“You know, a friend once told me that you ened to do what you’re supposed to do as soon as you can. Because sometimes, once the moment is done, if work didn’t get done, it never will. I think my New Year’s Resolution will be to be open and ready to do what I’m supposed to and not wait. Granted, life in 2006 wasn’t that bad, but some things could’ve been better. 2007, here I come.” Darren re-read the blog entry quickly and selected the “Post” option, leaving the computer to do its thing while he went to count down and ring in the New Year.

“10”

Darren lived in a decent-sized apartment. For right now, it was just him, so it was perfectly acceptable to not have a lot of space. He’s never been an extravagant person anyway. He like nice things, but he never went over the top. It wasn’t how he got his kicks.

“9”

Having no roomate, or girlfriend for that matter, New Year’s was kind of lonely. Part of that was his fault, though. He’d been invited to plenty of parties, he just had no desire to party late into the night with drunk men and women, 75 of which he probably didn’t know, who had probably lost all sense of inhibition around 8:30.

“8”

Darren was more a fan of simple gatherings, anyway. Being a different person, close to graduating high school, the whole, “Let’s go get drunk and high and watch drunk, high girls dance on tables in nothing but a bra and a beach towel...” sentiment just didn’t really catch his interest anymore.

“7”

the concept of making a New Year’s Resolution had always been a very puzzling subject for Darren to comprehend. Why would people take some of their precious time, time they claim to be in desperate need of, and conjur up some psychotic promise to themselves, when everybody and their brother knows that within a week, the promise has been broken, and no one could care less.

“6”

Still, the excitement and anticipation of the coming year and all of it’s planned and unplanned events is enough to get anyone’s wheels turning. What kinds of political changes will happen? Will there be any history-making murders? How many history-makers will be born this year? What will be the name of the first baby born on in the New Year? And, most importantly, what the hell will Paris Hilton do next?

“5”

Thinking back over the year of 2006, Darren wants to both smile and cringe.. both at once... for more than one reason. Some things were never really solved. Others worked out great, despite the predicted outcome. And still others blew up in his face. All in all, it had been a pretty good year, despite the latter situations.

“4”

An odd flash of light came from the other room. His first assumption? Pre-New-Year celebratory fireworks. He was just seeing their light from the window. But, when he went to the window for a better look, no one was outside lighting off fireworks. In fact, no one was outside, period. When he turned to go back into the living room was when he saw it. Something that had defintely not been there before.

“3”

Darren slowly approached the rather thick, leather-bound, crimson-colored book. It’s title knocked him back a little bit and took the breath out of him. On the front cover, and on the binding, in gold, shining letters, it read, “The Life and Adventures of Darren Berry. 2006.” After thinking for a minute or two, he opened the book slowly. This was literally a collection, a written documentation, of every single event, good or bad, in Darren’s life. What had disturbed him the most, more than the parties and the grades and the girls and the sex, was the very first page. In bold, black, capital letters in the center page, it read, “WRITTEN BY: DARREN BERRY, 2006.”

“2”

It gave him a sort of reality check, right where he stood. He realized that some of the events he was most ashamed of wouldn’t even be in this book before him if he hadn’t been dumb enough to participate in or even initiate them.

“1”

With just a second left in 2006, another bright flash of light came. This time, it was very clear to Darren that the light was coming from the book. The binding was literally splitting open. The larger the hole became, the brighter the light got. Finally, when the hole was almost the size of the two adjacent pages that lay open, Darren was pulled inside of it, just suddenly. Just as quickly as the book had lit up, it snapped shut, leaving the room dark, computer still on, tv still on, but paused. It’s like time stood still. But, if one didn’t know better, they’d think nothing out of the ordinary had hapened.

THUD!

Daren looked around him and saw many rows of books. Bookshelves to his left and to his right, as far as he could see. His firght though was, “Why on Earth would a person want so many books?” He looked around where he stood, realizing that the shelves not only stretched far and wide, but they went from ceiling to floor. This made him feel very small, standing at 6’4”.

Finally, his curiosity got the better of him and he sloly approched one of the shelves. Running a finger along the bindings of the books, he read the titles of different areas of HIS OWN life.

“You can’t be serious...” Darren spoke aloud. “My first words, my worst words, my girlfriends, my enemies...? Who keeps these kinds of things? Who knows me that well? I don’t even know myself this well...”

Darren pulled a book entitled, “People I’ve Hurt,” and opened it up. On the page, at the top, in bold letters, was the name Karee, written in Darren’s own penmanship. Just as he began to read, the book shut and slipped out of his hands, clammering to the floor. It re-opened to Karee’s page and began to split. The white light shown again, but it reflected even brighter than before. Darren looked up to see that the ceiling was composed entirely of mirrors. He continued to stare back at his reflection, not really registering that he was a product of every event in every book. Before he could process anything, the book sucked him in and shut, still laying on the ground in from of the shelf labelled, “2006.”

Darren saw himself talking to one of his best friends, Karee. She had been a little sister to her. that is, until the day he was seeing. They were laughing, joking, and having a good old time. Darren’s past self was talking more with his hands that with his words, as usual, so Darren’s present self knew exactly was he was saying... or, rather, what he was going to say.

“Aw man... this is the biggest lie I ever told her...”

He darted from where he was, to his past self, screaming, “No! Stop! Don’t do it!” He lunged to tackle himself, but went straight through on the other side, making a rather harsh contact the with ground. Darren looked at his past self, seeing that he was still talking. “Did you hear me?! You fool! Stop! It’s the biggest mistake you’ll ever make in your li-” By then, it was too late. the lie had been told, so the memory was finished, and, with tear filled eyes, Darren was propelled back into his life’s library.

((It’s not done yet.. I’m working on finishing it...))