Nowhere Near Normal
A Story of Make of it What You Will.
Nowhere Near Normal
By David FoxMoare
#
Jack, a black and white husky with spiked green hair, steps out of his house. He turns his head and sees an envelope sticking out of his mailbox. Jack takes a paw, reaches in and pulls it out. He scratches his head and finds there's no return address. There's the sound of whistling in the air. Jack turns his head to the right and sees a German shepherd in a mailman's outfit walking down the street.
"Excuse me! Excuse me!" Jack calls out.
The German shepherd turns his head. "Yes?"
"Did you drop this off for me?"
The German shepherd nods his head. "I did."
"Do you know what it is?"
The German shepherd shakes his head. "I haven't a clue. I just deliver the mail. It's not in my right to look at others' mail. Now if you'll excuse me, I have more to deliver and I have to get it done."
The German shepherd grabs the brim of his mailman's hat and tugs it. He turns around and resumes walking until he's out of sight. Jack slowly opens the envelope. He reaches inside and finds a small photograph of a husky with a similar coat. The other husky's hair is colored pink. Jack rubs his forehead with his free paw trying to figure out why he'd get a picture. He yawns, tears the picture in two, drops the pieces, gets on his motorcycle and heads off to school.
#
Gerald, a black and white husky with pink hair, walks through the woods with his two best friends. One is a red haired fox named Angela. The other is a puma named Ulrich that has grey hair. These three are on the hunt to find a treasure that's rumored to be way out in the middle of their forest. Reason no one goes near it though is because it's said to house many evil spirits that cause curses. Of course though, Gerald, Angela, and Ulrich don't believe in such nonsense. They care more about facts than fairytales.
"How much farther?" inquires Angela. "My feet are beginning to hurt."
"Don't worry, it shouldn't be too much farther if what that blind, old, husky told us is true," replies Gerald.
"How can you even trust the guy?" inquires Ulrich. "He's like, 105, and can barely remember his own name."
"First off, he's 84 years old. Second, he's got a sharper memory than you think. You have to have faith, Ulrich."
"Faith is for the weak and weary. If everyone relied on faith, the wheels of life wouldn't turn. We'd just sit around and do nothing. Well, perhaps lay in our own piss and shit."
"Ulrich, there you go again, taking a conversation and making it gross," replies Angela.
"Hey, I'm just stating that if we all..."
"Quiet. there it is," says Gerald.
The three see an old abandoned mine. Written on the wood above it, in black, is: Danger. Keep out. The three get closer to the mine. Gerald sees to his right a diamond. He goes into the mine and takes the diamond. One is all they want for now. No one will miss it, right?
#
The moon and stars have swapped places with the sun. Jack comes out of the movie theatre and goes over to his motorcycle. He gets on it and starts it up. His bike shuts down. Jack sees that the tank is empty. Letting out a groan, he turns away from his bike. He curses under his breath and looks back at it. Jack grabs his bike and walks dragging his bike down towards the gas station that's two blocks away from the theatre. When he arrives at the gas station, Jack begins to fill his motorcycle's tank.
"It's nights like these that it's great to have the weekend to yourself," says Jack. "Even if there are school projects to get done, but the cool thing about college is that there's no rush, or at least that's the feel."
There's a click sound. Jack shakes the nozzle for the gas to make any little drops fall out into his tank. He then takes out the nozzle and sets it back onto the station. He hears a male cry from behind him. Jack turns around to see two hooded wolves with metal pipes beating up the gas station owner, a middle aged coyote, in the middle of the street.
"This is what you get for not paying up!" screams one of wolves.
"How do you like our boss's birthday present, huh?" inquires the second wolf.
The second wolf raises his pipe and slams it down hard on the middle aged coyote's head, killing him in a flash. The first wolf grabs the second, getting ready to scream at him, but turns to see Jack staring at them. There's a pause. Jack leaves the site. The wolves footsteps follow his. Jack spots an alley. He hides behind a trash can. Jack watches the wolves' run past him and keep on going. Jack sighs. He snaps around to see a German shepherd in a trench coat. The German shepherd gives Jack a piece of paper with three words on it: Speak Equals Death.
#
Ulrich slams Gerald on the table and wraps his paws around Gerald's neck. Gerald gasps for air. Ulrich growls deeply.
"You son of a bitch! Why did you take us there?" screams Ulrich.
"You're killing me, Ulrich! Let go!" screams Gerald.
"I should kill you! Angela is dead! You killed her!"
"The police reported it as accidental. I truly doubt she'd do it on purpose. True she's been depressed as of late, but I know she wouldn't kill herself. I know it. Now get your paws off me!"
Ulrich squeezes tighter. "What makes you so sure that it isn't the curse? You saw how she was acting at home! Frozen solid the day you stole that diamond! She was a robot! A machine!"
Gerald grabs a book and slams it as hard as he can on top of Ulrich's head. Ulrich removes his paws to grab his head. Gerald kicks Ulrich back onto his butt. He then stands up and looks down at Ulrich. He coughs, attempting to get his air back and breathing to return to normal.
"Look, I know that this is shocking, but I don't think it's the curse," says Gerald. "You yourself don't believe in curses. You need facts. Right? Here's a fact. I saw the last couple times she'd accidentally taken more of her prescribed meds. Perhaps she went overboard and then..."
Ulrich stands up and snarls. "Stay away from me, you stinking evil soul. I hate you."
Ulrich turns around to leave, but his clothes get caught on the small gate to the fireplace in Gearld's home. Embers from the fire that's inside it pop out and set Ulrich's clothes on fire. Ulrich tries to get his clothes off quickly, but he can't. Gerald watches as Ulrich is set ablaze. Gerald looks down to his left at a package on his table that has Jack's address written on it.
#
Jack sits on his couch holding a package with no return address. He stares at it. Then shifts his focus to the paper he'd been given by the trench coat German shepherd. Speak Equals Death. What? What can't he talk about? The killing? But if he doesn't say anything, he'll be hunted and killed. Jack shudders at the thought of going through the same brutality as the gas station owner. He sighs, sets down the piece of paper with the three words on it, and opens the package. In it he finds two things. A diamond and another picture.
"Huh? Why am I with this other husky?" inquires Jack.
The picture shows Jack and Gerald sitting by a river together fishing. Jack stares at the picture and flips it over to find two words written in black on the back: Miss You.
"Miss You, what does that mean?" inquires Jack.
There's the sound of pounding at Jack's front door. He turns his head and watches the door get kicked down. Standing there are the two wolves that killed the gas station owner. They smile and draw handguns. Jack puts his hands up. They laugh at Jack.
"You think that you being defenseless is going to stop us from killing you?" inquires one of the wolves.
"Look, you guys seem reasonable, let's talk this out," replies Jack.
"We're in no mood to talk," says the second wolf. "Only clean up loose ends."
The wolves open fire and plug every shot into Jack's body. Jack falls to the ground and lands into his own pool of blood. The wolves turn and leave as fast as they can. Jack can feel death taking him. He sees the diamond from the package is an inch from him. He also sees he's still clutching the picture. He chuckles. He remembers now. He can recall Gerald clearly.