A Story in an Hour or Less (week 4 journal)

Part one:

A: There’s something I should probably tell you.
B: What is it?
A: I’m gay.
B: What?
A: I’m not straight. I don’t like men.
B: Why didn’t you tell me?
A: I just did.
B: Well, okay. Maybe you just haven’t found the right guy.
A: No, I don’t like guys.
B: But a pretty girl like you? You can’t do this to me. You’re one of the only pretty girls who’s talked to me and was actually nice.
A: Well, I’m sorry, I can’t help it. You’re nice, too, but I’m not attracted to men.
B: I don’t get it. So we can’t date?
A: No.
B: Would you still want to be friends?
A: I barely even know you.
B: But you’ve been so nice to me and I just got attached to you. Please?
A: I don’t know.
B: You can’t do this to me! I love you. I need you.
A: Um…
B: Fine, go be with a girl then. I fell in love with you. I can’t lose you.
A: You barely know me.
B: I’m sorry. I guess I’ve just been so lonely that you were nice to me and I got attached.
A: Uh, yeah.
B: Actually, no. You’re just being a bitch to me. I really wanted you. You were so nice and pretty. I’ve never seen anyone like you before.
A: Are you okay?
B: No, I’m crazy, okay? I’m crazy in love with you.
A: Uh-huh. I should probably get going.
B: Wait!
A: What?
B: Will you still be friends with me?
A: Uh, I don’t know, man. I’ll think about it.
B: Okay, I just need someone. I’m so lonely.
A: Yeah, maybe you shouldn’t act so…you know.
B: What? I’m sorry I can’t help that I love you and I need you. Baby, please.
A: You’re literally insane.
B: Wait, please don’t leave me!
A: Sorry, Wes. I’m blocking you. Don’t ever text me or call me again.
B: Katie, wait…or don’t. Fine, have it be that way. You should be scared of me.

Part two:

Katie and Wes sat face-to-face at a picnic table on the edge between the park and the forest. They were covered from the bright sun under a canopy of trees. The dark forest loomed behind Wes; the contents of it hidden in the shadows. Wes recalled a story about a kid from the playground wandering into the forest, and never coming back out. No one ever dared go in there. Behind Katie was a playground filled with little kids who frequently shrieked, or laughed, or cried. Every once in a while, one would start screaming for their mom or dad to come over and help them up the ladder, or because they scraped themselves on the sand when they went down the slide. Despite the occasional injury, they were still having fun. The smell of a grill, and the chirping of birds came from that general direction as well. A cold gust of wind blew Katie's hair all around her face. There was no sun under the canopy of trees to warm them up. Wes's hands rested on a checkerboard that was painted onto the wooden picnic table. He stared at someone's old Pepsi can that had been left out. Something made him feel irritated about it, but he didn't say anything.

Part three:

Wes has light brown hair that’s really short from a recent buzz cut. He’s really tall and a little overweight, which makes him appear intimidating, and keeps people away from him, but he swears that he’s actually a nice guy. He's about eighteen years old, but looks as if he's in his mid-30s. He wears sunglasses that are so dark that his eyes can’t be seen through them. He wears a regular gray t-shirt, blue jeans, and Nike shoes.


His relationship with his family, particularly his sister, as well as some of his extended family. He has a mixed relationship with his parents, but he still cares about them. His sister has been with him for his entire life, she practically raised him. She’s about two years older than him, so they’d always been together in school. He feels like his parents don’t care about him as much as she did, although his parents are with him as often as they can be.


He’s in his senior year of high school, but also has a job at Kowalski’s that he works for most of the day. He really enjoys playing sports, such as basketball and football. Besides those things, he really doesn’t have much else to do.


He’s afraid of being alone. He was never taught how to properly deal with people, since his family has always treated him like a little kid. He isn’t scared of people, just the idea of being alone, and having to be by himself, and doesn’t know how to deal with it.


He wants a relationship, or, at least that’s what he says he wants. His intentions are not a true relationship, but rather just anyone he can get. He wants a girl to accept him and to not get rejected, no matter how many people that takes and how crazy he has to act.

Part four:

Scene 1:
“It looks so good on you!” Wes’s sister, Daniela, exclaimed.

Wes checked himself out in his phone camera; his regular face stared back at him with his summer buzz cut, and dark sunglasses, but now he also had a flower crown that his sister made for him. It made him feel a sense of vulnerability, which may have been the feminine nature of it. He didn’t particularly want to look that way, but didn’t girls these days like that? He left the crown on his head and smiled at Daniela. She was the only one who ever made him feel good about himself.

Daniela had been with Wes for as long as he could remember. She was the only person who had always been by his side. Everyone else—all his friends, his ex girlfriends—had left him at some point. His sister was the only one who he knew would never leave him.

“Hey, Daniela!” Someone called. It was one of her friends who Wes recognized, but couldn’t recall her name.

“Katie!” She called. “I’m glad you could make it. I was just hanging out with my brother.”

Katie smiled at Wes, and he smiled back. She was one of the prettiest girls he had ever seen. She had medium-brown hair with blonde highlights that had been cut shoulder-length. She looked as if she belonged in the flower field, or maybe as one of the flowers on Wes’s crown that Daniela had given to him. “I like the flowers,” she laughed.

“Oh, thanks,” Wes felt himself blushing.

Katie was holding a picnic basket, and pulled out a blanket for her and Daniela to sit on. She started pulling out different foods, like strawberries, chips, and even some cookies.

“I didn’t know we were having a whole feast,” Daniela said, “there’s only two of us.”

“Yeah, I just had a lot of extra food at my house.”

Only two? Did they not intend for Wes to be included? He sat down next to his sister, but she seemed eager to push him away. He didn’t understand what they were talking about, anyway; classes and professors that he didn’t know anything about. Wes was only a senior in high school, and he assumed Katie was probably around the same age as his sister, who had just recently turned twenty. He wanted to make a good impression on her, but he also didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of his sister. He didn’t want her to be mad at him.

So, Wes walked out into the field by himself. It was a huge garden, with flowers of all different colors of the rainbow. Daniela and Katie had set up their picnic in the middle of a grassy field, underneath the nice, cool shade of a tree, while Wes was standing out in the hot sun. He was annoyed with Daniela, but the sweet smell of flowers made him nearly forget his frustrations.

It seemed as if Daniela had been getting more and more distant from him lately, especially after she’d started college. He didn’t want to lose her, too. He didn’t want to be all alone. He had some friends, of course, but he knew that they’d leave him eventually, just as everyone else had. He really wanted a girlfriend. Yes, that’s what he wanted. If he got a girl then he wouldn’t be alone. The last time he had dated a girl was in middle school. He dated this girl who would probably be considered too good for him now because she was popular, while he was the kid who ended up getting bullied. He was fat. He had lost a lot of weight now, but he still was a little overweight. Though, it gave him an advantage when he thought about getting revenge on the kids who had bullied him. They’d be scared of him now. He weighed a lot more than them and towered over them since his growth spurt.

He walked around for a while, trying to think of a way to get Katie, and then he realized: she was his sister’s friend! He could just get her number from Daniela’s phone. He’d figured out the password to it a long time ago, but had never told her.

Wes was smiling at the idea of his plan, when he heard a bee buzzing around his head, he tried to wave it away, but it landed on his flower crown. He threw the crown to the ground and smashed the bee with his shoe, along with all the flowers.


Scene 2:
After some convincing, Katie had agreed to meet Wes at the park that was a few blocks away from his house. Wes felt so happy, because barely any girl he’d talked to had actually agreed to meet him. Sometimes they’d never show up, and sometimes they’d even block him. In case anything went wrong, Wes had brought a backpack with certain items as backup. He didn’t think it would, though. Katie had been so nice to him when they were texting, she probably wanted a relationship with him as much as he wanted one with her.

Wes was waiting at the picnic table, located on the edge between the woods and a playground full of children. Wes stared out at the playground in front of him, where the little kids would frequently shriek, or laugh, or cry. Every once in a while, one would start screaming for their mom or dad to come over and help them up the ladder, or because they scraped themselves on the sand when they went down the slide. Despite the occasional injury, they were still having fun. Their screaming angered him for some reason, and made him want to stomp on them just like he did to the bee, and just like he would do to those kids who bullied him. He turned around so that he faced the forest. He recalled a story about a kid from the playground wandering into the forest, and never coming back out. No one ever dared go in there. But he found some strange sense of comfort in the gloomy shadows, as if that was where he belonged, and not here. Wes turned to look at an old Pepsi can that had been left on his seat, and he threw it to the ground, watching as the remaining contents of it spilled into the grass.

“Hey,” a girl’s voice came from behind him. He spun around to see Katie, and suddenly felt nervous. He hadn’t been alone with a girl who wasn’t his sister in a long time.

“Hi,” he managed to get out.

“So why did you want to meet me here?” She sat down in front of him at the picnic table so they were face-to-face. They were under a canopy of trees that hid them from the bright sun, but was also a little too cold for Wes’s liking.

“I…well, I just wanted to ask you something.”

“What?”

Wes could hear birds tweeting and singing happily, if he tuned out the sounds of the children, and could smell someone cooking on a grill coming from behind her. “Would you maybe want to date?” He forced the words out of his mouth, and immediately regretted them

Katie smiled at him as if she were looking at a little kid and not an eighteen-year-old. “There’s something I should probably tell you.”

“What is it?”

“I’m gay.”

“What?”

“I’m not straight. I don’t like men.”

Wes felt a renewed wave of anger, as if Katie was now the old Pepsi can lying on the ground. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I just did.”

“Well, okay. Maybe you just haven’t found the right guy.”

“No, I don’t like guys.”

Wes tried to calm himself, but he only felt desperation. “But a pretty girl like you? You can’t do this to me. You’re one of the only pretty girls who’s talked to me and was actually nice.”

“Well, I’m sorry, I can’t help it,” she shook her head. “You’re nice, too, but I’m not attracted to men.”

“I don’t get it. So we can’t date?” Wes understood, but a part of him couldn’t give Katie up.

“No.”

“Would you still want to be friends?”

A look of annoyance crossed her face. “I barely even know you.”

“But you’ve just been so nice to me and I got attached to you. Please?”

“I don’t know.”

“You can’t do this to me! I love you. I need you.”

Here eyes widened, as if in fear. That was good; Wes wanted her to be afraid. “Um…”

“Fine, go be with a girl then. I fell in love with you. I can’t lose you.”

“You barely know me.”

“I’m sorry,” he held his hands out to her, resting over the checkerboard that had been painted onto the wooden picnic table, “I guess I’ve just been so lonely that you were nice to me and I got attached.”

She pulled her entire body back from him, as a cold gust of wind blew her short hair all around her face. “Uh, yeah.”

“Actually, no,” he pulled his hands back. “You’re just being a bitch to me. I really wanted you. You were so nice and pretty. I’ve never seen anyone like you before.”

“Are you okay?”

“No, I’m crazy, okay? I’m crazy in love with you.”

“Uh-huh. I should probably get going.” Katie began getting up from the table.

“Wait!”

She froze. “What?”

“Will you still be friends with me?”

“Uh, I don’t know, man. I’ll think about it.”

“Okay, I just need someone. I’m so lonely.”

“Yeah, maybe you shouldn’t act so…you know.”

“What? I’m sorry I can’t help that I love you and I need you. Baby, please.”

She looked angry now. “You’re literally insane.”

“Wait, please don’t leave me!”

“Sorry, Wes. I’m blocking you. Don’t ever text me or call me again.” She stood up and began walking away.

“Katie, wait…” she was too far away to hear him by then, “or don’t. Fine, have it be that way. You should be scared of me.” Wes picked up his backpack and started after her.


Scene 3:
The sound of a gunshot could be heard throughout the neighborhood. The kids playing on the playground started screaming and running towards their parents; none of them were laughing anymore. Wes felt a strange sense of satisfaction in their fear.

The sound caught Katie’s attention, too. She was finally listening to him again.

“What is wrong with you?” She called.

“Everything,” he said. “Please just come back to me.”

“You’re crazy,” she shook her head. “You need help. Leave me alone or I’ll call your parents. I’ll call the police.”

Wes stared at the handgun in his hand, as if he didn’t recognize it. For a second, he couldn’t even remember how he got it in the first place. “Please don’t.”

“I will,” she turned around and started running towards the dark forest.

Wes clenched the gun, his finger on the trigger, and now remembering why he had it. “I don’t care if you call the police. What are they gonna do to me? I already know I’m insane.”

He followed her into the woods. He didn’t feel any fear of it anymore. Inside, there was almost no light, and it looked as if it was in the middle of the night; he could barely see a few feet in front of his face. It was eerily silent, too, with no bugs buzzing, and no birds chirping. He felt himself missing the bee that he had smashed to death. Him and Katie were crazy to be in here. All he wanted was to be back at home with his sister and his parents.

No, he didn’t, he had to find her. “Katie!” He called.

There was no answer, but he heard a twig snap, and continued on in that general direction. “Katie, come out!” She had to be around there somewhere.

Wes dropped the gun to the ground in fear. “Katie, please,” he sobbed. “I want this to be over. I’m so sorry.”

He heard footsteps, and thought she was coming over to forgive him, but instead felt something spray him in the face that immediately started stinging. He grabbed at his eyes and bit back a scream. He wouldn’t forgive her for that.

Ignoring the burning pain, he grabbed the handgun and stood back up. He could hear leaves rustling and someone’s feet hitting the soft ground. Even though he could barely see through the darkness and pain, he aimed his gun in that direction and shot.

He fell to the ground, sobbing in terror. That’s not me, he thought to himself, that wasn’t me.