• The following links are links to prior chapters of this story:
    The Nightmare of Life-Ch. 1 http://www.gaiaonline.com/arena/writing/fiction/vote/?entry_id=101030791#title

    The Nightmare of Life-Ch. 2
    http://gaiaonline.com/arena/writing/fiction/vote/?entry_id=101033423#title










    Jimmy could hardly understand why he was being so juvenile as he pranced down the street and shook random people's hand.

    His life had been changed since that fateful day. And so fast, so abruptly, he could hardly stand it.

    He returned to that apartment, and was greeted heartily. The mother and Jimmy sat on a couch, watching an old cartoon of Mickey Mouse.

    "Where's your kid?" Jimmy asked, breaking the long streak of silence.

    "School. Like any normal boy." Those words stabbed him like a knife. Any normal kid, huh? Well, I suppose Jimmy really wasn't normal in the first place, was he?

    "Ah, this is odd," Jimmy said presumtuosly to the mother, changing the subject. "I seem to know you well enough, yet I don't even know your name." The mother looked at him, her eyes warmly twinkling as she replied,

    "Caroline. Caroline...Coosicks." Jimmy recoiled backwards, utter confusion and shock boggling through his brain. What did she just say? Caroline...Coosick? No...no that couldn't be right. If that were true, that would mean...no...

    "Caroline...Coosicks...you sure?" Caroline laughed humorously, as if he were pulling a joke. Although Jimmy was dead serious.

    "Yes, I'm quite sure I know what my name is." She paused, then asked, "What's yours?" Jimmy didn't answer. He couldn't, for he was trying to absorb the mass of information Caroline had just told her without her even knowing it.

    "Your name?" she repeated, and suddenly, Jimmy snapped to reality.

    "Uh...um, Jimmy Coo..." He stopped. He couldn't bring himself to say his last name, for he feared the worst, and instead simply stated, "Jimmy." Caroline looked perplexed for a moment, and it was clear she was unconvinced that she had gotten the full answer. But she pressed no further, and silence, again, reigned in the room.

    Jimmy left the apartment early, gone with the escatic attitude. What was going on? Was that her sister? Was it just coincidence? Questions scrolled down through his mind, and in his untameable, burning frustration, he pounded his hand fist against a brick wall of a building with all his might, blood trickling down from his knuckling, and eventually plip-plopping to the sidewalk. And then, abruptly and without warning, Jimmy started pouting like a two year old. He was so happy...and then he was reminded...reminded of that day...

    As I stated already, good things never last forever.