Pebbles

It was back then, in the early 1990’s. That life was awesome. It’s not like it was back then, Pokémon have died down; Hot-Wheels cease to exist. No, no. It’s all these new toys and games. None as good as back then. You would think (if you were born in the 2000’s) that the 90’s sucked. It didn’t have all this new tech stuff. Back then, the most enjoyment you would get in a day was playing with some pebbles. I’m not even joking. I used to love playing with pebbles, they almost had endless possibilities. I used to play ‘Rock Drop’ with my friends. A game that we had made up one day, the objective was to make the biggest splash down a sewer grate. That is of course, after we found the biggest ones; that could fit. We played it around once every week. My friends got quickly tired of it, but I enjoyed it. Like I was saying, I loved pebbles. My family was fairly ‘poor’. So we didn’t have new ‘Power Rangers’ action figures.



I imagined the pebbles as soldiers, or planes. I would throw them, stack them. And obviously collect them. People thought I was crazy, for collecting…well pebbles. But I didn’t care. You must think I’m crazy too, but if you lived back then. You would understand. That is of course if your family was terribly poor, and had soup every night; for dinner. I was happy though, note, I wasn’t fanatic about pebbles. They were just something I would play with sometimes. Like a kid with their new ‘Lego’ set. I wasn’t too crazy about pebbles. Like this story depicts. Just like I said. A toy that I enjoyed, simply a toy. I remember one day, my family had just saved up money, and bought a small T.V. That made my year. I spent every day, in front of that. But quickly banished from it also, everyday. For not getting enough fresh air. It wasn’t fair; I thought to myself. I loved that, and they are tearing me away from it! The thoughts rushed through my head. But I quickly dismissed them, after my mom said that I could have ten more minutes. It was now 1995. I was 8, I had been playing outside. With…you guessed it. Pebbles, I was playing ‘Army’ a game I regularly played. I was shooed from the T.V about an hour before. My parent wanted to watch the ‘News’. As a kid, I thought the news sucked. It was a regular child’s brain. News was boring. It was getting dark, around six thirty. My parents called me in, they said I had to go to bed. “But why?” I asked. Seeing as it was only around seven. They didn’t respond, only carried me up to my room, and tucked me in. I stayed awake for about twenty minutes, before my mind just shut off; and I fell asleep.

I woke up, with a jerk. Something had waked me, but I didn’t know what it was. My ears were ringing, and I sat up. I looked over at my rusty clock. It was almost three in the morning. I groaned and lay back down. I remember it so vividly. I fell asleep, and woke again with a jerk. It had only been an hour since I had previously woken. I looked around my room. It felt cold, even though it was the middle of summer. And I had the covers over me, I looked at my closet. Like other kids back then. The word monster made me cry in fear. The closet was open. I sucked in breath, and dove under the covers. I’m sure kids these days, would simply just brush it off; and go back to sleep. But in the 90’s it was different. I sat under the covers, shivering due to the cold. I heard a tap on my window. Being a fairly smart kid, I stayed put. I fell asleep again. But woke with  hard rough objects brushing my skin. I lifted the covers off. My bed was filled with pebbles. I screamed and ran out of bed. But was stopped by a looming figure in the doorway. “Hello”, it croaked in a dry raspy voice. I screamed. I ran into the closet, and shut the door. I sat there for hours. I was crying and filled with fear. “MOM!” I shouted out of my closet. There was no answer. “MOM HELP” I screamed again, my voice filled with terror. I somehow fell asleep in the closet. And woke the next day. I don’t know what happened, nor will I ever understand it. What did the pebbles have to do with anything? Why was my bed filled with them, and why was there a figure there? I don’t know how pebbles or the figure were related, but somewhere in my mind, I remember the night like it was yesterday.