Day In & Day Out

Ikaika’s Pov

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I sat in class waiting for the school bell to ring so that I could finally go home. You see I live in a small town named Jockey Ville, it's not much of a name for a town but I didn't choose the name. The old story my dad told me goes that there used-to-be a racetrack about seven miles away from here. After every race the Jockeys would come to this prairie to let their horses graze and relax. While the horses did that the jockeys would go into a little shack house they built over the years because they figure they might as well have somewhere to hang out. One day the jockeys took their horses to the prairie like they always did; it was getting late so they rode their horses back to the track only to find the whole racetrack was up in flames. By the time the Firefighters got to the track, nothing was left. The owners of the horses came soon after to take their horses back to their stables. Since the jockeys lived at the track they had nowhere to live, they went back to the shack they built on the prairie. For the next couple of years the jockeys would have to scavenge in the woods around to survive, some of the jockeys tried to get help from the town but they never returned, some jockeys speculated that the other jockeys were eaten or made it to the town but never told the towns people about the rest of them. Tempers flared over these accusations and soon the jockeys were fighting each other. Finally the jockeys decided they each needed their own houses, they left the original shack to the oldest jockey, and this seemed to be almost the only thing they all agreed on. Years past and each one had kept to themselves; there would be the occasional person to roll through with a wagon full of goods probably heading to another town. Some of the jockeys ask these people to take them with them, some wagon owners would take them but most wouldn't. At this point most of the jockeys became accustomed to this way of life. One stormy night a man dressed in leather (that resembled something of a cowboy) rolled into their village on horseback and asked them for refuge from the storm, the man was wounded; he had a hole in his thigh that was bleeding profusely. The jockeys came together for the first time in a very long time to help the wounded man. The hole went clean through his leg, the jockeys gathered herbs to numb the pain, stitched the man’s leg up and put a splint on it, after this was done the man passed out, and the jockeys carried him into one of their shacks and bunked with another for that night. The next morning they woke to find the man gone; the only thing left was a note that read.

“Thank you for your generous hospitality, I do not wish to be a burden to you. I will return one day to repay my debt to you.

-Sincerely,

Geoffrey F. Elise”

Years past and the man never returned, the jockeys had almost completely forgotten about Geoffrey until he came back one day, but he wasn't alone. He brought with him what looked like an army of men; but that thought flew out the window, they had women and children in horse drawn caravans. Geoffrey brought with him men from every profession and those men brought their families. The jockeys had asked him who all these people were, he told them these people were immigrants from the old country, and they were looking for land to settle on. The jockeys welcomed the people with open arms. The people began to start erecting shops and homes, within a couple of months the people had created a town. They didn't know what to call it, for years the town went unnamed, as more years passed the jockeys began to pass away. One by one the jockeys died and the people of the town made a statue of the jockey. The statue was placed in town square so that they would be forever remembered. Shortly after the death of the last jockey the people had finally come to a consensus on the name of the town “Jockey Ville”.

I don’t know if that’s the real story of Jockey Ville, I’ve heard a bunch of stories from different people, but I’ll take my dad’s word over anyone else’s. The jockey’s shacks are still on the outskirts of town, now kids just vandalize the shacks, putting graffiti all over the walls and on the inside. And there’s also a museum named after Geoffrey F Elise, we just call it the GFE Museum.

There's still 15 minutes left in class and I've finished my work, everyone else is talking to their friends. I don't have friends, not because I'm the weirdo in the class or anything, I just don't like people very much, well not people from here anyway. Everyone here is dull and lifeless, they just follow all the social norms and try to be as accepted as possible, and it’s pretty pathetic if you ask me. The only person I enjoying hanging out with is my fraternal twin Alec. I have him in all my classes but for some reason we always have seats on opposite sides of the class. I don't mind because I always have a book or my IPod, so when I'm done with my work ill read my book or listen to some music. Since I'm done with my work right now I’ll put my earphones in and listen to some Michael Franks. As I'm listening to my jazz music I put my head down and unknowingly go to sleep. The bell rings and I immediately wake-up, take my earphones out, stop the music and put everything back in my pocket. Alec walks to my desk, I get up and we walk out of class.

“Finally schools out.” I say.

“Yeah, I didn't think the bell would ever ring. Why was the day so long?” he asks, but I didn't answer because I thought it was a rhetorical question.

Alec and I are headed to the same place we always go after school; the arcade. Most of the games at the arcade only cost 50¢. After Alec and I spent about $50 there one day, we decided to make rigged coins, the ones with the strings attached to them, it saves us a lot of money and we haven't gotten caught yet. We usually play deer hunter, House of the Dead, or Time Crisis because we both enjoy shooting games and for the most part because it's awesome!

Now that we’re done at the arcade, it was 6 or 7 o’ clock so we walk back home, the distance from the arcade and our house is about an hour walk. It was a Monday and I needed some time to collect myself and prepare for what was waiting for me at home. Whenever I come home this late my mom hugs and kisses me and Alec, and asks me where we’ve been, and it’s always the same answer “We were at the Arcade”, but I’m not the emotional type. I don’t get attached to things or people, I thought I liked this girl once but then I talked to her for about 5 seconds and found out she was an idiot, and I’ve never liked or had a crush on anyone since.

I’m walking down the main road in Jockey Ville now; this road has a bunch of shops that are locally owned. I pass Mr. Garners’ Barber Shop and Mrs. Lewinski’s Flower Shop, they’re both my neighbors, I live right in-between them. Mr. Garners has a two story house, painted white with blue trim. His house looks like something a four-year-old would draw, with the pointy roof and the one rectangular window on the second floor that overlooks the road. Mrs. Lewinski on the other hand has a really modern house, for being the 60-year-old woman she is. Almost the whole front of her house is a glass window with automatic blinds that I think are set on a timer because even if she’s not home they’ll open and close. Her house has a white glossy finish and her roof is flat, but the whole right half of it slopes up then has a 90° drop creating a right triangle on that half of the roof. I think the attic is in there but it looks a little too small to fit anything inside, but how would I know, I’ve never been in her house nor do I ever want to be. I was looking for sex offenders in my neighborhood on a website because I was bored one day and found out that she was one, the only one in all of Jockey Ville. She doesn’t look like a bad woman, but if she ever invited me over for milk and cookies I would flat out say no!

We finally arrive at home and as expected, my mom does the same routine she does every time. Most of the time it’s only my bro, my mom, and I home at night because my dad works at night as a factory supervisor in the next town over. My mother and I sit down at the table with the food already prepared while my brother goes upstairs to clean up. Mom says grace and I pile my plate with food while mom just takes a little bit of everything.

“How was school today?” my mom asks. I don’t know why she asks me this every time I come home because it’s always the same answer.

“Nothing special, as usual, just a bunch of fascists, egotistical, metrosexual, assholes, whose common goal is to look as plastic as possible.” I reply arrogantly. Okay that’s not what I usually say, I usually just say “Nothing.”, but today I especially didn’t like any of them.

“Curtis Alex Turner!” my mom snapped. “How dare you use that language in this household, at this dinner table!”

“Sorry mom, I’m just fed up with everyone at school” I say with the slight tone of anger in my voice.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asks. I shake my head no and for the rest of dinner no words are spoken.

When I’m done with my plate I carry it to the sink, wash it off and put it in one of the racks on the dish washer to let it dry.

“I guess Alec wasn’t hungry tonight” I thought to myself.

I head up to our room and lay down on my bed. As I’m lying down staring at the ceiling I start to feel tired, my eyes get heavier and heavier but before I close my eyes I glance at my brothers bed. All I see is my younger brother shivering. I get up to go check on him and his eyes are shut and he’s sweating. He must been having a bad dream. I decide to gently wake him up but he stops shaking once I make contact. I assume that everything is okay so I head back into bed and slowly but surely I fall asleep. My mom wakes me up some time later and tells me to take a shower because I stink, I smell my clothes and under my arms. I don’t think I stink, but I don’t argue, I go into the bathroom, get undressed, turn the shower on, get in, and begin to take a shower. I’m glad my mom woke me up, because this hot water feels so good right now, because I don’t want to get out. But this sensation doesn’t last very long as I recall last night when my brother shivering. I need to find out what happened.
As I walk in the room I notice that Alec’s not in his bed.

“He must’ve gone downstairs” I thought

I get dressed and head downstairs and lo and behold he was sitting on the couch. But he didn’t seem his usual happy self. I sit down beside him and ask him what’s wrong.

“What’s up Bro? What’s getting you all down?” I asked.

“I heard you guys arguing last night” He said quietly.

Shit!

“Then I had dream that our whole family got separated and I never saw you guys again”

After he said that I didn’t know what to say so I simply held him.

“Everything will be alright; I’ll never leave you behind. Your my brother, not only that you’re my twin brother.” I said gently

“You promise?” Alec asked while looking up to me.
As he stared at me, I could see tears starting form.

“I promise” I stated firmly

“Now let’s head to school”

As we walked out of the house the town seemed more vivid, the sky was bluer, the grass was greener, and there was just an overall good feeling in the air.

“Today’s going to be a good day” I thought.