A Reason To Be

by Gabriel Kyle Grimes

The old alarm clock sat alone on the bed side table busily ticking along, oblivious of the room it was in. His short hand was pointing half way between the six and the seven and his long hand was pointing straight down. There was no other noise in the room except for the lonely ticking of the old clock.

The walls were decorated in a wide array of posters and pictures of family and friends. A mirror hung over the dresser could barely be seen from behind the scattered pictures of school friends, the family dog, the homecoming queen, and memories pasted, glued and stuck on there with bubble gum. Two trophies, and a ribbon adorned the top of the dresser, along with a pair of keys to a car that had taken two summers to buy. The clock kept ticking...

In the corner stood an old beaten poster stapled to a yard stick that read Jack for President of student council. Beside the poster sat a football signed by a hero. Standing beside the football a desk held three letters from colleges of prestige. All three, laid open on the desk, promised a world of roses.

The clock kept ticking

A fourth letter lay on the floor. Its envelope smelling of flower petals lay beneath it. The short note, written by a delicate hand, told of love ..and a lack of it. It spoke of hope and friendship and of distance.

The clock kept ticking...

A young man lay silently in his bed as he had for the entire night, as he had since he had read the fourth letter. He was dressed in his letterman jacket and his eyes stared unfixed at the ceiling. His face showed no emotion but seemed frozen in a sad, forlorn way...empty, alone. A sheet of paper, with something scrawled on it, was held in his right hand. It read I have no reason to be...

The clock kept ticking...

Under the bed, beside an old stuffed bear missing one eye, lay a silver coated six shot revolver with five live rounds. His life lay on the floor in a large pool reflecting the room which reflected him...

And the clock kept ticking...

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Last Updated: January 19, 1997