Short Stories

*All stories are copywritten by

Tom Tollefson.

Wounded Teenage Love

-by Tom Tollefson

Jane and I had known each other for three years before finally becoming an “official” couple. Our hearts were committed to each other for several months before we finally overcame our adolescent jitters enough to start a real relationship, as we began to enjoy the mutual benefit of knowing we were both in it for the long haul. Since we first met, we had always spent our Friday nights together going to football games, the movies, and the mall. We always spent our afternoons and evenings talking on the phone or instant messaging each other. She knew she could tell me anything, and in return I told her everything.

Our relationship was filled with all the butterflies and puppy love that proved to be the glue of teenage love.

I can still remember that cold November day when I asked her out.

***********************************************************************

“Do you have any gloves?” I asked Jane as we started on our long walk from the bus stop to her house, after another day in our promising junior year.

“No,” she said as her teeth chattered in the cold late autumn wind.

She continued to rub her hands together.

“Come here,” I said. I stopped and gently guided her to the side of the road, away from the crowds of loud teenagers making their way down the street.

I took her left hand and rubbed it from top to bottom with both of my bare hands, which never seemed to grow cold.

“Ok, put this one in your pocket,” I said when I had finished. Then I took her right hand and placed it inside of mine, and continued down the road.

“That better?”

“Much,” she said with a smile as her cheeks turned rosy red and she tightened the grip of her frail little hand in mine.

“Jane, I have something I need to ask you,” I said as we drew closer to her house and realizing that she must know what I was about to say, but I thought I’d have a little fun at first.

“Go ahead.” Her big brown eyes gazed up at me as we continued walking down the dirt road.

“Well, to be honest, there is this girl I really like and I’m thinking about asking her out.”

“Oh,” Jane said. She loosened up her grip on my hand. “Is she pretty?” The starry eye look in her eye began to fade.

“She’s more than pretty, she’s gorgeous!”

Jane’s head slumped down while we continued walking down the road. “Well, who is she?”

I stopped again just as we were about to make a turn onto her street. I turned around an took both her hands in mine, and looked deep into her eyes. “Jane, it’s you. It’s always been you.”

Her frown turned into the biggest smile I had ever seen on her.

“Ask me! Ask me!” She said as her eyes danced alive wit excitement.

“Jane, will you be my girlfriend?”

Before I could finish my words, she jumped into my waiting arms.

“Of course!”

************************************************************************

Jane later admitted to me that she our relationship had been love at first sight just like her parents. It just took her several months to realize how to cope with her strong feelings that until that point she had never experienced with anyone else.

“You know you truly love someone when you feel that butterfly feeling and time slows down when you first meet,” she used to tell me.

Over the next six months, our relationship flourished just as our friendship had the few months before. Our interests in sports and music and circle of mutual friends made it easier to spend time together. We went to concerts, school sporting events, and dances. All our friends referred to us as the “perfect couple.”

However, it ended as all good things do. I remember that dark and gloomy day like it was yesterday. Actually, it was a Wednesday. I logged on my computer to find a heart breaking email awaiting me.

“I’m sorry, but I am really confused about life right now with trying to figure out which career I want to and all, so I don’t want to be in a relationship anymore. It’s nothing personal, you’re a great person,” the message read. And with that, our seemingly short, but passionate relationship came to a screeching halt like a car hitting a brick wall.

I was crushed to say the least. To best put it in the language of my generation “it sucked.” Looking back it’s hard to say for sure if I was falling in love or just caught up in teenage hormones and infatuation, but it had just started to feel like I was falling in love.

A few days later she sent me an instant message.

“What’s up?” she said.

“Just got in from the gym,” I replied trying to keep things casual. “What about you?”

“Just surfing the web.”

“That’s cool.”

“Yeah, I found most of the stuff I need for my psych paper.”

“O ok.”

“Spekaing of school, how are you doing in school?”

“Much better, I aced my math test yesterday.”

“Good job! See I knew you’d get the hang of it.”

“Thanks, but I am so depressed.”

“Why?”

“My mom and dad are getting divorced.”

It made sense now. Jane had always held her parents’ relationship in such high regard, and now it was gone and she couldn’t help but fear the same for us. I couldn’t hold it against her. Oddly enough, I couldn’t find anything bad about her like I cold all the other girls I had dated in the past.

“Are you ok?”

There was a pause in the conversation. A second, then another and a few more went by. My heart began pounding harder and I felt a pain in my stomach. I knew this must be killing her. Jane had always been very close to her parents and molded her future plans of family around their marriage.

“I dunno.”

“I am so sorry to hear that, is there anything I can do?”

“No, not really.”

“If there is, then you know you can call me.”

“Yeah, thanks, but I g2g cook dinner for the family. I’ll call you later.”

She then signed off. The thought of her hurting so much was like torture for me. All I wanted to do was drive over to her house and take her to our favorite park to sit and cuddle up under our favorite tree and assure her that everything would be ok.

Sometimes, what you want to do and what you actually do are different. I couldn’t interfere. I knew where I stood.

A few days passed, and I didn’t hear from Jane. It was very unlike her not to call me. She had always made a point of calling me no matter how busy was at the time. “Maybe our break up changed things for her,” I thought. “Maybe she doesn’t even want to be anything more than mere acquaintances.” I continued to wait for her to call, not wanting to be the desperate loser to call his ex-girlfriend.

The day finally came when I would see Jane. She passed by me at school on her way to her 5th period study hall. I tired to talk to her, but she only offered a simple “hi, how are you?” as she strode past with not as much as a second glance. I would always smile and say “good,” but she disappeared into the crowd of adolescents before I could say anything more.

I knew something was different about her because I’d never see her around any her friends anymore, and she went from wearing a caseload of makeup to having a totally naked face. Her long dark, well conditioned and carefully combed hair now strode about her head, looking as if she had just crawled out of bed.

Finally, I decided to call Jane and see how she was really doing. She didn’t pick up, so I was forced to leave a voice mail. Another week past and she hadn’t returned my calls, so I decided to email her. A few days later, I received a brief reply with one or two words such as “I’m ok” and “yes” and “no.”

Several weeks passé, and our emails became fewer and shorter until our communication dwindled merely to a hurried wave as we passed in the school hallway.

It was very unlike her not to talk to me anymore by phone, email, or instant message. She had always made time for me. “Maybe our breakup changed things for her,” I thought. “Maybe she doesn’t even want to be anything more than mere acquaintances.”

I continued to wiat for her to call, not wanting to be the desperate loser to call his ex-girlfriend. Eventually, I decided to accept the inevitable, and continue on with my life. Work, school, and friends seemed to fill the void in my schedule Jane had left.

Weeks past by and still I had not heard from her. I was laying in bed, one rainy spring night, catching up on my latest car magazine. The house was empty, and I enjoyed hearing the pitter patter of the rain as it splashed against the tiles on the roof of the house.

Suddenly, my Tupac ringtone went off sending the sound waves of his political lyrics through my room. “Why is Stacy calling me so late?” I thought as I looked at my caller ID to see that Jane’s best friend’s cell phone number flashing.

“Jane…Jane..it’s Jane,” Stacy managed to blurt out between sobs.

“What about her?” I asked.

“She was in a terrible car accident….and you need to….come down right away,” Stacy stammered.

“I’m on my way,” I said while putting on my shoes and coat.

The rain was pouring down, but it didn’t matter. I needed to get to the hospital, and sped down the flooded streets. “I hope she will be ok” I thought to myself as my mind drifted to the first day her and I met.

************************************************************************

“Class, I want to introduce a new student,” my freshman English teacher said.

It was only three weeks into the new school year, and a new student was on the scene. The door opened, and a frail brunette strode into our classroom. She took a few unsure steps past the door before freezing like a deer stuck in the headlights. Her shoulders slumped together and her legs were crossed as she slightly lifted her head to look over the30 strange faces.

The first thing I noticed about Jane was those big brown eyes. They jumped out at me like saucers and captivated my attention even more than my favorite X-Men comic series.

I could see fear in her eyes, but also something beneath. Something that seemed electric and alive with life, honesty, and love. I don’t know exactly why it was, but It sure was SOMETHING.

I could hear the song Brown-Eyed Girl in my head as she cautiously made her way down the row of seats while tightly gripping her jacket. Her eyes darted about the room looking for a seat, as her knee high blue dress swayed with every step. I just couldn’t keep my eyes off her. Suddenly, she saw me! Caught in the act, I quickly looked away refocusing my vision on the front of the room, but she paused. Her eyes were now locked on me. She waited a few seconds, then flashed a timid smile back as a way of saying “hello.” I returned it with one of my own.

A few other students smirked and giggled as our stare down caught their attention.

“Jane, would you please take a seat,” the teacher said as she gave us both the dead eye glare.

“Is this seat taken?” She said softly pointing to the desk across from mine.

“It is now,” I said with a smile.

“Hi, my name is John,” I wrote on a piece of notebook paper and passed it to her.

“Nice to meet you, John, would you show me around the building after class?” She slid back a note.

“Of course, how’s after lunch sound?” I wrote back.

After noticing the teacher had turned around to write on the white board, she slowly leaned over, after nearly falling out of her seat and whispered in my ear

“ that be perfect.”

***********************************************************************

BEEP! BEEP!

The horn and blinding lights of an oncoming semi-truck brought me back from memory lane just in time to escape the near collision of certain doom with a semi-truck as I sped down the road. Luckily no cop was in sight.

I got to the hospital soon enough, and rushed to her floor, where I saw Stacy waiting just outside her room. She had a worried look on her face as she stood outside the door with her eyes staring ahead as if she was looking for a more favorable future for her friend.

“John, I’m so glad you’re here,” Stacy said with a sigh of relief as she turned to see me. “She’s been in and out of consciousness, and the only thing she said is ‘where’s John?’ She kept saying it over and over.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“She was coming home from my house, and a drunk driver hit her head on, and her heart beat is weakening.”

“Is she going to be ok?”

“The doctors said they think she will, but are not certain. She’s stable now, and the nurse said you can go in and see her.”

I then opened the door to a sight that gripped my heart. She was lying there in bed with IV’s in her. Her skin had lost it’s illustrious color, and resulted in a gaunt shading. Her eyes were shut. She looked like a sleeping angel, but her big brown eyes opened immediately as I stepped in the room.

“John,” she weakly cried as I bent down by her bedside.

“I’m here,” I replied.

“I knew you’d come,” she said softy as she slowly reached out for my hand.

I gently clasped her small pale hand in mine. She had always been small and frail with the look of a china doll, but now she seemed as though the least wind would break her.

“So…sorry,” she said with tears now forming in her big brown blood shot eyes.

“It’s ok…we’re here now…that’s all that matters.”

She replied with a bright, but weak smile from her chapped lips.

I carefully brushed the long strands of hair away from her face and gently kissed her cold pale forehead.

“Everything is going to be alright.”

“Yeah,” Jane said with another smile. “This…all…”

Her breathing struggled a little. “this all…I…want.”

“Don’t worry, I’m here now.”

“love….you…John.”

She struggled for a few seconds, but managed to lift her hand up to place it over mine.

“I love you, too.”

I then put both hands around her the one in which she had used to reach out to me.

Suddenly, the EKG began increasing at a slow, but steady pace.

The Right Decision

-By Tom Tollefson

Summary: This story is about the complexities of making the right decisions in early adulthood over friends. It also asks the question about loyalty and morality and what is "right."

“I wonder if I made the right decision?” Todd thought as he sat on a bench, in the lobby of a school building on his campus, listening to the soft rock tunes of 95.7 FM. He was waiting for his 1:00 Public Speaking class, and had all his homework done. It felt nice to have everything done for once, so Todd decided to sit back and relax for a little bit before class.

He couldn’t help but wonder if he had done anything to damaged his friendship with his best friend. After all, that business meant everything to her.

Todd’s cell phone sent the electronic beats of a hip-hop song from the early 90’s off. Todd immediately pulled it from his front pocket.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Todd, It’s Andy.”

“What’s going on, man?”

“Not a whole lot…but how are you?”

“I’m good just sitting waiting between classes.”

“Are you sure you’re ok?” Andy asked in an unsure tone, making it obvious that he doubted the “good” response when he asked Todd how he was doing.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be.”

“Well, Todd, how long have we been friends now?”

“Since first grade when you let me cut you in the lunch line.”

“Speaking of cuts, do you think you have any deep emotional cuts for any reason?”

“Come on, man, what’s going on? Do you want to use me as a subject for another psyche project or something?”

“No,” Andy didn’t offer any more information as Todd had hoped.

“Then what is it?” Todd said, starting to get annoyed at his friend’s questions and lack of explanation.

“Well, honestly, I heard something about you from a reliable person that had me concerned.”

“and that is…” Todd then sat waiting for what he hoped would be a direct answer and hoped Andy was done beating around the bush, as he was known to do.

“Were you abused by your parents as a child?”

Todd’s mouth dropped. Several moments of dead silence passed.

“I don’t want to talk about this,” Todd finally replied. “They’re both dead now anyways so what does it matter?”

“I know the long term effects of parental abuse on a child, and admitting that it happened is the first step to a healthy recovery,” Todd said, hoping to put his nearly complete psychology major to use.

“What do you know about anything?” Todd lashed out. “You spend more time with books than actual people, and have no business psychoanalyzing me!”

“Todd, we’ve been friends for years, and I want to help you. I can give you the phone numbers for the top psychotherapists in town…”

Before Andy had a chance to continue, Todd flipped his cell phone off and set it down on the bench. He couldn’t believe it. His secret was out, it had been buried deep within him for years, but now it was coming out all over again. “Bri! She must have told him!” He thought. “How could she do this to me? How could she betray my trust?”

The nightmares became real to him again. His senses were haunted by their memory from years ago when he was still a small child.

************************************************************************

Todd looked up from practicing his hand writing for school to see the shadow of his dad’s old pick up truck pass by as it pulled into the garage.

“Oh, no, you’d better go!” He heard his mom cry out from her bedroom.

Todd stopped writing and rested his pencil inside his book, as he turned his head to see a strange man run from the master bedroom. The man’s shirt was tousled with the collar still up, and he carried his shoes in his left hand as he went through the backdoor and disappeared over the back yard fence.

A few seconds later, the door burst open, and Todd’s dad stumbled inside. He wobbled a little as his heavy footsteps carried him into the front room where his son sat.

“Where is he?” The husband shouted with the stench of alcohol still on his breath as he continued to the bedroom with reddened eyes that matched the redish skin color of the vein bulging on his neck.

“Boyd, calm down,” the startled small woman pleaded as her husband ransacked the master bedroom closet and bathroom in his search.

“I know you’ve been screwing around on me!” The vein in his neck bulged even more and was so large it looked as if it could have its own pulse.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, now please calm down, and let’s talk this out” she pleaded as he grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her out of the bedroom toward the front room where Todd sat.

Todd dropped his book and ran behind the couch. He peered out from the side of the couch while hoping not to be seen.

“You…you…dirty TRAMP!” His father yelled in slurred speech as he slapped the defenseless woman across the face with a loud SMACK that sent her reeling to the floor.

She tried to get up, but he sent her stumbling backwards with a hard right hook that found its mark in her stomach. “Boyd…please…” she whimpered while she caught herself from falling by grabbing a chair.

Before she could regain her balance, Boyd pulled the toaster out of the wall, and hit her with it squarely in her forehead, sending her unconsciously crashing to the floor with a THUD.

Todd’s eyes filled with tears, and he let out a loud scream. His eyes widened as he saw his father’s gaze. Boyd’s eyes glared violently with an unquenchable and intoxicated fire.

“You’re in on it too, you little rat bag traitor!” Boyd shouted turning his attention to his son. He then grabbed Todd with a clinched iron fist that locked down on his leg. “My family has turned against me!”

“No, leave me alone!” Todd pleaded through bursts of tears. “Not again!’

“I’ll set you straight, boy!” Boyd then held his son with hand while he repeatedly slapped him across the face with the other hand.

The last of the slaps was the hardest, and it sent him flying into the wall, then he slid down to the floor in a heap.

“Learn to love your father!” He shouted as he picked his crying son off the floor. Violent fists of fury pounded into Todd’s face, chest, and back. Hoping it would be over soon, he closed his eyes and tired not to focus on the pain.

************************************************************************

He couldn’t believe these memories were coming back now over ten years later. He had put so much effort into shoving them into the farthest recess of his memory, and now here they were nearly as fresh in his mind as it had been when it happened. After a few minutes, Todd calmed his mind down enough to call his best friend as he still sat on the same bench in the lobby.

“Hey, Bri, I just got a call from Andy,” Todd said from the side of his mouth.

“Oh, did you?” She said unsuccessfully trying to hide her guilty snicker.

“What the hell is your problem?” Todd said half shouting, but not wanting to draw any more attention to himself as students started coming and going through the main doors.

“What’s my problem? I was wondering what’s your problem dropping out of the business and all,” Brianna sneered in her typical tough tomboy attitude.

“It’s hard taking 18 credits, I just needed to focus on school.”

“O come on, that’s a lame story, and you know it,” Brianna retorted.

“No, Bri, you’re the one who’s lame,” Tod lashed out. “You know that was my most shameful and private secret!”

“Well, maybe you’ll think twice next time before you walk out on a friend or business associate, leaving them with all the work.”
Tears began to stream down Todd’s face as he listened to the Brianna’s strong words. “You were the one person I trusted with that secret, but you know what, we’re done!” Todd shouted before flipping off his cell phone.

_______________________________________________________________________

Later on after class, Todd walked to his Oldsmobile, which was parked in the main parking lot next to the building. As he went to put his school bag in the back seat, a flash drive fell out. When he bent down to pick it up, he realized it was belonged to Brianna. She must have forgotten to take it out of his bag the previous night when they went bowling.

He had had been friends with Brianna since they were five, and he never knew her to keep extra copies of pictures or data files. She had the only copies of her term papers, research, resumes, and pictures on that one drive.

Todd picked up the small flash drive, and rotated it around with his fingers. A vengeful and deceitful idea hit him while he continued to twirl the small object with his fingertips.

“What if I just happened to roll over Bri’s flash drive?” Todd thought to himself as he stroked the fine hairs on his chin. “I mean accidents do happen.”

He slowly placed the flash drive a few inches behind his car’s tires, and stepped into the driver’s seat. Todd gradually put his key in the ignition and turned on the motor.

Brianna’s entire semester was securely fastened to that electronic item. All her homework and class notes were there. There he was with an opportunity with a single foot movement to put her life in complete chaos as she had done to him.

As he sat there staring at the dashboard, memories of him and Brianna growing up and playing football and baseball flooded his mind. He stared out at the dark clouds that cast their menacing shadow upon his 13 year old car. Not a drop fell from the sky, but one could see it was soon on the way.

Todd’s mind shifted back to junior high and delved into memories of their neighborhood football games during those early adolescent years now seemed like yesterday.

************************************************************************

“Set, forty-two blue, set hike!” Todd shouted trying to impersonate his pigskin heroes in the big leagues. Brianna threw the football back, and broke her crouching stance to run forward. She outran the large boy guarding her, and sprinted past the pair of pine trees that marked the end zone. Todd then sidestepped an oncoming defender, and threw a perfect spiral that found its mark in Brianna’s arms.

“Touchdown!” Todd shouted as he threw both arms straight up in the air, and ran towards where Brianna stood.

The excited young girl dropped the football, and jumped in the air while kicking back her legs. “I got it! I got it!”

“Not like that,” Todd said with a laugh. “You gotta spike it, then do a touchdown dance.”

“How?” Brianna asked blankly staring at her friend.

“Just throw the ball down as hard as you can so it bounces off the ground, then throw your hands in the air, and move your hips back and fourth, while taking a few steps forward.”

Brianna then threw her hands in the air in an uncontrollable manner that seemed more like a child’s tantrum than a dance. She threw her hips back and fourth with such force, that she lost her balance and fell over.

All the kids from both teams roared with laughter. “Nice job, Brianna,” one of the kids said. A few of them went over to help her up, and offered high fives for her touch down and effort at a touchdown dance.

“Don’t worry, Bri, we’re laughing with you, not at you,” Todd said with a smile as he gave her a high five, and received a smile in return.

************************************************************************

That was nearly a decade ago, but the memories of the pain she had just caused were fresh in Todd’s mind as well. He knew that they had mutually helped each other out over the years. He had taught her about sports and how to play with the guys, and she had helped him learn to trust by offering her friendship since they met in 5^th grade.

Not only had the leaking of this secret let others know about the shame Todd felt from his childhood, but it most of all, it had reopened Todd’s most painful and damaging wound all over again. “Should I do it?” He thought as the engine continued to hum, while waiting for his command. Then again, he could never see himself hurting her, despite what she had done. His decision was made, and in a split second and few quick motions, it was put into action.