Katya

Katya Konev

Tom Charles

                Everyone sat silently in a circle. Mike looked around the crowd.

“So, does anybody else have a story they want to share. I have a lot of time.” And under his breath he added, “I`m still dead when I come home.”

“Sure, I guess I`ll share my story since everyone is sharing.” Said a boy looking like he was about the same age as Mike. His hair sticking out in bunches in all directions. He wore riding gear that was all dirty and stained with blood.

“It is really good to love something, right?” asked Tom but kept on talking not letting anyone answer. “In my case I would disagree. My love of riding is what got me killed.” Mike, intrigued, moved closer as Tom began his story.

The chirping birds woke Tom up. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. It took a little, but he got out of bed. He picked up his yesterday’s shirt off the floor and smelled it. It smells fine he thought and put it on. He gurgled some mouthwash and went downstairs.

His mom stood in the kitchen in her cocktail dress drinking her coffee but he couldn`t smell any coffee when he walked in.

“Good morning honey,” said his mom with a sweet smile.

“Sup” said Tom taking a donut and pouring some milk into a cup. He ate his donut and drank his milk and put his cup into the sink. “I`m going to go and hang out with my friends, be back by eleven.” called Tom before shutting the door.

Tom`s black and green TRX 450 stood in their garage dirty and a little dented. His green helmet hung on the steering wheel waiting to be worn. He mounted the bike and started the bike. The strong roar that came from the bike made Tom`s stomach fill with delight. He put on his green helmet and drove out of the garage like a rocket making everything in the garage shake and fall off the shelves.

It took Tom only seven minutes to get to his friends place which was on the other side of town. His three friends were already there waiting for him. George, Richard, and Fred.

“Hey wassup guys,”

“Hey, ready for some hard core riding?” said Fred after crunching the soda can with his foot. “There is this wicked place with tons of cool trails.”

“Awesome!” said George putting on his helmet.

“Everyone agree?” asked Tom “Alright then, let`s go and burn rubber!” They all started their bikes and zoomed out of the driveway like rockets. They drove in a line jumping or drifting in a row as ants on a mission. After ten minutes of nothing but that, the leader made a right onto a small road. The path was like a tunnel because of the tall grass on each side of the road. Tom`s stomach gave birth to butterflies and his smile grew a little more. They came to a forest filled with trails and jumps. Everyone dispersed into every direction and drove every possible that could mean sudden death until their arms felt like falling off.

Back at Fred`s house, they all chilled on the couches and drank a vile drink which stumps growth.

“Hey, Tom, back at the trails, you almost ran into me. What’s up with that?” questioned Richard.

“It wasn`t my fault.” protested Tom. “Fred kept getting in my way. Every time I pick a trail, Fred comes out of nowhere and blocks my way and that is when I almost ran into you, Richard.” Everyone looked at Fred thinking he`s going to start explaining himself but he just drank his pop for a minute and smiled.

“You got to make it interesting, right?”

Everyone felt satisfied with his answer and went back to lounging around but Tom couldn`t shake the feeling he had. Something was going on with Fred and he couldn`t figure out what.

“So next Saturday?” called Tom.

“Yeah for sure!” answered his friends from the house.

The week flew by and it was already Friday. Tom busy on his bike didn`t notice Fred walk into the garage.

“So how`s it going Tom?” asked Fred. Tom frightened by the sudden voice, dropped the wrench.

“Hey Fred,” said Tom climbing from under the bike. “What`s up?”

“Just wanted to see your hard work,” smirked Fred. “I see that you look for the part.” Pointing at Tom`s grease stains on his shirt.

“Oh, ha ha, yeah, I`m actually done, just had to take a look and make some tweaks.  I`m going to go get some refreshments, want anything?”

“No, just wanted to see what you were doing, little grease monkey. I actually got to go.”

“Alright, later homey.” Said Tom and disappeared into the house. He came out in a couple minutes with a coke and saw Fred kneeling by the bike. He stood up when he saw Tom.

“I just had to see your bike up close. It runs so well. I had to sneak a peek,” explained Fred smiling innocently.

“Yeah, no problem I guess,” hesitated Tom.

“Well, see you tomorrow and your bike looks good.” Said Fred and slinked away.

They all met at Fred`s place. With a couple nods and replies they were off to their new discovered riding place. The all went crazy; doing jumps, wheelies, cookies, bringing up tons of dust and dirt and completely destroying the area. Moving on to a different place they came upon a clear area with a little hill perfect to be a jump. They all stopped and turned off their bikes looking at it.

“That looks awesome!” said Richard and everyone nodded.

“So who`s going to attempt it?” asked Fred looking at his friends. They were all shacking their heads.

“How about you do it Tom?” said Fred. “You are like the craziest of us all. And I know for a fact that you checked your bike and it`s going to be no problem for you.”

“Yeah!” encouraged George slapping Tom on the back.

Everyone started chanting Tom`s name.

“Fine, I will!” Said Tom, putting on his helmet and turning on his bike. It roared to life but he could barely hear it over his own heart beating in his ears; Boom, boom, boom. He put his bike in gear and took off. The bike soared across the field to the jump. Every foot closer to the jump, Tom was reconsidering doing it. Everything that can go wrong popped into his head until he decided that he wasn`t going to do it. He pressed the brakes but the bike kept driving the way it was driving. What the heck! Thought Tom and tried again and again thinking that maybe he imagined it but he wasn`t hallucinating. The brakes didn`t work and it was too late. The bike flew up the hill and like ballerina`s, they twirled and landed. The last thing in Tom`s mind was how? And one word explained all, Fred.

Mike started to feel a little light headed and realized he was holding his breath. He breathed out slowly and stretched a little because his back began to hurt from sitting uncomfortably and said,

“Wow that must blow.”

“Yeah he was always jealous of me. I should have known he would do something like that.”

This girl came out of the shadow, barely a whisper, said, “You never know what a person will do.” With that she started her death story.