http://www.writerq.com/Nic/ Latest updates from Nicholas Perna http://www.writerq.com/library/787/swapping-places/ They began hanging out after school every day, forming a great friendship and rubbing off on each other. They saw each other every day from elementary school, till after graduation. One day after school they found a jar of rubbing alcohol and stole an old rag from Zac’s garage. What was about to happen next was clear in Zac’s head, but not 100% processed in Deans. As Zac stuffed the rag into the bottle and lit it on fire, Dean realized that what they were doing was wrong. A million questions ran through Dean’s head as his heart beat faster than light “What if we get caught? What happens when we cannot put the fire out? What am I going to do if my parents find out?” Before he could come up with any answers to his recently asked questions, Zac threw the bottle at the side of an old church. The whole back side went up in flames. Immediately, both kids darted back to the house. Their legs were pumping battery acid, they were about to puke out whatever they had for lunch that day, they felt like they could have set a world record on the mile dash. Making it home they knew they were safe, they both swore to never talk about that day again. The next day, there was a news report of an old church that had been burnt to the ground with 5 homeless asleep inside by a Molotov cocktail. So many months had passed that they had graduated from high school.
It had been almost a year since the church had burnt down, they both assumed that they were definitely clear and not a soul would ever find out. One day Dean was watching the news and had saw that Zac was being arrested for accidental manslaughter and destruction of property. Dean was terrified; the police had somehow found out that Zac was the one responsible. Luckily for Dean, Zac had taken the blame for the whole incident. Spending 7 years in prison, Zac decided to turn his life around. Feeling regret Dean began hanging out with the wrong people, doing drugs, becoming what was originally expected of Zac. Zac was doing everything he could in prison to get good karma. He was in a book club, a bible club, he was getting his life on track. He made a friend who offered him work once he got out, an honest living, and that’s what he planned to do.
Many years later, Zac was out and completely turned his life around. He was working in construction with his new friend, had a wife, kids, and a nice house. Dean’s life however was in the opposite direction: his family disowned him because of the drugs, no job, no house, no life. With no house, Dean began sleeping in an old abandoned church with 4 other homeless addicts. Dean died in a fire as two kids burned down that church. The only one who attended anything that resembled a funeral for Dean was Zac, not even Dean’s parents nor brothers.]]> http://www.writerq.com/library/787/swapping-places/ Thu, 09 Oct 2014 20:54:58 +0000 Nicholas Perna