Death's Contest Entries

Johnny (Bad Qualities Contest)

JOHNNY pushed his plate away and Anna looked up at him, from across the table.

"Not hungry?"

He simply shook his head and stood up.

He walked into his room and shut the door behind him, causing his mother, Anna to frown. It had been two days since that incident and Johnny was barely talking to her, or anyone else for that matter.

Anna chewed on her bottom lip, thinking back to the incident. It had been at a party. Everything bad always seems to happen at high school parties, though Johnny rarely even attended such parties. This time, he did and it was because Anna had managed to convince him.

She remembered what she had said to him that evening, as she went through his clothes. "You should go and hang out," she said, as she continued to look for something suitable for him to wear.

"Hang out with whom?" He was sitting on his bed, with his legs crossed underneath him.

Anna shrugged. "Or you could make some friends there and then hang out with them."

"Too much effort."

She turned back and fixed her brown eyes on him. "Johnny."

He folded his arms across his chest, a hint of a smile on his face. "Mom."

She rolled her eyes. "Stop being such a child. You're going to have to get out there sooner or later. Come on, just go this once."

Johnny thought about it for a while but when he looked like he was going to refuse, Anna pouted. "Pretty please?"

At which, Johnny shook his head, trying to hide his smile. "Whatever. But I'm not doing any chores this week."

"Yeah, right, kiddo!" She said, tossing a T-shirt in his direction.

Johnny had left that night at eight and came back a little after ten-thirty with a black eye and a bloody lip. When Anna had asked him about it, he hadn't answered her and went into his room, skipping school the next day.

After much persuasion and gathering bits and pieces of information, Anna was able to put the pieces together. It turned out that a girl in Johnny's class was there too and he had been crushing on her. So, when a guy was stepping into her personal space Johnny punched him and the two guys broke into a fight. It so happened that the other guy was pretty strong so Johnny didn't have the upper hand in the fight.

Thankfully, the fight didn't result in any broken bones, just a few bruises was all.

Anna wasn't too surprised, though. It wasn't the first time her son had acted so rashly and without thinking of the consequences. But after finding this out, she had grounded him for a day. She would have grounded him for a week but Anna had a soft spot in her heart for her son so she didn't usually punish him.

Anna sighed, as she dropped the fork and leaned back in her chair. What was with this kid?

Johnny didn't interact or curse like other high school kids. He didn't have any friends. And by acting without thinking sometimes, his chances of making friends didn't seem too promising. No big dreams or ambitions which baffled Anna because teenagers think that they can change the whole world. He was quiet around the neighbors which made it difficult for them to like him. Even if people tried to engage him in conversations, he would give half-responses and shrugs. It would be wrong to say that he was shy, he wasn't. He was...dull, in a way. Like it would be a waste of his time if he even made the effort to do something, anything.

There were times when Anna secretly wished that Johnny would stay out late with his friends, instead of being in his room alone, doing nothing. At least, that way she would know that he's doing something with his life, instead of just being in one place nearly all the time.