Jackson aka Owl
My hand instinctively went towards the empty spot next to me in the booth, searching around for my backpack. Though, my skin only met smooth leather instead of the rough denim-like material of my most valued possession. I tried to paint a smile on my face to forget about the non-existent plan to get my backpack back (once again) from Coug. I tried to savor the moment of being in a sit down restaurant, IHOP for heaven’s sakes. Nevertheless, I could feel the paint cracking off my skin when my stomach made a nasty throb. As if, Coug was right there in the room as he threw one last punch just to see me squirm like a tiny hopeless ant once more.
Jackson’s Philosophical Statement #1: Life is like dark chocolate.
It’s bittersweet. The sweet, milky part was that Eagle gave me some extra bucks for a fancy breakfast (which I still don’t understand) but it all turned bitter and dark when Coug jumped me five minutes later.
My hands did not hold the soft spirit of a book so I felt horribly naked and utterly bored. My last resort was to stare at the people around me. People are interesting creatures. I guess I’m interesting too; it’s just that sometimes even I wonder if I’m truly human or not. I tried to ignore the smell of delicious buttery toast, honey glazed ham, and sunny side up eggs while I looked around for my next victim.
There was a family in the booth in front of me; a mother, father, and a toddler. I couldn’t help but silently curse the latter as the little boy couldn’t stop whining his head off. The only thing I could hear was “I want my sausage!” His face looked like a wet Twizler: ruby red, twisted as a ladder, and laden with tears as he cried. His mouth was gaped open so wide that my fist could probably fit in it. I wanted to slap that kid. The mother had on a fur coat that looked so soft; I almost felt my hand reach out to it in vain. I could feel my anger swelling as I started to curse the mother since they obviously had some money. I, on the other hand, did not. Just the fifteen dollars that Eagle placed in my hand with his talon-like nails scraping my palm and beady eyes staring ferociously at me. Mother = fur coat = money = something I don’t have = Eagle = pain.
Jackson’s Philosophical Statement #2: Life is like a spider web.
Everything is interconnected; everything you see reminds you of something else which reminds you of something else and so on. Though, this facet of life can be avoided by one thing: the iPod. My second most prized possession. I took it out of my pocket, where it always stays, careful not to pull out the dollar bills with it. I ran my thumb across its ivory smooth surface, thanking God that I still owned it. Take that Mother. You took away my shelter but not my iPod.
I heard the familiar sound of the bell that rings when a person walks through the door of a store. A few seconds later, I could see a girl walking into the room. The first thing I saw was her fiery red hair that went all the way down to her waist and didn’t look like it had been brushed in days. She kept her arms folded across her chest and slowly made her way towards the lady at the front desk.
“One person?” I overheard the lady ask queerly. It was the same voice she gave me. A teenager by themselves in IHOP is a peculiar sight. Or dangerous. It depends on what side of the tracks they’re on. By the way she walked and held her head, this girl looked harmless—fearful of everything.
The lady reluctantly showed the girl with the long red hair to her seat. The girl sat in the booth on the other side of the walkway. I decided to make her my next victim. She had on a plain white T-shirt and tattered blue jeans.
“Someone will be with you soon to take your order.” The lady said in a monotone voice.
She propped up her elbows on the table and sighed, her head down, not making eye contact with the lady.
“Ok.” I heard her whisper.
The booth the girl was seated in was by in front of a large window. The sun was shining through and, from the look of it; there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. IHOP was situated right next to the sidewalk so I could clearly see people walking inches from the glass. A tall slender woman appeared in the window. She stopped to swipe her hand over her forehead to move a few blonde strands of hair out of her face. A small girl with two short pigtails stood by her side and tugged on her pants. The woman slapped the child on the hand, gripped it, picked up two huge grocery bags in one hand and continued walking, out of my view.
I wished the woman stayed in the window. It would keep me from seeing what I was about to see.
A guy, who looked just about my age, ran across the sidewalk. His body moved so quickly that I could barely make out his familiar figure. Talon-like nails grabbed the back of his white dress shirt, stopping him dead in his tracks. It was Eagle. I immediately recognized the huge glasses on the boy. Only a true nerd would wear glasses like those and that would be Archie, my best friend from when I actually had a life I felt good and bad at the same time (bittersweet, eh?) He looked exactly the same except that for his dress shirt was crinkled, his eyes were blood shot, and his lip leaked scarlet on the bottom. Eagle wrapped his arms around Archie’s scrawny waist and slammed him into the window. Archie’s cheek was pushed up against the glass and his hands gripped the glass for all its worth as Eagle kicked him from behind. For a second, I thought the window would break. A few people further away looked on as Eagle pummeled my best friend but none of them did anything. I felt my hands ball into fists and my butt rise off the seat to save the day. But then mysteriously, I forgot about Archie. I saw the girl in the booth. She was looking up in horror at the window, watching the two boys fight before her eyes. She let out a blood curdling scream. The rest of the restaurant turned the other cheek.
The girl’s red hair whipped around as she fumbled to get out of the booth. I saw her eyes again. They were more fearful than ever as she try to run for her life. I watched as she tripped and fell to the floor. Her hair spread out everywhere resembling a forest fire. My body moved by itself, powered by something bigger than me. It moved towards the girl on the other side of the room, and reached my hand out to help her back up.
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I know its weird....