His Fault - A JATP short story

Who's Fault

It wasn't really Willie's fault he died.

Maybe, kind of.

It wasn't physically his fault, or mentally. He just was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He just got along with the wrong people, or disagreed with the wrong people. Whatever the reason Willie was dead. It happened when he was young, too young. Still a minor, but only three months from his eighteenth birthday.

How would one describe Willie? He had long dark brown hair, and if he knew anything, it was how to skate. That was his passion; if anything it was like the skateboard was attached to his soul. He wasn't the smartest kid, but could charm anybody, guy or girl like you wouldn't believe. Friends were what hit Willie hard. It's not that he didn't have any, in fact, he had plenty but none you would be... proud of. His friends were dangerous, let's just say it like that. But what started the ripple effect that caused Willie's death was an argument.

Willie sat at the kitchen table tapping his fingers, against the cool granite that it was made of. His mom paced around the room, she put a hand to her head, and mumbled things to herself about Willie's future and all the junk he didn't care about.

"I don't think you get this, you need to go to college!" She said finally addressing Willie again. Willie rolled his eyes.

"It's just one bad grade, it's not going to haunt me for the rest of my life!" He yelled back. His mother sighed, she paced back and forth on the tile floor.
"It's not one bad grade, you're failing this semester!" She told him, "You're graduating in six months!"

"Chill, I still have time." Willie responded, even though he knew it wasn't exactly true.

"That's not the point, why are you failing?" She yelled at him. "You used to be a good student!"

"This year is just harder okay?" He tried but his mother shook her head.

"It's your senior year!" She shouted.

"Whatever, I'm going out." Willie said, making his way from the table, and walked to the living room but his mother followed quickly behind.

"No," She stated "No you are not going out with your friends, you need to study, or do something useful."

But Willie didn't listen, he grabbed his skateboard then his helmet and said "I'll be safe, I have a helmet!" He turned the knob of the door then ran as quickly as he could to the curb.

"Wait!" His mother cried from the door, but Willie waved his arm back and skated away. He skated through the streets of Hollywood laughing at all the tourists that took pictures of things that he could see everyday. He skated to the tiny spot between two buildings, where he met his friends. Willie had only known these people since high school started. He didn't even know why he talked to them, or why they talked back. To Willie they seemed older, more mature. Lee, the leader out of all his friends, stood in the middle of the alleyway, and breathed out a puff of smoke. He was tall, with short blonde hair. Next to him was Mitch, who almost never said a word, maybe it was because he was short and big. He just didn't like talking. Al was overall Willie's favorite or best friend in the group, he was much nicer, younger, more innocent. Then there was Dave and Kenny, twins to a point where you couldn't tell them apart.

"Why are you so mad?" Al asked Willie with a caring look on his face.

"Nothing, just my mom driving me crazy about grades. I mean she's just worried about college and stuff." Willie replied.

"Not like that's gonna matter anyway." Lee laughed, pushing Willie back against the wall. "Not like you have the smarts to go to college."

"That's not true, and if anything you're failing Italian! Can't you speak it?" Willie argued as he held his hands to the wall.

"The teacher just hates me!" Lee complained.

"What are you guys fighting about?" Kenny questioned and Dave stood next to him sipping from a flask, then nodded.

"Nothing." Lee barked and Kenny and Dave sat back down on the alley floor and kicked their feet against the walls. That was the thing about Lee, everybody was afraid of him. No one ever stood up to him or challenged him.

"But you are going to college with me right?" Al asked with a look of concern painted on his face.

"I don't know, okay! Why is everybody hounding me about this!" Willie yelled, then kicked a piece of trash at the wall and groaned in frustration.

"Chill, you're going to get us caught!" Lee shouted, blowing smoke in Willie's face. "Just leave so you can deal with your problems!" Lee pushed Willie back again, and Mitch tugged at Lee's sleeve.

"Maybe you should-" Mitch started in a low voice but Willie put his hand up to cut in.

"No, he's right," He placed his skateboard back on the ground. "Some friends you are!" Willie skated from the alley way on to the sidewalk. He pushed back tears caused by his unsupportive friend.

He saw a few little kids playing on the sidewalk where he was, he laughed remembering what it was like to have friends when you're that little.

"Come on Alex!" One of them shouted.

"Stop it Reggie, I'm gonna get you!" The other one laughed, and ran at him.

Willie sighed, if only it was that easy. He made his way to the crosswalk and watched the cars go by as he waited for them to come to a stop. He tapped his skateboard against the ground, as he waited to take off. But the cars never did stop, well Willie never saw them do so. All he did was feel.

He felt hands push him forward, someone was pushing Willie into the traffic. He couldn't stop himself from moving. He couldn't brace himself for the inevitable. Someone had killed Willie.

So now what ? He was dead. Was the story over? No, the story had just started.

Willie didn't feel the impact of the cars when he skated into them, when someone pushed him into them. He didn't see the ground coming, he didn't hear the cars beeping. As quick as it happened his vision went black, well no, the world filled with black. Willie wasn't thinking anything, his mind was crystal clear. All he could do was gaze upon the blankness of the darkness he was in. But he didn't stare at it for much longer, because then he fell.

Willie fell from the room, fell from the clouds until his body hit the pavement below him, but it didn't hurt, not like it should have. Willie's mind began to work again, all the gears began to come into place.

'I'm dead' He thought, 'I died'. Willie stood up and looked at his surroundings. He was back in Hollywood, on the streets that he had just skated on. But something was different. It was as if someone hit a fast forward button on the time. Willie walked over to where it had happened, where his life had changed, where his life had ended. But nothing seemed out of place, nothing seemed out of order.

'Time really did speed up?' Willie questioned in his mind. He walked around, then made a new discovery, he walked up to the first person he saw, then walked through them. 'Ahh, so I am dead, just a ghost' He thought.

But what was Willie supposed to do now? No one could see him, or hear him. He was dead after all. Then he remembered a key detail of his death.

Hands.

'Someone pushed me' He recalled in his brain, 'Why?'