My Time Awaits

My alarm woke me up too early for my liking. I opened my bleary eyes and glanced at it—six in the morning, time to get ready. I groaned and clumsily slapped the buttons, hoping to turn it off.

"Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up." I mumbled sleepily. I laid awake for a minute, just staring at my ceiling and my bare walls. I would have loved to have my secret collection of wrestling posters adjourn them, but my parents would flip out if they saw them.

“ There are no false idols allowed in our house,” I could hear them exclaim. See my parents are really religious, in fact my whole town of Glever. Although the doctrine they follow is weird. Most residents of Glever follow a sect of Christianity known as The Trinity’s Nexus, established by Richard Jacobs Glever in 1821 in what would become the town of Glever. He claimed to be sent as an emissary from God to regather the flock for the coming Judgement Day. Before long he had convinced all of the town’s populace.

Since then, as the grew into a mining town over the years, so did the church. Generations has been raised in the church and in turn raised their children the same way. It was rare for someone who had been born in Glever to walk away, mainly because the church saw walking away no different from dying. Those who walked away were effectively outcasts in the community. Personally I had always believed the whole thing to be nothing but bullshit. I’d never say as much to my parents though, it would break their hearts.

As my alarm continued to blare, I resigned myself to the fact I had to go to school. I got my set of clothes from my closet and stumbled to the bathroom. After showering, brushing my teeth, combing my hair, rubbing my brown eyes, and getting dressed, I went downstairs for breakfast.

My older brother, by two years, Mark was eating dry toast, his brown eyes reading a thick brown letter bound book with gold text on the otherwise blank cover. “ The Testament of Glever.” The so called holy book Daniel Glever had written that held all the numerous rules for our religion. Mark read the book three times a day and carried it around with him everywhere. I don’t get it. I thought, staring at my brother. Mark is very smart, he could go on to any college he wants. Instead he’s decided he wants to become the next High Priest of the church.

Across from him was my older sister, Noel, little miss perfect. She had our mom's long brown hair and green eyes. Straight As, she was the head of several clubs, played on the varsity team in basketball and volleyball. She was so athletic she could probably get a full scholarship somewhere and maybe even play either sport professional. But because of the church’s demand that children honor their parent’s wishes, Noel had decided to follow our mother’s footsteps of doing office work for the local mine once she graduated next year.

I muttered a good morning to them both and grabbed Instant oatmeal and made myself a bowl then put it in the microwave. Once the required time had lapsed I grabbed the bowl from the microwave and sat at the table, Mark gave me a friendly smile.

” Good morning Josh! Looking forward to today?”

” Hardly,” I replied with a smile. “ I wish I was in the same boat as you, starting my first day of my senior year.”

” You say that now but just wait until adulthood is staring at you in the face. You’ll find yourself wishing for just one more year to not have to worry about it. In just a few years I’ll have a wife kids and before long I’ll have the whole congregation to lead,” he said with a dramatic groan.

“ At least you know what you’ll be doing,” I said, trying to sound upbeat.

“ You’ll know what your calling is soon. Maybe dad will have you take over the store,” Mark face with a big smile with his response.

” Yeah maybe,” I said. I couldn’t tell him the truth, close as we were. I wasn’t sticking around after I graduated. I knew if I did, I would be expected to follow in the footsteps of some family member with the blessing of my parents. If they knew I was training to be a professional wrestler they’d be furious. A core belief of our church is to not seek the validation of man. Any career that allowed the possibility of fame and fortune was strictly prohibited. I ate quickly, grabbed my backpack, and left my house, declining my sister’s offer to drive me to school.

I started walking, thinking about how I needed to find a way to get a car. Luckily I lived only a half-hour walk from school, and it was a lovely, crisp, sunny fall Montana morning. So I didn't mind walking. Besides, Montana's crazy weather system meant it would start snowing before long. Got to enjoy this while I can.

I eventually made it to school, despite several intentional detours. It was a big old red brick building that has been around for over a hundred years. Everyone said it was haunted, supposedly the bleachers in the second-floor gym collapsed with a bunch of kids sitting in the bleachers. I don't believe the story since I've never seen it documented anywhere. Of course, many others said they had seen ghosts. A few of my friends had gotten suspended for going ghost hunting in the school after classes had ended.

I ignored the general chaos around me and went to my locker. I entered my combination and grabbed my textbook. The first class of the day was Homeroom, and after that, it was Algebra 2, Biology, World history then Lunch, Weight Lifting, Geography and Government, and then English. I groaned as I read my schedule, I already knew I would hate half my classes. It's going to be a long year, I thought glumly.

I went to each of my classes, which was just the teachers explaining what their respective group of students could expect for the year. To me, it sounded like a lot of work that I wasn't motivated to do. I inwardly groaned, just thinking of all the schoolwork I was going to have to do. I sighed in relief once the final bell of the day rang. I hurried to my locker and dumped my books in my locker before rushing out of the school. After buying a Coke at a nearby gas station, I started to walk to Travis' farm to "work," as far as my parents knew, I worked as a farmhand for him.

It took me an hour and fifteen minutes to walk from the school to the farm. By the time I got there, everyone else that attended the wrestling school was working out. Brooklyn, who was also a trainer, made me run laps the entire time I was there for showing up late. That was the reason Brooklyn gave, but I know it's because she is a sadist who enjoys making her friends suffer. Luckily Travis gave me a ride after training back to my house, which is good because I honestly don't think I could manage the walk to my house.

As soon as I got home, I hopped in the shower and went to my room. I shut the door, collapsed on my bed and fell asleep. I woke up when to the sound of my phone going off. I sat up and fumbled for my phone in the darkness that had replaced the sunlight that shone through my bedroom window.

"Hello?" I mumbled.

"Hey Josh, it's me," Travis said.

"Hey, Travis, what's up?" I asked, swinging my legs over the side of my bed and rubbed my eyes.

"Just wanted to let you know that not this Wednesday, but next Wednesday, you're debuting on Treasure State Wrestling cause I need an opponent for Nick Garcia cause Frankie Mendoza is hurt."

My eyes widened at this, and my grogginess vanished. I had been training for six months now in the hopes of earning a chance to wrestle on Travis' show.

"Thank you. Thank you so much!" I said, unable to contain my excitement.

"You're welcome kid. You've improved a lot since you started training. You're ready for this. I'll talk to you more about the match tomorrow when I see you. Have a good night."

I sat there frozen after a few seconds, Travis hung up. I couldn't believe it. A huge grin appeared on my face, and I jumped out of bed and did a stupid dance for celebration. Once I had gotten that out of my system, I got back in bed and tried to fall back asleep, wishing next Wednesday was tomorrow.

My mind was whirling with thoughts of my upcoming professional debut. It wasn’t like I would be main eventing the Tokyo Dome, although that was certainly a goal I had. I love Japanese wrestling, one of the reasons I decided to train was so I could eventually make it to the Tokyo Dome. My phone going off startled me from my thoughts. I fumbled for the phone in my pocket, grabbing it after a few minutes.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Yo, dude, what are you doing?” Gunner asked.

"Nothing much, why?”

” You should hang out with Brooklyn and me tonight. She got her hands on fireworks.”

” Sure I’m down but you guys would have to come pick me up once my mom and dad go to bed. Some of us have to sneak out of our houses to go have fun."

"It's nearly eleven! How long does it take for your parents to go to bed?"

"They should go to bed any second now; It shouldn't be that much longer. Look dude, I’m not trying to have a repeat of last time. I’m not copying all those Bible verses again.” Last time I had sneaked out of my house to do something with friends, we had run into police, and because my town had a curfew for those under sixteen, we were rounded up and taken home. My parents had been furious,, claiming I had shamed them and God. As a punishment I had to copy whole books of the Bible, handwritten.

"Look, just relax, alright? I got to go, I'll text you guys when I'm ready," I said, hanging up the phone. I waited in silent anticipation for my siblings and parents to go to bed. Since it was a night we had school and my parents had to be up early for work, I didn't have long to wait. After waiting for a half-hour, I slowly opened my door to see a darkened hallway. I texted Gunner and Brooklyn and told them to be ready in my driveway within five minutes. After putting on a navy blue jacket and shoes, I shut off my bedroom light and stepped into the hall.

I honestly don't think I breathed once as I went downstairs. After silently making it down the stairs, I headed for the back door. As I walked through the living room, I rammed my shin into the corner of the couch. I bit my tongue as I jumped on my left foot. Shit shit shit! I thought. Once the pain faded, I set my foot back down. I stood in the darkness, waiting to see if I had woken anyone. Once I was confident I hadn't, I continued through the living room, through the kitchen, and out the back door. Once I was outside, I hurried to my driveway and jumped in the backseat of Brooklyn's car.

"We were starting to think you got caught," Brooklyn said as she backed her car up and drove away.

"What can I say, I am pretty much a ninja," I boasted while rubbing my shin. Yeah, no, I'm not.

A small Wal-Mart plastic bag contained the fireworks we were planning to fire off at a local pond. We made small talk as we drove to our destination, mainly how much we all hated the Atlanta Falcons and how our mutually preferred football team, the New Orleans Saints were going to win the Superbowl. When we made it to the pond, we grabbed our fireworks and a case of Dr. Pepper. We used the flashlights on our phones to walk to the shore. We grabbed a soda each and prepared to light the first firework.

"Josh, would you like to do the honors?" Brooklyn asked, handing me the lighter.

"Before I do, I want to say something. Brooklyn, when I was five, I went with you to watch your dad's last match. I sat in the front row, and I was enamored. The lights, the crowds, everything was a whole new world opened to me. I sat there, and I said, 'I'm doing this someday.' And now, this Wednesday, I start my professional career. Not in some wrestling school but in an actual federation!"

We slammed our cans together then I lit the first firework. All thoughts of being cautious left as we lit the fireworks, cheering and listening to loud music. So it was no surprise when we spotted the police lights headed our way sometime later.

"Oh, fuck!" Gunner whispered, even in the limited visibility, I could tell his eyes were wide as saucers.

"We gotta go!" Brooklyn yelled. No arguments came from either Gunner or me as we dove in the car. We didn't even bother buckling up as Brooklyn drove away from the pond shore. Gunner and I bounced around the car as Brooklyn navigated a nearby bumpy dirt road through some woodland.

"This is a terrible idea! We should have just talked to them!" Gunner yelled.

"I'm not going to jail!" Brooklyn yelled back.

” We might go to jail if we talk to them!” Gunner retorted.

” We shot off fireworks as minors! You know how the cops feel about that!”’Brooklyn screeched angrily.

"Hey I'd rather go to jail than have my parents find out!" I yelled.

" Seriously, Brooklyn, can you hurry up?! The cops are gaining on us!" Gunner said, his voice high pitched. If I weren't about to piss myself from fear, I would have found it funny.

" Oh gee, Gunner, I hadn't noticed- Shut the fuck up!" Brooklyn snapped, sarcasm dripping from her voice. Even though she was scared, her tone was harsh and loud.

" You don't have to be so damn rude; this was your idea!" Gunner fired back.

" Yeah, he's not wrong, Brooklyn," I added and regretted immediately. Brooklyn was a pro at giving evil eyes, and this one she gave me from the rearview mirror made me even more scared.

"If you want, I can drop you two off right here so you can talk to the cops!" Brooklyn screamed. That caused the two of us to shut up. I had never been so terrified in my life. The cop's lights and siren told me the cop wasn't far behind. I wanted to see how much of a lead we had on him, but I was scared he'd be able to see my face from the driver's seat. Instead of that, I crouched behind the passenger seat, as if that was going to do anything. We are dumbasses!

I'll tell you what; I'll never take the fact I'm from a small Montana town with plenty of backroads for granted again. Due to the abundance of back roads in Glever Montana, we were able to lose the cops. I was covered in sweat and had tears in my eyes. I was even praying to God, promising I'd never do anything wrong again if he helped us evade the cops, and I couldn't tell you the last time I had honestly done that. Most of the time on church I only pretended to do I doing arouse suspicion. And judging by Gunner's pale face and Brooklyn's anxious muttering, they were as terrified as I was.

Not wanting to test our luck, we hid out until we were confident the cops had to have given up. None of us said a word as Brooklyn drove me back to my house and dropped me off. I was trembling, unable to believe we had not gotten caught. Checking my phone, I saw it was nearly four in the morning. I was so rattled, I almost forgot to be quiet when I entered my house.

At the last second, I remembered I wasn't quite in the clear and made sure the door closed silently. I crept up the stairs and made it in my room. I closed the door and locked it before sinking to my knees in relief. The tears I had been holding back during the chase came out. I didn't even bother undressing as I collapsed on my bed, but I didn't get a wink of sleep; I just watched the minutes pass on my alarm clock until my alarm went off at six a.m.

"Damn it," I muttered, now staring at my ceiling. It's going to be a bad day.