Short Story- Wake Up

I wrote this story almost a year ago. It's not perfect because I based it off an idea I had for a web series. I have two other parts of this story stashed away but I won't post those yet because I might make some changes. Anyways, I present to you the original short story 'Wake Up':

The answer was sudden, but it was certain. The sympathy in this man was either none, or he was hiding it well. He refused to let me stay on this bus, due to my money problem. I was only a kid, well a teenager. I thought for sure I could pull this one off, like I had, so many times before, but there has to be one time where the magic is gone.

Well, my name is CJ. It was a strange name, I admit that. I live my life, every day in a new town. I scam bus drivers, I play the sympathy card, and get free rides and usually some money that will hold me for a few days. This time obviously didn't work so well and I was stranded in suburbia. My life was hard, I didn't get the normal necessities (well obviously they aren't necessities if I live without them), like a family, friends, normal eating and sleeping habits, and any school. I mostly pass my time by drawing stuff, normally fantasy creatures but sometimes scenery (when I first started out, I took pictures of everything, but the camera broke and I have no money for a new one). I'm also an avid Journal writer ( they are so cheap), I almost write about everything, I figured I could publish a book of my travels. I have about four or five journals filled to the top, with notes on the side. It's strange but, that's how I kept up with the date, I wrote it the first day of my travel's and I've written every day since. It was actually Thanksgiving, but no reason to celebrate. It's been so long, I doubt it will ever end....

I walked around the neighborhoods looking for a place to sleep for the night. I found this little pond that looked nice, so I decided to sleep there for a while. My eyes didn't shut right away, although I was tired ( I always am). I thought about everything I would be thankful for if I didn't choose this life for myself. I would probably be at an adoption agency or with a new family, I couldn't imagine either options, I cringe whenever I think about stuff like this, but I do nearly every night. I guess in some way, it's like therapy for me. Sometimes I wonder what all of the friends that I left behind think... they mourned the death of a friend that wasn't actually dead..... I wonder what my town thought, how they grieved their neighbors, their friends, but one was alive, and he was selfish enough to run away from everything... and that now he was a jaded, scam artist... I fell asleep, crying.

Apparently, he woke up that morning wanting to get some early Christmas shopping done, but I guess he got more than he wanted, or imagined. He got out of his bed, wearily walked to the shower, got dressed and put on his shoes. He peeked out the window as he did everyday, but this day finding something strange. His name was Connor, he was an average American teenager with everything going his way, the compassion in his heart was not limited by anything at all. He saw a kid sleeping near the pond outside. Normally he would of dismissed it, normally he wouldn't of cared, but this day wasn't normal whatsoever. He ran downstairs, not even stopping for breakfast, all the way to the pond. Once he got close, he was scared. Scared of all the possibilities thought out in his mind. He got the courage to walk up to him. " Wake up" is all he said, that's all he needed to say...
"Why are you here?" I asked suspiciously. He replied "Well, It looked like you...ya know maybe needed some help...". "Well...ya, I need a lot of help...If you only knew..", and he said something that surprised me " Well if you need help, I'm here to give it...I'm going to grab something to eat, ya wanna come along?" "I don't think so, sorry, but thanks for taking interest". He walked on, knowing this was not the end. I cried out "Wait! Wait up!" and everything fell in place. Those words changed my life completely, I didn't yet know it obviously... We walked to a small little pizza place, I don't remember the name though. We talked, I told him my entire story and he didn't judge me at all. We walked to the shopping mall, a place where I hadn't been for a year or so. There was a big store, a main one where it was busy. It was black Friday of course. I walked through the store, watching people, how happy they were with their parents...
Finally, I just broke out in tears...

I fell down, on my hands and knees and cried. I quickly hid behind a section of clothes, I heard Connor's voice "CJ ? CJ ? Where are you?" . He did not discover me, he walked on looking in different places. I would imagine my sobbing could be heard from a while away, which is probably why this happened. I heard a voice, I looked up and saw a man in a blue uniform with a badge, a cop. "Here he is!" he called out. "What's wrong buddy?", I was deathly afraid of cops because I scam bus drivers, and have been on the edge of getting caught many times. I followed my first instinct, and that was to run. I burst out of the clothing section In a pile of tears, I ran as fast as I could, knocking over the police man. I kept running and running. I finally saw Connor, I grabbed him by the arm "RUN! RUN! Quick, we need to get out of here!! Come on!!!" I yelled st him. " WHAT? WHY? Where are we going?" he asked shocked. "JUST RUN, I'll explain later, just run!". For some reason he followed me, I don't know why and I don't think he knows why either. We ran out of the store and into the bathroom. "CJ, why are we doing this? What happened?" he asked. "Well, I'm sorry, I jut broke out crying... I mean, It won't happen again, it was just, I don't know, know one has taken interest in me besides you and...". Connor said " Well get use to it, I'm not going to let you go back to that life..."
We walked out of the bathroom, to see four policemen. "One, two, three". We ran out of the mall as fast as we could...

As we were walking back to Connor's house, I asked "So, what are we gonna do now?". He replied "The only thing we can do, we have to hide you, if I told anyone you would be under arrest of course, but for now I think I can manage to hide you." " So, you're prepared to take this giant burden of hiding me, and you've only known me one day?". He said "Yes".

His house was empty. He told me his parents went to work early and came home late. He showed me his basement, where I would sleep. "Okay, there's the blankets, got a pull out couch and cable TV, you have got it made!". "Well, I really have, I haven't watched a TV in a long time, thank you so very much. If you don't mind I'm just gonna sleep. I've been tired for...a while" I told him. "Okay, well tomorrow, I'll be at school until 3:00, so I don't know, just hang out here until I get back!". "Goodnight".


I'll probably post the other two parts to this story tomorrow or some other time this week.

- Connor Mac