How an alien clown changed my life, a true story

I grew up in a very rural town in Indiana, we didn't have big value stores, we had a gas station. The school I attended was small. It served as both my middle school and my high-school. And I hated it. I hated the teachers, I hated the students, I just wanted to stay at home and play video games. There was a lot of rage when I was growing up. There were several huge shouting matches between my father and me about going to school. I failed freshmen English literature, I nearly failed my history classes, the only thing I really did like was my math class, and that was due to an amazing teacher. Everything really changed when I got my first car.

About 15 miles from the town where I grew up was a small city. After I got my car I started job hunting. And I found a job working at Burger King in the back making sandwiches. Life was pretty hum drum at 16 for me, school, work for a few hours home, school work for a few hours then home. Everything changed when my manager had me coming in 2 hours later than normal. With time to kill I decided to explore the music store behind my Burger King.

It was a nice place, lots of music CDs, and movies on DVDs. And a few bookcases full of books. I immediately fell in love with the humor section. Joke books, graphic novels, funny cartoon books. The humor section was quite amusing, until I noticed the sci-fi and horror section next to it. The first thing that caught my eye was a scary looking clown, it was pennywise from Stephen King's It. I had loved the miniseries when it was on TV. I decided to purchase the book. I'm not really sure why I chose to buy it, I didn't read for leisure, I didn't like to read. I hated everything I was forced to read in school. But I did buy the book and after work I remembered it and I started to read it.

I was hooked, it was like a new drug. I couldn't believe the way King could create a world. I felt like I was there watching the action. I couldn't put it down. I was up until 3 in the morning reading, and I had to get up at 7 for school.

That year I really changed. I couldn't stop reading books, I tore through every King book that the store had, and then moved to Koontz, Rice and even Pratchett (I felt like I lost a dear friend when he passed away this year). My world continued to explode and change. Suddenly I found that reading boring school assignments wasn't as difficult. Once I stopped hating reading I started to enjoy it. I loved To Kill a Mockingbird and I cried when Maya Angelo was raped in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and that was just the start. My grades improved, slowly but a lot of damage had been done. I graduated from high school but not very high in my class. I was able to go to college but that was scary and after a year I dropped out scared because I didn't know what I wanted to do.

I still couldn't stop reading, I chose epic stories because they would keep me entertained longer, I was a real junkie for fiction. After a few years in Phoenix, Arizona I decided to go back to school for respiratory therapy. And it was easy, the text made sense and a tore through the material. In the end I ended up being second in my class. After that I continued on my education journey and now have an Associates of Arts degree presented with high distinction and I've even been on the presidents list.

I never would have thought that a complex horror story about an alien clown could create such an impact on my life and facilitate so many positive changes.