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GrunkleStanwhich t1_j5ws905 wrote

I was not born special. The event of my birth was as normal as any other child, a run of the mill baby with run of the mill parents in a house far too cramped and a head far too big for my neck. Yet despite the absolute mundaneness of my birth, my parents loved me as if the world had become anchored around my existence. For them I think it really did.

The house in which I was raised was only special to us, and only because it was ours. To any passerby, any wandering eye on the sidewalk who glared into the windows, they would read our lives as nothing but simple. As a mother who cooked and a father who worked. A child with a sensible amount of curiosity and another who died young. But that wasn't notable, that was just life. That was my life.

But of course, somewhere along the way, I thought the world had begun to revolve around me too. Convinced so by how much love my parents showed me. I must be special if they thought so, my parents were never wrong. And in this rare, stupid instance, it turned out I was right.

I had realized quickly as a child that I could move things. Not move from place to place, but between places. I'd put something behind my back and poof, gone. Then with my other I'd reach into the apparent void and just like that, it'd be back again.

A superpower? Hardly. Hell, it was hardly even of any convenience. I had only ever used it as a party trick. A simple display of harmless fun to entertain guests. Well, at least that was until I understood where it all led to.

It was Jackson's thing, a party I guess you could call it. Not enough people to be considered a party I'd thought, but he was turning twenty-one and those few of us there were making a big show of it. Finally he asked me, as he always did when he introduced me to others, if I could show them my "superpower". I obliged, starting with a candle, then a book, a handful of marbles, simple stuff. Sometimes it'd come back odd, candles used, marbles scuffed, minor things that I couldn't explain.

But it didn't seem to be enough, not for Jackson.

"Ok, ok! Now do me!" The room shut up at his eagerness.

"Have uh...have you tried it on a person Harry-" A concerned voice spoke up from the back of the room. But Jackson insisted.

"What? If not even better! I'll be the first." Jackson continued. Everything you've ever put in comes back right?"

I was hesitant, scared, but eager to know where it all went. So, he positioned himself behind me. The small crowd of friend's leaned in as if to notice any imperfection. Any clue of how my oddity worked. But nothing. The moment my hand touched him he simply faded from our existence.

The crowd ooe'd but I trembled knowing the power I now held. If I decided to do nothing he would be gone forever. My hands shook. Instantly I pulled him back, reaching into the void behind my back and yanking. What came through the other side though was something different. Much older, grayed hair and circular wrinkles around his eyes. A pair of wire framed glasses he did not previously have.

"I...I...send me back. God please send me back." An audible gasp blew through the room at this older mans desperate pleas. His eyes shot between us as if we were nothing more than distant strangers. But I knew it was him.

"Jackson? What was on the other side- where did you go?" I stuttered the words out.

"Paradise, hell, purgatory, does it matter?! Send me back! Please god what sort of cruel dream!" He dropped to his knees in a desperate plea. Rather than wait for my reply he gripped my hand and dove at my back, dissapearing once again.

Instantly I yanked back, feeling around the void for his shape, but gripping nothing. Nothing came. Nobody in the room moved, they all just stared at one another in disbelief as I struggled. I put my hands behind my back and yanked, and yanked, and yanked, my heart pulsing in my chest.

"Jackson! Jack!" I yelled, pulling one last desperate time. And this time something did come from the other side. A person, child, smooth skinned and wide eyed, no older than five. He looked like Jackson, in an odd way; something deep in his eyes.

"Jackson?" I questioned in a whisper.

And the child shook its head up and down.

Then and there I knew, it was true I was not born special, I was born cursed.

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adirty_Flipflop t1_j5wz8qk wrote

Wait so is it Jackson or his kid ?

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GrunkleStanwhich t1_j5wzjm0 wrote

Purposely leaving it up to interpretation of the reader. I was conflicted between the two though.

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thoughtsthoughtof t1_j5xquhl wrote

What about why he wanted to go back for child, the way things were meant to be...

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Thiago270398 t1_j5yssgi wrote

I saw it as reincarnation in paradise, so you have a perfect life, but doesn't go mad being immortal.

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Painting_Agency t1_j603l37 wrote

He fucked a Daemonette of Slaanesh in the Warp, now they co-parent... Daemonettes aren't really the marrying kind.

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ravonna t1_j5yc9h4 wrote

My first thought was reincarnation lol

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simanthropy t1_j5xogzj wrote

Next time maybe do it with a GoPro?

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GarlicNightmare t1_j5y5vo9 wrote

exploring my friend's superpower (gone wrong!!) (not clickbait)

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rarosko t1_j5z8zat wrote

Thumbnail:

🤯🤯🤯😭😱🤪

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LucidFir t1_j5xxy51 wrote

Start a youtube channel with that logic

edit: Simantropy; the measure of a fictional narrative's rationality per page or minute (or other suitable measure of time duration), that is unavailable for avoiding plot holes. Because rational narrative is obtained from properly considered consequences and responses, the amount of simantropy is also a measure of the irrationality, or bullshit, of a story.

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LucidFir t1_j60wby8 wrote

Simantropy; the measure of a fictional narrative's rationality per page or minute (or other suitable measure of time duration), that is unavailable for avoiding plot holes. Because rational narrative is obtained from properly considered consequences and responses, the amount of simantropy is also a measure of the irrationality, or bullshit, of a story. ^(nudgenudge)

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A_GOOD_NINJA OP t1_j5y8umh wrote

I like the ending! I don’t know exactly what it means, but I like it. Thank you!

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GrunkleStanwhich t1_j5yzczi wrote

Thanks! I sort of left it open to be interpreted both because I liked it better that way and that I have a hard time writing finite endings.

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NehEma t1_j5z8mif wrote

I think you made a good call and the story is more interesting as it is.

It's hard to play with the inagination of readers which you can't control but it turned out really well \o

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Ryastor t1_j5yh9p5 wrote

Kinda reminded me of Hellraiser w/ that "Paradise, hell, purgatory, does it matter?! Send me back!" line. I liked it.

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Frangolin t1_j5zdosu wrote

I love this take ! Seems like he was sending things in another world where time goes differently, and he ended up grabbing his friend's child after his friend passed away ! Would be really interested in a longer version of this story !

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CakeOh1 t1_j60w676 wrote

Love it! Time loop or child. Wish you had more, but don't want it ruin!!

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