The Only Way I Knew

A story of a young boy who runs from his problems and creates a new reality inspired by his hero's, John Wayne and Buck Rodgers, until a homeless man decides to tear down that wall and help him along

Let me tell you about the boy named Joshua. He was all powerful and full of might, always fighting for what was right and always helping the little guy. Humble, wise and kind, yet strong and swift. With sword in hand and his trusty robot steed Rusty, he had left to the barren wastelands of the moon. Busting through the gate with lasers of bright blue running past his face, barely grazing it. He could hear loud explosions in the back of his head, they said to not look back, after all you should never look at the explosion when walking away, it’s the rules. The laser pistol in his holster was snug and showed no signs of falling out. It was an escape! The warden was screaming as if he had the voice of Godzilla, like a loud and rusty gate hinge. The words pierced the soul, “Get back here ya piece of s**t, I'll f****n kill you, I swear it. YA AIN'T NO SON OF MINE!” Yet he just kept riding. His...inmate holding on to the wardens leg, bloody from the beating she had received and tears flowing like waterfalls....Yet he couldn't look back. This was it, he was free....at least for now. That really wasn't a a tear rolling down his cheek and there was no scar on his face. His eye was NOT black and blue and  wasn't really hurting from getting slammed on the ground. That didn't happen! Really it didn't!! With no plans on returning and no idea where he was going, he rode into the darkened wastelands of the moon with only the sky fairy's to light his way.

            He was cold from lying in the moon flakes so commonly found on the moon. Rusty had run out of fuel, as all robot horses eventually do, and so he had no choice but to get off and start walking, holding on to his only friend making sure it wouldn't fall down from his lack of support. The moon was intensely cold, as everyone knows, and life tends to be extraordinarily barren. The only thing you see out here at this time is broken down robots that have no place to stay and the alien defense force. Joshua knew that both could be dangerous just as much as they could be kindly. But a shiver didn't really go down his spine, cause he was a fearless, no holds, certified bad-a*s, so that wouldn't ever happen to him. He held onto his sword tightly with his other hand. He knew that he had to find a warm spot to hold off the cold, and so his eye's met upon a distant moon fire. Moon fire was an unnatural phenomenon on the cold harsh lands of the moon. Typically they were set up by broken down robots; you see robots don't like the cold either, as much as you would think that they would. This meant that if you ever find moon fire, a broken robot is not far behind. This makes it incredibly dangerous, but at the same time, oh so inviting for a traveler, just like Joshua. He had no choice, it was either die by the hands of the moon or die by the hands of a robot. Joshua was a bit of a gambler, like John Wayne, and so he'd take those chances.

            All was clear, Joshua slowly moved, making sure to be aware of his surroundings. The last thing he wanted was to be ambushed. No one was in sight or near the fire and so he placed his sword in his pocket and then reached his hands out to feel the intense warmth as it reminded him of the times she would tell him stories before bedtime...that was in the past, and it's now the future he said to himself..with a sob. It was then that he noticed the shadow looming over head and in front of him past the fire, there was two shadows, his and another. Time froze and his heart was beating with slow and long drawn out pauses. ThumpThump....ThumpThump...ThumpThump...

“Hello there, sonny.” a deep grizzled voice  roared out. The voice suggested he was in serious need of oil, that he was rusty and not very well lubricated. There was no mistaking it, that was the voice of a broken robot sure to torture Joshua, steal his soul and then devour his body. He slowly reached his hand into his pocket for his sword, grasped tightly and flipped the blade, quickly turning around with a fast and furious swing.  But the broken robot still had a good amount of his parts intact and moved quickly one step back. Joshua had a pose with the sword pointing straight at the broken robot. Joshua had only one chance now, he needed to use his laser gun! Grabbing from his holster and pointing it at the robot, he pulled the trigger and the tip lit up, and a sound came from the gun, “Pew, pew” it said. It had no effect.  The broken robot only looked at Joshua with an intensely confused look on his face. 

Despite his quick agility the broken robot started to plead for his life, coughing and wheezing black smoke in the process. “Please boy, don't hurt me, I promise I won't do anything to hurt ya, Just trying to get warm, like you.” Joshua Looked sharply at the robot and examined his adversary. For such a quick movement, he was quite big, and it looked like one of his legs was damaged at some point in time. His steel was painted dark, and his chin was full of long gray strands of badly kept rust, so sharp looking that Joshua could swear that it draw blood from anything. Joshua slowly lowered his sword only saying that he would attack if he tried anything funny.

 

“Wooo boy!! ya almost gave me a heart attack with that move of yours and your pocket knife”

“it's a sword!” he snaped back Bruce

“oooooh....um..OK... I’m sorry bout that.”

 

Yet Joshua couldn't help but snicker at such a thought, a robot with a heart, HA! But he played along anyways.

            “My names Bruce, whats yours?”

 

            Joshua only muttered back his name, and it was barely hear-able, but if there was one thing that Bruce had still, it was good ears. Bruce took another close glance at Joshua. One thing was for sure, he looked like hell, something definitely happened, although he wasn't really sure he wanted to know. His only thoughts were that it's really not his business, and that his life was hard enough as is to be worried about some kid. Bruce took a quick look at that “some kid”, he was wearing a simple coat, not much for a cold night like this. It had a plastic cowboy sheriffs badge stuck on the front, with the gold looking material on it peeling off. He must have had it for a long time now. He had his toy laser gun that he used earlier stuck between his pants and his belt. He was wearing a cowboy hat as well, much too big for his head. It was constantly slipping off his head and the boy kept acting nonchalant as if it didn't keep happening. His pants seemed rather big for his size and was really worn out. He looked to be about seven or eight maybe? Maybe even younger?

“Say, how old are ya anyways?”

“I'm an adult!!” Bruce just smiled palmed his forehead, he should of known that's how he would answer.

            “So then Mr.Adult, are ya supposed to be a cowboy or somethin?”

“NO! I’m a super space cowboy!! ...there's a difference ya know...”

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Didn't mean to offend ya... Joshua, huh? So then what's your story....what happened to you? Why are ya out so early in the morning?” it occurred to Bruce that he probably shouldn't of asked.

 

            Taking a second to think and for dramatic effect, Joshua replied in a boasting manner, “I busted out of my prison, and escaped from the warden and his tyrannical ways, I am now exploring the vast wastelands of the moon to find myself a better life.” It now occurred to Bruce that he definitely shouldn't of asked...oh well, too late now.

 “D-Did ya say moon!? Boy, did ya hit your head or someth... ” Bruce stopped himself from finishing that statement, he wasn't sure how the boy would react to such a thing given the way he looks right now. At this point, Bruce had a good idea of what was really going on here. A kid that age....well...kids need ways to protect themselves from the truth. He found himself thinking that maybe that extends farther than just kids... regardless he played along anyways.

           

    “so this warden...He must've been hard to escape from”  Bruce didn't like where he was going with this, and he really didn't want to get involved, but something compelled him to dig further. “So tell me your secret...how did ya do it?”

“I'm awesome, that's how!”

“HAHA!, really now? Well remind me to call ya when I'm in a bind”

           

            "Bruce felt somewhat bad for laughing at the boy, he's a quick one that's for sure, and those quips of his were incredibly charming for a kid his age. Joshua just stared at the fire, his mind somewhere else now. He sniffled a bit, although Bruce wasn't sure if he was sobbing or if the cold was getting to him. 

 

“I'm guessin your not gonna tell me much, are ya?”

“Talk low, talk slow, and don't say too much...”

 

 Bruce was starting to get really annoyed at this tough guy act, but he had to admit that he was becoming a bit worried about the kid. It was way too cold and dangerous out here. Joshua was lucky that Bruce was the one to find him opposed to some of the other people that run around at this time of night.

            “Bruce...can I ask ya somethin?” Joshua voice was no longer deep, and the courageous front had walked out the front door.

            “uh...sure kid..shoot”

            “Did ya ever have a daddy?”

            “yeah kid, once...”

            “was he ever...mean...to ya?”

Bruce only stared in the distance...he knew he should have not pried in the kids business, he knew where it led, and he didn't want to go back there, not again. The memories haunted him so much in the past, the monster he had to face, and the monster it eventually created.

            “Sure was…” 

            “What did ya do?”

            Bruce didn’t answer… he just turned around and walked towards a half broken cardboard box filled with some news papers. He crawled in and grabbed something small, but Joshua couldn’t really make out what it was.

           

            “Come here kid, I wana show ya somethin.”

           

            Joshua, was still a little on guard and didn't fully trust Bruce, who would ever trust a robot? But....he really wanted to know what it was. His curiosity couldn't be stopped, he had to know. Bruce held his hand with the object out, it was a small piece of paper of some sort, no bigger than his sheriffs badge. There were small tears here and there and it looked like it had been crumpled up once or twice and there was a big piece of it ripped off. Bruce handed to Joshua and examined it. It's was a photograph, with three people on it. Joshua slid his finger across the rough surface of the photograph, one by one pointing at the people. Two kids, one adult....and a foot next to the side the picture had been torn. There was a boy just like Joshua! Joshua never had any friends and thought it would be neat to be able to play with the boy sometime. The other was a girl, he could never understand girls...they were weird, like weirder than aliens weird. He always wondered if boy's become daddies, then what do girls become? He put his finger to the next person, an adult. He figured that she must be the mommy. Joshua thought she was very pretty and a very nice smile. Then Joshua go to the end of the picture, there the huge tear was, there was once something here, but all that was left was a foot. Joshua looked back at Bruce in confusion, why did Bruce show him this? What did this have to do with his question?

            “That's my Family, my wife, and my son and daughter”

            “They look happy”

            “That they do, that was good times back then.”

            “If your here, then where are they now?”

            “Gone.”

            “Why?”

            “Ya see that foot right over in the corner? That's a monster. It's because of him that they left.”

            “Monster? There's no such thing as monsters on the moon! Do ya mean robot?

            Bruce looked solemnly at the photograph and chewed on Joshua’s words a bit.

            “A robot huh? Heh....yeah....he's a robot...”

            “why didn't ya just get rid of the robot then?”

           

            Bruce started the well up but tried to hide it as hard as possible, this was becoming too much for him now, and he wasn't sure how much of it he could stand at his age. Joshua was incredibly confused now; why was Bruce showing this to him? And why was a robot crying? He figured that maybe it was a leak. “umm.. I think your leaking...” Bruce smiled slightly but he knew Joshua's story all too well...and couldn't help but “leak” a little bit. Bruce keeled down, and looked Joshua straight in the eye. “listen to me kid, don't end up like me, ya have to go back, and ya have to face your problems, don't hide from them, don't let them build. There's only one way ya can solve your problems, and it may be painful at first or even hard, but ya have to do it. Be brave, and don't hide those scars from the rest of the world, become stronger because of them. Don't seek an escape! Seek help! and truly free yourself  and the one's ya love from this warden. Both you and her don't need him. Courage is being scared to death...and saddling up anyway.” Joshua could only nod, not truly understanding the gravity of his words, but for some reason those words pierced him farther than any other words had done before, and now Joshua was leaking too.

            Light has once again returned, and the horizon was met with a sun slowly peeking out of the grounds surface. Joshua's hat had fell on the ground once again, but he didn't bother to pick it up this time, he wasn't really sure what to do now. Bruce wasn't sure if his words even effected the boy or if he was just crying because Bruce was crying, kids can pick up on emotions much better than adults can after all. He could only hope he understood on some level. Bruce picked up Joshua's hat, “you'll be needing this officer.”  and then gently placed it on Joshua's head. Joshua snapped out of his trance like state, only nodding quickly and then darting towards his trusty and now cold steed, and then picked it up from the pile of moon flakes that had covered it up. He climbed atop his ride and for a second turned around to look at Bruce and tip his hat. Bruce waved and then, with his deep rusted voice and tears still in his eye's started to sing the only way he knew as Joshua rode off into the rising sun:

 

“There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God I know I'm one...”

Credit: I would like to thank John Wayne, who was a hero to my father, just as much as my father is a hero to me. as well as thanks to philip Francis Nowlan who was the creator of Buck Rodgers. credit also goes to whoever truly created the song "House of the Rising Sun" for such a beautiful song as well as the animals for showing to the world just how beautiful it can be.

Author's Note

This was my first attempt at writing a story with back and forth dialog. Personally i never felt confident in doing that so I always tried to write around it in creative ways. This story i decided to attack it head on, and while i still think it's flawed, i think i did good. How did i do? oh and formatting was a nightmare for this one since i used open office to write this one so long ago.

Reviews

[Delmar Cooper]

The first paragraph did not hold my interest and compel me to read on. My initial impression was that I was reading about a cardboard character and the story would also be cardboard. I will read some others you have posted.

[A.M.]

I'm sorry to hear that you couldn't get past the first paragraph. while I don't think the story is as cardboard as your initial impression, I can fully see what you mean by a very boring first paragraph. this was my true fear about this story when I wrote it for an intro-creative writing course, but no peers seemed to find it as boring as I have. I plan on re-writing this one a bit after I get a few more opinions though