Hickory

This is the story of a boy who sees life a little differently from others. His name is Hickory, and today is the day he has been looking forward to all year round. Hickory never really fit in with his peers. He is not popular, his family is not well-connected, and his home is a little abode on the corner of a hill outside a sleepy town. Hickory wakes up before his parents could even get him. They are still fast asleep on their rickety bed that they built from old wood from a fallen tree. Hickory jumps on their bed with a sudden leap.

“Mom, dad! Wake up! It’s today!” he yells as he bounces around.

“Hickory! You’re going to break the bed!” his mother says.

“But today’s the day! We’re going to the festival! The festival is coming to town!” Hickory exclaims. His father climbs out of bed as Hickory continues to jump around, paying no mind to his excited child as he stretches and exposes his massive belly.

“I’m going to go brush my teeth, then I’m going to put on my favourite clothes so we can leave right away!” Hickory tells.

“That’s nice, dear.” His mother responds. “Why don’t you go wait for us outside when you’re done as well? Go run laps around the yard while you wait? We might be a while.”

“Ok! Just don’t be too long!” Hickory responds as he climbs off the bed and races towards the bathroom to brush his teeth. His toothbrush is made from super-glued hairs from his head that has been stiffened by the glue, and the toothpaste is mixed lemon and baking soda. Hickory looks through the shattered mirror and finds a point where he can see his teeth as he begins brushing them. He couldn’t brush them quick enough… he is far too excited to be doing this that he missed several spots through his sheer happiness. But that doesn’t matter… not today, anyway. Today the festival is on, and his teeth are going to get stained from the endless amounts of food, and his breath is going to smell too. Hickory runs out of the bathroom to put on his favourite clothes. His wardrobe creaks open and falls off its hinges as he excitedly opens its doors. A moth comes fluttering out from the innards, but Hickory pays no mind to it. His clothes are littered with holes, so he chooses the one with the least amount of holes and puts it over him quicker than he ever donned clothes before. Hickory runs outside flailing his arms up and down, pretending to be a bird soaring high as the morning birds greet him with their songs. The grey overcast sky above his head doesn’t matter to him today, for today is all sunshine for him, even if the rain was to hit upon his head.

“Mum, dad! Hurry!” he yells out to his absent parents as he stops to catch his breath.

“Hickory… keep your voice down, please!” his mother says. “People could still be sleeping.”

“But we’re so far out from town… don’t be silly, mum!”

“Your voice carries through the air, boy… shush yourself.” His father responds as he stampedes through the tall grass towards the gravel road ahead. “Come on… this way. Don’t let the grass up your pants.” Hickory skips and jumps through the yard as he follows his parents towards the road, humming songs to himself as he does, feeling as if all the worlds happiness belonged only to him.

“I’m gonna get myself a chunky beef pie… a strawberry tart… an apricot cobbler… roast chicken with herbs from Sullivan’s garden… I’m gonna get everything!” Hickory explains. “What’re you gonna get, mum and dad?”

“A headache if you keep carrying on.” His mother answers.

“Possibly a hernia too.” His father adds.

“I don’t think they have those at the festival…” Hickory says. “Why would you want those things for, anyway?”

“Just carry on, would ya, lad?” his father asks. Hickory turns his head towards the road and continues thinking happy things for the rest of the journey.

It takes Hickory and his parents a long while to get to the festival that has started without them. Hickory cannot be more excited. Already he can see food as far as the eye can see… horse rides… carnival acts, and other children playing through the grounds, chasing things Hickory cannot see.

“Lad, why don’t you go play with the other kids and meet us at the tables in an hour for food?” Hickory’s father says.

“But I don’t think the other kids will like me very much…” Hickory responds.

“Nonsense. Quit ya foolery. Go on… join ’em.”

“But I’m hungry now… we never get breakfast, now we have the chance to!”

“You do as you’re told or you won’t be getting anything.” His mother says to him with a demanding voice. Hickory doesn’t want to let his parents ruin his day, so he decides to go pretend to play with them for a short while before he sneaks off to eat without them. Hickory walks towards the other kids who are laughing and carrying away through the grass. They are holding balloons and running with them, some are even pretending to fight with them. Hickory approaches them with caution as a girl with a scar across her face sees him.

“What do you want?” the girl asks him as she stops playing with her friends. “You’re not a part of our town… you shouldn’t be here.”

“But I am a part of your town… I’m just on the edge of it.” Hickory tells her.

“You and your family never help us… you’re all to yourselves.” A girl with her hair in a bun says. “You just come here to grab our food then go away when this is over. It’s not fair to us.”

“But I want to help…” Hickory explains, “I want to be a part of the town, but mum and dad don’t let me.”

“Then you should make them.” The other girl tells him.

“How?” Hickory asks. “How can I make my parents listen to me? I’m just a small child.”

“Sometimes what I do is I tell my mum and dad that I’ll do chores around the house for them. That usually works.” The girl responds.

“But I do my chores… I do everything they tell me to do. They say they like the peace and quiet and that I should too… they say it makes a person stronger and wiser if they can be comfortable with themselves.” Hickory explains. The girl shrugs at him and looks to her friend with wide eyes.

“Well, good luck with that.” She responds as she runs off with her friend, raising her arm in the air as the balloons follow them. Hickory feels alone, but he isn’t going to let this ruin his day. After all, he has been waiting for this all year. Hickory begins to smell food that he wishes to eat for breakfast… eggs… bacon… special sauces that go over the bacon… everything that could make little Hickory drool. He runs over towards the first food cart he sees and greets the man behind it with a wide smile.

“And what’ll it be for you, lad?” the chunky man asks Hickory.

“Egg and butter on toast, please.” Hickory asks. The man lets out a loud cough, sputtering up something brown and nasty from his mouth as it lands near the cart. Hickory’s face does not look pleased.

“Comin’ right up.” The man says as he cracks open some eggs and butters some toast. Hickory cannot stop looking at the brown thing the man spat out, so he decides to look around at the festival instead to try and distract him. He looks over to the dessert cart where there are pies and cakes aplenty. His slotted eyes become wide with anticipation again as he notices them.

“’Ere go, lad. ’Ope you enjoy.” The man says as he hands Hickory his food.

“Thank you!” Hickory replies as he eats the food while walking towards the next cart.

“And wot can I do for ya?” the woman behind the next cart asks.

“Apple crumble, please!” Hickory asks with a mouth still full of eggs on toast.

“My dear… ya haven’t even finished what’s in ya mouth yet!” the woman says. Hickory has a few more chews of the food, and in one big gulp… it all disappears down his throat.

“Finished now!” he tells her. The woman shakes her head and hands Hickory a slice of apple crumble.

“Don’t go stuffin’ it down ya gob, boy… that was hard work that was… taste it properly.” She tells him.

“Will do… thank you!” Hickory replies as he toddles off in search for more food. As Hickory walks through the area, he stops to look at the carnival tent, with many freaky looking people sat by it, all performing different tricks. Some are even just sitting around taking in the crisp morning air. Hickory stares curiously at the people there… there’s a clown with a walking stick that shoots fire from its tip. There’s a bearded man with armpit hair that comes down to the ground. There’s a grandfather clock that holds a woman inside it, and there’s a woman whose hair is as long as a tree trunk.

“See something ya like, mate?” the bearded man asks. Hickory gets frightened by him, so he begins to walk away, still munching on his dessert, savouring its flavour as he walks around aimlessly. Hickory notices a line for a ride he wants to go on, a ride that goes round and round on fake horses that Hickory wishes were alive. He goes up to the line and waits his turn. He looks up at the towering figures around him, as well as the kids holding their parents’ hands. Hickory looks at them with jealous eyes, wishing he himself could walk to them and hold their hands just to feel wanted for even just a moment. The line grows smaller, but Hickory’s anticipation grows wider. He may not be able to have anyone to enjoy himself with, but at least he gets to do something fun, which is all that matters to him right now.

The day went as fast as it came. Hickory spent it all riding fake horses, getting fat, and wishing for things he could never have. His parents were displeased that he didn’t meet them at the time they said to, but they quickly got over it, insisting that when they got home Hickory would do the dishes and clean the porch. Hickory could have had a better day, but he still got everything he wanted. It just didn’t quite feel like enough. Hickory’s day came to an end with a sudden halt as he climbed into bed and stared up into the rotting ceiling, letting the cold air wrap around himself as his blankets had trouble keeping him warm. As Hickory fell into sleep, he found himself inside a world shrouded with purple smoke and crooked trees. The ground beneath him was wobbly, and everything felt faraway. Hickory called out, “hello?” but no one answered him. He walked through the area filled with mysterious items. Giant mushrooms tower over Hickory’s head… thunder crashes in the distance… there are animals around that cannot be seen by Hickory, as if their noises were being played through a recording.

Hickory calls out, “hello?” once more, but this time something begins to move behind the mist. A tall figure approaches, peeking its head out of the mist for Hickory to see… only it must not be a head… surely it mustn’t be. The figure’s head has been replaced by a large grandfather clock, and the man is dressed in black robes, with a black suit underneath them that frightens Hickory as he looks up at the person. It looks down at Hickory, the clock underneath the window on its face can be heard ticking away as Hickory looks up at it with bulging eyes, holding his hands close to his chest as he freezes with fear.

“Who are you?” Hickory asks.

“My name will come to you after a short while, Hickory.” It responds to him. “Maybe you should ask what I am instead.”

“S-so… what are you? Why am I here?”

“I am what was, what is, and what is going to be.” The man says with an echoing and booming voice that goes around Hickory, sounding like it was next to him, behind him, and in front of him at the same time. “You are here only because you chose to be… as is anyone that comes to my realm.”

“I fell asleep… I didn’t choose to be here at all. Hickory says. “This place is scary.”

“But this is the place everyone must come to at some point in time, Hickory… this is the place that wears people down… that makes them lose touch with themselves. This is the place that makes the older ones lose touch with themselves… the place that makes them less ‘fun’. It will happen to you too.”

“What do you mean?” Hickory asks as his shoulders slump down and his brows raise.

“There comes a point in everyone’s life, child… where everyone loses something inside them that they will never get back. What that item is depends on many things… so I cannot tell you what yours will be. But this is the place they come to, and time is one of the biggest things people tend to lose.”

“Is that why your face is a grandfather clock? Because people lose you so much?” Hickory asks. The figure kneels down towards Hickory, making him jolt back in fright as its large figure grows nearer to him.

“You desire a great many things, child… and so you should. That just means you are human. However, you must take caution when doing so… for those desires can often become lost, never to be obtained. They will wind up here, where no one will ever look, no matter how rightful those desires may or may not be. All I am showing you is what can happen, child… nothing more, nothing less. What you lose you can never find again, so take heed when desiring things you just cannot reach.” The figure tells him, before standing back up again.

“But, all I desire is friends… a family that will love me… is that so much to ask, sir?” Hickory asks.

“Not at all…” the figure responds to Hickory, “but it’s something you can’t already lose with the way things are for you, child. The less you lose, the more you gain. This place doesn’t need more things to fill in the spaces.” It continues as it begins to lose itself through the mist again.

“Wait! Come back!” Hickory yells. “How do I get home?!” Hickory’s questions remain unanswered as he begins to run through the mysterious area filled with all kinds of different things. There are coffins scattered all around… broken mirrors and shattered words that are all piled on top of each other. There are distorted memories playing on a loop of people’s memories. Hickory begins to panic as he quickens his pace through the terror that is being thrown towards him at every angle, wishing to himself that if only he could return to his bed that everything would be alright… wishing for it… pleading for it. Hickory does not understand why a boy as modest as him could be trapped in a place like this… why something so sinister would show itself to a boy like Hickory… he tries to picture himself back in his room, but all that comes before him are more elongated roads that lead to nowhere.

After Hickory trips over a loose brick in the road, the ground beneath him opens up and swallows him whole, sending him down the passage of time as clocks tick and ring around him. After a short while of this, Hickory lands on a soft springy mattress that bounces him in the air over and over again until the blanket covers him completely. Hickory awakens with a sweaty forehead and a quickened heart, jumping out of bed just as soon as he has the ability, before he runs his parents room.

“Mum, dad!” he shouts as he barges through the room.

“What? What?!” his dad questions, infuriated.

“You wouldn’t believe the nightmare I just had… I have to tell you all about it!” Hickory explains as he stands near his parents bed.

“I have nightmares every night, kid… join the club.” His mother says.

“No, this is different than anything else, I swear! There was a man with a grandfather clock for a face… he told me about people losing things, and they all wind up in a scary purple place… and people get more upset as they get older because of this, and—”

“Yeah, ok, uh-huh.” His father interrupts. “I think you ate way too many sweets back at the festival. Go back to bed before I cane you to kingdom come, lad.”

“But, dad…”

“Now, boy.” Hickory heeds his father’s words and decides to swallow the rest of his conversation… not that there was much of a conversation to begin with. Hickory turns around and walks through the dingy hallway once more towards his cold dark room, looking out the window to the early morning sky as the sun begins to approach the horizon. Hickory feels a little different today… more different than he usually does from every other day. He feels like he has lost something, but something he desired to lose instead of fearing to lose it. He thinks about what the clock told him, about how the people in his life all have things they are afraid to lose. Suddenly, Hickory doesn’t feel so bad anymore, even though there is plenty to feel bad about. The sun rises on another day, Hickory has some idea on how today will play out. He will do chores… play around the yard, maybe take a stroll to farmer Ed’s paddock and pat the horses. Hickory can’t explain it, but he knows there’s just something about today that feels different than all the others… as well as something that will stick with him until the very end… something he knows he will never lose. Himself.