The clock ticked, tacked and tocked. I was waiting in Gadget's office, waiting for my life at this school to end. A blow of fresh air squeezed through the glass window, and sank into my lungs. I wanted to jump out the window into freedom, but the world around me had locked me in. After waiting thirty minutes in the office, I realized that not only was Gadget my homeroom teacher and Computer teacher, he was the Assistant Principal at Penguin Academy. Sometimes it takes a good punch in the face to realize your surroundings, other times it takes a punishment worse than death.
The door squeaked itself open, and Gadget walked into the room. He was grinning with displeasure, an expression that mocked my appearance. He took a seat, and looked deep into my eyes. Under his thick glasses were green, emotion balls of sadness, and he didn't need to tell me that. The past few years I have found myself having the ability to take a message from a person without signals or speech. I can look into their eyes, and understand their true emotions. It's like cheating on a math test, except the test is the next word to come out of his mouth. That look he gave told me everything I wanted, and everything I needed to know. I was in trouble, much bigger trouble than simply a week of detention.
Gadget slipped me a yellow notice, with large red print. I took a close look at it, as if it was the last message I'll ever read in my life. According to the paper, I was suspended from Penguin Academy for a week, until I learn "how to respect myself, the people around me and my fists". He nodded as if he knew what I just read, and smiled a smile of simplify. He expected more from a student like me, and thought of me as a leader of the class. I had let him down, my classmates down and even Outtacntrll down for doing the same mistakes as he did. We shook hands, and I walked out of the small room.
I took a long slow walk down the hallway I once loved. I took a look at my surroundings, and gently touched the row of lockers with my fin. This school was my life, and the school needed life to survive. Without me, Qunknown might end up with the wrong kids, Penny Mickey may be once again humiliated and Polar Amigo may loose his records of food eating contests forever. My heart's pain wore out my thoughts, and I did not know who I was anymore. Yesterday I was a regular student who was friendly towards everyone, but today I was as low as Zxz192 or Freddyp9.
The flame of my soul had faded out forever, and I opened my rusty locker. Tears fell down my cheeks, and my fist curled up once again. I packed up my crispy books, and tried to smile while leaving the school. If this is what fate wants, fate can have it. I tried to think of the happy memories, or the good days I had outside of school. But my mind went blank, and so did my heart. I was in pain, a pain that can not be cured or helped. Depression ran through my veins, and shame filled my inner thoughts. I was now the monster I feared most yesterday.
The walk home was more dreadful than ever. Kids on buses questioned me why I got out of school so late, and my neighbors looked with shock. I pushed my head down, and moved through the streets listening to music. I took a look behind me, and felt a tear wash from my eyes one last time. It was my own fault, and I can never blame any other penguin for my mistakes. A punch is a punch, and I can't take that back. So for the next 7 days I expected to be filled with the torture I gave Qunknown.
When I came to a stop, I took a long at the home I once wanted to spend every moment of my life in. My home was orange painted, and larger than most homes with a rich feel to it. As I slowly walked up the pathway, I tried to think of words to say. My breathe heavily fell from my lungs out into the air, and I was too scared to even talk. I had to face up to my mom and tell her the truth before things get worse. I couldn't lie about happened, because eventually the phone will scream rapidly waiting for her response. As I pushed the door open, a zap of fear struck my mind and shattered my already damaged soul.
I took a walk in, and closed the door behind me. The house was filled with the noise of air, and I was surprised by it's emptiness. I walked into the kitchen and noticed a bright yellow sticky note with messy writing on it. With a sigh of relief I grabbed the note and read it to myself in my mind. The exact words written on it were: "Going to pick up Gap and Molly. Be back soon :-)" Those ten words had made me feel like a happy two year old again, without a thought to worry about. But an idea was dramatically building up inside of my mind, feeding off of my other thoughts and slowly taking over the power of my soul.
I felt my body take over my mind once again. I ran upstairs to my room and filled my luggage bags up with clothing, favorite items and a pillow. I dumped my homework onto my bed, and completely ignored it's presence. My feet pushed my upper body down the stairs of my house and into the fridge. I pulled out apples, sandwiches, mustard bottles, potato chips, gummy bears, muffins and even a few mini donuts for my stomach's pleasure. I slammed the fridge tight, and held my stuffed bags high.
Tears rolled down my soft cheeks into the hard floor of my beloved house. My head burned in regret as I walked out of my house and into the streets of Ice Palace. My mouth wanted to scream and swear so many times at my life's fate, but I knew I had to hold it in. I took one last turn towards my house and looked at it in a different way than ever. I could barely feel my heart pumping anymore, and my feet seemed to be my masters. My nightmare began my reality.
I walked for hours. I walked for miles. I walked forever. It seemed as if an emotional force was pushing me forward into a new world I had never imagined. Neighborhood kids had told me the fastest way out of Ice Palace's depth was along the train tracks, and I took their advice wisely. I walked on the train tracks, turning around every hour to see if anything or anyone was following me. It was like the opposite of a yellow brick road, and was filled with juicy evil. As I walked I lost track of days and nights, everything just seemed to blend together. I rested occasionally on the side of the road, and never kept both eyes shut while dreaming about a new life.
Not only did the setting of my surroundings change as I traveled, but the weather as well. The burning of the sun drastically increased as my flippers moved forward, and grass turned to sand. I noticed few living animals around me, and did not see a supply of water in miles. Trees were dead, the sun was flaming and every grain of sand stood still. It was as if God had burnt everything to make my life more miserable. I felt my skin terribly burning as I moved along, and for a few seconds I almost wanted to lay in the sand waiting for death.
I came to a stop at a straw, abandoned small house. It was like one of those houses you see in
one of those freakishly old movies were a killer attacks it's victim once he or she enters the dusty floor of the house. Outside of the house was a small group of poor looking kids drinking and roasting marshmallows in front of a steaming fire. I took a few steps closer to them, and waited for someone to notice me. Each of them seemed like a gang member from Darkpuma's Ghetto, or the type of kid you don't want to pass in an ally way. One of them finally turned around to me, and my mouth dropped at his appearance.
It was Mikey Spikey, the kid who was supposed to be in jail for life. He looked at me in a disgusting way, and turned his head pretending he didn't see me. He must have gotten away from the cops, which did not surprise me one bit. The thing that did surprise me was that his deep blue eyes showed the world he remember me from the scene. I did not really know how to react to his presence, but I decided to remain quite until someone acknowledged my orange self. A penguin wearing a blue cap, dark green sunglasses and a raggy old jacket stood up, looking into my eyes. Under his glasses were eyes of guilt and fear, something that I also noticed in Spikey's vision.
He walked over to me and stopped right in front of my face. One would assume he was trying to scare me away by looking directly at me, but I would never be afraid of someone like him. Unlike the others, he seemed to be much paler and not as built up. I could easily knock the guy out with a small punch, but I wasn't going to make the mistake I did back at Penguin Academy. Instead, I took one step closer to him causing him to jump back, showing him I wasn't afraid to fight. He respected my decision, and invited me over to sit with the crew.
"Well um... I'm Tooblers, eh. Let me ah... Introduce myself I guess... My parents are freakishly rich people, and ah... I decided to run away... Well because... They never let me outside of my house... I was home schooled eh... Not much of a life I guess... So I was looking for some adventure, and I ran out here with these guys... And ya... I'm a here now." Tooblers spoke in a thick, Canadian accent that even I struggled to understand.
The next person to stand was yet another Canadian penguin, and he wore his home town proudly. His name was Mryomama, a regular Canadian citizen who did not care for much attention at all. He wore a shirt decorated in Canada's flag colors, and had a pirate bandanna rapped tightly around his head. He gently smiled to me, and from his actions I could tell he had been drinking all day at this campfire. Mryomama took a seat back on his log, and started to close his eyes in the peace of the Train track's glory.
Mikey Spikey was the only member of the group who did not introduce himself, instead he looked at me in a mocking way. He was in a terrible condition, and it was obvious he was under bad drug abuse. He was wearing a white tang tong, and a newly printed skull tattoo was on his giant arm. Mikey's face seemed beat up, and he had a black eye that looked too movie like to be real. A groan came from his mouth, and he lit a cigarette while judging my body. Spikey knew who I was, but strangely kept that fact to himself while sitting around the flames of destiny.
"We call ourselves the Train Track Travelers, and we ain't afraid of no emo kid like yourself. I will f*ck you up if you even try to pull some kind of sick prank on me or any of these guys, understand? Ya well I was the guy who beat up a cop and escaped from getting arrested. I bet you heard of me, no wait... I know you heard of me. I guess you should know I'm wanted for shooting some ghetto retard, stealing from almost every store on the Southie side of Ice Palace and for beating up a cop. But don't go telling the whole neighborhood kid." Mikey Spikey barked in a rough voice, and his terrible use of language made me wish the police were here now.
He took a good, deep look at me and slurped down one last smoke of his cigarette. Without a word or hand signal, he rolled off the log and fell asleep on the cold sand. Tooblers sprung a can of "Blue-light" bear open, and gulped down on the poor can as if it was his last drink. I watched as the terribly influenced kids made their tomb by drinking, getting high off of drugs and hiding from the cops at an abandoned house. Each of them had their own story, their own problems and their own dreams, which were all crushed by choosing the wrong road in life. I almost wanted to run back home, but I knew it was too late for that. This was the road I wanted, and I was going to survive no matter what happens.
The worst part of meeting these kids was figuring out the truth behind my life's story. I was, I am and I will be like this gang of trouble makers. All of us had our own problems, and the only way to handle them was running away from our lives. Destiny had brought us together, and we had created a group of outcasts a like. Sweat dripped down my cheeks as I watched Tooblers and Mryomama pass out onto the dirty ground. Both of them were incredibly high and drunk, one of the worst combinations in the world's Earth. I grabbed their huge bags of food, drugs and bear cans. I stood up, looked at the three of them and smirked for the first time in miles.
As I walked down the Trains trails, I dumped every liquid drop of bear I stole and tossed the cans onto the Earth's core. I threw the terrible drugs on the desert floor in anger, and made sure nothing was left of their precious belongings. The only thing I kept was their supply of food and water, something I needed for the long route ahead. It was as if the Earth told me I did not belong with them, and designed me to do exactly what it wished. I was happy for my first successful dodge of a bullet filled with bad influence, and I was ready for the next challenge. A challenge is in a journey, and every challenge is a journey itself.
I walked as slow as possible, waiting for one of the members to charge at me any moment. But the sun was still barely visible, and what seemed to be morning had not came about yet. For the next long walk I planned out going without a stop, and thinking of what's next to happen in my life. I occasionally kicked a grain of sand into the dusty air, and enjoyed every minute of my walk. It was like my dream had become reality, and reality had turned into only a nightmare. The world had finally agreed with my deal, and gave back to my soul.
I looked around at the surroundings God had created to further my existence. The beautiful land was now grinded up into sand and small pebbles of hell. Enormous piles of terrible trashes covered the surface of the route I traveled, and deadly liquids leaked into the atmosphere above. What once was a fresh source of abundant water supplies was now disgusting liquid created from the combination of humanity and nature. What have we done to this world... Has hell slimmed it's way to God's creation? These thoughts took over my mind and my courage as I tiredly walked down the Train Tracks.
Sweat leaked down my face. Water dissolved into the dust of the Earth's cycle. My mind focused on survival and only survival for those long days on the tracks. The only way I could possibly survival was if a miracle had blinded my eyes with happiness. But miracles come in different shapes and sizes, which played a puzzled game in my brain's inner thoughts. Sure enough, to the left of the tracks up ahead was a long road that supposedly lead to joy. I did not know what was at the end of that road, but it was my only chance of living yet another day under the sun of humanity.
As I walked down the new route, I felt my eyes demanding rest and my feet wanting death. Sweat was the only type of comfort I felt, and my body could no longer handle it. My knees were drenched in pain, and I felt my journey coming to an end. If I were to go on any longer, I would die a death of shame and exhaustion. I decided to let my body's needs take me to the end of my journey, and let my eyes burn the world into darkness. I felt a bang against my back, and soon the meaning of life itself became nothing. I had wished upon a star of hope, and now I had to let that star ride me to heaven.
I felt a nudge against my calm arms, and I felt my body moving without feet to rely on. I was being carried, by something or someone and I didn't want to wonder why. I was so relieved that something living found me, and I would be able to rest for the rest of my life. But this sadly wasn't entirely true, because my dreams have their own set of eyes. My mind enjoyed feeding me all of the positive information I could want about what was going on outside of my head, but kept the negative facts secret. For a few moments, it almost seemed as if I was being taken away from the Earth and into an after life, but I knew this could not be true. I was alive, someone or something gave me another chance at the game I like to call life.
"Dude... Frosteh! Hello? Anyone alive? F-R-O-S-T-Y-L-I-T-T-L-E! Wake up!" These words echoed through my mind's chambers, making sure every part of me heard this voice's words.
The darkness of my eyes finally started to vanish, and I could see a blurry color of red. Was this hell? No, it couldn't be. I felt my lungs eating giant gulps of fresh air, and my feet started to tingle in life. I was alive, and my body finally got the rest it deserved. I watched as the blurry red washed itself into a penguin of friendliness and joy. This penguin was wearing a black jacket and large goggles colored in red were wrapped around his eyes. His head was warmed by a knit hat, and a smirk of relief was placed on his face. Whoever this penguin was, he was a hero to me and a future friend I would forever fill with hope.
"Boo-ya! M.J. saves the day again, WOOT! Hiya Frosteh, do you have any idea who I might be? Come on take a guess, live a little!" The penguin spoke in high pitched excited voice and acted care free about the world around him.
I looked deep into the darkness that covered his vision, but I could not seem to find his eyes. He laughed as if I had just pulled a prank on him, and I tried to figure out were I had seen this figure before. He looked some what familiar, but I failed to think of any past events involving him. He looked as if he expected me not to answer, and glanced past my eyes into my inner thoughts. Some how he knew I was not supposed to be were I am at this moment of time, but he excepted me into his community of support. I may have not known who he was, but he had already developed a form of respect for my journey.
"Ha ha, I'm Matt James kid! I go to your school, and I'm in a few of your classes. Come on buddy, don't remember old M.J.? Well I'm not really surprised I guess. Someone like you shouldn't even be talking to someone like me, the odds just don't match up..." Matt James spoke in a Southern accent, but acted as if he was born in a city.
Someone like me? We had just spoken for the first time in penguin history, and he had already began to understand who I was. Unlike most people, he didn't want much back from the world we walk on, and tried to enjoy every moment of his life as much as possible. In a strange way he reminded me of Gapboy999, and it seemed as if he never grew out of his fantasy lifestyle. By looking into his eyes I knew this guy didn't believe in the horrors of reality. Instead he made dreams take over reality, and nightmares vanish into the darkness of cold, winter nights.
Matt grabbed my arm and helped me to my feet. He held his arms out into the endless sky, and took in a fresh gulp of God's creation. I took a look around me, and I soon realized I was no longer covered in sand. Grass was under my orange sneakers, and a natural love of nature started to grow in my heart. I turned my head, and enjoyed the spectacular view of a peaceful meadow. I was standing in the middle of a hilly meadow, covered in butterflies of joy. Behind Matt was a mansion filled with love and comfort, something that was never found in any part of Darkpuma's Ghetto.
"Welcome to my backyard! Ya I know, doesn't look so much like a backyard right? Well um... Lets just say daddy is a stuffed pig filled with cash, and mamma is rich in green! Anyways dude, your probably wondering how you got here... It's kinda a short but strange story. On my bus ride home from that big old prison my parents call educational, I saw something orange way out on the desert floor. I mean this entire town is surrounded by desert, and I've never seen anything out there before. So I leaped off my bus, and ran for miles looking for that orange dot. That orange dot turned out to be you, and I wanna thank you for making me loose three pounds! Ha ha, man this day has gotten really weird..." Matt finally took a long deep breathe after talking for five minutes without end, and smiled at the sun light.
A roar of laughter escaped from my lungs, and I felt a pain of happiness for the first time since the Summer months. Matt James was one of the realiest penguins I have meet my entire life, and he proudly showed his personality off. Most modern day people fear life itself, and hide under the clothe of someone they're not. I didn't expect this guy to bring so much joy into my hurting heart, and I proudly applaud him for this. He had saved my life from meeting death, and destiny had brought us together like a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwhich filled with love.
Matt James completely understood my situation, and alowd me to rest at his home until I was ready to face the real world. He gave me my very own room to personalize and enjoy while staying at his mansion. For the next three days , life seemed to be at it's tops for Matt and I. Matt had finally broke out of his boring rich lifestyle, and I had finally been able to enjoy the world. Sometimes it takes a while for a friendship to bloom, but my new friendship started from the very begginning.
When the neighborhood kids attended school, I would earn money for my future journey by working at a local food market in the center of the small town. Everything here was peaceful, and violence was thrown out into the desert sands. Matt's parents were almost always at work, but they did not seem to mind me living with their family. Sometimes I would take long walks while listening to the tweets of the morning birds, and sit in the powerful rays of the sun. But as I enjoyed life, I couldn't help but deeply miss my own family, and eventually my old lifestyle.
That night I took a look into the dark sky covered by the glass of a window. I packed up all of my bags, took a few bundles of food and opened the over priced window leading into the fresh open air. My hands tightly rolled my blanket into a long, thick rope, and I threw it out towards the bright moon. I smiled while looking at my once comfortable home, and launched my body out the window. The darkness of the night sky blended in with my soul, and hid my deep thoughts from the world around me. As my flippers touched the soft grass filled with green spirit, I waved in respect of my new friends.
A roar of fear blasted past the bright yellow stars and into the depth of my mind. The orange sticky note was pulled off it's place on the door, and the words drifted into the readers mind. "See you at school" was the sentence that started in the young mind of one, and transfered to another by the power of knowledge. Tears flowed off my eyes and dissolved into the desert winds. A smile had been placed on my soft face and was also pushed to anothers while looking at an orange dot fading into a sand storm.
I walked were the sand pushed me, and stopped when the winds died out. I found myself traveling down the same train tracks I walked a few days ago, and I took a stop at the small straw house. Outside of it was four tree logs cut for a penguin to sit on, and piles of empty bear cans from the night I rested with the "Trailer Track Travilors". None of the gang members were seen or heard, but I felt a large bump below my feet. I fell to my knees and digged out what seemed to be more bear cans, but boy was I wrong.
I was standing on the dead body on Mikey Spikey, a legend of Darkpuma's Ghetto. His large fists were as cold as the air around us, and his face was terribly scratched up. As I dug deeper looking for the Spikey, I found his favorite weapon of all time; Darkpuma's gun. It was held tightly in his left hand, secure from the world around us. I nervously squeezed the gun out of it's resting place, and tossed it deep into my clothing back. I took a few steps back into the desert storm, realizing what I had just done. I had starved Mikey Spikey to death, and probably killed his gang members too.
My eyes burned in pain, and I jogged away from the crime scene I had commited. The winds blew away my tears, and I felt myself more emotional than ever. Watching someone get shot in the back is bad, but actually killing someone is worse. Even though I did not directly send Mikey to the afterworld, I was the main reason for the event. I did this, and I had to find some way to fix it from ruining my life.
A penguin walked down a long, sandy road. A burning wind of dust splashed into the face of the V.I.P. as he struggled to move down the road. This penguin was wrapped tightly in a tan papyrus paper, an orange cap to cover the deadly rays of the sun and wore sunglasses darker than the death of Darkpuma. His face was unseen, and his emotions were hidden by the heavy clothing he wore. Around his neck was a scarf; a scarf covered in pins. Each pin was the exact same shape, and the exact same size, but the design differed greatly on each. One was a whited out "B" on a light orange surface. Another was simply a blue T tiled in an a thick stroke of white, next to a blue bird filled with joy. Each was a symbol; a symbol of an accomplishment some have dreamed and died for. This penguin wore his accomplishments proudly around his neck, and each of them required a gifted talent.
