She pointed to Robert, who was attempting to crush an empty pop can across his forehead. " I don't know Abby, I just don't want to play any of your dumb games right now" Abby's face grew red, and she walked off looking hurt. Kevin felt kind of bad.
When school finally ended, Kevin sprawled across his bed in exhaustion. Thank god it is Friday. Suddenly, he heard his cell phone ringing. He answered. "Hey dude it's Ryan" said the voice from the phone. " There's a huge sale on video games in the mall. Every video game is at least 50% off!" Kevin gasped. "Are you kidding me?" "No man, I'm serious, you better get your butt to the mall quick or there ain't gonna be any games left!" "Alright bro, I'll meet you there!" Kevin quickly gathered his things to prepare to go to the mall. He rushed out of his room, and was heading for the door. "Where do you think you're going?" his mom said behind his back. "There's this video game sale at the mall, I need to go mom, this is like a once in a lifetime opportunity!" His mother frowned. "Well, your brother is coming with you then. He needs to get out of the house." Damn! "Mom, he annoys me, please don't make me take him!" "You are taking him, and that is my final answer!" his mother replied harshly. "Fine, whatever. Let's go Josh."
As Kevin and Josh walked into the mall, Josh stared up in amazement. This mall was huge. There were big glass elevators, and it was 5 stories high. Kevin quickly thrust a handful of coins into Josh's arms. "You know what to do with those.Wait on the bench near the entrance until we are done." Then he met up with Ryan and proceeded to go into the video game store to take advantage of the sale. Josh went into the arcade and spent all of his coins in about an hour. He gave a big sigh, then went to go wait on the bench. He waited there for what seemed like hours. Then he noticed an African-American man carrying a big stack of boxes into his comic shop. He also a noticed a puddle of water in his path of travel. As soon as the man started to slip, Josh ran over and caught him, saving the old man from breaking a bone. "Thank you very much kind sir." said the man, "I owe you one". Josh blushed. "Aw, it was nothing" "Hmm..." said the old man, "what's a good reward for a good deed these days?" "Ah, I know just the thing. Follow me." Josh did as he said. The man presented him with a small coin, that looked very old and had a rose engraved onto it. "This coin will grant you one wish. Be sure to use it wisely." Josh knew it was probably a joke. But nonetheless, he put the coin in his pocket and went to the bench. His brother still had not shown up! He had waited long enough. He tapped a security guard on the shoulder and asked him to call his mom to come pick him up.
"I can't believe you lost your little brother!" said his mom when Kevin walked through the door. " You are grounded for two months!" "But mom I didn't mean to, I told him to--" "I don't care what you meant to do, you kept him waiting for hours, what was he supposed to do?"
Kevin shot a dirty look at Josh. "Is the only reason you exist to make my life a living hell?" Then he stormed up to his room.
Josh lay on his bed burning with anger. He could not believe everything that had been happening to him lately. Suddenly, he saw a folded piece of paper slide under his bedroom door."To: Kevin. From:Josh" it read. He grunted and opened it up. It read "Sorry I am making your life a living hell. Here, take this coin this guy in the comic shop gave me. He said it will grant you one wish. From: Josh." Sure enough, there was a coin on taped to the paper, with a weird rose engraved on it. He grunted again. He lay back on his bed, flipping it into the air and catching it. "Well," he said, "Right now I wish I didn't have a little brother." He set the coin on his side table and fell asleep.
*Beep beep beep beep beep* Kevin reached over and slammed his fist on the snooze button. He was definitely not looking forward to today. As he sat up on his bed, about to get his slippers on, he looked up...and...and... his room was different. It was all nice and modern. He had trophies and medals all over the wall. What the hell is going on now... He quickly ran down the stairs and noticed the rest of the house looked the same. It was all the same pale blue color, looking completely different than yesterday. He ran down and caught his dad in a very expensive suit, walking out the door. "Mom, being grounded for two months is punishment enough...this is overkill!" "I don't remember you being in trouble..." she said, with a concerned look on her face. "Are you feeling OK?" She pressed a hand to his forehead. He grunted and walked down the hallway. "Where is Josh?" He took about 15 steps forward, then 3 steps back and turned. Josh was on the T.V., hosting a talk show. Oh my god, it worked! He quickly got ready and went outside to catch the school bus.
When he finally got to school, he was immediately approached by Robert and his friends. Robert walked right up to him and raised a fist. Kevin gave a little cry and flinched, backing into the corner in the feeble position. Robert gave him a light punch on the shoulder. "You ready for the big game today man?" "Uhhhh....yeah?" "I got to go..." He walked off at a very quick pace, until a very attractive girl wrapped her arms around him and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Err... who are you?" said Kevin. "Don't be silly Kevin, you know who I am. I'm Alyssa, your girlfriend." "Oh yeah... uhh I have to run I'll see you later." He quickly walked off again.
They were all suited up, ready for the game. Kevin went and approached Robert. "Uhh dude what position do I play?" Robert reared his head back and roared with laughter." Don't even joke around bro, you're the quarterback. Let's kick some butt." He gulped nervously as they all ran out onto the field.
His offensive line was set up before him, he had trips on the right side, and two backs behind him in I-formation. "Down...set...hut...hut...hut...hike!" His center snapped the ball to him, and 2 seconds later he was knocked flat on his back. He looked over at the coach and saw him mouthing "shotgun". He got in the huddle with his teammates and decided to run a screen pass. Then he lined up again." Set...hut...hut....hut...hike!" He executed that play perfectly, and every other play after that. They won the game 52-0.
When Kevin woke up Saturday morning, he was extremely bored. So he decided to go over to Abby's house. He knocked on the door. She opened it, and looked shocked. Then he asked, "Hey want to go roller skating?" "Why would I go skating with you, I've never even talked to you, you jerk." He turned around, very upset. He saw Ryan walking up the path toward the front door. "Hey buddy" said Kevin, "She is angry with me for some reason." Ryan froze in mid-step, staring wide eyed at Kevin. "What's the matter Ryan?" asked Kevin. Immediately after that, Robert and his friends came out of the bushes. One of them put Ryan in a full nelson. Robert pulled out a pumpkin pie from behind is back and grinned as he extended it towards Kevin. "You wanna do the honors?" Kevin stood there in shock. "No? That's cool, I can do it." Then he threw the pie at Ryan with such a force it made him do 3 flips and land hard on the ground." "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!", Kevin screamed. He ran back to his house.
The coin was nowhere to be found. He looked everywhere but could not find it. Then he remembered. He started running as hard his legs could carry him. Destination: The mall.
It was not hard to find the comic shop, and the man working there. He went inside and walked up to the man. "Do you have a coin with a rose on it by any chance?" "No..." said the man suspiciously, as he was fingering his pocket." I don't have anything like that..." Kevin looked around to make sure no one was watching. He glanced at the far wall of the shop. There was a sword on the wall. He went over and picked it up. "In that case, can you ring this up for me? I want to see how much this costs" he said as he advanced towards the counter. " There's no need to ring it up, I already know the price. Besides, you are way to young to be---" The store owner was cut short as Kevin lunged forward and thrust the sword through his heart. A woman screamed outside of the shop, shouting " There's a murderer in there!". Kevin quickly leapt over the counter and started searching the man. He could not reach far enough inside to get it. A police officer was standing in the shop entrance. "Drop the sword, and step away from that man, or I'll shoot you!" the cop threatened. He finally found the coin. "I wish everything went back to the way it was before I made this wish!" Just as he finished his last word, the police officer shot. Everything froze, and the bullet was frozen two inches away from his face, still rotating slowly. Then he had the feeling of being sucked away by a powerful vacuum.
*Beep beep beep beep beep* Kevin reached over and slammed his fist on the snooze button. He was definitely....happy to see his room back to normal. Josh came running in the room with a super soaker, but Kevin didn't care, he ran through the stream of water and gave his brother a hug. Then he crawled back in to bed. He needed to rest, you can get pretty damn dizzy being sucked through alternate realities. He could ponder this later.