A short story by Rocco Tabacchino

Why is life so draining and boring? This is the question Oliver Woods would ask himself almost every morning after sitting up out of bed. He would open his eyes with this question lingering in his head. He thought he would never answer the all knowing head-lingering question.

He thought… 

~

As I woke up on another dreadful Tuesday, I rolled my eyes in anger and frustration as I do every morning because it’s the start of another horrible day. 

I got up out of bed. 

I went into the bathroom.

I brushed my teeth. 

I turned on my speaker and started playing music. 

I moved my body around to the music a little bit. Music is the only thing left in this world that brings me joy. I don’t know why but it’s always been that way.

After cleaning myself up, I brushed my teeth for school. I grabbed my backpack and headed downstairs to see my mom standing at the stove making breakfast and humming a joyful tune. My mom was always happy and jolly for some reason. 

I hated it. 

I wondered if it’s because life gets better with age but then shortly found out things only get worse after 20. You’re alone and out in the big world on your own. I personally see absolutely nothing to be happy about. Anyways, I’m getting off topic.

She turned around with her big apron on and headed right towards me to give me her famous good morning kiss. Mom gave me a gentle kiss on the forehead followed by a graceful, “Good morning sweetie.”

“Good morning mom,” I said in a glum tone. Every morning she would ask me the same question after I said good morning it was always, ’”What’s wrong honey?” I always answered back with “nothing mom” cause it was the truth nothing was wrong I just found life boring. Nothing to report other than that.

I sat down at the kitchen table taking in the smell of my mom’s pancakes. She brought them over to me and I grabbed the top two off the stack and ran out the door. My mom would always say sit and enjoy breakfast, but I never really enjoyed anything so it just wasn’t worth my time. 

I hopped on the bus eating my pancakes sparingly.

I took my seat right next to the loudest kid on the bus and the grossest kid on the bus like I do every morning. By definition, they definitely lived up to their names. The loud kid never shut up and the gross one would bite his nails and pick his nose right up until we got to the school.

When we arrived I walked off the bus and into my horrible boring school filled with a bunch of kids there to learn but not one of those kids actually cared, including me. Again, how can life be fun when life starts with almost 20 years of this? I laughed slightly in my head because the concept of it all was funny at the moment.

~

I started my day with math then art, and before I knew it, it was halfway through the day and I was walking into history class. I really did not mind history out of all my classes.

I took my seat and the bell rang. My history teacher Mr. Heights closed the door. He started teaching. He said, “Hello class today we will be learning about the 70s, a magical time in our history and a turning point for decades to come.”

I immediately opened my very sleepy eyes and started to listen as though it were actually interesting to me. 

He started talking about all the things that happened historically. He mentioned it was a floodgate opening for rights for people. It rolled into an era of women’s rights, gay rights, and many enviromental changes and movements and an ongoing war that went on just for people’s attention. That’s just the history part.

Next he showed us some music from this time period which I knew from my parents, but I never actually appreciated or enjoyed soulfully because of the fact my parents were listening to it. I giggled in my head after thinking that.

The first song he played was “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees. Then he played music by a band called Fleetwood Mac and even a singer named Elton John. I couldn’t believe I was actually truly enjoying this music. I felt the beat of it in my body. 

People in the 70s would listen to records or roller skate with friends or even hang out in arcades. My whole face lit up because this is the most I’d ever been interested in school, let alone history. 

The bell rang and I actually got mad because I wanted to learn more. I finished the day off with nothing but the thought of researching more seventies stuff when I get home. 

Once I get home I ran right to my room, shut the door, and turned on my speaker.

Going onto spotify to find a seventies playlist, I found  one and put it on. A song called “More Than a Woman” started playing. I began dancing, feeling the beat in my feet and whole body, feeling a sense of happiness as the grooves took hold of my body.

I continued dancing and felt like I waa almost flying. As the song ended, I opened my eyes and found myself in an unknown dark alleyway. “Where am I,’’ I thought, confused.

I catch a glimpse of light and music at the end of the alleyway. I walked to the end of the alley and peeked at the corner, and my eyes lightened up with the sparkle of dancing lights, millions of people, and music blasting throughout the whole world.

I spotted a huge sign that said “Welcome to Las Vegas” My jaw dropped in confusion and excitement, even though I had no idea how I got here.

TO BE CONTINUED…