The Path

It was an average normal school day. I hung out with the guys during lunch, got yelled at by Mrs. Williams in her art class since I did a bad job with a painting, during recourse at the end of the day I got all of my homework done and the bell rang at the same normal time. Most days are like this at my school since nothing really happens at all in this school let alone this town. Man, did it seem like a normal spring day until my two best friends, Phil and Jim walked home with me. We took the long way home through the woods that separates our houses and the school. Normally we just go through the main and bigger path and then just get on Mappleway drive and walk another fourth of a mile to our houses, but instead we took the creepier route. The route with all of the dead trees and all of the roots that were easy to trip on, very easy. Never did I regret the one time I tripped on that root, never.
“Hey Larry, you okay,” Phil said.
“Yeah I’m fine I just think I might get a bruise or something on my shin,” I said as I looked down at my shin, but as soon as I looked up at Phil I saw something out of the corner of my eye. We were right next to a tiny bridge that somebody made since there was a hill that was about six feet deep and once you got down there it was nearly impossible to get out of.
I looked over at what I saw. There was something moving under a thick, black blanket.
“Larry what are you looking at?” Jim said with a concerned look on his face.
“Somebody is under the bridge,” I said focusing more on what I was looking at than what I was talking about “At least something. It has a blanket over itself.”
“What? Larry, I’ve walked on this trail for years. And never have I seen anything unusual. The last time we took this trail was what, three weeks ago and did we see anything that time?” Phil said.
“No”
“Then why do you think there would be something now. Face it we live in the most boring and uneventful suburb in the state.”
“Man shut up Phil,” Jim said “Let me look Larry.”As he pushed me I pointed to the bridge. Not saying anything since I was so locked on to what I was looking at.
“I think that’s a guy,” Jim said as the thing rolled over on its back. We all studied it for a while. I didn’t even have to say run, Phil and Jim where already running scared out of their minds. That was the fastest that I ever seen them run before, but I still caught up and passed them. I ran past my house and stopped at the curve about a block down from my house but right next to their two houses. They weren’t too far behind me so they just followed where I went. At the curve you can see many green rolling hills that soon will be houses I just looked at them and then all of a sudden Phil said “I’m never going on that path again. How didn’t we see that before?”
“I don’t know that was one of the best hiding spots I’ve ever seen. If I didn’t fall I would of never of seen it,” I said breathing not too hard but man were Phil and Jim.
“Hey I got to do some homework,” Jim said “Do you think we can get together tonight when I’m done?”
“No I can’t my parents said I couldn’t do anything tonight but maybe tomorrow,” I lied.
“Why,” Jim said.
“I don’t know they just won’t let me they’ve been being jerks lately.”
“Okay see you later,” Jim mumbled as if he thought that I was attempting to avoid him.
If you didn’t know I’m a really good liar when I want to be, and today I wanted to be since I didn’t feel like hanging with the guys and boy did I want to go back to the trail to see what that thing was.
As soon as I went back to my house I called my mom just to tell her that I was okay since sometimes she gets really worried about me. She just said okay and nothing else so I could tell that she was having a bad day at work, so I just leaved her alone. I sat on a bench in our garage and put on my worn-out shoes. It’s a bad habit but a lot of times I just have to see something. It will bug me if I don’t so I just ran as fast I could to the bridge. Once I got in I was being very careful not to trip on any roots. I new that I was close to where he was I started to walk. It took me about ten steps to see it. Taking only a few steps forward I could easily tell that it was a man. A grown and skinny man. He had a long brown beard. Thank god I went to the bathroom at school otherwise I probably would have peed my pants once I saw him open his big brown eyes and look directly at me.
“Hey, how are you?” he asked me with his deep voice.
Shivering for how scared I was I said “Good and you.”
“I’m fine thanks for asking,” he said “Are you one of the boys that woke me up a few minutes ago.”
“I believe I am. Sorry for interrupting your sleep sir,” I said more calmly.
“Oh it’s fine. Actually thank you I was sleeping for a while,” he said very friendly. Right after he said that his stomach growled so loud I probably could of heard it if I was another 10 feet away from him.
“You’re welcome sir,” I said that as if I was talking to my dad for how calm I was “I’ll be right back.”
I knew I had to help him in someway, so I ran back to my house and made a Peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It felt good knowing that I could help a person in need somehow, and man did I run fast I knew he needed something to eat, he was thinner than me and I’m a thin thirteen year old. The first thing that I saw was his big brown eyes. It seems like whenever I look at him I could only look straight into his eyes and nothing else. I gave him the sandwich with a big smile on my face and he took it as quickly as possible. No joke he probably ate it inside of twenty seconds.
“Thank you very much. This is very kind of you boy.”
“My name is Larry sir and your welcome.”
“Okay then, so your name is Larry. I’m Mike Johnson and don’t call me a sir. I’m not a big fan of all of that talk.”
“Then what should I call?”
“Mr. Johnson is fine.”
“Okay then. By Mr. Johnson. I’ve got to go home.”
“Okay then,” he said very depressed sounding. It seemed like he hadn’t talked to anybody for a while so I figured that I would stop by tomorrow.

Chapter 2

I thought a lot about what I should say to Mr. Johnson. My parents never found out. Lately they have been disagreeing a lot, so they have been worrying about themselves more than their only child, me! Being the only kid is much harder than having several siblings since your parents only focus on you. There always concerned about what you’re doing or what you’re about to do. Trust me it sucks!
Today was a Friday and I was lucky for it since I was getting so sick of school this week. The last bell rang and I was really trying to avoid Jim and Phil because I wanted to talk to Mr. Johnson. Good thing for me I snuck out of school like a robber. I knew that they would leave without me since they’re just like that so I ran.
For me running comes natural since my dad was a collage division 1 800 meter runner, and my mom loved to do triathlons so I have strong and fast legs. Being the fastest person in the mile and the 800 not only in the middle school but in also the high school has so many advantages. Whenever I feel uncomfortable I can just run and I feel better. Also I love the way the air hits me when I run. If it isn’t hitting me I run faster and faster. But the best advantage is that you can out run everybody in everything, you always have an advantage.
As I was running the air hit me like as if I was a quarterback being sacked from his blind side. The sun was shining the main path really hard. It was so bright and colorful from all of the flowers, until I went on the creepy route. It was gray and deserted. All I needed to do was to walk a few more steps and I could see him. I don’t know why but I felt a little frightened. This path felt like somebody would die in here I just hoped that, that somebody wasn’t me.
Every step my legs would shake but I walked to the spot where I fell yesterday and I couldn’t see him. Looked left then right, still nothing. I went on all fours and I could finally see him. Mr. Johnson must have been hiding from the police with this good of a hiding spot!
I saw him move and this really started to freak me out.
“Mr. Johnson,” I whispered standing over the bridge.
“Is that Larry? He said under the bridge”
“Yeah and I forgot to ask you, why are you here under a bridge?”
“It’s a long story but let’s just say the economy didn’t do me any good, my wife and I weren’t supposed to be, and I don’t have anything!” he said yelling and about to cry “The only thing that I have is an ice shanty on the lake.”
“How do you have that?”
“I bought it a few years ago and never sold it,” he said very depressed “But I won’t have for too much longer the ice is going to melt and it’s on the lake right now and I don’t intend to get off of it.”
“Okay then. I’ll go make you some sandwiches.”
“Thank you,” he said very calmly.
I ran out of the path making sure that Phil and Jim wouldn’t see me. Now I’ve been calling Phil “Smalls” since he is really getting tall and his favorite movie is “The Sandlot.” There were some guys that were a grade older than us but they weren’t Smalls or Jim.
I ran to my house, made the sandwiches, and called my mom. She was in a better mood today which made me feel better just because she was making mevery irritated. Looking with only my right eye out of the window I watched Smalls and Jim walk by. Eventually they went into their houses so I made my move.
The wind in my hair felt good. Real good. I was carful of not tripping on any of the dead tree roots once I got into the path.
“Mr. Johnson,” I said confused since he wouldn’t say anything back.
“Mr. Johnson,” I yelled. Still no answer.
“Mr. Johnson!”
“Oh, hey Larry how are you,” he said as he woke up from a nap that he took. Man, he is unbelievable he can just go to sleep whenever he wants.
“Good, but I stopped by two minutes ago and you said the same thing. Do you have short time memory lost?” I said rudely.
“No, just not the best memory.”
“Oh, well, how are you,” I said not really caring just trying to carry on a conversation.
“Good,” he lied “ Just a little hungry.”
“I have some sandwiches for you. Do you want some?”
“Yes,” he said while I gave him the sandwiches “Thank you.”
“Mr. Johnson I have to do some homework so I better get going.”
“Okay there boy,” he said as I started off “Hey when you run, run with your armsin and harder.”
“Okay,” I said not really caring about what he said. However I tried running with my arms in and used them more and it worked. It made me even faster!

Chapter 3

I didn’t tell my parents about Mr. Johnson. Their relationship is going down the drain though. It really bugged me the way that they were fighting; I still don’t know what they’re even fighting about.
Me and Mr. Johnson have been getting real close now. For the past two months we’ve been talking to each other. He’s kind of been taking the place of my parents, almost like if I have three parents. Jim and Smalls still don’t know about him. Every day I do the same thing. I walk home with Jim and Smalls, go over and talk to Mr. Johnson after they get into their houses, call my mom, make the sandwiches, and talk to Mr. Johnson again. Every time I would leave he would say “Run with your arms in and faster,” every single time and it got annoying after a while.
Every single day that I went to talk to him he would talk about his ice shanty that he made a few years back. For a long time he said that he would live in it during the winter, but he found this place under the bridge and liked it better. He would say that he would always put it at the back of the lake since he thought it was warmer. If it weren’t for the ice shanty he said that he would of died since he would catch fish with a net that he made. I never knew that somebody could love something that much.
Spring was starting and that meant the ice on the local lake was soon going to melt. Since the ice was starting to melt Mr. Johnson said that he should probably get his ice shanty off the lake otherwise it would sink. Also because spring was starting that meant that track was starting. In track I run the 400, 800, and 1600 meter. All of which I have the best time in our conference except for the 400, and in the mile I can run it in 4 minutes and 59 seconds. I won state with that time.
Today I woke up and thought it was going to be just a normal Thursday. It seemed that way until I went to see Mr. Johnson. He looked okay as he slept, but then I woke him up. I could hear his stomach growling and he had a look on his face as if he had just gotten dumped by Kim Kardashian.
“Hey Larry. How you doing,” he mumbled. He said as if he didn’t want to hear what I would say.
“I’m good. How about you?”
“Actually not to well. Not well at all.”
“Why’s that?”
“I just don’t feel that I should live here.”
“What?” I said.
“Look at me!” he said breaking out into tears “What do you see?”
He didn’t give me any time to answer.
“I see nothing. I looked at myself in a glass reflection and I didn’t see anything. This isn’t me. I need to go back to my ice shanty and live there. I’m leaving this place.” I went back to my house as fast as I could blinded by tears that were in my eyes.
In the distance I heard him yell “run with your arms in and faster.” Whenever he would tell me that I would take his advice and it would help but I always seemed to forget.


Chapter 4

When school ended I ran away from Smalls and Phil just so I could see if Mr. Johnson was there or not. The thought of him in my head made me remember what he said to run with my arms in and faster. So I did and that made me run a lot faster. I always forget to run like that.
The only time I’ve been this curious was when I was little and I had no idea what my Santa got me. It was almost instant darkness once I went into the woods since the trees were making shadows. Once I got to the bridge I didn’t see him. I looked all around and still nothing. He was gone. I thought long and hard about where he could be and the only thing that came in mind would be him taking his ice shanty off the lake.
I ran to my house called my mom in a hurry and ran towards the lake. The run to the lake is a pretty long run. It took me about twenty minutes to get there but once I did I noticed the ice on the lake was melting. If Mr. Johnson was in the ice shanty he would sink through the ice and die unless he got out of it but I don’t see why he would do that since he loved the ice shanty so much it would be like he was just leaving it. Or he would just let it sink which I don’t see why he would do that. Either way it won’t be good.
There was one lonely ice shanty out on the lake and I could tell it was Mr. Johnson’s by the way that he described it. I assumed that Mr. Johnson was in it since it was melting and if he wasn’t he would have been watching it go down and I didn’t see him anywhere. It felt like my legs were stolen from under me as I fell to the ground crying my eyes out. He was gone, and I knew it and there wasn’t anything I could do about it. Nothing.

Chapter 5

Another month pasted by and there was still no sight of Mr. Johnson. I would look for him all the time and still wouldn’t see him. By now I knew for sure he was dead, no doubt in my mind. Not only that my parents fights have gotten worse and they might get a divorce. They both yell and yell and yell. It gets annoying.
The only good thing is that it’s the beginning of track. Our team has been doing really well this year. We’ve won all of the meets that we where in, and me I’ve been dominating in the mile and 800 but in the 400 I’ve been getting first, second and third. Smalls is in the shot put and discus and is normally pretty good at it, and Jim is in the high jump and the long jump. Jim is the best high jumper in the conference.
Today we have practice for our home meet tomorrow and our meet is against Lincoln Middle School and they’re our rivals. Lincoln doesn’t have any dominate players but all of them are really good and have won every meet this year so far just like us. It will be huge if we win tomorrow almost as big as if we won state.
In practice I ran three 800’s as well as everybody who runs the mile and 800. It was pretty easy and once I finished I had to stretch. Before I knew it practice was over.
I have to walk home after track practices because nobodies home. Smalls, Jim, and I walked home together and I didn’t even bother to look for Mr. Johnson since I knew that he was gone for good.

Chapter 6

School ended and nothing knew happened. Not going to lie, it was one of the most boring school days in a while. The only way that I passed the time with was to think about the meet after school and it helped a lot.
Once I got out to my locker Jim and Smalls found me instantly.
“Hey Larry you ready for the meet?” Smalls said already knowing the answer.
“Yeah and what about you two?”
“Yeah,” they said at the same time. We walked over to the locker room and got changed and went out to the track. Nobody said too much except for how bad they hated Lincoln. Eventually our team had to stretch and while we where Lincoln got dropped off. About a half an hour later the first events started up. So far we had a good start but Lincoln came right back and took the lead. I watched the hurdles and we won that so we took the lead. After the next two events I was up in the 400. I had to wait for the 100 and the 200 to finish. We got killed in both of them but it was my turn to turn it around.
I loosened myself up by jumping around and doing footwork drills. Then somebody said runners get on the starting line. The 400 isn’t my best event but I knew that I could do some kind of damage in this race.
“Runners take your mark! Get set!” and then a big shot rushed through my ears. At the start I was in first but soon some Lincoln guys caught up to me and I was in third. Once I turned the corner I knew that I had better endurance than the guys ahead of me so I took it up a notch and another and another and another and before I knew it I was in first with about twenty more feet to go but the Lincoln guys were right on my butt and I was losing my speed. I closed my eyes and just ran and once I opened them I turned around and saw everybody on my team cheering for me, I won!
My next event was the 800. There was a little time in between the two events so I got to rest. Soon the rest was over and the race begun. Against most schools I win in the 800 with no competition and that was the case here too. I won by about fifteen seconds.
The mile was next and in the mile it isn’t really me against the other guys it’s me racing myself always trying to break my best time. My best mile is 4 minutes and 59 seconds and I have never beaten that time before plus the day that I ran that was the day that I went off. That day I ran amazingly. Since most of the guys that run the 800 run the mile there’s a twenty minute resting period and in those twenty minutes I watched some field events. We won all of the events that I watched.
I had to go over to the start line for the mile. All I did was stretch since I was pretty much warmed up from the events that I just did.
“Runners take your mark! Get set!” then the same old gun shot went off. At the begging I was in first by a pretty long ways. All the time I get way ahead of everybody since I feel that once I start to go fast that I can continue it for a long time. Once I finished the first lap I was in first and I already knew that I was going to stay like this for the rest of the race and nobody else would catch up.
The second lap was the same thing. If I wanted to break my time I would really have to push it though. As I turned the corner I went past the bleachers and all of a sudden I heard somebody scream to me “Run with your arms in and faster!” I knew that voice it took about five seconds to get all of it through my head but I could tell it was Mr. Johnson!
I started to sprint so I could just finish the race and talk to him. This pace was fast I wasn’t for sure if I could keep this it up for the whole race. But some how I finished the third lap and before I knew it the race was over and I knew I ran fast. Really fast.
Once I finished I immediately went over to Mr. Johnson. It was him but not the same him. He had some decent casual clothes on. He didn’t have his beard anymore and he actually looked like he took a shower.
“What happened to you?” I asked “I thought you were dead.”
“ Nope, but I was planning on drowning with my ice shanty but I didn’t.”
“Why didn’t you? You love that thing more than anything”
“I realized that if there is one great person in the world like you there has to be two and four and eight and so on.” He said wisely “You’re basically the reason why I’m still alive.” That made me feel great.
“But how did you get yourself all cleaned up?”
“I got a job at a bait shop, and there’s a room upstairs that they don’t use and the owner said that I could live there.”
“Wow!”

Chapter 7

My parents never found out about Mr. Johnson. I rarely see him but when I do I give him a hug and he always says thank you and run with your arms in and faster, still. If he didn’t show up to that track meet I would have never got the time that I did which was 4 minutes and 40 seconds. That time was my best time that I ever ran so far. Still my biggest fan and will always be is Mr. Johnson. He still comes to my meets but still I haven’t beet that time and don’t think I ever will until I grow. We won the meet against Lincoln and we eventually went on to win state, and me I won state in the mile and the 800. Mr. Johnson was there to watch me and that was everything for me.
This last spring was the wackiest and the most joyful spring that I have I ever had and will always be all because of Mr. Johnson.