It’s not something you talk about it; it’s something that’s
just there. It lives inside you and you don’t really acknowledge that it’s
there. Because if you realize that it’s there, then it will want to be used.
More and more until you’ve used it all and then there’s nothing left of you.
You can’t tell anyone about it because if you do they’ll think you’re crazy.
But hey, maybe you are crazy. If only that were the truth, then you could go on
with the rest of your life in the safe knowledge that you are crazy instead of
the thing being real.
The Gift was given to me when I was born. I didn’t realize I had it until the day my grandmother died. My mother came up to me with tears in her eyes and hugged me, whispering in my ear that Great Grammy had passed away and that she was no longer with us. I was only seven at the time and the concept of death didn’t make sense to me. I didn’t understand what happened to people when they died, and what it meant to be gone forever. So I just stood there like a fool with my family crying around me, and I just stood there. No tears were coming from my eyes. I hated seeing everyone so sad, so I decided to change things. I went into my grandmother’s bedroom when no one was looking. I had overheard my uncle saying something along the lines of “At least she passed peacefully in her sleep” and I wondered if she was still there. Sure enough she was, the blanket pulled up to cover her. I walked up to the bed, my head barely making it over the mattress to see. I could see the outline of her hand beneath the sheet, so I reached out my hand to hold hers. That’s all I wanted to do, was to hold my great grammy’s hand like we used to do. Her hand was cold in mine and I all I thought of was everyone being sad, and how much I was going to miss Grammy. That’s when her hand began to warm in mine and my Grandmother took a deep breath and sat up in bed, the sheet falling off her once dead body. She looked around the room as if she had no clue where she was and then she turned to look down at me. My hand was still holding hers. “Jo-Jo-Joseph…what have you done?”
My grandmother is now 105 years old and she still looks like she’s 89. That’s because I’ve made her immortal. My family thought it was some kind of miracle, that God had brought her back. They thank God every day that she’s still the age she is and on this earth. But my grandma and I know the truth, and that’s why I had to disappear. My family thinks I’m missing, that I was kidnapped when I was twelve. But I had run away from it all, because The Gift is not something you tell people about. The Gift is a curse you never want to anyone to find out about.
The Gift was given to me when I was born. I didn’t realize I had it until the day my grandmother died. My mother came up to me with tears in her eyes and hugged me, whispering in my ear that Great Grammy had passed away and that she was no longer with us. I was only seven at the time and the concept of death didn’t make sense to me. I didn’t understand what happened to people when they died, and what it meant to be gone forever. So I just stood there like a fool with my family crying around me, and I just stood there. No tears were coming from my eyes. I hated seeing everyone so sad, so I decided to change things. I went into my grandmother’s bedroom when no one was looking. I had overheard my uncle saying something along the lines of “At least she passed peacefully in her sleep” and I wondered if she was still there. Sure enough she was, the blanket pulled up to cover her. I walked up to the bed, my head barely making it over the mattress to see. I could see the outline of her hand beneath the sheet, so I reached out my hand to hold hers. That’s all I wanted to do, was to hold my great grammy’s hand like we used to do. Her hand was cold in mine and I all I thought of was everyone being sad, and how much I was going to miss Grammy. That’s when her hand began to warm in mine and my Grandmother took a deep breath and sat up in bed, the sheet falling off her once dead body. She looked around the room as if she had no clue where she was and then she turned to look down at me. My hand was still holding hers. “Jo-Jo-Joseph…what have you done?”
My grandmother is now 105 years old and she still looks like she’s 89. That’s because I’ve made her immortal. My family thought it was some kind of miracle, that God had brought her back. They thank God every day that she’s still the age she is and on this earth. But my grandma and I know the truth, and that’s why I had to disappear. My family thinks I’m missing, that I was kidnapped when I was twelve. But I had run away from it all, because The Gift is not something you tell people about. The Gift is a curse you never want to anyone to find out about.
“Hey
Joey, table four needs more refills. Get it on! What the hell do you think I’m
paying you for?” My managers yell at me. He thinks he’s intimidating, but I’ve
never seen that man hurt anything more than a fly. I walk by table four and
quickly asses what everyone is drinking. “How about some more refills over
here?” I ask politely. The family isn’t as nice as me, giving me glares because
I’ve took too long to refill their drinks. “Yeah that would be great, and could
you hurry it up this time?” The older gentlemen at the end says. I assume he’s
the ‘man of the house’. “Right away sir.” I say and grab their cups. The reason
I don’t want anyone to find out about the Gift is because I don’t want people
like that to be on this earth any longer than they should.
The day went by like any other, long and tiring. Just like every other day I go home and think about quitting that stupid job. Ideas about using my gift for money pop into my head and I have to push them away and tell myself that it is not an option. Do I want to be a science experiment? No I do not.
I get my keys to let myself into my crappy little apartment, but the door is already halfway open.
“Fuck.” I whisper before slowly letting myself in. It’s dark and I can hear low voices towards the back of my apartment. Any other person would call the cops at this point, but no not me. Instead I do something stupid and hide in my own living room. I’m playing an unintentional game of Hide and Seek with these robbers. Let’s just hope they aren’t murdering robbers. One of the voices gets louder, making his way towards the living room again. “Come on man this fucker don’t got nothin.” He says.
Little do they know I have a secret safe behind my bedframe. I’m being as quiet as I can, barely breathing so they don’t hear me. My phone starts to beep and I panic, shoving my hand in my pocket to silence it, but it’s too late. The man here’s my phone and flashes his flashlight around until he sees me.
He grabs me from underneath the coffee table.
“Hey Hey HEY look whose home! Take out yo wallet bitch.” He tells me. I’m trying not to shake in fear. This is one of those moments where in a daydream you would kick their asses, but in real life you’re nothing but a coward. I open my wallet and give him all the cash I have.
“Hmm not much here man, not much here. I think yo gonna have to do better.” He says. The man from the back comes out with a baseball bat. MY baseball bat that I got when I was seven signed by my favorite baseball player. “Hey guys listen I don’t want any trouble. This is all I have okay? I work at a fucking diner for Christ’s sake. I can barely afford rent, so please let me be.” I try to tell them.
But they aren’t convinced. The man hits me in the gut with my own baseball bat and I go down groaning in pain. “Nah man..see I saw yo fancy clothes. I know you got’s mo money. So tell us where it, or we gonna have to put a bullet in this here head of yours.” That’s when I hear a click and feel the barrel of a gun pointed at my head. But I can’t tell them about the safe, because that’s all I have to keep myself going. “I told you, I don’t have anything else. Those clothes were gifts, I swear!” I try so hard to convince them of this lie, but they won’t listen. They are criminals who don’t care about me or my life. All they want is money and it’s clouding their judgment in a green haze.
“Yo man I found something!” The other man is back in my bedroom again and I can feel my stomach drop. “What is it?” The man holding a gun to my head yells.
“It’s a safe bro!” The man grabs me and hauls me to the bedroom. “You fucking liar! After I get that safe code I’m going to fuck you up.” He tells me.
“Now what’s the code motherfucker!!!” He yells at me, once again pressing the gun to my head.
“00567.” I tell them the wrong code. They both go over to the safe trying out the code, leaving me unattended. I slowly back my way to closet where I have a hidden revolver that I’ve never used.
They try the code again in frustration. I’m so close to the gun, just one more quick step and I’ll have it in my reach. The man with the gun turns around. “This isn’t working tell us-HEY WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?” I grab the gun, but before I can even point and pull the trigger his gun goes off. I can feel the bullet pierce into my brain and I go down onto the floor. At this point I should be dead. But I’m still breathing and the pain of the bullet is slowly subsiding.
“What the fuck Jay? Now we aint gonna get the code!” The other man says.
“He had a fucking gun Damien!” Jay exclaims.
I stand back up and enjoy the looks on their faces when I do. They’re shocked speechless with pure fear in their eyes. Suddenly both of them slump over and onto the ground. At first I think that they’ve fainted, but when I step closer I see both of them have gunshot wounds to the head. I feel my own wound and realize it’s gone.
So this is what The Gift does, it has made me immortal. The Gift has taken these two lives just so I could live. “You must take a life to give a life.”
The day went by like any other, long and tiring. Just like every other day I go home and think about quitting that stupid job. Ideas about using my gift for money pop into my head and I have to push them away and tell myself that it is not an option. Do I want to be a science experiment? No I do not.
I get my keys to let myself into my crappy little apartment, but the door is already halfway open.
“Fuck.” I whisper before slowly letting myself in. It’s dark and I can hear low voices towards the back of my apartment. Any other person would call the cops at this point, but no not me. Instead I do something stupid and hide in my own living room. I’m playing an unintentional game of Hide and Seek with these robbers. Let’s just hope they aren’t murdering robbers. One of the voices gets louder, making his way towards the living room again. “Come on man this fucker don’t got nothin.” He says.
Little do they know I have a secret safe behind my bedframe. I’m being as quiet as I can, barely breathing so they don’t hear me. My phone starts to beep and I panic, shoving my hand in my pocket to silence it, but it’s too late. The man here’s my phone and flashes his flashlight around until he sees me.
He grabs me from underneath the coffee table.
“Hey Hey HEY look whose home! Take out yo wallet bitch.” He tells me. I’m trying not to shake in fear. This is one of those moments where in a daydream you would kick their asses, but in real life you’re nothing but a coward. I open my wallet and give him all the cash I have.
“Hmm not much here man, not much here. I think yo gonna have to do better.” He says. The man from the back comes out with a baseball bat. MY baseball bat that I got when I was seven signed by my favorite baseball player. “Hey guys listen I don’t want any trouble. This is all I have okay? I work at a fucking diner for Christ’s sake. I can barely afford rent, so please let me be.” I try to tell them.
But they aren’t convinced. The man hits me in the gut with my own baseball bat and I go down groaning in pain. “Nah man..see I saw yo fancy clothes. I know you got’s mo money. So tell us where it, or we gonna have to put a bullet in this here head of yours.” That’s when I hear a click and feel the barrel of a gun pointed at my head. But I can’t tell them about the safe, because that’s all I have to keep myself going. “I told you, I don’t have anything else. Those clothes were gifts, I swear!” I try so hard to convince them of this lie, but they won’t listen. They are criminals who don’t care about me or my life. All they want is money and it’s clouding their judgment in a green haze.
“Yo man I found something!” The other man is back in my bedroom again and I can feel my stomach drop. “What is it?” The man holding a gun to my head yells.
“It’s a safe bro!” The man grabs me and hauls me to the bedroom. “You fucking liar! After I get that safe code I’m going to fuck you up.” He tells me.
“Now what’s the code motherfucker!!!” He yells at me, once again pressing the gun to my head.
“00567.” I tell them the wrong code. They both go over to the safe trying out the code, leaving me unattended. I slowly back my way to closet where I have a hidden revolver that I’ve never used.
They try the code again in frustration. I’m so close to the gun, just one more quick step and I’ll have it in my reach. The man with the gun turns around. “This isn’t working tell us-HEY WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?” I grab the gun, but before I can even point and pull the trigger his gun goes off. I can feel the bullet pierce into my brain and I go down onto the floor. At this point I should be dead. But I’m still breathing and the pain of the bullet is slowly subsiding.
“What the fuck Jay? Now we aint gonna get the code!” The other man says.
“He had a fucking gun Damien!” Jay exclaims.
I stand back up and enjoy the looks on their faces when I do. They’re shocked speechless with pure fear in their eyes. Suddenly both of them slump over and onto the ground. At first I think that they’ve fainted, but when I step closer I see both of them have gunshot wounds to the head. I feel my own wound and realize it’s gone.
So this is what The Gift does, it has made me immortal. The Gift has taken these two lives just so I could live. “You must take a life to give a life.”
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