The Bright Side

After He loses a fistfight, Drew retreats into an abandoned junkyard to hide from the world. Among the old vehicles he discovers an old hippie van that contains a bizarre secret.

Drew’s first fist fight did not go down the way he had pictured it. His face felt like it had been beaten with a brick. His eye was throbbing and trying to hold back tears. He chose to walk the long way home to give himself some time before confronting his dad about getting into a brawl with the biggest kid in middle school. Even though it was his dad’s advice to not take any crap from bullies. Now he wished he would have just kept walking away from Trent  Garret. The scenario was replaying in his head, making his anger and humiliation skyrocket all over again.  

After coming out from an overpass with a train going over he noticed a wooden privacy fence that was starting to decay. It had holes in it big enough to see what it  was guarding. Inside was somewhere that would be perfect for hiding from his problems for a while. It was an old junkyard that obviously hadn’t been occupied for a long time, judging by the condition of the upkeep. Drew got excited and  looked to see if he could find a way in. Right under the No Trespassing sign the wood was so loose and rotted that he had no trouble kicking it in and making a hole big enough to crawl through.  

Once he was through to the other side he could see the full scope of paradise. There were vehicle corpses everywhere. Some stacked one on top of the other. Some were uninhabitable because they had entire trees growing out of them. Others were totaled and crushed up into deformed metal monstrosities. Near the back of the lot Drew spotted one that stood out. It sat near the back of the lot in near perfect condition. A bright colored van. 

It’s rainbow paint job and peace signs called to him like a beacon of light among the other sad, lifeless, and forgotten vessels. He went to it and, after a couple of hard tugs, the door opened. 

The dust particles floated around the interior like magic dust. It did smell a little weird, but he could get past that. It was a perfect place where no one would bother him. He could hide out and let the storm inside his head blow over. He laid down across the bench seat and brushed his hand across the soft carpet floor. He already felt more relaxed. Then he touched something else. There was something under the passenger side of the seat. 

Finding the van was cool, but something else had been left in this one. It was like finding an ancient relic in a temple. He pulled it out and saw it was a brown vintage backpack with a smiley face drawn on it with marker. Drew wondered how long it had been there and how many places it’s been. He knew people in buses like this one liked to travel. He thought about taking it home with him and using it. He was about to open it to see if anything was inside.

He shot up into a sitting position as a thought occurred to him. What if it didn’t belong to the people that own the van? What if someone had stashed it here? Like a drug dealer or a jewel thief. What if someone like that was coming back for whatever was in the bag? Now he felt liked he was being watched. Hiding here was a terrible idea. He started to put the bag back under the seat, but it was too late.  

“Well, go on kid. Don’t you wanna see what’s in it?” A cheerful voice asked from behind him. 

Drew didn’t turn around. Instead he shifted his eyes to the rear-view mirror over his head. A man sat in the back of the van, Drew suspected by his look that he had been living in it. His long greasy hair worked together with the hood pulled up on his dirty jacket to obscure his face. He wasn’t the scary drug dealer or the suited up mobster Drew was expecting, but something about him was still intimidating enough for Drew not to make any sudden moves. 

“Oh , come on, man” the man continued when he didn’t get an answer. “I know your curious. Go ahead and have a look.” 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know anyone else was in here” Drew said nervously. 

“No worries my dude, didn’t mean to spook you. I can’t help but to notice that wicked shiner you got there though. You get into a scrap or something?” 

Drew felt even more upset by a complete stranger bringing up his face, and now he wanted to leave this place. He felt like there was no hope of escaping this terrible day. Maybe he would be better off just going home to confront his Dad about his nemesis knocking the crap out of him.  

“It’s nothing. Look, I’m just gonna go now. Sorry to bother you again.” 

“Hold up a minute! I wasn’t trying to bring up a sore subject. I was just saying that it seems like you’ve had a bad day. What if I told you that what’s in that backpack right there could make all your pain and misery disappear? Poof, Instantly! How would that sound to you, my dude?”  

Drew wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the man’s pitch, despite his mood.  

“What? So you’re saying it has something in it that will keep me happy all the time?” 

“Bingo! Man, you catch on fast”  

The man snapped finger guns at Drew.  

“I don’t know, my parents are going to start getting worried about me if I’m gone for too much longer.” 

Drew said this, but in the back of his mind, his curiosity was growing. 

“I’ll tell ya what boy, just take a quick peak inside.If you don’t feel like your life has instantly changed. Just give it back to me.”  

Drew gave in. If all the weirdo wanted him to do was to look in the bag, what did he have to lose? If it was something bad or creepy, he would just bail. So he unzipped the backpack. Inside was the most beautiful, exciting ,light he had ever seen. It was a mixture of colors swirling in and out of each other, and he was pretty sure he could even hear angelic voices singing to him. He was in awe at the feeling it was putting off. It was the same feeling as a kid would have waking up on Christmas morning, times three. 

“Wow” is all he could say. 

“I told ya, it’s real deal magic! Now, go ahead and wear it. That’s how you use it. You put it on and just absorb all the good energy. Then you’ll only see the bright side of life.” 

Drew slid a strap around each shoulder and was surprised at how weightless the thing felt. The man wasn’t lying, he could already feel the good energy washing away all of his negativity. 

“That’s it. Just keep it on now, and any minute you’ll have a smile that never fades. Trust me , I’ve used it many times, and just look at what it’s done for me.” 

Drew turned to look at the man, who moved his long hair out of the way to finally reveal his face. There was something incredibly wrong with it. His eyes were wide open and were so still that they looked like the ones plastic dolls had.His smile was impossibly wide and made him look like a caricature. Drew could feel himself freaking out at the sight of the smiling mutant. The backpack twitched to life and began to to tighten its grip on Drew. Making him realize that it wasn’t some sort of magic. The thing was alive and it was feeding on him! If he didn’t get it off it was going to turn him into a smiling mutant too. He pulled at the backpack, but it had the grip of a tentacled monster.  

“Don’t fight it, just let it take you.” 

The mans voice sounded more serious, almost like it was a threat. Drew felt the backpack slowly trying to suck the life from him. He struggled and fell out of the van and on to the ground. The junkyard didn’t look the same now. Everything was a bright color, and there were plastic people everywhere. They sung and danced, some even just simply jumped up and down on top of the old cars excitedly. One wearing a astronaut helmet walked by and stopped when he Noticed Drew.   

“Well hi there stranger!” He said. “Looks like your crossing over to the bright side. We can’t wait to have you here with us, you’re gonna love it here! It might hurt a little at first, just don’t let yourself get bummed out, or you could mess up your transition.” 

Drew looked around at all the plastic people carrying on like a bunch of wild cartoon characters. They were happy, but mindless, and he did not want to be stuck in their world. He had to stop the backpack from turning him, and the astronaut may have just given him the way out. He said not to get bummed out or it would mess up his transition. He thought about the reason that brought him to the junkyard in the first place and more. He thought about the fight with the bully, the other kids who made fun of his second hand clothes, the video circulating that someone had taken of him eating lunch by himself with the caption EATING FROM HOME BEAUSE HES POOR! He brought every negative thing that ever happened to him to the surface of his mind. 

It was working. The thought of his hardships caused the parasite to stop feeding off of him long enough for him to see the reality of his surroundings. The plastic people were stuck in their state of bliss, but they didn’t look like they did on the bright side. They were running around covered in filth, smiling and singing their hearts out. He saw the astronaut with his helmet that was actually just a cardboard box with a hole cut out of out it. He was still looking at Drew and he painted his finger at him. 

“Hey! Don’t be a bummer!” He shouted before running off. 

He must had noticed Drew putting up a fight against the backpack creature. 

The thing wouldn’t hold off for long, it was still trying to hang on so it could go back to feeding. Drew had to put all of his energy back on his negative thoughts and feelings, fighting back against the draining power of the creature. Until he could swear it was screaming. He could feel himself start to wear down, so he didn’t something he knew would keep the hate flowing through him and go into the backpack. He took his finger and pressed it as hard as he could into his black eye. 

The pain shot through his face and his head pounded, and it flowed into the creature too. He felt it inflating like a tick,full of blood from feeding on its prey. It grew and grew until it reached beyond its capacity. Then Drew felt the satisfaction of it exploding into several pieces all around him. He threw off the remains of it that were still sticking to him and got up off the ground to see the plastic people frozen in place. 

Their smiles faded, their eyes lost the glossy plastic look and turned into blank, expressionless stares. Drew had lifted the spell off them. They looked as lost as a person that walks into a room, only to forgot why they did so. They were back to reality though, and so was Drew, but he felt different. 

He didn’t feel angry, anxious , or scared. He used those things as a weapon to defeat whatever that backpack creature was. The most bizarre thing was the irony that now he felt genuinely happy. He was going home now, and he would probably leave this part of the story out when he told his dad about his day.  

None of the former plastic people smiled back at him when he said goodbye, but that was ok.

Reviews

[barleygirl]

Great story! I love how this story is ambivalent . . . we're never quite sure if the backpack is a good thing or a bad thing, which knocks the typical "magic" storylines on their asses. You've nailed everything tightly -- the storyline, the dialogue, the switching around of intent & purpose, showing instead of telling, using great details authentic to such an exploration of a junkyard. It reminds me of how life seems to be giving us a gift of magic when later on we realize it's sucking the life from us (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[A.J. Spencer]

Thank you again Margie! I feel like I’m getting better with every piece. I feel like I’m finding my voice, but I could always use a good editor. I’m glad you understood the overall picture I tried to paint. Weird minds think alike! *hugs*

[roarke]

Winner winner, chicken dinner. Enjoyed this story. Great characters, and setting. Could use a bit of editing tweaks, but over all a tight tale. I like your originality and creativity.

[A.J. Spencer]

Thank you! I always appreciate honest, constructive feedback!

[billyjf]

this is an interesting story. I like the sense of mystery and discovery in the first half.

[A.J. Spencer]

Thank you so much for the feedback!