Never Say Never

A short story based on a strange conversation with friends.

Never Say Never

 

Jack was searching around the field behind his house one day when he stumbled across a strange plastic tube. The tube was dirty and covered in mud. Jack wiped away the mud and popped open the container. He looked down inside and found a scroll of paper. He pulled out the paper and unrolled it. It was blank except for a strange swirls design at the top and the rips along the sides. Jack decided to keep it and rolled it up into his pocket and went back home.

 

 

          While Jack was rummaging through his room searching for his book which he needed for homework, he had left the scroll of paper rolled up on his desk. “I can never find that book I swear”. Jack said angrily. Suddenly, he heard a scratching noise behind him. He spun around and looked down at the rolled out scroll. Words were mysteriously forming on the paper without anyone being there. Jack blinked in amazement. The words spelled out the sentence: Never can find science book. Jack blinked again just as box scrawled up next to the sentence. Then a messy check mark scratched into the box. Jack’s eyebrows raised in confusion. A loud thud sounded behind him. Jack turned and looked down at the floor. His school book was resting on the carpet. “How the- Jack started to say as he picked up the book. He looked back at the scroll which had gone blank once more.

 

 

          While at school Jack unrolled scroll and showed his friends the blank page. “There’s nothing on it” Larry scoffed. “That’s just a piece of paper” Tom laughed. “You’re crazy”. Jeremy said jokingly. Jack pressed onward. “No really, just say you never did something and it happens I’m serious”. Larry rolled his eyes. “Fine. I never fell down”. Tom looked at him. “That’s not true you tripped last week”. Larry groaned. “Okay, I never fell today”. The scratching noise sounded on the paper. Jack moved it to his face and watched as the words formed boldly; never fallen today. A small box wrote in next to it. Jack’s eyes widened and he flipped the paper over to show them. Larry looked at it. “You just wrote that didn’t you”? Jack shook his head. “No, I saw him. He never had a pencil or anything”. Tom said. Another patch of words rolled in below that. Never had a pencil. Then out of nowhere a pencil appeared in Jack’s hand. Larry looked at him like he was crazy then he suddenly fell over onto the ground. Both boxes on the paper checked together with a black check mark. Jack dropped the pencil and turned the paper to his group. Larry stood up looking bewildered. “So it does work”. Jeremy said surprised. Jack turned the paper back around just as the words faded out of sight. “We gotta be careful with this”. Jack said “Screw that”. Larry blurted snatching the paper away. “Uh, what have I always wanted? Oh! I never had a million dollars”! Jack grabbed the paper back. “That’s all you could think of”? The paper remained blank. “Why isn’t it working”! Larry shouted holding out his hands. Jack looked down at the paper which still remained static. “What a joke, that thing is glitchy”. Larry snarled just as the bell wrung. Jack rolled the paper back up into his backpack.

 

 

          When Jack was back at school with his friends Larry came running at them. His face looked terrified and his hair had bits of blonde strands hanging off of it. “What the heck happened to you”? Jeremy asked staring at his head. “I woke up and there were dolls, a lot of dolls! Like I mean thousands or something. I could barley get out of my room”! Jack pulled out the paper and looked at it surprised to see the statement: Never had a million doll hairs. There was a checked box sitting next to it. Jack showed everyone the paper. Larry snorted annoyed by the paper. “That stupid thing owes an explanation to my parents”. Jack rolled it back up and stuffed it into his pocket. “We better be careful what we say around this thing”. Larry glared at him. “Just dump that thing, we don’t need it”. Jack shook his head. “And let some other person accidentally get hurt by this thing? No”. Jeremy was chatting with someone who was standing next to him. “Yeah, that car nearly hit me this morning, it bumped me. Could have took my leg off I tell ya”. Jeremy nodded. “Yeah, I’ve never been hit by a car. Lucky I guess”. Jeremy’s hands clasped over his mouth as his vision shot to the paper in Jack’s pocket. Jack pulled it out and as according to plan, the words “Never been hit by a car” were scribbled onto the parchment. Jeremy jumped as he noticed how close they were standing to the road out front of the school. “No! Why did I say that”! Jeremy said smacking himself. Tom grabbed his shoulder. “Jeremy stay calm, just avoid the road, maybe if one hits you it won’t kill you”. Jeremy looked at him annoyed. “Oh goody, get hit by a car but not enough to kill you”. Larry shrugged. “You didn’t specify how or what would happen”. Jeremy jumped as he felt something bump into his leg. He turned around and noticed a small R.C. car had run into his leg. “What the heck”. A small kid ran up and grabbed it. “Sorry, didn’t see you”. He ran away with the toy behind a wall and out of sight. Jack saw the box next to the statement cross out and disappear. “This is just stupid” Larry snorted. “It doesn’t hurt you, it’s just playing games. How about this you stupid paper, I never broke a bone. How bout that huh”? Jack shook as the same statement scrawled onto the paper. “Larry, I don’t think that was good idea”. Larry laughed. “Watch, I’ll probably end up crunching a dog biscuit or something”. The group walked up the stairs back towards the school when a couple kids came running past them. “Whoa watch it brats”! Larry said shoving one of them. “Larry watch out”! Larry toppled backwards onto the ground and fell down on his head. Blood seeped out of his mouth as he slumped onto the pavement. “Oh my god”. Jack sputtered watching the motionless corpse. He looked down at the paper which just checked off the previous statement.

 

 

          After the incident, Jack had kept the scroll tucked in his backpack. Multiple things had happened while fellow students made the mistake of saying never. Multiple injuries and several strange happenings insured. “Dude, we really need to get rid of that damn paper”. Jeremy said shivering. Tom nodded in agreement. “This is crazy; I almost wish I never was born at this point”. Tom sputtered but then looked up. “NO”!! Out of thin air Tom vanished. Jack and Jeremy were all that was left. Jack didn’t dare look at the paper knowing what he would see. “That’s it, we’re getting rid of it. Tonight”. Jeremy stared at him and shook his head. “No man, I ain’t going with you. I wish I never met you”. Then like Tom, Jeremy disappeared. Jack was alone now. He had to destroy the scroll once and for all.

 

 

          Jeremy wasn’t on the block anymore, his house was now occupied by an old couple. And Tom’s house now didn’t exist but now was replaced by an open field. Jack walked down the lonely cul-de-sack and walked into his house. His mom and dad weren’t home. Jack knew what to do. He lit a fire in the fire place and let it kindle into a huge flame. He pulled the scroll out from his pocket and rolled it out looking at its blank pages. “How about this, never say never”. He mumbled as he tossed the tattered pages into the fireplace. The pages began to ignite and char. Jack stood up and walked away sitting into the one arm chair. The piece of paper began to make the familer scratching noise from inside the fire. Written very poorly and quickly were the words: Never been set on fire. A small square shape burned through the paper followed by a check mark shape cutting through the square. 

Author's Note

This writing does have some mature themes (not sex). I only put it as teen to avoid the "Mature content" warning screen. Just a heads up.

Reviews

[SomeTypeOfArtist]

Hey, this was a pretty interesting story with a great concept! I loved the idea of this haunted piece of paper that's forcing reality to change at the whim of those around it. This would be a great piece to expand, if you were interested in it. I'm sure there are a ton of more creepy stuff you could add! The only things I would say to look out for are just grammar related things (like adding more commas, putting punctuation inside quotations marks, etc.) and eliminating unnecessary words (like at the beginning of the second paragraph, you don't need to tell the readers that he needs the science book for homework because we're already under the assumption he needs it for something related to school). Other than that, great story, I really enjoyed reading it! : )