Short Story Writing –Billy the Runt

May 9, 2010 | Posted by How to Write a Novel

Author: JOHN HALASZ – 1999

Billy was a runt who was always picked last in gym class. His peers constantly ridiculed him for his lack of athleticism, and his unattractive appearance. He weighed no more than 100 pounds and was barely five feet tall. This was considerably smaller than his senior high classmates, who averaged about 175 pounds and nearly six feet tall. Billy had grotesque acne that covered the majority of his pale face. His hair was curly and as black as the midnight sky. He wore coke bottle glasses and without them he was legally blind. Billy spent countless hours crying for a way to better his ungodly appearance and poor coordination. He prayed every night for an answer and thought several times of killing himself.

On one chilly autumn day as the gloomy sky threw gigantic water droplets onto the ground, Billy did the inevitable. Unable to deal with people’s callous behavior, he decided that suicide was in fact the only way. The wind blew and the trees bent like an old man struggling to touch his toes. Billy stood in his yard for hours with his father’s shiny pistol pressed firmly into the back of his throat. Drenched from the furious rain, he struck himself with a single bullet. It passed through his mouth and exited the back of his head causing him to lay in a puddle of his blood. He gasped for air, and was soon in an unconscious state, dreaming of being transformed into an invincible super human.

He was now 100 times stronger than any man and had grown to be 12 feet tall. He shattered his thick glasses in his hand, fully aware of his eagle-like vision. His tanned skin was smooth as silk. He cried, but this time in tears of joy as he sprinted past a speeding school bus. He shouted obscenities to his frantic classmates aboard the bus as they watched out the windows in astonishment. Billy flipped the bus over with one hand as if it were a toy. He heard their fear and proceeded to school, where he unleashed an evil sneer that made the children’s skin crawl. He uncontrollably continued with his sneers, all the while ripping bricks out of the school’s walls with his enormous hands. He then hurled these football-sized bricks at anyone in his sight. Just then he slipped away into another world.

Categories: Short Story | Tags: Short Story | 1 Comment »

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