Written for my school's creative writing club in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Squirrel Appreciation Day. The prompt was to include:

Dreams

Resolutions

Authority Figures

And, Squirrels.

I succeeded in some form or another. A thus you have this crack humor. However, only this first chapter is for the prompt, the rest are not, and thus I can do whatever I want for them.

Warnings: Incredible stupid, and will some time later contain slash.

The door slammed open and in walked Aaron Bates, the closest thing to a delinquent that the quiet town of Burgess had. He was rather short for his age, his hair was dyed black and it almost brushed his shoulders. The town of Burgess liked normal and average, and for these reasons he wasn't liked. His family was from the city and had recently moved into town.

“I'm home!”

His mother came out from the kitchen, a spatula in her hand. She looked at him puzzled. School was still in secession.

“Honey, what are you doing home so early?”

Her question was a release button for all his problems.

“Well, first of all, I got up at six this morning only to get on the wrong bus and end up at the middle school. I had to walk all the way to the high school and then got lost inside of it (the school is huge for such a small town) and when I finally got my schedule and went to class, I got sent home by my stupid teacher, because apparently my “attire was too distracting to the students who actually wished to arrived at school on time and learn”.”

“Oh, honey.” Her face was sympathetic. “If you want I can drive you to school in the mornings.”

“And, give them more reason to annoy me. Yeah, right. I'm going out back.”

“I'll make us some lunch!” His mother called out to his back. He waved his hand in a motion that seemed to say, “Do what you want”.

He tromped his way to the wooden swing hanging off a tree branch on the large oak tree in his backyard. Aaron knew it was childish of him to stomp off like that, but he felt like being childish, so he plopped down on the swing. Using his feet he gently pushed himself back and forth, his eyes trained on the ground and his mouth twisted into an expression of thoughtfulness.

He began twisting his seat until the rope was taut, then raised his feet and watched as the world span. His sights settled (along with the swing) on the base of the tree and the various fungi growing there. Aaron dizzily stumbled over to the tree, picked one of the mushrooms popping the cap into his mouth. He chewed for a minute before spitting it out on the ground. “Okay, no eating the mushrooms. Ugh. Gross. I've got to brush my tongue. Never again--”

The sound of chattering suddenly distracted him from his soliloquy. It was coming from a hole in the tree. Unfortunately, he couldn't see into it-- he was too short. But, the lower hanging branches gave him an idea and he lifted himself up on the closest branch. It took a minute or two to heave himself up, but he was now able to look into the tree. What he saw almost made him jump back in surprise, just barely he refrained.

There in the hole were three squirrels, and in their paws was his map, the same map that had disappeared a few weeks ago when he first arrived. He knew because in the corner was a smiley face around the school, courtesy of his mother. One squirrel, the oldest looking one with graying fur, was pointing to something on the map.

He recognized it as city hall.

“What the heck?!”

The squirrels finally noticed his presence...and then he was falling.

.:xxxxXxxxx:.

Aaron woke up on the ground from his mother's call. He vaguely remembered an image of an old squirrel directing some younger squirrels. In his hand was the stem from the mushroom, the pieces that he had earlier spit out were gone. He came to a conclusion; the mushroom he ate had some hallucinogenic qualities, and there really were no squirrels. Aaron went inside to eat lunch, resolved to never eat another mushroom that did not come out of a can.

He never did notice the branch that was broken off the tree, nor that it had disappeared.