Odd Souls

In our world there is no such thing as fate. As in our world there is no such control in our lives.

The place we call home is a long hallway of infinite paths we have to traverse.

Unknowingly our paths are different but yet so similar.

The world and everything within it runs on risk. As in one tiny change could change the course of your life.

For the worse.....

Or for the better....

____________________________________

Copyright © 2026 by Chad Pit All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Formatted with Microsoft Word

____________________________________

“Lewis, can you walk Teddy for me?” My mom yelled from downstairs.

“But Mom, I’m doing something right now. Can’t it wait?” My eyes were glued to my TV screen.

“Sure, but I’ll be having a good time waiting to give your F-box back once I take it!”

I ripped off my gaming headset and let out an annoyed groan. “What a lazy bum. Why can’t she do it herself? It’s not like she’s doing anything.”

I stormed down the stairs shortly after I left my man cave. When I made it to my living room, I snatched my dog’s leash from the old coat hook my dad used to use when he was alive.

“Honey, make sure not to wander off too far, okay?”

I didn’t respond. I just walked out the door with Teddy. When I was embraced by the fiery sun, I took a deep breath of the fresh summer air.

“Ahhhh...Haaahh!”

“Teddy, is there a way I can make summer last forever? I really don’t want to start fifth grade anytime soon.”

Teddy gazed at me with confusion. “Oh yeah, I forgot you’re a dog, and you can’t talk... Oh well, let’s go!” I took off like I was in a track meet and ran past all the people who were peacefully walking on the sidewalk. I could feel the heat of the sun hitting the side of my face, and all I could see was the beautiful orangey-blue color of the sky.

After running for a bit, I started to get winded, so I began to slow down. I quietly stood next to an outdoor restaurant while I caught my breath. The outdoor restaurant was quite nice though. There was music playing and lots of people were just admiring the beauty of the sun while they ate.

“Wow, that’s a really cute puppy! What’s his name?”

I glanced over to my side and noticed a woman sitting at the table next to me with her kid. “His name is Teddy.” As I talked to the woman, I noticed her kid pulling out a tiny bag of chips.

BANG!

The kid slammed his hand against the bag causing it to explode like a bomb. In reaction from the sound, Teddy yanked away from me so hard that it caused me to lose my grip on his leash. “Teddy, wait!” I shouted as I started chasing after him.

Crap-crap-crap! He’s going too fast. If I lose him, then I’ll never see my F-box ever again! While I was running down the street, nobody helped; everyone just moved aside while Teddy and me flew past them. This isn’t good; he’s getting too far! Teddy made a sharp left a couple of houses ahead.

By the time I got there... He was gone. While the beautiful fiery sun was saying goodbye, I was looking down every nook and cranny of the block to find Teddy. “Teddy, where are you?” He can’t be gone, right? He has to come back eventually, right? But what if he doesn’t? I could feel myself starting to nervously shake.

WOOF!

But in the midst of all the quietness, I heard a loud loud bark from the distance. Without hesitation I rushed toward the noise as fast as a bullet; I was eventually led to the entrance of a shiny playground. THERE YOU ARE! I felt a wave of relief wash over me. “Why the hell would you run all the way out here, Teddy?”

I started walking toward him but then froze. Is somebody next to him? There was a girl who looked about my age sitting with him in the sandbox of the playground. Crap, there is no avoiding it; I have to talk to that girl if I want to get Teddy home. I took a deep breath, stood up straight, and started walking toward her. “Hey, excuse me, that’s my dog.” The girl’s back was turned toward me so I didn’t know what she was doing.

Sniffle sniffle!

Wait, why is she crying? The girl was crying in the sandbox as my dog sat beside her. When I got a closer look at the situation, I realized what happened. Aww, come on Teddy; did you really do that? From what I could tell, Teddy had ended up destroying whatever this girl was trying to make in the sandbox. Should I just take Teddy and go? No that wouldn’t be right; I gotta do something. “Umm, excuse me, are you ok?”

The girl wasn’t responding to me. She just kept silently crying.

I know I’m supposed to be home by now, but I’m already late so I guess it wouldn’t hurt to stay a little longer. I hopped into the sandbox and crouched down toward the soft, sandy floor.

Pat-pat-tap-tap-tap!

“I’m sorry that my dog did this to your creation. But it’s ok since everything eventually gets destroyed. The beauty of it is whenever things look down, we can always try to rebuild.”

What the hell am I talking about? Why am I talking like I’m this girl’s therapist or something? I was desperately trying to build a Sandcastle; but in the end, the hill of rubble ended up looking better than my creation.

“Do you want help?” The girl quietly said.

Right when her words hit my eardrums, I immediately looked up at her since I wasn’t expecting her to say anything. When our eyes met, it almost felt as if our souls made contact with each other for a brief second. “Sure...”

For the next 30 minutes we just ended up making weird monstrosities in the sandbox together. We were out for so long that it started to get pretty dark.

I can’t stay here for long. I gotta go home eventually, but how am I supposed to say goodbye to her? Would it be rude if I just got up and left? Should I ask her to be my friend? I don’t know what to do! “Umm excuse me.”

After I said that the girl locked eyes with me. Her gaze was so powerful that it caused my mind to go blank. Before when I saw her, I didn’t really pay attention to her face. But this time I got a real good look at it and it shocked me to my very core.

She had this really cute birthmark on her upper right cheek that kinda resembled a teardrop. I swiftly looked away from her. Holy crap since when did she look like that? She looks pretty.

“What were you trying to ask me?”

I was sweating bullets because I didn’t really have any experience talking to anybody; so, I had no idea how to keep a conversation going. But amidst all the chaos that was going inside of my head, something unexpected happened.

Tooot!

I was so stressed to the point that I accidentally let out a fart. I don’t know why, but I instinctively looked at her after it slipped out. Both of our expressions were quite shocked, but it only took seconds for us to laugh it off.

“Haha! Were you asking permission to fart or something?”

When I saw that smile on her face, it was like my heart imploded on itself. Her teeth kind of reminded me of a bunny. She only had a slight overbite, so it wasn’t massive or anything. It’s just that I really liked her smile.

After we finished laughing, I stood up. “It’s getting pretty dark. I have to go home because my mom is probably upset at me for being out this late.”

The girl lowered her eyes toward the ground in a shy manner. “Oh, I’m sorry, that’s my fault.”

Crap, did I make her upset?

“No-no it’s ok. I was already late when I got here, so my mom probably would’ve yelled at me anyway.”

Those words kind of killed the mood since I didn’t know what else to say after that.

“Well...ummm...yeah I gotta go so seeya.”

Grab!

I quickly grabbed Teddy’s leash and started speed walking away. I’m so awkward; why would any girl want to talk to a nerd like me? She definitely thought I was a weirdo.