James Tripped

A Story by MattHeston

I know I usually do comedy, but I feel like I should do more than one genre.

James was always am odd sort of character, but a funny kindof odd. Most days he would walk around high school with an almost contagious sort of confidense that made one sick. He walked the halls with his brother, Bill, who was in the same grade as him.

Today, today was different. His oddness had reached a point that was less funny and more eerie. It's hard to explain what made it seem like it did, but every thing was different about him. I noticed this right from the start. James was always a well kempt and well dressed individual. But, today he completely skipped out on showering, shaving, brushing his teeth, and he wore old, dirty, smelly clothes that were stained. His hair was in a mess and the way he walked, maybe, was oddest of all. His confidense and stride were both completely gone. In fact, he slouched, which was rare. The only thing he had for breakfast was a piece of toast, which he later threw up, not the kind of throwing up that said he could'nt hold it down, but the kind that said he didn't want to.

James rarely talked to day, which is odd in it of itself, and when he did talk he only had some a*s hole comment to say, which was not different from normal all on its own, but today there was a certain hatefulness and anger put into it. As if what he said wasn't spoken, but growled.

I was hoping that by the end of the day he would be better, he wasn't. He was worse. I asked him what was wromg. He called me an a*****e and pushed me. I pushed back, pushed harder than I ever though I was capable of doing. James tripped. He fell right out the kitchen window, not a far drop, but a painful one. I looked out and saw him, unconcious and bloody, laying in the grass.

Panicked, I ran out to get him, as we were the only ones home at the time. When I made it around the house and to where he fell, where he should have been lieing. He wasn't. There was a trail of glass and blood that streaked to the other side of the house, and I followed.

If I could unsee what I saw that day, I would. I saw James, sitting with his legs crossed, bloody, oh God he was bloody. He was covered head to toe with glass, more glass than was in the window, it seemed. He cried in agony and began to rip and tear the glass from his skin, which made him bleed more. It trickled down into his eyes, which burned and he screamed again.

As he continued to pull out glass he became almost completely red and, along with the glass, he peeled off his own skin. How has he survived this far? I threw up and screamed, unable to stop him or even move. I was in total shock. I began to cry.

Suddenly, I awoke. It was all a dream. I saw James, all tidy and condfident, ready for school. He welcomed me into the family room where we sat watching TV until it was time to go. When it was time we grabbed our stuff and headed out the door. But I noticed something. No. It can't be. The window was broken. But, how? That's not possible.

In the car I asked James what had happened to the window. He said he did not know what I was talking about. This made me cautious. His truck was filled with a stench and there was a bump in the bed. I asked what was back there. "You don't want to know." He told me. He was right, I didn't.

I bugged him for day as the stench grew. I begged for him to show me, he finally agreed. He took me to the back end of his truck, grabbed a hold of the bad with the mystery cargo and unzipped. As he opened it both my nose and my eyes went into shock. A bloody corpse lieing in a pile of glass. I had no clue who it was because there was no skin.

James laughed and grabbed me. He forced me in the bad all the while laughing hysterically. The glass cut deep and the corpse smelled awful. As he zipped up the bag it grew dark. I could still here him laughing. The laughter grew more and more intense until he was screaming. The loudest scream I have ever heard. Then it was silent. Completely silent. No James but also no birds, cars, planes, or wind, which was odd because it had been breezy all day.

I looked over at the corpse, which suddenly was looking right back at me, smiling. A smile that wasn't there a second ago. "No man wakes from this nightmare." He said to me.