Fallen

By J. Dursky

When Joey Dursky, a normal high school student athlete can't seem to shake a recurring dream, he leans on his friends for support. On a typical Fall Friday, a supposed lightning strike, has his girlfriend Lila fearful for his safety. By Saturday morning he begins to see his small town atmosphere thrown into chaos. His friends, family, and neighbors begin to act very strange. He discovers he also begins to feel different. He can do things he never thought physically possible. Torn in multiple directions and afraid of what is going on around him, he decides he must find and protect Lila at all costs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J. Dursky
• Release date: Aug 4, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311754080

J. Dursky

J. Dursky is from such a small town in Iowa, if you sneezed you may blow it away. Graduated HS with a class of 29 students. Graduated college with 287. Sociology degree with an emphasis in criminal justice. Father of twin Akitas, Spyder and Gnarly. (They know they are adopted.) His hobbies include music, (Playing guitar and singing, come to one of his live shows.) sports, camping, boating, bon fires, riding motorcycles, painting, and building just about everything he can imagine. (Like a Durskyball table.) Favorite quote: "I'm a country boy, all I want is a woman to love and something to fix." -J. Dursky

Book preview

Chapter 1

Friday Morning

I sit up in bed, rub my eyes, and run my hands over my buzz cut to remove the sweat from my head. My hair still stands on my neck.  Not that anyone would notice, it’s so blonde it is almost invisible.  I glance at my phone to see the time, there are only three minutes left before my alarm is supposed to go off to wake me for school. I crawl out of bed and head to the kitchen.  My dad has already beaten me to the toaster.  I have to wait my turn.  

I see the same breakfast I have before every football game, at least the ingredients to make it. He is making two waffles with butter, peanut butter, and syrup with a glass of milk.  I am not a superstitious person. I just prefer having the same meal before sporting events because I know what keeps me full longest and is high in protein.  My dad waits, knife in hand, ready to butter whatever is about to pop up and burn his fingers due to his impatience.  I have that gene too.  I have a lot of his genes now that I think about it.  We are a lot alike. He was also very athletic.  Back then he viewed sports as fun. I view them as a job... as a future.  

He is built like I am, only in a smaller package.  He wears the same old grey sweatpants he has had my whole life. I have never been a fan, I prefer something more comfortable like the baggy red gym shorts I wear. He is five feet, six inches tall and about 170 pounds.  He has broad shoulders and a slim midsection.  He does not work out on a regular basis like he used to, but still has chiseled features.  I’m about 35% larger than he is with the same frame.  I’m just a hair under six feet tall and just shy of 200 pounds.  

Ever since I was introduced to organized competition in junior high sports I have been consumed by them. Not only participating in them but watching them and knowing the history of each. I consider myself a natural athlete. I pick up on things very quickly.  I’d like to say it is the joy of competition, but in my book, nothing is better than winning. It is not about the fans, the fame, or the glory. It is about being in the moment, when everything is on the line and everyone looks to you to do the impossible. I work out after practice, eat right, get proper rest, and never stray from my routine.  With a lifestyle like this, I am bound to get a scholarship to pay for college. Since the first football practice in seventh grade, that is all I have ever wanted to do: College sports with the possibility of going professional. 

Ready for tonight? My dad asks. Are you nervous?

A little, no more than normal.  I respond.

You’ll kick ass, as usual.

It's not the game or the team I’m nervous about.  It's the scouts.

I’ll see if I can get a seat close to them to hear what they’re saying about you. He smiles at me.

I laugh. As routine as this man is, I know there is no way he would give up the seat he always sits in, not even for something like that. He is a creature of habit as most of us are. He sits in the same seat at every home game, in the top row, all the way to the left side. The only thing that has changed recently is the people who sit by him.  

As the toaster pops up he throws two waffles on a plate, smiles, hands it to me, and says, You’ll be fine.  Good luck.  

I take my plate, grab the glass of milk from the counter, and walk into the living room to eat my breakfast.  I pull my food and drink close to me on a TV tray and turn on the TV.  I typically watch some music video channel to try to quench my love of music.  I hit the numbers on the remote to get to the channel I want without looking up.  I lean down to take my first bite and hear the channel come on, but it is mostly static.  I look up and it appears just how it sounds, fuzzy and choppy.  This early in the morning, I don't let much bother me.  I just finish my breakfast and ignore the fact the TV isn’t working. I walk to my room to get dressed. I throw on a white t-shirt before putting on my jersey, it helps cut down on the abrasiveness of the worn nylon. I finish off the outfit with blue jeans and running shoes. I finish getting ready by brushing my teeth, jumping in my truck, and I drive to school. 

I am always one of the first to school.  I show up early for a few reasons.  First, to get a good parking spot close to the locker room so I don't have to carry my football gear through the school.  Second, to complete any last minute homework I didn’t do the night before.  And third, which is the most important, to see my girlfriend, Lila. 

She is not the most beautiful girl in school.  She may not be the smartest, most athletic, most popular, or anything specific that makes her stick out of a crowd.  But she is mine, and I love everything about her.

I call her my unicorn. The thing that no one thinks actually exists, something that is unachievable, a myth. I never thought I would meet anyone like her, not to mention actually be with someone like her.  

Good morning Sweetness! She says smiling. Hold this! 

I look down to see her holding her empty hand out to me. I grab it and interlock my fingers with hers. Most people usually hand you something when they say hold this, it is a flirty inside joke we have.  She is so cute. All she wants is for me to hold her hand.  I can’t help but smile when I kiss her.

Another thing I love about game day is seeing Lila in my jersey. It is not necessarily seeing her in it. It’s in knowing she takes pride wearing it in front of everyone. 

Hey baby, how are you? How did you sleep? I ask.

Not bad. Would have been better if you would have come over last night. she said.

Yeah, so your mom wakes me up at midnight just to kick me out again?

Well she’s not an idiot. She knows what would happen if you stayed the night. She knows we do, she just doesn’t want me to make the same mistake she did, you know that. Anyway, how did you sleep? Did you have that dream again?

I take a deep breath and nod yes.

I wish you didn't have nightmares like that, especially the night before a game. She says as she kisses my cheek and pulls my arm. Walking across the cafeteria floor to our regular table, I get a whiff of her. I love the way she smells, and it isn’t her perfume. 

I don’t like to worry her but I tell her I had it again. I have told her about the dream before, never in detail though.  I always tell her it’s hard to remember, even though that’s a lie. I don’t want to scare her.  She clinches onto my arm and pulls me over to a table where a few of her friends are sitting to show me something.  It's a giant white sign with blue letters. The sign says I love Five. It is written in her handwriting which is sloppy enough to be a drunken doctor’s signature, written on wet paper during an earthquake.  

I laugh, You are adorable, baby.  I love you too.  

Calling me Five caught on during my freshman year. Most of my friends, family, and even teachers have called me that since I got the jersey number. It is not just my number, however. It comes up often in my life, like the name of the highway I live on. A few others usually call me by my last name, Dursky.  

Standing next to the table, Lila’s friend Nicole has a chocolate bar and offers us each a piece. 

Ugh, gross.  Lila says with a look on her face as if she just tasted something sour.

You don't like chocolate?  Nicole asks.

Where have you been her whole life?  Everyone knows we don't like chocolate, and on top of that, she is allergic.  I jump in to answer for Lila. 

Most of our friends and family thinks we are strange for not liking chocolate. They look at us like we are not human half the time, when we decline specific desserts.  Others think it makes us soul mates.  Seems like a silly reason to me.  It takes more than a dislike of chocolate to bring two people together. It is so much more than that.  If having things in common makes two people soul mates, then maybe it is because we are both left handed, our birthdays are three days apart, or maybe it is because of our love for music. I could go on forever, especially about how much we love music. 

The door on the other end of the cafeteria bursts open. Darr runs inside with newspapers in his hand. He wears his jersey, the same as the entire football team does today.  He is probably the only one who does not tuck his jersey into his blue jeans.  It kind of looks like he is wearing a jersey for a dress since he is so small.

The year before Lila and I started dating, Darr and I were driving to go snowboarding. On the radio they were talking about the local University’s basketball team. That night they were playing a game against the best team in the country and had to beat them to make it to the National Tournament. One of the commentators mentioned how it was a rivalry game and referred to the opposing team as our unicorn. He said the team we are playing always seems to find a way to beat us. It could even be our best year and one of their worst. There is just something about the rivalry that makes it impossible to get the win. He went on to define how to overcome this adversity but my mind went to using his analogy for Lila being my unicorn. It was not exactly the same. She is not some mythical beast, but I never thought at any point, I could ever have her. I explained to Darr how I felt and now with