Epic Tales

Wrinkled Mirror

    "David, David..." I cried under my breath. My tiny hands clutched my head as I sat alone, crying out his name.
    "Ethan?" I turned around and see David, wearing a Pokemon shirt too big for him. His shorts were blue covered in smiling fish, and on his feet were sandals that were covered in sand. His brown his black hair though was fluffed up against the wind, and his pointed nose was sticking out like an icicle.
    "David..." I go up and pounded my tiny fist in the idiot's face.
    "Ack! Ethan! You're a meany!"
    "No your a meany!" I screeched in a high pitch voice. "I thought you were going to leave me behind!" David rubbed his cheek and wobbled back in his feet fighting tears.
    "Dummy! Would I really do that!?"
    "Maybe..." His fist boinked on my head giving a loud thump echoing.
    "Ow!"
    "Stupid idiot, come on the beach is this way!" He ran in his sandals away from me.
    "Slow down!" I called after him looking at the back of his shirt. Printed in it was Pikachu poking his head out of a pokeball wearing a pokemon hat with a pokemon logo and a pokemon vest. God it looked so cool!
    I chased after him until I stepped on the sand beneath our feet. When I looked around, I suddenly saw myself surrounded with a cyan blue sky. White sand covered the dunes like frosting. Rocks stood out decorating the frosting in giant sprinkles. To a child, it looked like a giant cake my mom would bake for me on my birthday. Speaking of that where was Mom...
    "Hey, Ethan, what do you think makes the sky blue?" I looked at David standing calmly in the water staring at the clouds. They were airbrushed against the sky in all different shapes and sizes like a painting. I looked up at them with him standing shoulder to shoulder.
    "Umm... Well didn't God make it like that?"
    "Ok then, how did he make it like that?"
    "Ummm...." I don't know! We never learned this in school...Yet... But then an idea hit me. I waved my hands in the air and swirled my feet in the current of water. "He used Photoshop!"
    "Uh, no." David clutched his stomach laughing as I blushed from embarrassment.
    "Alright, then how did he do it?"
    "He used the power of Raylight!" I stared at David blankly not knowing what he just said.
    "What's that?"
    "It's science stupid!"
    "No way you just made that up!"
    "No! I saw it in an anime my sister was watching!"
    "Seriously?"
    "Seriously!" We both laughed staring up at the clouds.
    "Hey Ethan?"
    "Yeah?"
    "Do clouds look like this in London?" I shrugged.
    "Probably, I don't know, have you ever been to London?"
    "No! I want to but my family says it's too expensive! What about Mexico, do you think they are shaped like tacos?"
    "No way! More like quesadillas!" David smiled at me with the biggest grin and started scooping up sand.
    "What are you doing?" I asked confused, but David just grinned.
    "I'm making a boat!"
    "With sand?"
    "Yup! I bet we can melt it into glass if we press it hard enough!"
    "Idiot! We need a volcano for that!"
    "Well do you want to help me build one?"
    "What, what will you even use it for?"
    "Isn't it obvious!" He got up and twirled in the water, "To see the world!" I stared at him in awe. "I want to eat delicious food from other countries! I want to talk to people in other languages, and even see new building I never laid eyes on! And I want you to come with me Ethan!"  He held up his hand to me as I stare at him in star struck.
    "But, don't you need money for that?" I asked timidly. He just grinned though showing his white teeth.
    "Then we'll just get money."
    "How are we going to travel then?"
    "We'll use a boat!"
    "But, how will we get one?"
    "I'll just make it! Come on Ethan! Don't you want to do something with your life,  don't you want to see something amazing!" He grabbed my hand and dragged me into the waves. That's when I realized how amazing David was. He defied everything that stood in people's way, and laughed it off like it wa nothing. He spoke to what some people would see as crazy, but to him made perfect sense. Even though he said his words casually, he was never joking around with his promises. In my eyes, David was pretty cool.
    As I'm dragged into the waves, I was still closing my eyes, not knowing where I was going. One thing for sure was I was still holding David's hand, who kept leading me to who knows where.
    "David?" I whispered in the darkness.
    "Ethan, long time no see!" I look up and see Ethan towering over me. I sat in a chair outside of a cafe close to my house. He stood carrying a giant backpack over his shoulder wearing a Tokyou ghoul T shirt and a Evangelion  baseball cap... God why does he always have cool anime merchandise! I want some!
    "David, hey!"  He sat down in front of me with weary eyes. Then he saw my camera next to me.
    "Still taking photos I see."
    "Yeah, I thought it will be a nice way for us to make money when we travel,"
    "Right..." His eyes drifted away as he sighs. I look at him with concern.
    "Is something wrong?"
    "Listen Ethan, you have to forget about me." What?
    "What! David, what are you-"
    "Listen to me David, I'm leaving you."
    "What-"
    "It's not you it's me, you see I'm not ready for a relationship like this-"
    "David, seriously what the hell?"
    "You see Ethan, if we get a yaoi shipping, than his Wattpad story may finally get more readers! Think about, now a days people hate originality! They mostly drool over cliche fanfics 14 year olds right in their rooms! Especially gay ones! Think about it, LeviXEren, White rose, SasukeXNaruto... None of those will ever become canon yet they are some of the most popularist shippings out there!"
    "David... Neither of us are gay, or even bisexual!"
    "Yes, but the audience doesn't know that! Think about how many chicks would drool over us! Now, we have to come up with a good ship name! I'm inspired by the RWBY fanbase, but I fear we might get sued for copyright...."
    "David! Stop changing the subject! What do you mean I have to forget you?"
    "Listen David, in this year I was in Jordan, I got into some trouble in the city..."
    "What? How come this is the first time I heard of this?"
    "Well..."
    "You don't even return my texts anymore! Or even pick up the phone when I call you!"
    "I was busy man!"
    "With what!"
    "Listen, the city Jordan has a lot of bad shit in it... Like really bad, and I thought I could get enough money to build a boat but..." I stare at him not knowing how to react.
    "You didn't get involved with the casinos did you?" David silently stared at the table in shame.
    "Dammit David why didn't you tell me!"
    "You know why,"
    "What! No I don't, is it because you don't trust me anymore?"
    "No, do you really think I would do that? Come on you know why!" I looked down at my feet in shame. M face suddenly became squished and dyed the color red. Transparent tears began to drip down to the ground.
    "It was because you didn't want to get me involved,"
    "Bingo!"
    "But why didn't you ask me for help! Maybe we could go to the police or something-"
    "Comene man, you know the police in the city! They all let the mob do what they want! Besides, disappearing would be better for both if us."
    "But I don't want you to disappear!" I shouted over the roar of the waves. "Do you know how happy I was when you said, that you wanted to get out of this town! I hate it! Everyone just gives up here and complains about this place! The streets are always dirty, gangs think they're the coolest people around! But it all sucks!"
    "Then why don't you just leave without me?" David asked with a faded smile that pissed me off even more. That idiot-
    "Why do you think dumb ass! Because you are my best friend!"
    "But I'm already going ahead." David said walking backwards slowly on a pool of water. I look around. The sky was a clear blue with clouds painted on it like an air brush. Below us was a calm sea of water reflecting our own distorted faces like a wrinkled mirror. How the hell-
    "Come on Ethan, you must have realized by now that this was a dream," he said smiling sadly. "How else do you think I could make you go into the ocean and suddenly appeared outside of the cafe."
    "Yes, but-"
    "You're going to wake up soon, and when you do, I'll disappear like a dream." He smiled sadly in the breeze that was in my head.
    "No, I'm going to find you!" my voice echoed through the room.
    "Really, how are you going to find me?"
    "I'll just look around where you were last."
    "I was hanging out with gangsters."
    "Then I'll just ask them,"
    "You'll just get yourself killed."
    "No way, I can't die yet, not until-" The image slowly fades away as I reach my hand towards the ceiling "I see the world with you." At first, I was confused of where I was. Pictures of the blue sky were pinned to cracking walls. Dirty clothing was piled in the corner of a closet, and a computer on top of an old desk was pinned against the window. On it was a small pile of manga books stacked on top of spared paper.
I was in my room. When I looked at my alarm clock it was 3 in the morning, but I couldn't wait for the sun to get up.
I immediately started shoving in clothing into my backpack,but then I realized I would need cash and food as well for the trip...I should probably bring my camera as well? But what if it gets stolen...
       "What are you doing?" My mom stood in the doorway wearing her old night gown.  Her hair looked like a rats nest and that scorn on her face wasn't helping her looks either...
          "I have to go Mom,"
           "You are not going anywhere!"
           "Mom, I'm 18! I'm already done with highschool."
            "What about college?"
             "I'm taking a gap year," she rolled her eyes.
              "Is this about Ethan, you have to let him go." Let him go, that's not even funny!
              "What if it was me, or Dad, would you be able to say that?" She gave me her look, the look of sympathy as if she knew what was already going to happen at the end of a sad movie, as if she had already foreseen me failing to my attempt to save someone precious to me.
           "Ethan-"
            "Mom, do you know why you never went to Boston for college, even though you wanted to check out their museums? Why Dad never tried to move us out of his town which is barely able to pay taxes?" She silently looked at me as I zippered my bag. "It was because you guys gave up! You complained about things like money, or cars, or whatever excuse you made, but money, is easy!" I stuff  my camera in my pocket and stand in front of her looking her in the eye. "Money you can get anywhere, at a job, in a bank, in the street...People though, nagging at you all the time, now that's the hard part!"
          "Are you still talking  about that silly dream with David?"
          "Nothing about that was silly!"
           "But it's just impossible!"
           "How do you know that-"
            "Let him go Margrett," Dad walked down the hallway in his bathrobe scratching his chin.
             "But, Jack-"
             "He's old enough to do whatever he wants in his life. We can't get in his way anymore. Here," Dad gave me a card with some faded numbers reading "MAINSTREET".
"He's an old friend of ours and may be of use to you. Go Ethan, and do what no one in this town has ever tried to do." My Dad in that moment seemed strong. He was always a man who held onto his ideals firmly, and was too stubborn to give into them...Which made me question why he always forsaken his dream, but as I took that card in my hand, I had a feeling I was about to find out.
         "Thanks Dad," I smiled and walk down stairs to the closet grabbing my coat. I should probably by some granola bars on the way as well. Before I could take a step out of that door my mom tugged on my sleeve.
         "Ethan," I justs stare at her not knowing  what to say as she bit her lip.
          "When you come back with David, I'll have a cake waiting for you guys!" I had to stop myself from laughing at something so out of character for her. I still couldn't suppress myself from smiling though.
           "Thanks Mom-ack" She gave e a bear hug almost squeezing the air out of my lungs.
           "Mom-"
            "I'm not going to see you in a while so le me hug you God Dammit!"
             "I completely agree!"  Then My Dad suddenly ran up to us, using his giant body to crush us both. And almost  killing me!
              "Guys, seriously I'm about to fall over!"
After my release from the death grip, I quickly ran out the door into the night before they could attack me again. Even though it was summer, the air was cold from the ocean breeze. The trains would probably not be running... What about the buses though? And so as I walked through the darkness towards the lights of the city in the horizon, my grand journey to the city began.