AverageBy Lynsie Daniels

Andrew was average. He lived in an

average home, with an average

mom, and an average dad, and an

average life. He was smart, but not

too smart. Andrew refused to admit

he was anything more than the

average boy.

When Andrew started school in a

new city, he thought he was still

pretty average. His classmates,

however, did not seem to think so.

Some of them believed he was less

than average.

They started to poke fun at him,

and at first he was able to shrug it

off. But soon, the words attacked

him fiercely and he could no

longer stop them from penetrating

his thick skin.

A transformation began. Andrew’s

skin lost its usual color. It turned

gray and sunk so far into the

background That he could barely

be recognized from his

surroundings. His body was ice cold

and his familiar warm smile slipped

to the ground and cracked in half.

Andrew felt alone. The bullies

continued to bully him, and found

great joy in his new form. He could

hear them whisper mean words like

“Loser” at him when he walked

through the halls. Andrew’s life

was gray-scale and as he shrunk,

his bullies grew and grew.

One night, while Andrew was laying

in bed, all was silent and seemingly

average. He closed his eyes, and

when he did, he was blinded by a

white light. He opened his eyes

quickly and sat up in bed. The light

was coming out of a keyhole from

a small, white chest that appeared

on his night stand.

He approached the box and the

light shone right into the middle of

his chest. He tried to open the box,

but it was locked. Andrew looked

around his room and saw a small

white key laying on his dresser. He

frowned and went to pick it up, but

when he touched it… It shattered.

The broken pieces flew back into

the form of a key, just as it had

been before. Underneath it he

found more shattered pieces, but

they weren’t from the key. It was

his old, broken smile, and he

watched as it, too, put itself back

together.

Andrew picked up the old smile, and

fastened it onto his face. He felt

warmth spread through his body,

and he knew it wasn’t going to go

away this time. He picked up the key

and walked back over the small

chest with the light still glowing

into his heart.

he unlocked the box’s door and

jumped back and an explosion

erupted from it. Out Swooshed the

white light and all the words the

bullies always called him. They

landed all over his room, and when

the eruption finally stopped, he

was a little bit afraid again.

L O S E R

He slowly approached the word

“loser” as it hung off of his

windowsill, and touched it with his

finger. The word disintegrated into a

puff of smoke. So did all the

others.

Andrew went back to sleep, and he

was surprised to find a symbol of

the small white key ingrained on

his skin. It slowly faded, and he

realized he never needed it in the

first place, it was all inside of him

the whole time.