How can you be kind to gravity, the most unkind of forces people know? Can you make it into a pet with an athletic body, play with it while also having fun? How can one be kind to unkind things? Well, let me show you. My name is Izeya and this is a story of my little life. Don’t worry, this won’t take long.
We open on me at age five. I was just learning about the first unkind things at that point. The primary one was death, the unseen force that takes us all in the end. Let me set the scene. I attended my grandmother’s funeral at that age. I’d just learned that living things die a few weeks prior to the passing of grandma Beth. A young mind of developing thoughts works in mysterious ways, you know? That was when it started first, this attraction to showing those unkind forces and beings the first bit of kindness of their life.
How can you be kind to death? It’s a force, just like gravity, measured in time. It has no form, though many wish it did. If you’re under the impression that this will be a story of how I learned to feed my newfound pet death by killing people, sorry to disappoint. In a way, the unkind force was life, and death was just the one it was teamed up with. It’s easy to be kind to life, as living is the very solution. In that way, I was already succeeding at my goal, to be kind to those unkind things in the world.
The logic forming in my mind at age five was basic. It formed an understanding of everything from human standpoints. Rather than observing unkind forces and items, I approached each and every one of them as a being with a job, a purpose for existence. With that in mind, how can you be kind to death? Avoid it. As a being, the force tasked with ending life must not enjoy it. What being would if it had no other gain? It’s just a dead-end job to be paired with life forever. Kindness to life and to death went hand-in-hand. Live your life and avoid dying.
If you enjoyed the feeling that logic created, you should stop reading here. Take that simple lesson away of being kind to unkind things while you still can. If you still remain, I will talk about more unkind things and how I approached them, starting with the duplicitous gravity. That one earthly force is harder to define, and thus becomes tricky to find kindness for. If you DO stick around, I’ll tell you more about my life, and what became of me in the very end, how this tale reaches you. Join me, won’t you?
“Izzy, breakfast!” a voice pierced my sleep to a dizzy sight. If I didn’t go, he would call again, louder than any alarm clock. Kindly enough, the time I set to wake me did not trigger the loud machine, but it wasn’t my fault. I did not turn the functionality on before going to sleep. That buzzer was one unkind sound. As per my years of evolution in the mind, I found that the kindest thing I could do for it, is to let it sing me awake. This time it failed to occur, proving that I was not a perfect person.
“Coming!” I called out in the middle of the dressing process. When I got to the door, it opened, almost hitting me in the face. The handle was being operated by none other than Sam Madsen, my father. “I already said I’m coming down, Sam.”
“Call me ‘Dad’, Izeya,” he replied. “I was just checking in case you were having one of those reverse days again.” Ah, the reverse days where a wonderful time. I had it down to walking backwards and meaning the exact opposite of what I said. It was a mental exercise for my up-bringers. Being kind to unkind things, left very little kindness for those who were pleasant to me. In a strange outcome, eventually those kindest of things or people would become unkind. That was when I stepped in, to turn them back. I was the superhero of my mind, but to Sam and Angela, I had social issues.
“Not today, SAM,” I said. “Why don’t you like your name, SAM? It’s your name, SAM. Don’t be like Angela, SAM.” He sighed and slunk off before I locked my room and descended the stairs. By going down them, I was correcting that kindness of gravity I wronged when I came up the stairs yesterday. Yes, my door had a lock. Sam and Angela had a key, no doubt, but I just felt right locking my room up as I left it.
“Hiya, Angela,” I said taking a seat at the small kitchen table. “What do we have today? Anything new?”
“French toast, hon,” she said with a bit of sadness in her eyes. Was her sleeve soaked in her tears of something? I did not get what had her so down. From what they told me, I was ten, but never liked that method of counting time. Time was an unkind force, and as such I aimed to smile upon it.
As a being, time had but one job, to run. Counting down the distance it ran was an invention of human kind. Though it was a sprinter by trade, time could not always run at the same pace. It slowed down in droll areas, and sped up when excited. Overall, time was very unkind, and to extend my kindness toward it would be to give it a set distance, say, oh, seventy years more. Once it knew how much longer it would run, the kindness was ready, and if distance was shorter, it might be pleasantly surprised. As such, I counted my life down instead of up. That was as much kindness as I could muster for time, though it was still under much burden from all other things. That was the conclusion to my actions. The unkindest forces, items, and people, were the ones suffering the most, or that have suffered the longest.
“Eat up, before it gets cold,” Angela said. Was simply consuming food a kindness to it? It was no unkind being, and thus received no kindness. In hindsight, the way I treated everything around me was wrong. I was uncaring to those who cared for me, and aimed to fix those who hurt me.
The French toast was delightful, that was why it had to meet the floor, get ripped apart and stepped on repeatedly. The parents cleaned up my mess, already used to my odd behavior, but I was already off to hurt more of which was kind to me. What can I say? That was me. Notice the “was”. Along the way, I became a normal human being for a time, outgrowing the sickness thanks to this developing mind. That was what the doctors said, at least.
Gravity was the unkindest force of all. It caused such a great many painful falls and accidents, but I only learned of this force in class. I was nearing the age of appropriate connection between genders, but ignored any and all eyes looking at me. Within me, the network of kindness for unkind beings was still running, and so when I met Jordan, it restarted. He was a bully, in layman’s terms, but I knew that to hurt people so vividly, he had to be in the most pain. That matter would be my very next project.
The duplicitous force from below was nothing more than attraction of physical objects. The planet was large and heavy while suspended in a weightless vacuum. The beings upon that surface were so much smaller in comparison, that this giant brought us all closer for an everlasting hug. In that respect, gravity just wanted to hold things together. The unkindness came from the human mind.
At the very beginning when man saw the bird fly, he grunted to mean that he wished to soar as well. When space was figured out by means of science, it became a sea of endless opportunity. Yet there was still gravity to fight against. It became unkind the more humanity sought to wriggle out of its embrace. In that respect, gravity balanced itself out. To be uncaring, humans need simply to leave the pull, go into space and live there. To be kind to that force, I needed to remain. That was all. Each movement up was a motion away, and each down, a closer hug. It was a constant duality.
Humans were most unkind to each other, by fighting for numerous reasons, but that eluded me during my lifetime. Instead, I was sought out for facial qualities passed onto me by Angela and Sam. With the reversal engine still running in my head, any who were kind to me, received the unkindest treatment, while the ones who hurt me, physically or otherwise, deserved to be worshiped. Jordan was the prime example of the former, where Jenny was of the latter. I was a creator of chaos to the human race, but the balance arrived at resolving evils to future kind.
Jenny was a girl in a few of my classes, and often acted like she knew everything, while in reality being quite dumb. Her luck of genetic draw allowed her to manipulate people. Though I kept my distance, it was inevitable that we would clash in the future. Knowing this, I decided to cut the labyrinth dance to my game board instead.
“HEY JENNY!” I said walking past her squad of girls, while also grabbing her hand. As soon as the grip was tight enough, I broke into a run that was sure to make her heart race. Without looking back, I hoped she was not being dragged along the floor all the way to an empty corridor. She was fine. Before she could catch her breath, I held her close to my face with dead serious eyes.
“Have you ever been kissed?” I asked, getting even closer to her, eyes locked onto hers. It was a cruel game, but if she leaned in, the answer was yes. As per my prediction, Jenny flushed red and recoiled back. I stepped closer until she was up against the wall. “Do you want to?” Now, she searched her little head for a choice, but it was obvious should would reject it already. She was too unkind to be brought down with a simple show of emotion. I stepped back, knelt and lowered my head as if she was my queen.
“What the…?” Her emotions were confused. This was the finishing touch.
“I deserve no such kindness as thy lips, oh goddess,” I said quoting some dumb old book that Sam liked to read. “But allow me to serve you, my queen!”
“Are you in the drama club or something?” she asked. Ensnared. The oblivious butterfly was stuck in the net I cast upon her. The smile she manifested was my ticket into her damaged heart. There I would wreak my havoc later on. “Well, fine, you can be my servant, uhh…”
“Izeya,” I said. “But you may call me any derogation you desire.” This was a game of time uncounted. When she became nicer to me, I became rougher to her. That subdued Jenny, making her the servant instead. Once I delivered the final blow of public embarrassment, say “naked in gym class,” she would rebuild with many more unkind thoughts.
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