#NaNoWriMo 2017 Short Story #8 of 10 — Boxes and Boxes

“Jacob get upstairs right this minute! Jacob it is time to eat!” Mom was always screaming about something. It must have been her way of getting out some frustration. Meanwhile, I, Jacob the Great, was saving the Universe.

Downstairs, buried in boxes that compromised my jet fighter, I was battling the alien menace.

“I got this bros. Just follow me! Pew Pew Pew!” Down went the mothership. The citizens of the world cheered as I made my return. Unfortunately, I had to cut the celebration short.

It was time for dinner.

Trudging up the stairs, I was reluctant to leave my post. But mother knows best. When chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches were on the menu, even the most noble captain has to stand down and go enjoy the meal.

At the top of the stairs was a door, and on the other side, leaving my world, was the kitchen. The smells wafted through the opening as I crossed the threshold, abandoning my people in the pursuit of sustenance.

My mom greeted me. “How was playtime honey?”

Breathing deeply, I let out a big sigh, rolled my eyes, and answered. “Mom, I wasn’t playing. I was battling the Lizardnauts to save the universe from destruction. You know this!” Mother frowns slight, and I realized I was out of line to speak like that. I needed to switch leaving my world behind and coming back to reality. “Sorry mom. Thanks for dinner.”

Eating quickly, I wanted to get energy in me as soon as possible so I could get back to my mission. My ship needed repairs, so I would need to rummage through the recycling to find some more boxes to fill out the body. When in a dogfight, you are bound to take some hits. Thankfully, there were always plenty of boxes around. Boxes and boxes as far as the eye could see. Why we had so many, I didn’t really know. But I wasn’t complaining.

After scarfing down my meal, I was about to dart to the basement when mom gave a little “hem hem” that stopped me cold.

“Umm…are you forgetting something Jacob?”

I thought hard. Then it hit me. It was a Sunday night. That meant a shower, room cleaning, and an early bedtime for school in the morning. “Ugh…okay. I guess the universe will have to hang on another day.”

“I’m sure it will wait for you!” she said, reassuringly. Clearly she wasn’t aware of the crucial role I played in our offensive capabilities. Oh well. Like as an 11 year old would often go that way. Up to my room I trudged to take care of my boring duties for the night. Whether it was brushing my teeth, washing my hair, or organizing my room, my mind was on the boxes. Tomorrow afternoon couldn’t come soon enough.

After a restless night of sleep worried about the fate of the planet, it was time to head to school. Fifth grade was proving to be a big year for me. For the first time, I had someone I could truly call a best friend. His name was Chris, and he also had his own space fighter at home. Sometimes, we would adventure together, tag teaming the evil alien enemies. It is always good to have a buddy.

Our teacher, Mrs. Hart, was also a big reason that I enjoyed fifth grade. She made learning fun and always kept us on our feet. One day we were running around the courtyard of the school for math, the next day we were building out of cardboard for science. Never have I enjoyed school as much as this year. I was comfortable in class, with friends, and never dreaded a day.

When I got home from school that Monday, my mom sat me down on the couch to talk to me. She started crying as she was looking for the words to say.

Concerned, I expressed my feelings. “Mom? What’s wrong? You can talk to me!”

Sniffling, and then composing herself, she replied. “Honey, I have some good news that is going to be hard for you to hear right now. You might think it is bad news. But please just understand.”

A sinking feeling developed inside of me. It was almost if I knew what was coming.

Mom continued. “I know it has been hard since, you know, your father passed away. Trust me. Working to support you hasn’t been easy but I want to do whatever it takes to make sure you have a good life. Well…right now, that means I’m taking a new job in Milwaukee. Sweetheart…we will have to move by the end of the month.”

Like a cannonball shot straight to my stomach, the weight of her words knocked me back. Stunned, all I could do was stare at her. It was almost like losing my dad all over again. Sudden and unexpected, his passing devastated me. He was my everything. Now, three years later, life was finally starting to feel whole again. Now this? Without saying a word, I simply ran down stairs to enter the cockpit and do what I do best — destroy aliens. I thought I heard my mom chase after me, but it may have just been in my head.

“Krrrrr…General Hopkins I’m back on the scene. We’re taking losses I can see, but not for long, I got this.” My craft took off and zoomed into the sky, then into space. Lizardnaut ships were everywhere. They really had taken over since the last time I was on the patrol. Time to change that. Banking hard while being chased, I performed a flip in the air, ending up on their tail. Boom. Boom. Two missiles and two aliens dead. Laser shots go flying past my wings as I dip and dive through the crowded orbit. Our Earth makes a surreal backdrop to the intense action happening in zero gravity. Boom. Boom. Two more Lizardnauts dead. The tide is turning. Soon, the battle will be ours. After zipping past a formation of our ships, I lead the final charge against the remaining enemy fleet, deploying my mega blasters. Blam blam blam. Between my ultimate weapon and the support fire behind me, the scum stood no chance. We won the day!

Off in the distance, I heard a quiet, voice, almost as if coming through a fog. It kept repeating, until it finally broke through my mental barrier.

“HONEY. Dinner! Come on up!” It was mom again. Suddenly, I remember the conversation and everything that had happened prior to the dogfight. Upon exiting the cockpit and heading up the stairs, all the emotions finally hit me. I sat on the top step, sobbing loudly. My friends. My teacher. My home. My ship. We would have to leave everything good about life behind. Tears streamed as I felt a warm embrace from behind me, pulling me to my feet and into the kitchen.

“Oh dear, I’m so sorry. I know this is hard for you.” Her attempt to console me was admirable, but ultimately I was too upset to hear.

“NO! You don’t know how hard this is. This is like losing dad all over again, but worse. He lived here, and not only are we leaving everything else. We are leaving him too. Why? Why??” My voice cracked through my frustrated screams.

“Jacob, you know why. It has to be done if you want to have a good life. One day you will look back and understand, but I don’t expect you to now.” Smiling, she leaned back in to hug me again. Too weak to fight her off, I just melted into her loving embrace, accepting my fate. We would be leaving. I would have to start all over again.

The rest of that week was a struggle. School lost all meaning to me as I found myself day dreaming through my classes. Mrs. Hart pulled me aside to talk about it, but I just shrugged and told her I was “fine.” We both knew I was lying, but she let me be. Even Chris’ jokes weren’t enough to get me to crack a smile. After all, in a month, I would probably never see him again. What point was there in pretending otherwise? Might as well start the separation now.

Then, things got worse.

Three weeks before we were set to move, I made my routine trip to the basement to board my vessel to travel through space and work to exterminate the evil Lizardnauts. Something was wrong. Inspecting my ship, I realized the problem — several of the boxes that comprised my ship were missing! Had the Lizardnauts sabotaged my vehicle, or was something more nefarious at work? I scrambled to make repairs before the rest of the advancing fleet left me behind. It wouldn’t have all of the capabilities it did before, but it would have to work.

The limits were apparent as I went into battle. Missing were a couple missile launchers, meaning my moves had to be more precise and it took more shots to take down the enemy fighters. Our side struggled without my ability to strike down the alien menace with a single strike, and it took all of our cunning and strategy to win the battle at hand. Once the mission was complete, I set out to discover what happened to my ship.

Upstairs in the house, the answer was there. Boxes, once a part of my ship, were now stuffed with things. Books. Knick Knacks. Random other artifacts from our house. My mom was using parts of my ship to move things away from here. She had betrayed me again. I stormed up to my room and slammed my door hard. Later, I thought I heard my mother knocking softly and asking to come in, but I simply buried my head in my pillow and tried to drift away while the world around me fell apart.

As the week progressed, fewer and fewer boxes were available for my ship. Each day, I had to reconfigure my spacecraft in new and novel ways just to keep it afloat. No more missiles. Low grade turrets. Slower evasive maneuvers. The protector fleet was concerned about what was happening, clear that some strange conspiracy was afoot. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that my mother was the one responsible for all of this. It came to a head on a Friday afternoon, just two weeks before we would be leaving.

Angry from the continued depletion of my resources, I stormed upstairs and flipped over several boxes, emptying them, and in some cases, breaking contents inside. Proud of my conquest, I gathered the now free boxes and took them down the stairs. When my mother came home, she was furious with me.

“Jacob Arnold Ventor get up here right this minute!” Her voice was like a knife, forcing me to make a premature landing, and cutting me deep. In that moment, all the shame I should have felt for what I did came flooding to the surface. Knowing my fate, I slogged up the stairs to face the music. Passing through the door, I walked into the living room, coming face to face with my mom, whose face was red and wet.

“What is the meaning of this? Is this how you show your feelings now? By breaking our nice things? I know this is tough, and I am willing to give you a pass on some things, but this behavior is ridiculous. For the next week, you are grounded. That means no basement and no time with friends on the weekends. Now, you will bring me six boxes from down stairs, help me pack them, and then it will be up to your room. I’ll bring you dinner. You need to think about what you’ve done.”

This struck me to the core. In one realm, I was leading the charge and taking down the enemy. In this world, all I could seem to do was disappoint my mother. Defeated and ashamed, I slowly made my way back down the stairs to fetch the materials that were requested. Removing six boxes left me with only four left, barely enough for a mini cruiser. My last week as a part of the protector fleet might be my most ineffective. I would have to mourn this development later.

While packing the boxes upstairs with my mom, I thought about how, to her, these boxes were also a ship in a way. They helped her transport things. They made it possible to move and bring important objects from our house with us. Without boxes, my mom couldn’t be happy, just like I couldn’t. Right now, maybe I needed to think more about her happiness than my own. After all, she was the one single handedly taking care of me. This move was all because she was trying to improve my life. Make it better. It was about time I started to treat her like the queen she was.

It was a tough week to have to stay away from my duty as a protector, but it really helped me appreciate the opportunities I had to defend the world. How lucky I was to be able to build such an impressive fighter space ship and how awesome it was to be able to do that every day after school. Even though I would be leaving this place with all it meant to me, new adventures could be had elsewhere. I just needed to be open to it.

Chris and I had a fun last week at school. I even stayed over at his house on the Monday night. He had a ton of boxes at his place. We took an hour building two of the most impressive star fighters you would ever see. Together, we fought against the Lizardnauts and rid the galaxy of their horrible species. Crying out in victory, our celebration hid the fact that it would be real soon. I would be gone and Chris and I wouldn’t be friends anymore. However, hoping for the best, we chose to say see you later instead of goodbye.

On Friday, school was a bit of a somber scene. Not only was I leaving, but it was also May, so I had been in this classroom for the entire year. A lot of my classmates cried, and so did Mrs. Hart. It was a hard day. When I got home from school, I knew I didn’t have much time. As my mother had told me, I needed to make sure my stuff was packed up so we could head out first thing in the morning. Once I was home, I scurried downstairs. One box remained. I flipped it over, put it over my head, and then crouched on the ground.

I was in an escape pod, falling back into the Earth’s atmosphere. My ship has just been shot down, but I was determined to survive. Landed with a soft thud in the middle of an unfamiliar place, it was time to abandon this fight in search for another. Removing the box, I made the last trek up the stairs. The campaign was officially over.

The next morning, we woke up, packed the van, and made our way to Milwaukee. Driving straight through, we made great time, arriving just after lunch. Spending the day unpacking boxes and putting things away was exhausting, but at the end of the day, I realized that things were already starting to look up. After all, I had boxes and boxes to rebuild my ship with again!