For those just joining us in the TheThing's Fireside Story Telling Circle, you didn't miss much. (stop reading now click the link. unless you don't care about reading all of Chapter 1) In Chapter 1, we were introduced to Mike, an emo kid who wants to become normal, Jen, his once emo, now preppy girlfriend, and Steve, Mike's only normal friend. After getting beaten up, Mike decides he's had enough and begins to change into a normal kid. But when picking up his girlfriend to help him shop for regular clothes, he finds that she's on the lap of another guy. But wait, it'll get even sadder. Let's read and find out how Mike deals with his cheating girlfriend.

Mike's jaw dropped open in shock and horror, as he stood there, staring at his girlfriend kiss another man. His mind reeled as his feet grew roots, which got tangled with the roots of the bushes and grass. The new couple continued to kiss, unaware of Mike's presence.

Suddenly, Mike was filled with rage. He slammed his open palm against the window and kept it there. Thankfully, the glass didn't break, but Jen's kiss did. Shocked at who disturbed her intimate moment, she jumped up and ran over to the door, and the guy slowly followed, staying a couple feet back.

Mike was also heading to the door, too, so that when Jen opened it, Mike shoved his way into the home. "What the fuck!" was all that the other man heard before a quick right hook connected, knocking him unconscious.

"Mike! Mike, what are you doing?!" Jenny exclaimed as her new lover fell to the floor. Mike stood there, panting and hunched over a little bit. He felt a strange sense of relief, and pleasure after hitting the teenager. Was this how it felt to hit someone? Mike thought, Is this how it feels to hit me? Are my tormentors filled with that much hate for me that they take pleasure in beating me?

But Mike had no time to answer those questions; he had to ask some more to his now ex-girlfriend.

Mike straightened up and turned around. "What the fuck, Jen! How the fuck could you fucking do this to me!" Mike's anger became mixed with sadness, screwing up his voice some, but the words still impacted Jennifer like a punch.

All Jen could say was a timid "It wasn't what it looked like." Mike didn't except the classic line, striking back with "No! It was exactly what it looked like!"

Jen dropped her head, silently crying as Mike continued to vent his anger. But the further Mike got into his rant, the more the anger was washed away, revealing the sadness that he tried to keep hidden.

"What the fuck. When I needed you, when I wanted to change myself, you fucking abandon me. You abandoned me. You abandoned me for something that I was trying to change into." A few tears were beginning to fall down Mike's face, but he didn't bother to wipe them off. He stood there, waiting for Jen's response. By the time he realized that the response wasn't coming, he had calmed down a bit, and asked another question.

"How long." he asked, suddenly tired from the ordeal.

When Jen just stood there with her head down crying, Mike restated the question, only this time, his anger had been replenished. "HOW LONG." Mike roared, and Jenny picked her head up and took a half step back.

"About...about a month now." Jen choked out through tears of sorrow or fear, Mike couldn't tell which. But a thought struck him; that was for how long she had been "studying" for her Chem mid-term.

"Jesus fuck...." Mike said covering his eyes with his hands and turning around so he didn't have to face Jen. He stood there for a moment, before running over to a side table close by and knocking it over, spilling its contents on the floor. Mike turned away from the wreckage he caused and moved towards the door. Just as he opened it, Jen finally spoke up.

"It's not easy" she said. Mike stopped and furiously turned around so that Jen knew he was listening. Jen's crying had stopped now, and her face was a statue.

"It's not easy to change yourself. It took months for me to find a new group of friends that realized it wasn't a one-day thing. It took even longer for the school to realize I've completely changed. I don't doubt that people still think of me as being that emo chick. And you suddenly want to change yourself. People don't forget what you were; they still remember. They don't care that you put an Abercrombie shirt; they still know that you cut yourself and listened to Simple Plan."

Jen shook her head slowly. "You're no different. They'll still beat you up and call you emo and isolate you from them. You can never get rid of your image."

Mike looked down and closed his eyes, his hand still on the half opened door. He thought for a moment, before looking up and returning the stony face Jenny had on.

"You know, I wasn't really changing for myself. I was, in a way, but I was really changing for you. And I hoped that you would support me and still love me, even though I had nowhere to go. But I guess I was wrong on both counts." And with that, Mike slammed the door behind him and strode off to his car.

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Mike drove around for a couple hours, going far higher than the speed limit. He just needed to clear his mind, and face the fact that his girlfriend of over two years had been cheating on him for the past month, and now had broke up with him. Soon, Mike found himself at the edge of town, near the lake. He pulled onto the short beach and got out.

This was technically where Jen and Mike first met. Back when they were each five years old, they met while swimming here. Mike had gotten his foot stuck on a little bit of lake weed, and was freaking out. But soon, little Jennifer had swam over and helped him get untangled. Mike thanked her with his life, even though a little more kicking would have freed him. They played and swam together for the rest of the day. They didn't see or think of each other again until high school, where their relationship was rekindled and eventually burst into flames.

But Mike didn't think of that. He sat in the sand, leaned against his car, laid on the hood, thinking about his life. He kept thinking about what Jen had said; "You can never get rid of your image". Was she right? Would he ever stop being emo, but just have a false front made out of clothes and music?

By day break, Mike had figured everything out. Or he at least believed he did. He came away with more answers before, but still had questions tucked away. He knew what his next course of action was going to be, and he knew how he was going to do it.

Mike got into his car and drove off, chased away by the Sun.

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By the time Mike had everything ready, it was already 10:30 AM; three hours after he had started. But he wanted everything to be perfect. He needed everything to be perfect.

Mike grabbed his supplies and got into his car. He sat in the driver's seat, going over his carefully drawn up plans, and making sure everything was ready. He knew he only had one shot at this, and he didn't want to mess it up or forget to do something. After triple checking and making mental notes, he pulled out of his driveway and drove off.

Mike went to Jen's house first; the note he wrote was really towards her, the one who drove him to spend that morning thinking of his scheme to get back at the world, to get back at her. The note could go to away one else, since it would eventually get passed to Jennifer, but she needed to see it first. She needed to feel the pain from it first. She needed to regret her choices first.

Mike walked into Jen's house, using the spare key left in the plastic rock near the walkway. He knew exactly where the Hide-A-Key rock was; he and Jen had used it a couple of times before, when Jen had time after school to be with Mike, but the parents weren't home. It was never anything bad, though, so Jen's parents were alright with it.

He thought about the best place to hide the note. Kitchen table would almost ensure that Jen wouldn't read it first, but if placed in her bedroom, it might not be read until it was too late. Fuck, I should have thought about this Mike thought. He racked his mind for the right way to do this. Suddenly, he had a thought; he could just text message an instruction to go where the note was hidden.

Placing the immaculate hand-written note on her pillow in the baby blue bedroom, he removed his battered cell phone. Much like Mike, it was abused every day, and probably had the same depressed thoughts. He quickly punched in a text reading "chk ur bed whn u get home ive got a srprz 4 u" and hit send. He closed the phone and carefully put it in his pocket. It would be well taken care of from now on.

Quietly reading the note to himself, checking that the fourth draft of it would score high marks in grammar and message given to its reader, he moved back downstairs and out of the door. He got into his car, which only had a final trip for Mike. Mike turned the ignition and checked the time; 10:56 AM. Jen should be in Lunch right now, making it easier to check her texts. Mike cupped his head in his hands, and wiped his face away, something he wished he could do for a long time; wipe his face away and get a new one, a new identity. Who knows; I just might. Mike thought, before taking one last breath and pulling out of the driveway.

He cruised along, going five miles per hour under the speed limit, even on the rural and residential roads. Finally, he made it to the bridge he passed over last night; the one spanning the lake that Jen and Mike first met all those years ago. He pulled over in the same shore he did last night, but didn't get out of his car. Rather, he just watched the placid lake that was just blue enough to mirror the sky, but just dark enough to let you know that you were in a pit filled with water. It was trying to pretend it was something, but the lake just couldn't pull it off.

He sat there for another thirty minutes, before checking his now vibrating phone. He flipped the top open and read the text message from Jenny. "whts d srprz?" it said in dark black writing, with a blinding white background. Mike thought for a second, and wrote back "f i tld u it wudnt b a srprz". He closed his phone and replaced it back in his pocket.

He blinked a couple times and shook his head a little, getting ready for the next and final phase of his plan. He backed off of the beach and back onto the road. He kept backing up until he was roughly five hundred feet from the old bridge.

He flexed his finger on the steering wheel, and adjusted his grip, wanting to delay what he set out to do, but at the same time wanted to get it over with. With one final Zen moment, Mike slammed on the gas and headed down the road. Trees and the occasional sign flew by him in a blur, as the speedometer flirted with one hundred miles per hour. Suddenly, he was out of the forest, and into the clear blue sky, speeding across the bridge.

A quarter of the way across, Mike's hand jerked to the left, forcing the car to take a sudden left angle and almost flipped the car. But it stayed on all four wheels, much to the delight of Mike. He continued to apply the gas pedal.

Mike slowly merged over into the oncoming lane, and eventually onto the narrow strip of pock-marked sidewalk. He braced himself, and hit the rusted metal guard about halfway, launching himself into the air.

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For those giving strict reviews, ignore any spelling/grammar mistakes; I'll fix them later. I just wanted to get this up here as quick as possible. Also, Chapter 3, out now! Go forth and read! And leave a comment, so I can get a guess at how many people are reading it! Please! I love you!

Updated: 10/05/08 10:03 PM Log in to comment! | Share this!