short stories

Story teller

In the washroom.

They stared at me. Stared as if seeing me for the first time. I laughed off the pain.

'They don't have to know. They just saw me. But they don't have to know!' My brain was killing me. They remained quiet. Speechless, I assumed. Who could blame them? After 9 freaking years of studying together, they had seen me crying my eyes out for the first time. Oh no, not the normal crying. I was alone in the middle of the bathroom, in the middle of a huge breakdown. It was tough. I never liked anyone knowing about my business. But they had walked in at the wrong moment and well who could blame them.

So I said, "You know...can I tell you a story I made up like 4 seconds ago?" They still didn't speak. Only nodded.

"There was once a boy. A clichéd bad boy..." I laughed to myself. Silence. I continued, "He used to like work out in a gym. Really hot and all. Abs, dimples, smile, personality, the whole pack!" I tried to lighten the mood.

"So he had many friends, he'd work out with them, blah blah.. So this story is about the one day he went to work out with his friends and cousins." I walked towards the washroom's window and then glanced back at them. They were standing there with their grave, speechless faces. They had calmed down quite a bit since a few minutes back.

"You know those huge ass ropes that hang from high up?.. The ones you need to climb without support. Yeah so he wanted to see if could try that again that day." I knew my eyes were losing focus but I couldn't stop.

"You see he was pretty famous but he hated strangers' attention. So he didn't like it when everybody in the gym stood around him to watch him climb the rope. Anyway, the first time, he scaled the rope pretty high and was even fast at it. For some reason he slipped and came down to the end of the rope. He didn't fall. He wasn't that person who gave up easily. HIs close family and friends cheered him on. This time, he went higher but again, he lost his grip and slipped down low.

'Weak. Dylan's much better.' Laugh. 'Amateur,' 'Useless dude.' Whispers. He heard them. But he was strong. He didn't care. They were strangers anyway. He saw two of his friends leave the crowd. He didn't mind. He didn't take it to heart. So he tried again, and again. Each time he failed to reach the top, he heard someone, another one leave. And another.

He was still chill but his body was burning, in need of rest. In need of hydration. He shut out his body's complaints. He kept pushing, trying to reach the top. Never did. But when he slipped a little, he saw another cousin leave. Another friend whisper and laugh. At the end, it was only him and one cousin cheering him still.

He was tired. He hung from the end of the rope. His body was aching. And guess what was going on in his mind. He kept seeing everyone leaving. He kept thinking 'I should just forget all of this. I should just give up.' He faintly recalled hearing the people around him. Some had been cheering loudly whereas some were whispering. And guess what? You'd think that cheering would be louder to hear right? Funny that, because all he could hear was the discouraging words. All of them.

His body was still hanging from the rope. Not giving up. Whereas his mind, his mind had given up a long time back. He knew he could climb the rope. He had done it before. He knew there was no harm aiming for the top. But again. His mind was driving him crazy. But he didn't give up. Even though he had a tsunami inside his brain, he didn't give up. People outside the gym will never know what happened that day. Maybe they will. But not the actual story. They'll hear some sick, twisted version of the day. Not what had actually taken place.

And guess what? People judged him by what they heard from others, seeing only from the outside. Never, never knowing what goes on inside... what went on inside that day. And every other fucking day." I finished.

I was staring at the trees outside. "Shit" Someone cursed. "That's fucked up." "Really fucked up!" Another one. One took a step towards me, "Hey...are you ok?" She asked with a smile. I grinned back. "Amazing, actually. Yeah, I'm fine."