My first try at Surrealism

Hey guys,

This is my first attempt at surrealism, so go easy and I hope you enjoy it.

“The Leech on John Smith" 

 John Smith slouches in his chair at the kitchen table. His mother sits to his right, his father to his left, his sister across from him. His mother, Hayley, picks up the bowl of mashed potatoes and passes them to John. John reaches out, accepting the bowl of food, the leech on his forearm bulging more and more each day. John plops a scoop of the potatoes on his plate and passes the bowl to his father, Phil.

“How was your day, John?” Phil asks curiously.

John twirls the peas and potatoes on his plate together in a spiral pattern. The bags beneath his eyes grow blacker everyday, his eyes more bloodshot with every passing minute. His skin is paler than the moon on a starless night.  “It was fine,” John mutters, hardly finding the motivation or energy to speak.

“How was Jane today?” Hayley asks, a tone of caution in her voice.

John continues to mindlessly twirl his food. His stare is concentrated in the potatoes. He starts to sweat, tears forming in the corner of his eyes. Hayley reaches out her hand to place it on John’s shoulder. Upon contact, John swats it away. “She was fine,” he mutters.

“Have you found anywhere that’s hiring?” Phil asks John, raising his fork to his mouth, placing the piece of meatloaf in his mouth. John shakes his head. Once he swallows the food in his mouth, Phil asks, “Have you checked the papers?” John nods.

Phil looks at the floor in the living room a few feet away. Newspapers are sprawled all over the carpet, covered in red sharpie. “They all require me to be eighteen,” John quietly says. He picks up a forkful of potatoes and peas for the first time of the meal.

“Jane’s father said that you could work for his landscaping business,” Hayley reminds John, who drops the fork on the plate. The noise quiets the whole house; the only sound is the small sucking noise from the leech.

John looks to the plate, trying to hide the tear that ran down his cheek. “I… I can’t,” John clearly says, “not after what I’ve done to Jane.” John lifts his head again, the moist trail of the tear still visible on his face.

“Can we stop talking about John and Jane for once? That’s all we talk about anymore,” John’s little sister Kate asks jealously. “You only care about his relationship and not mine!”

Phil looks to Hayley, both of them with a slight look of concern on their faces. “John and Jane are in a very serious point of their life right now,” Hayley carefully tells Kate, making sure not to upset John.

Kate slams her silverware on the oak table with a loud thud. “Just because he’s seventeen and I’m thirteen doesn’t mean his relationship is more important that mine,” Kate yells.

The table grows quiet as the parents try to figure out how to reply, minding both of their children’s emotions. In the silence, the sucking of the leech grows louder in John’s ear. “You don’t want a relationship like mine yet, Kate,” John tells his little sister.

“Who are you to say what I want?” Kate asks John anger flaring in her voice. John sinks back in his chair, pushing his plate forward, signaling he was done with dinner. “You always run away from everything, the fights you can’t win, the players who want to tackle you on the football field, and your problems.”

John quickly stands up. This took his parents and Kate by surprise. That was the fastest John had moved since the leech appeared on his arm. “I’m not running, that’s not an option anymore, because there’s no where to run to. When I walk down the hallways at school, I’m no longer the star quarterback, I’m that kid, the one who screwed up.  My friends constantly treat me like I need help,” John explains to his sister. Kate sinks back in her chair, her thoughts now twisted in her mind. “This was my mistake, let me turn it into a blessing. You all look at me with smiles and support, but even you, my own family, judge me behind my back. I know I screwed up, but instead of constantly chastising me for it, why not show me some support when I need it most?”

John stands there, panting. His parents sit motionless. It seems to be the parents are absorbing the words their son just threw at them. Kate sits in her chair, looking up at John like a sad puppy, head slightly tilted downward. The leech on John’s arm sucks more rapidly, feeding on John in his first retaliation against the way he’s been getting treated. “I… I just wanted to be like you, John,” Kate whispered.

John turns his head away; tears flowing openly down his cheeks now. “No you don’t, Kate. Trust me. You’ll lose your way of life; lose the people close to you even if they promised to stand with you. All you’ll really have is your partner. You don’t want to be tied down to someone this early in your life,” John says, his voice wavering, fighting back tears.

John recalls when the leech first appeared on his arm, it only took an instant. He was at Jane’s house and her parents weren’t home. Jane and John weren’t doing anything new, yet within seconds their lives had changed. They both knew they made a huge mistake. It took everything they had to survive the first few weeks, especially with the leech now on John. The incident didn’t change the way John and Jane felt about each other, but their mental states were constantly under attack from guilt and regret.

The leech on John’s arm has started to grow with the constant mention of the subject and the sudden memories. John’s starting to be weighed down by the leech at this point, and it’s only six-thirty. He doesn’t start to feel like this until after eight. That’s when Jane gets home from work. John doesn’t think she should be working in her condition, but the job is what seems to keep Jane going these days.

John now looks to his parents, who sit there silently, awaiting more built up rage to be thrown at them. “I’m sorry,” John sincerely tells them. The smile, acting like it’s nothing, but John knows he’s cut them deep. “Is Jane’s father’s business card still on the fridge?”

“Yes,” Hayley tells John. He walks to the fridge and takes the small piece of cardboard off the magnetized clip. Studying the card, it reads ‘Doe Landscaping’ and his number. John slowly pulls out his phone and punches in the numbers.

Hayley looks and Phil, both of them have pride for their son swelling within them, even for the situation he’s in. Phil walks over to John, placing his hand on his shoulder as he awaits an answer.

“Hello, Mr. Doe, it’s John Smith,” John says, fear in his voice. “Is the offer for the job still on the table?” There are a few moments of silent from John, but the smallest of smiles grows on his face. “Monday at six? I’ll be there.”

“I think you made the right decision, John,” Hayley tells him. John nods, not saying a word, then walks back to his seat at the table. He begins to twirl his food again, lost in his thoughts. The leech on John’s arm starts to grow again, this time on the fear flowing through John as he thinks of the future.

Until next time,

Luke