What More Could There Possibly Be...?

Everything In Hand... Now What?

By 2ruffles

Before I had even realized it... everything was in hand. Anything I could have ever wanted, even everything I DREAMED of... was all mine. It certainly felt fulfilling, like I could just kick back and relax, not having to stress over anything, it was as if nothing mattered anymore....But, it was at this point... I didn't know where else to go from here. In fact, I felt the same way I did back then, when I felt like I had all I had...well...wanted. It's even crazier to think I had very little I desired. Was it really alright for me to just...relax and a live a laid back life? After everything I had gone through... all the hard work I put into to get where I wanted to be... it just felt, so off. It was like it didn't feel right.

At times, when someone gains all they ever wanted, they CAN feel accomplished... fulfilled. But other times... it could end up making you feel like a void, with nothing to fill it up with. Just black darkness, An empty shell of who you were before you achieved all you wanted. Or worse... depending on one's desires, it could even lead to corruption. It could lead them for want to desire more... even if they know better they already have all they want.

Thinking there was nothing else to work towards, I turned to the people around me... They say that the most important thing in life, is spending time with those closest to you. Now was the time I truly found out what that meant. The more I thought about it, it made me realize a lot. It truly doesn't matter WHAT we have, but those around us, who make life worthwhile. The things we have in hindsight only serve to enhance the experiences we share with each other. In the end, it's no different than money. It is something useful to make the experience all the more enjoyable, make us happy, only for it to be discarded in the end. Like when you go to an amusement park, and go out. 

Compared to the people we surround ourselves with? It doesn't even begin to compare in value.

So as it turns out, the road doesn't end here, even with you have everything you could have ever wanted. Happiness is found with the people we cherish most, the experience we share... with EACH OTHER.
Hehe... if only I understood that sooner, but now that I do. I don't plan on missing my shot. There's even more room for growth, and as I dive deeper into enlightenment, it's time to share the cherished memories with those who matter the most, all the while I aid others in having happy lives.

Estranged Friends Drawn by Fate

 In the beginning, there were 2 kids named Josh and John. They lived very close to each other, it was easy as crossing the street and walking down the sidewalk towards the house. They were the best of friends, they did everything together. Activities, Projects, Special Events, Pretending, everything really. They were like brothers in arms. John being the older of the two but only by 1 year. John was 6 years old while Josh was 5.

What could possibly go wrong? Or rather... the better questions is, "What HAD gone wrong?"

One day, all of sudden with no warning not even a hint. As if something within the shadows has changed the memories or the events that have been taking place. Or perhaps it was as if the timeline has switched. Either way, mysteriously, the 2 kids weren't to go to each other's house... much to the mother's, specifically the mother's dismay. They would not find out for sometime.... a long time.

Yet somehow as if they were tied together by a spell casted upon them by the same thing that changed their lives forever, they could not get away from each other. Their father's had the same goal, and yet despite that the 2 boys were not allowed at the other's house. It wouldn't be until their teen years, where the 2 best friends started to become estranged more than ever, they would hear the story.

Though the details of said events are unclear. It seems 9 years ago, something happened between the father's at their jobs and John's father got the short end of the stick, there was an accident that effected them both, and John's father took it the worst. 

That would at least be the basis of the incident. But the stories that were told to the children were told differently, as tension moments like these mixed with bad emotions can alter the story. When they were told the story, they were shocked in disbelief. They couldn't believe their father's had to go through that, or in their eyes... they couldn't believe their fathers would do such a thing. They've been estranged for so long that they believed with father's like theirs, they were to grow up like them... although Josh was feeling hopeful that maybe he could explain his side of the story... but he wouldn't get the chance....

It's been 25 years ever since they day they were separated. Josh has grown interest in the job his father was doing and was getting into it for his career. Meanwhile John wanted to take up his father's previous job in hopes of repairing the damage done. John growing up has been wanting to help his family recover from the tragedy that had happened, to the point he would treat it like a family business. He would do whatever it took to help.

It never occurred to them that by going to the place their father's worked, they would meet each other  again. However it wasn't sunshine and rainbows, as when they met each other once more... when their paths crossed again, John was passive aggressive towards Josh as if something was nagging at  him constantly, it was confusion and frustration until they finally confronted each other wanting to know what happened, as if they were talking to their fathers.

But it was in that moment that they would learn the truth, it all was just an accident, a mistake... An accident happened between Josh and John's father that between them made them not like each other. They realized they were in the same boat, baffled, confused. The effect on their father's after that incident had taken it's toll in their family life, especially for John evidently, with that desire to help his family through this. While their reunion wasn't the brightest, it seemed like it was fated that they would meet each other again. They killed it at their jobs, recovering from the effects of the past and more.

Volver

"I'm meeting someone," Jim said to the hostess. "She's right over there. Thanks."

Jim made his way to the booth where Jill sat. 

"I got you unsweet tea," said Jill, as he slide into the both opposite her and began pushing the usual lineup of salt and pepper shakers, sweet-n-low packets, and dessert flipboard advertisments to the far end of the booth.

"Thanks."

"So how was your trip?"

"It was good."

"And did you see Elliot?"

"Yeah."

"So..." said Jill.

"So what?"

"So how'd it go? How was he?"

"Fine," said Jim. He's fine. It was fine."

Jill watched Jim as he thumbed through the menu. This kind of reply was irritating, but she was used to them. She waited. They ordered. She had the pot pie, Jim the blackened catfish. He added a Long Island Iced Tea, and after he had taken two sips of it, he began.

"I knew it was the last time I would ever see him," said Jim. "I had asked my parents to let me know when they saw his grandma's obit, and they did. That was the last remaining tie he had, the only reason to ever go back. He has no reason to return, and when my folks are gone, I won't have any reason either."

Their order arrived. The waitress set their food in front of them, delivering each plate with a sort of backward curtsie motion at once elegant and efficient.

"All we thought about when we were kids is how we were going to get out of there. Happiness was our hometown in the rear view mirror. It wasn't that simple, of course, but we weren't totally wrong either. I thought it provincial and small, and it was provinicial and small."

"Still is," Jim added, taking another drink. His food in front of him, untouched.

"I wanted to get away from that, and he wanted all the adventure he was sure was waiting there just out of reach over the horizon."

"I was running away from all the things I had rejected," Jim continued, "and he was running toward all the things he never had."

"Neither one of us ever made it very far." 

Jill began picking at the plate of catfish, reaching across with her fork and rifling through the French fries. 

"What happened between you two," asked Jill. 

"I dunno," said Jim, finishing his drink. "Nothing, really. Life. We just went separate ways. What's remarkable isn't so much that our friendship waned but that we were friends at all. Even then, we weren't much alike. Even then, he was blue collar, and I was white collar. He liked to fix cars, and I liked to read books."

"But you both liked to drink and smoke weed." 

"Yes," said Jim. "We had that in common."

"And now he's into all this conspiracy theory stuff," said Jill.

"Yeah. He thinks FEMA is setting up some sort of thing to overthrow the government."

"Well," said Jill. "That's not so hard to understand. You were party friends. Party friends don't last. You grew up and got responsible; he grew up and went off the deep end."

"No," said Jim. "There's more to it than that. We were friends that partied a lot, sure, but we weren't just party friends. We spent one summer trying to build a sweat lodge, digging a hole at least three feet deep in caliche and gathering up railroad ties that were somehow supposed to go together as a roof, all because I had read saunas could be used to induce altered states of consciousness in a book I checked out from the library. My party friends weren't exactly lining up to help me with that one. You gotta be on the same wavelength to embark on a pointless struggle like that with someone for no other reason than it's the last time in your life when you have the luxuy to embark on pointless struggles."

The waitress returned to their table to ask if there would be anything else. "Just the check," said Jim.

"Well," said Jill. "I'm glad you got to see him, and he's doing okay."

"Yeah," said Jim. "Me too."

A Promise Kept

I've always hated it here.  Everyone does but somehow I feel like for me it's, I don't know, more valid, more visceral, real.  It's so many things.  The echo of my shoes as I walk down the hall.  The cracked doors, each with its own little tragedy just beyond its threshold.  It's all the sounds that scream you're not safe.  No one is safe!  For me, worst of all is the smell.  The sharp sterile smell of...  There is nothing like it.  No other place on earth you will find it.  I hate it.

Nervously, reflexively, I reach into my pocket again.  I feel the letter that was once torn and crumpled but is now taped and folded.

    "James,

    Look, this isn't any easier for me than it is for you.  You made a promise.  It's time to keep it.
    

    John."

The one line seemed to take up the whole page.  That promise was made in a different time, hell in a different world.  After all that had happened since my promise held no weight.  

I owe you nothing!  Not a second of thought.  

Never mind that you have invaded my thoughts every day for the last 25 years.

Damn! This God-dammed echo, I should fucking take off my shoes!

Room 1114... breath.

My hand reaches up to knock on the door.  My third attempt.  Failed again.

A gentle tap on my shoulder reminds me how long I have been standing here.

"I am sorry sir, I need to get by."

The door opens.  There he sits.  He looks up at me.  His eyes swollen and red, they turn to steel.  He stands up and pastes on a smile.  

In a moment we are face to face.  After all these years all I want to do is find out how far I can push my fist into it.

"I, I guess I'll wait outside.  His gaze drops and he slips by."

A sudden calamity yanks me back into reality as the nurse pulls back the curtains to let some sunlight into the tomb of a room.

I see her face, pale, bald, resting.  I thought I would gaze into those eyes for the rest of my life.

As if she heard my thoughts her eyes open.  Locked to mine tears well up. 

Assignment Two

 Two childhood best friends meet again after being estranged for 25 years. 

What caused them to drift apart?
What brought them back together?
What is their response?

Answer all some or none.

A Little Red

 A little red.

When she coughed now into her handkerchief, there were small spots of red. She knew she was lucky to have lived these past sixty years but she hoped to hang on long enough to see her granddaughter married to a kind man. 

She had been making due with meager portions of vegetable stew. Klaus, the fourteen year-old son of the Taubers, the farmers that lived a couple miles from her cottage, came by to check on her twice a week. Two days ago, he heard her rattling coughs and said he would tell her family about her illness. She told him not to worry himself or to worry her family. 

She knew that her daughter, Cecilia, would likely send “Little Red” to check on her. Cecilia would not be able to make the trek herself, having suffered a broken leg last year after their bitter mare kicked her. The woods were a dangerous place especially in the winter. The idea of something befalling her “Little Red”, in her red cloak, in those dark woods was more unbearable than the thought of her own death…

Sophie huddled under the pile of quilts, trying to shake off the chill and the dark thoughts.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang at the door. Hmmm. She expected a knock from either Klaus or Little Red would have been more timid…

Mustering what was left of her strength, she sat up on the side of her bed. She gingerly placed her feet into her slippers and shuffled toward the door. 

“Red, is that you?.”

She did not hear her granddaughter’s voice. Instead she heard heavy breathing on the other side of the door.

“...Klaus…?” 

There was no response. Just the breathing. 

Sophie had reached the door. She pulled the door slightly open, cold air blasting through the crack in the door.

BANG!

Sophie fell to the ground on her side, all the air forcefully leaving her lungs. She tried to sit up on her elbows and peered at the door. All she saw in the doorway was black fur, teeth, red eyes...she could not scream as the beast rushed toward her...

Big Green Woodsman (Little Red Riding Hood Story - Different Perspective)

Big Green Woodsman

It was a nice sunny day outside, the air blowing a soothing wind, the leaves wrestling from the trees and bushes giving off a relaxing sound, and the weather was just right. Not too hot, not too cold. Perfect to be chopping down small trees with the Big Green Woodsman. The Woodsman chopped down trees for a living, using his Axe to cut them down and gathering the wood. Selling them off so homes could be made.

Day in, day out, rain, or shine. He grabbed his trusty axe off his wall and set out into the forest. Chopping down those trees as hard and as fast as possible. Firmly gripping the handle of his axe and swinging endlessly until the tree would finally collapse as he would say, “TIMBURR,” after a hard work day. Although he wasn’t just a woodcutter, he was also a hunter. In order to survive living in the forest, he had to hunt animals for food. Although his house was relatively close to a lake, he was no fisherman. Anything he would go into the forest looking for wild animals to hunt. He carried his Bow and Arrows, and a Knife for good measure, just in case anything were to get too close, he could protect himself. The woodsman’s accuracy would get better and better with each kill he would get, earning him his dinner.

One day, when he was up and about doing his usual wood cutting, chopping down about 2 trees by now, wandering about. When he heard a sketchy wrestle in some nearby bushes, he turned around and saw a couple of bushes wrestling in a weird way, shaking violently from one bush to another. The woodsman pulled out his knife as he slowly tip-toed his way towards the bush proceeding with caution, his toes landing slowly on the ground to prevent making a single sound. When he looked over the bushes to see what it was, he saw an Old Lady tied up, panicking trying to set herself free but to no avail. The woodsman’s eyes widened in shock as he jumped over the bushes to cut the ropes and set her free, “Oh my god! What happened to you? Why were you all tied up!?”

The Old Lady could only panic like she seemed worried about something, before she could even thank the Woodsman for freeing her, she said,
“My Granddaughter is in danger!!”

Realizing the danger, the woodsman quickly asked, “Where is your granddaughter!?”

As if right on cue they heard a scream close by. The Grandmother picked herself up off the ground as the woodsman just booked it through the forest as fast as he could, with all the strength he could muster into his legs like he was getting ready to wrestle with a grizzly bear, following the sounds of the girl’s cries as she yelled, “HELP ME! WOLF!! WOLF!!”, turning into whimpers and tears.

When the Woodsman arrived at the scene, he saw the girl in a red hood curling up next to a tree and some logs, looking horrified and shaking, tears falling down her face in fear as the woodsman spotted the big grey wolf. Growling and slowly walking towards the girl with it’s sharp teeth, drooling in hunger ready to pounce and tear her apart. “You’ll make a fine delicacy my dear..!”, he snickered and growled.

However, before the Wolf could even get so much as a good sniff on her. The woodsman courageously jumped out of the bushes shouting, “OI!! GET AWAY FROM HER YOU CREATIN!!”

Rushing towards the savage beast with 0 hesitation, as if a horde of bulls were rampaging it’s way towards him. Giving the wolf quite a scare as he jumped away, missing the woodsman’s axe as he struck the tree with such force it nearly cut through the tree like meat. The woodsman has been doing this for so long his muscles have developed to the point he could bench press 2 big logs. 

The wolf was about to pounce on the woodsman until the man easily ripped the axe out with ease. The wolf may be a savage animal but he was a sentient creature, and he knew when to back off, so the wolf made a break for his life. However, the woodsman wouldn’t let the wolf off so easily as he pulled out his knife and he threw it at the wolf with such force and speed it was as if he shot an arrow using only his hands. It hit the wolf, piercing his flesh like butter, causing it to stumble over and fall, killing the wolf almost instantly as it laid lifeless on the ground.

The grandmother rushed to her granddaughter in joy, hugging her tightly and rubbing her head. As the woodsman went to the wolf and took his knife out, wiping the blood off of the animal, the Grandmother said to the woodsman, “Thank you so much for saving me and my granddaughter…”, almost with tears in her eyes. The woodsman responded, “It was nothin’ ma’am! Besides, huntin’ animals is part what I do!”

“Would you like to join us for dinner tonight sir?” The grandmother offered in gratitude.

The woodsman humbly replied, “Thanks Ma’am but I’ll pass! Besides, now that I’ve got my new prize, I’ll be cookin’ this wolf up and skin it for dinner!”

“Very well! Feel free to come visit sometime!” The Grandmother said to the Woodsman, giving him a wave goodbye. The woodsman then carried the dead wolf back to his home as he took out the organs and skinned it, removing all the fur for him to make a nice carpet out of, or maybe even a blanket. Ending of the day with a satisfactory meal.