Monday, November 30, 2015

"Just One More Time" a short story by Austin Paik

Just One More Time
Just one more time I promised myself.
 “Alright ill do it man” I said as I grabbed the roach.
 I promised myself again yesterday that I would quit smoking pot, and this was probably the millionth time I have broken it. And so there I was, getting high once again. It felt good alright; music that originally wouldn’t have stood out to me turned into the most intriguing sounds I have ever heard in my life. I was so happy on the inside, I did not realize what I looked like on the outside.
My name’s Josh, and I have been smoking pot for three years now. I started because my friends were into it, and since they were my friends I got into it too. Not too special of a reason. Anyways, ever since I started, my grades have noticeably dropped, and I lost interest in almost everything aside from setting the plant on fire. The only thing I could sort of call a hobby was the art of fighting; a lot of the stoner “community” encouraged people to fight each other because it was our way of determining who “the man” was. If you’re confused by what “the man” is, it is someone that you and your friends respect, and all the girls admire. Now after living this lifestyle for a good portion of my life, I’ve decided that I don’t really want to be chained by the marijuana plant. I want to quit smoking for good, and pursue a successful life. But once you’re in the community, it is very hard to get out.
So there I was again, hanging with my so called “friends” enjoying my high. Darn, I failed myself again. I always regret succumbing to my addiction and peer pressure which I feel is a good thing, but I end up forgetting about it after another hit or two.
“Alright guys, what do ya’ll want to do now” asked one friend.
 “Let’s go get something to eat” replied another.
 That was a sound plan, noticing how hungry I was; so we all decided to go to a local convenience store. After we got there we realized that none of us had any money, so we couldn’t BUY anything to eat. Then came up the ideas.
“Cmon man we’ll just steal some food” said a friend.
“Nah dude, its enough that I got high with you guys, but I don’t want to steal no more; plus, we’ve been to this store a hundred times, so the workers know us man” I replied.
“Man don’t be a wuss, we will just do it one last time, and you never have to smoke and steal again!”
 I have probably heard that a billion times, but every time I hear it, it’s almost like the devil convincing Eve to take the apple; it sounded so appealing. One last time, I thought. It made it seem like I could almost do what I wanted again, without any consequences.
 “Alright” I said hesitantly.
So we all went inside and grabbed all the food we wanted, until our bags were full. As we were about to leave, the clerk asked if we needed anything while having a suspicious look, but we just said no and left.
“Man that was close, the cashier was on to us!” I told my friends.
That was surely the last time I would steal anything from anywhere, I promised myself.
After getting food, we decided to go to the park to feast on our success. This was a typical day for us, just getting high, eating, and hanging out. Now just as we are talking about ideas that seemed so smart but never actually tried to make happen, one of my friends brought up something about a person that I dislike.
“He was talking so much s*** about how you’re soft, and about your family, and disrespected you a ton man; he lives right there, so we should do something to him” he told us.
  We had empty bottles and wrappers from our meal, so we decided to throw them all onto my enemy’s property. It felt good trashing his house, knowing that he had ran his mouth about me and my kin. I was about to throw the last bottle as I hear a sudden blaring noise; it was the cops. Thanks to our instincts we instantly started running away; my friends had went one way but I ended up running another way by myself. The cop decided that he wanted to chase me instead, and ran after me as I sprinted as fast as I could away from the scene. My heart was beating so fast I felt as though my chest was about to explode. I instantly regretted violating the kid’s property, and I prayed to God asking for mercy just this one time, and that I would never, ever, EVER, do anything bad again. Please Lord, just one more time!
I got tackled by the officer, and fell onto the floor.
“Hey buddy, you’re under arrest,” he told me as he put on the handcuffs.
Looking back at it now, I am actually proud of myself because I did end up keeping my promise; that was the last time I ever committed a crime.

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