Never Ending Short Stories - Tasha (phonics books TXT) 📗

Rick looked in the mirror and hated what he saw looking back at him. He would do this everyday. He would wonder why he was cursed with this look. ‘Ring, ring,’ the phone rang. He let it go to voice message.
“Hello Rick. You’ve just been promoted as our top reporter! Aren’t you happy? I know you’re there. Pick up so we can talk properly. Congratulations!” Bob, Rick’s boss, said into the phone.
This added to Rick’s mood. It made him madder. He didn’t want to get promoted. He barely even liked his job. He slacked off the most out of the entire news company he worked for. All he did was sit in a chair eating Doritos why everyone else worked. He wondered how in the world he had gotten promoted. He didn’t even have to wonder because he already knew the answer. His look.
The main thing Rick’s look bought him his girls, ladies, and women. They could be pretty, ugly, fat, skinny, black, white, Asian, Chinese, Japanese, you name it, they were all attracted to him. Once he was passing by a mother and her daughter and he heard the daughter gasp and say, “Wow, mom! He’s the most handsomeness man I have ever seen in all my life!” The fact that little girls admired him made him feel queasy.
“I’m sick of this! I hate my look! I hate myself!” Rick yelled into the mirror.
A lady appeared out of nowhere. She looked him up and down. She stared at his blonde locks. She looked appalled by the height of him. She gazed into his baby blue eyes, admired the perfect weight he seemed to have had, and touched his smooth skin. The thing that was stranger than the fact that she appeared out of nowhere was that she kept a straight face as she was analyzing him. Well, and that she was ugly. So very ugly. The ugliest thing Rick laid eyes on. He was flabbergasted at how unappealing, hideous, and revolting she looked.
“Do you wish to become ugly like me?” she asked. Her voice wasn’t at all like her look. It was a soft smooth voice. “I was once as beautiful as you are handsome. One day I couldn’t stand it and yelled at my mirror. A tornado formed right in the middle of my room and knocked me out. When I woke up I was like this, as you see me now. ‘You are as you willed to be. Enjoy,’ the voice of a teeny fairy told me. She’s made me appear to you through some kind of device.”
“This is a dream. I’m dreaming,” Rick muttered.
“This is no dream,” the woman said and vanished suddenly.


24 hours later

Rick woke up. He looked around and noticed he was wearing a gown. He was laying on one of those hospital beds. “Doctor?” he called.
“Oh, you’re up. You’ve been unconscious for a whole day exactly. How do you feel? Your blood pressure dropped immensely,” the doctor said.
“Can I have a mirror?” Rick asked. The doctor handed him a mirror. Rick was dumbfounded at what he saw looking back at him. He saw a vicious, foul face looking back. He took a glance down his body. He was fat. Not chubby fat. Overweight fat. He realized how the woman who visited him was looking. She was looking down in the dumps. That’s how he felt just now.
“Is anything wrong sir?” the doctor asked.
“Nothing,” he replied and they let him check out.
Later on he found out he had a job as a garbage man. It’s like the entire universe changed from his one change.
“Be careful what you wish for,” he heard a tiny, creepy voice say. The funny thing is, he didn’t exactly wish for it. His mind was wishing it but he didn’t wish it in words. He wondered about this. Rick shrugged his shoulders and walked off into the world.

The wind circled all around me, making my vision blurry. My family was out camping in the middle of the woods. My mom had sent me out to get wood for the fire but I doubt she knew how windy these woods really were. My eyes stung from the rush of the air. "Mom!?" I called into the hazy mist. My voice sounded pathetic against the loud screeching of the wind.

I walked on and on into the unknown. Next thing I knew, I was falling down, down, down. I screamed, and was relieved when I finally felt earth underneath my dark boots. It didn't hurt too badly when I landed. My eyes flashed upward with a grim expression on my face. I was approximately 7 feet below the ground I was previously standing on.

I brushed my hand alongside the wall. I figured it wouldn't help me to try and climb it. The dirt would just come tumbling down. There was nothing I could grab hold on to hoist myself up. I went frantic trying to look for something that my hands could grip to haul myself up. After awhile I gave up out of pure exhaustion. I curled up into a ball and drifted off to sleep.

I woke up to the sound of barking. I glanced up to the glow of the moon and saw Pebbles, the family Dalmatian, at the edge of the hole, looking down at me. I figured Pebbles discovered me gone and decided to sniff me out. I wondered if my family noticed my disappearance. “Shh,” I quieted her down.

I realized how hungry I was. I didn’t eat dinner because I had to gather wood, and you know the rest. “Go Pebbles. You have to lead mom, dad, and Susie towards me. Go, girl!” Pebbles took off running with her long pink tongue hanging at the side of her mouth. I hoped she knew what I said. I reckoned the only words she knew was her name and go. I dug deep down my dirty jean pockets and pulled out a melted Hershey’s chocolate bar. I took a bite, and another, and another, until the whole candy bar was resting safely in my stomach. My hunger was eased a bit.

The wind picked up. I heard the intense roaring of it. A face peered down at me. “Susie!” I exclaimed. I saw two bright lights flashing in my face and looked away. “Lay off the lights, please.”

“Oh, sorry Hun,” my mom said and she and my dad flicked the flashlights off. I saw a long brown rope drop down into the hole and I grabbed hold of it. In an instant, I was yanked up and out of the hole. When my feet were planted solidly on the ground I rushed to hug my parents, Susie, and Pebbles.

“Now, which way leads us back to the tent?” asked my mom. We all shrugged then laughed and walked off into the darkness of the night, Pebbles leading the way silently.

Family. It meant the only people you could depend on. The only people who would truly love you for you. The people who would support you no matter what you did. That's what it meant, but only in my dreams.

I walked down the crooked street to the house that I had no choice but to call my home. I walked into the raggedy brown door. As always, there was no loving mother to greet me. There was no snack on the counter to soothe my hungry belly. No father to tell  me everything I was doing wrong. No annoying little brother. I was abandoned, lonely.

I guess this was the effect of running away. I was only on the next block from my family, but they didn't know this. I was in the abandoned shack on the corner. Two days ago, when I ran away, I thought that I would see police everywhere looking for me. What I saw was the complete opposite. Nothing but strangers going about their business. No cops. No parents. No family.

I was fed up with staying in this crap of a house. I decided to check and see how my family was doing without me. I casually strolled out and walked in the direction towards my old life. The life I had before I decided to run away. As I got closer and closer I turned around and sighed. What would happen if I just showed back up in their lives after I snuck out my window without letting anybody know?

Three minutes later I found myself at the porch of my ex-best-friend's house. I knocked shyly.

"Hi," she answered quietly.

"Hi," I replied.

"Your family is devastated."

"Oh."

"So was I."

I was speechless so I just hugged her and apologized for all the wrongs that I did. She hugged me back.

"Want me to go with you?" she asked.

"Yes," I replied.

We walked together to my house. She knocked on the door and my father answered. His face had a gnarly beard on it and it his hair was unkempt. I could tell that he had been crying, but probably in private without anyone seeing. The moment he saw me his face lit up with joy that I had never seen before and he called the rest of my family. I knew that everything would be OK from this point on.