“Anything But Normal” by Joshua Engels

Written by plumtree

Topics: Archive (2012-2019), Uncategorized

Bio: Joshua enjoys playing video games and hanging out with his friends. In his free time, he reads and runs cross country.

It was Monday, the absolute worst day of the week. All I had to look forward to was another slow, boring day. I had stayed up much too late the night before playing video games. As I slowly woke up, I realized that it was the end of the school year. I bolted upright in alarm, and remembered I had a test in almost every class. My mind slowly processed this information, and I realized that I would have to frantically study during breakfast. I quickly showered and brushed my teeth. I glanced at the time, 6:54. The stairs creaked as I lumbered downstairs.

“Mom! Dad!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, but no answer, “Mom! Dad!” I shouted again. They must have already left, I thought to myself. As I poured myself a bowl of cereal, I wondered what I would do while I ate. Suddenly, I remembered I still had to study. I pulled out my binder, and then I noticed something was strange. My binder had been emptied. There was absolutely nothing in it. Maybe my parents took it, for some strange reason. I decided to call them and ask. I picked up the phone and dialed my parent’s cell. I heard no dialing sound, absolutely nothing. I figured that maybe one of the phones had been left on, making me unable to send or receive calls. I searched around my entire house. In cabinets, under couch cushions, on tables, everywhere I searched. I went back to the kitchen, yet the phone was not there. Now I was beginning to get a little freaked out. I could not call my parents, so I decided to go to my neighbor’s house and try theirs. I walked up to my front door. I was about to disobey the number one rule when home by yourself: “Do Not Leave the House”. “Whatever,” I thought. I turned the doorknob and pushed, but nothing happened. The door remained closed. It was almost as if the door was still locked. I made sure all of the bolts were unfastened and tried again. Nothing. I was starting to get worried, and after I checked every single door and window, I knew they were all locked. Every last one of them. Now I was getting really scared.

“What if the air vents are closed off too?” I thought to myself. I ran to the nearest one, put out my hand up in front of it, and closed my eyes to fully concentrate. I felt not the slightest breeze. I tried taking off the cover of the vent as a possible escape route, but no luck. Suddenly, with a rage unlike I had ever had before, I picked up a lamp, and slammed it against a window as hard as I could. Not even a dent appeared in the glass. I tried all day to get out of the inside of my own house–drilling through the floor, breaking through the garage, and even considering flushing myself down a toilet. I was really desperate by this point. I finally realized nothing could be done though. I walked upstairs, and went to sleep. I fully knew that I might never wake up, but I did not care.

I woke up who knows how many hours later. My head was anything but clear, so I knew that the remaining oxygen was depleting fast. I had one last idea. I would go into the attic, and try to break out onto the roof. I climbed up the ladder and into the attic, taking with me a chainsaw from the garage. I thanked my dad mentally for buying one. I was ready to try, but not physically. I just wanted to sit down and take a short nap. I made it all the way to the point of lying down; when I shook myself out of it. With oxygen failing, and willpower crumbling, I pulled the chain. Absolutely nothing. I pulled it again, to no end. I put all of my willpower and strength into one final tug. It worked! I cut through the roof. It was successful. I pulled myself through the hole and breathed in the fresh air. “I’m out,” I thought, “Out of that wretched house.”

 

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