Jimmy Stickman

Chapter 3: Running

He ran and he ran; across the football fields, through the back parking lot, and over the perimeter fence of the school. He did not know what to do, but he did know that he desired not to go home, at least not yet. He figure he would wait the day out and hope that his mom was too tired to deal with this whole situation and chose to go to bed.

On the brighter end of things, however, she was super proud of his work-ethic and role as a student, so he thought that perhaps she wouldn't mind too much. It was also Friday afternoon, so he did not need to worry about her waking him up the next morning. As he kept walking, he came across Tommy again, who had an off-period.

"Tommy!" Jimmy yelled at the other boy, who was sitting on a bench in the small park just beyond the perimeter of the school's grounds with his eyes fixed on his smartphone.

"Hey Jimmy." Tommy replied. "You need something?"

"Glad you asked." Jimmy asked.

"What is it, then?." Tommy questioned.

"Well, you see I am in a bit of a pickle right now. I got into a fight with Russell a little bit less than an hour ago and, well, I think I might have broken his leg. But it was unintentional; I did not mean to. Apparently he disliked how interested Julie has gotten into me over the past few hours after I helped her with her English paper. Then he attacked me at lunch and so on and so forth. I don't know what happened, but I just felt something weird, but actually amazing, as he began to attack me. It was an awesome feeling actually, yet I do not have the slightest clue as to what it is."

"Nice job."

"Well, thank you, but that wasn't the point." Jimmy continued. "So I injured him and then I had to flee the school after his friends took him to the nurse's office. Haven't been back on the campus since. I don't know what is wrong with me, but I just sort of felt both physically and mentally-empowered for a couple of minutes and now I am probably going to hear it from the school staff and my mom. I don't want to get suspended!"

"Well I have never been suspended before, so why do you want to ask me about it?" Tommy asked.

"You know a lot of the staff and how the school itself works. Can you just give me some advice on how to loosen the situation and confront the staff without getting in such huge trouble? Any bit of support helps."

"Just try to apologize. If you act like a jerk about it, they will most definitely suspend you. And you will feel like a terrible person on the inside. Be nice, and apologize. The worst they can do to you is prevent you from going to school for a little while."

Jimmy sighed. "Well then I guess I don't have a choice then." He let it go for now. "But hey, how do you explain this whole feeling of sudden 'greatness' or whatever!? This has never happened to me before..."

"It is just your self-confidence most likely; your confidence boosted when you went face-to-face with him, and that is that. So if you can take on the biggest and toughest kid in the grade and send him to the nurse, you should have no problems being suspended for two days. That will make you feel better about yourself, because everyone will actually look up to you for beating down a kid like that. That is probably the coolest thing that could have ever happened in that damn place. Don't you see that???"

"Hmm. Well I guess you might be right about that part of it."

"As I said, it is probably your confidence. Remember that one time you told me about how you love the sudden feeling of self-esteem that you get after doing something impressive? Like getting an A on a huge project that took weeks to complete, or receiving an award? It is the same thing really."

"Umm, OK. Sure thing. I will talk to you later then." Jimmy said as he started to walk away, "Bye."

He and Tommy had a mutual relationship with each other; they were best friends and almost always allotted time to help each other out in times of need. For that, Jimmy was at least happy that Tommy helped him out a little bit.

He just could not piece together this little puzzle of what was happening. He continued pacing around his town, pondering everything that had happened earlier that day. He paced for hours, thinking about the same thing without seeing a potential end; he was a thinker, not a doer. He kept doing that until it started to get dark.

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He soon came to a small shed in the middle of a big field. It was abandoned, and nobody lived there. He could not walk around and think any longer, so he took shelter there and breathed in and out to relax himself. He felt shaken up. He was shaking and sweating. He began to feel sick. That place was one where he could collect upon his thoughts and feelings.

He sat there trying not to throw up. "What is wrong with me?" He asked himself. "I feel... empowered, but like a criminal being sought at by the police. I'm unsure if I feel good or terrible." He had never gotten in trouble at school, in fact he was long regarded as a teacher's pet. That is why he was so astonished to be in this position; his school life could be ruined. He kept breathing while examining his right hand extensively. It wasn't hurt, nor swollen, it just felt as if it were throbbing with energy trying to unleash itself on arrogant badboys like Russell Williams. Yet, he continued to sit.

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After a long time of waiting, he rose up, stretched, and cracked his back. He was still confused, and he still felt very different from how he did when he was at school and woke up earlier that morning, but he still felt so much better. He no longer felt queasy and sick. With that, he made his way out the shed and started walking in the direction of his house. He still could not take his mind off of his problems, but that did not affect him too much.

He soon came up to a small creek, which was about 2 or 3 miles from his house. He sat down beside the riverbank. He couldn't tell if he felt good or bad, even though he did not feel sick anymore. He just felt guilty, yet great at the same time. But which one was more potent and prominent? The sounds and looks of the creek made him feel relaxed either way. He figured sleeping it off would help and he would be totally refreshed the following morning.

After a few minutes of quietness, he turned around and left the riverbank on his way towards his house.

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He got home and walked inside slowly and quietly. He tiptoed his way upstairs to his room and shut the door. He sat on his bed for a few minutes, yet again thinking about the day. He grabbed his favorite teddy bear that he had since he was a baby and held him for a while. The bear was named after him a long time ago; he named the bear himself actually. "Good night Little Jimmy." he said before turning off the lights and going to bed.

It was insanely difficult for him to go to sleep; as tired as he was, he was still having issues, and he was afraid as to what Russell's reaction would be in the end, or the school's. He was still hopeful that just a few more hours of rest will ease his pain no matter how much of it was covering his body.

After about an hour of laying on his back with his eyes fixed on the ceiling, he slowly began to drift off to sleep.