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"The People Who Live In Clouds"

As you may have already read, me and Pb have assigned eachother a challenge of story writing. It's taken me a while, but I finally feel like writing again, so here goes nothing.

Nice work!

Very good Mr Grix, and once again a good ending.

However high my opinion of you gets, you always seem to do something to make it higher still....

Good again

I thought Neil was going to be a modern day Jesus... not sure after ending.

Good.

Sorry, I had to write it as well.

21:46

Neil didn't have many friends.

It wasn't because he was anti-social... far from it. It wasn't because he had bad breath... and he was quite attractive.

Neil just got bored very easily. Friends were fickle creatures, and if he had become irritated with them, he would simply scrunch them up and throw them away, much like disposable cups.

But Neil just had this aura to him... everyone wanted to be with him, to be around him... so people could see them with him, even though deep down, they knew, that Neil would get bored with them too, and *scrunch*, that would be the end of them.

They still tried, though. Each and every one of them, "I'm different. Neil will like me... just watch."

*scrunch*

Thousands of people that lay discarded in an ashtray, bits of them floating in pools of beer that flooded the table.

"You going to clean up that mess?"

Neil blinked in suprise.

"What?"

"I asked you, are you going to clean up that damn mess? You make a mess, you clean it up. This ain't a five star service for a reason, you clean up your own ****ing mess." The waitress laughed at herself, and reached under the counter for some beer mats to build with. "You come here because you've worked for it. Don't expect your feet scrubbed here."

Neil smirked, and tried dabbing up some of the beer in the torn remains of past joys. Simple pleasures, nothing lasts long.

Was it really his fault... could he help being the way he was?

But he had no time to think, and before he knew it, a boy, young, came to sit with him, asked him if he needed help cleaning up the mess. People were so fake.

"I'm fine."

"No, really, it's not a problem." The boy stood, fetched a beer mat, and tried scooping the beer off the table.

"Thanks." Neil said, quickly, without meaning.

"So, you're Neil huh? Why'd you keep throwing away people?" The boy tried. It's been done before.

"Because they bore me. They don't deserve life." Neil replied, and flicked some beer from his fingers. He never even bothered to look at the boy. "Anything else?"

The boy sat, taken aback and slightly speechless. As soon as the confidence is knocked, they don't stand a chance.

"Well, err... you want a drink?"

"No." People were fickle. Questions, questions... he didn't want questions, he wanted to know...

"I've been really busy today."

"Oh yeah." Neil hated that. Either you talk, or you don't. Don't wait for people to prop you up again with pointless comments...

"Yeah, I've got like this huge project to be done in work, only started a few weeks back... really enjoying it."

"What do you do?"

"I'm like a student designer... I'm doing this advertising course."

"Oh." Well, least he was doing something remotely exciting. "What do you want to achieve in life... sorry, I didn't catch your name?"

"Tom."

"Tom. What do you want to do in life?" Neil finally looked up from the table.

"Well... to be perfectly honest, I've always wanted to... well, I'd like to see the world."

"So why haven't you?"

"...Well, I mean, I've just been working."

"That's an excuse? Why do you work?"

"To keep me alive." Tom said, a small degree of confidence returning.

Good answer. "So, why are you different to the rest?"

"Sorry?"

"Why do you think you can talk to me, entertain me, become my friend?"

Tom stalled. "I mean... I just wanted to talk to you."

"You have. Leave before I get bored with you, and go live your life, for your sake."

Tom lowered his eyebrows... said nothing, and just ran from the table.

Neil sighed, and put one his head in one hand.

"Losing your touch?" The waitress asked.

"Don't you start." Neil replied.

"So, why don't you scrunch me up, and throw me away, huh?"

"Because then I'll have to get up and get my own pints." Neil remarked.

"You know damn well that's not true, you've got all your 'friends' to get them for you anyway."

Neil laughed through his nose. "You know what really annoys me?"

"What?"

"The way people just... they just aren't thankful for their lives."

"What? So you take them away from them for not liking them?"

"Yeah. That's the way it is."

"What about that kid then, Neil? You've killed many like him."

"No, not like him. I know he's different."

"Why?" The waitress asked.

"He's going to see the world. One day, he's going to stop, look at all the crap he's created, and go see some of the stuff I've done instead."

"Oh, so that makes him good?"

"Only because that's his ambition... that's what he wants to do... people fear ambition because they think as soon as they get there, that's it, no more life. And anyone who bothers to follow it is dismissed... cast aside by the others as failures, just for TRYING. Head's in the clouds, and all that... I just wish they could just judge themselves..."

"So what have you taught them so far? The ones that want no more than to know you, no more than to be your friend, and what do you do? Crush their lives in front of them."

"Get me a beer."

"No. You're going to listen to me."

"I want a beer, a nice cold pint, run it smooth."

"The next person you see, you're going to help. Not stop. Help. This is why people are coming to you, and it's damn time you stopped ignoring them."

"**** you."

The waitress shook her head. "You've lost your touch. You lost your sense, you're losing. Losing badly. Look at you, all you do is drink all day and crush hopes, dreams... and instead of trying to make it better, you just ACCEPT that damn fact, you ACCEPT that you've made what's down there, and you damn refuse to talk to anyone!"

Neil said nothing, and just stared at the table.

"They're people. Creations. Humans. They have lives, they're not your toys."

"So, what do you want to do huh? You want to be a waitress all your life?" Neil asked. "You happy sulking around here all day, being sneered at by me, having to get me drinks all the time?"

The waitress stopped what she was doing. "My duty, is to get you to realise how damn low you've become."

"Neil? Hi, is that you? Hi, my name's Claire."

"Hi Claire."

"Oh... you seem really down."

"Ask what you want, then go." Neil said.

Claire was a bit taken aback. "Err... well... I was just wondering..."

Neil looked into her eyes, and waited.

"Why do you start all the wars?"

"IT'S NOT ME!" Neil shouted, throwing his head onto the table, letting his face soak up the beer. "It's you. Humans. Man, people, you. You're the ones that start wars, not me. Stop blaming me. Deal with it yourself."

"But don't you care that thousands of people die...?"

"Thousands of people? Thousands of idiots. The ones that truly believe that they're fighting for a 'just cause'. What just cause? There is no just cause. You live, you die. You're supposed to live in the middle part, not throw your life away because one bloke was born with a small penis."

"You should care more." Claire said, before standing up and leaving Neil at the table.

The waitress just laughed.

"SHUT UP." He shouted, his face muffled by the cold surface of the table.

"You're such a disgrace. Can't you realise, that by doing ONE little thing, you can help more people see?"

"I can't be bothered."

"Why not?"

"Because it never works!" Neil said, sitting up straight. "I've tried, my, have I tried. I've done as much as I can to inspire people to live... they've become more than I imagined, and they do little than show off, destroy each other. I can't find one of them that's worthy of the word 'human'."

"That's because you won't look. You're judging them all by what you see from here."

"Oh..." Neil laughed, a calm laugh... "I've not looked? You try. Go on, find one of the swines that really tries."

"You know why though?" She replied. "They aren't inspired. You think you can inspire the whole world... set them all off to create this heaven, and what, what do you do?"

"Drink the day away up here, yes, thanks, you said, once or twice."

"Nothing. That's what you do."

"Look, I've told you. I've tried."

"You try once, you fail, you try again."

"I'VE TRIED MORE THAN DAMN ONCE!" Neil shouted, staring at the wall.

"You've lost hope. Not in humanity, in yourself. Because they're not inspiring you, you won't inspire them. That's your job. That's who you are."

"No... that's who they are. I want people to be able to inspire each other, why do they have to rely on me all the time..."

"Then why don't you tell them that? Tell them that they have to inspire eachother, and not wait for others to inspire them? Perhaps even take a note from that yourself?"

"No one stops, no one thinks. Nobody cares anymore."

"No!" She said. "You don't care."

Neil sighed.

"Neil? Hi Neil. Look, I really need your help..."

"What?" Neil said, looking up.

"Woah, sorry man."

Neil breathed in and out... "Sorry, hi there. What's wrong?"

"My son. He's in a bad state... He's, he was in a car accident, and don't think he's going to pull through."

"He won't. He's going to die on Tuesday."

"What?"

"Sorry man. That's the way things are. I can't do anything."

"...I... you can't do anything? Sure you can do something?"

"Not anymore. I've got nothing left."

The man slumped back in his seat.

"Look, I'm sorry. That's all. Can you go?"

The man started to cry, simply stood up, and left.

Neil looked up at the waitress, who simply smiled at him.

"You lying ba***d."

And Neil smiled back.

Jaybus! My clock is behind by four entire minutes. Maybe I'll have enough time to call of the nuclear strike and the calvary ;D

Maybe we'll be surprised and it will come along shortly.

*Ponders*

Hm. Ah well! ;D He'll probably post it up in a minute (or a minute ago ;D) just like Pb did. I look forward to reading it mate.

Well...where is it then?

As you may have already read, me and Pb have assigned eachother a challenge of story writing. It's taken me a while, but I finally feel like writing again, so here goes nothing.