My phone beeped and I jumped.
It was the sound of a text arriving. I wasn’t sure I’d have time to read it, but I gave it a go.
It’s amazing how much you can fit into a few seconds.
I checked to see who had sent it. Ah, Sarah. What incredibly bad timing. Why not a few minutes earlier. I thought of our last conversation.
“Michael, I slept with Jeff,” she had said matter of factly. She lay naked next to me in the bed staring up at the ceiling, a sheet pulled across her. We had just finished lovemaking.
“When?” I asked, absently staring at the faint scars on my wrists. I realized that when was the least important question. I needed to know why? Why did she choose Jeff, my older brother? Why after all these years? Why just a week before our wedding? Just why?
“Last week when you were away. Michael, I’m so sorry.”
A thousand pictures popped in my head. Horrid photos of Jeff and Sarah, his greedy eyes taking her beauty, a big smile attached to his face. I closed my eyes tightly to stop my imagination. But memories surfaced instead. Of Jeff and Jane, Jeff and Jessica, Jeff and Melanie, Jeff and every one of my previous girlfriends. He had slept with them all.
When we were kids, Jeff stole my things. He took my toys, comics, and my video games. The day after my thirteenth birthday he took my new shiny BMX bicycle. His racer had suddenly been stolen so he borrowed mine. I never rode my BMX again. All through childhood, Jeff had gained everything I had and tricky ways to take them from me.
He was subtle at first. “Can I just borrow this for a few minutes?”
Then he became more clear. “You don’t need this anymore, do you?”
And eventually he just said this: “This is mine now.”
Jeff was always mom’s favorite. He knew it and so did I. She always backed him up and got me in trouble for not sharing. When we grew up, the objects that he wanted changed and his methods changed. But the outcome was always the same. Jeff took everything important in my life.
I thought Sarah would be the one thing I had that he never would. She’d always ignore*(d) his incessant flirting. Treated him with disdain. Pushed me to stand up to him finally. But Jeff always got what he wanted and he always wanted what I had. And now he had Sarah too.
Well, it didn’t matter anymore, I read the text.
I didn’t sleep with Jeff. He talked me into it as a joke. I only agreed to get a reaction. You’re always so calm, so unemotional. I needed to know you loved me, I’m so sorry. Please come home. Can you forgive me? I could, but she was too late.
The phone had beeped with her message. But I had already jumped.
Gravity had me now.
Interview with Chris Soto
Q: We thought your story was really deep and thought-provoking. How did you come up with the idea for it?
A: The story that came to mind was originally just two kids that didn’t get along, one kid always got picked on. But, I thought what would these kids be like 20-30 years later and in my head I thought it’d be the same and that the one who got stolen from has had enough, and took his life. The one thing the other kid never could have.
Q: What inspired you to write this story, and what got you interested in writing?
A: In terms of inspiration I kinda just needed a story to write for creative writing then I just started thinking. For some reason all of my ideas led to the dark ending.
Q: What is the meaning of your story?
A: In my story I was really getting to the point of knowing that your life is actually yours, sure you may own things but those are up for anyone to take, but your life and your soul. Nobody can take that from you.
Q: What was the creative experience like as you were writing this story?
A: In my story I was really getting to the point of knowing that your life is actually yours, sure you may own things but those are up for anyone to take, but your life and your soul. Nobody can take that from you.
Q: How would you describe your individual style as a writer and artist? Do you have any favorite subjects you write about?
A: Individuality is what makes writers different from one another, but personally I like to write about love. Love is such a wonder and marvel, you can’t describe it. It is one of those few things that words can’t explain and you just know love.
Q: What other types of art do you like to create, and what is your favorite medium (songwriting, poetry, etc)?
A: Other pieces of art I enjoy creating especially are songs. All it is to me is writing poetry, then adding my favorite part, the singing. Words can touch a person and move them but a song adds the dynamic to the words and the tone. The medium is just listening, if you listen to the words or sound of any piece of audible art, it can inspire you to great things. That is what inspires me to do more and more songwriting each day, just listen.
