I’m Derry Wilhall. I think myself as a simple guy who isn’t too exquisite. I get what I need and it stays like that. I had a job as a writer once, but my books didn’t sell too well, so I had to stop. Guess people just aren’t into anything interesting anymore. I was never very successful and had a short temper, leading to some...incidents. I’d rather not say what they were. These problems I’ve long since gotten over, and I learned that, no matter where you are, society will only teach you loneliness and uselessness along with violence and insults. I guess they just go hand-in-hand.

Did I really care about society? No. Not at all. I managed to survive without anyone’s help!...Almost. I never had a good connection with my parents, what with my father also barely knowing that I existed. Hm. The only companion I ever had in my life was this stuffed animal: A silvery pony plush about fifteen centimeters big all around.

‘What? A pony? Are you a little girl’ is what I’m sure you are thinking, but no. It was a present for my fifth birthday that my grandfather had sent me. He didn’t know how I was or what I liked, so he decided to send me a plush toy big enough for me to hug. I even find it to have a great style to it. Silver, as I called her -Although not the most creative of names- had been my first and only toy. Because of this, I learned to maintain my plush doll with proper cleaning and sowing. Her body is a radiant silver that is still shining to my twenty-first year, and her mane and tail are still a clean white, although there are some specks of dirt in them that I could never get out. I still combed her hair to have a badass look...well, badass by my terms.

I curled it slightly at the top to bend over her right ear while leaving the left one fully exposed. The curve over her ear spiked at the ends, splitting into three ends. I even got her a mark sown onto her flank; A silver ingot surrounded by two blue petals of crystals that left openings above and below. It was the family crest, and yet I was still so happy with it at the time. Although, people still found me to be weird.

As for my grandfather, he was the owner of an oil company and fabrics industry. He had his time cut-out for him, always preoccupied with work, but I’ll never forget the days I got to play with him when I was little. However, as the years went by, we grew more and more apart, and I felt that it was like a storm cloud separating the two boats we were on. I was caught in the middle of it, and he was caught in the outside, desperately trying to reach me. Eventually, that storm grabbed his boat and threw it against the rocks. He had died at 5:07am on January 1st, 2012. It was a great New Year’s start. I was devastated, but he had one more gift for me.

I was taken to the town hall with my ‘parents’, and I use the term loosely, so that our lawyer could read my grandfather’s will to us. So there we were: My mother with her brown hair surfing over her butt-ugly black-widow dress the color of a sickly person’s snot. She really had a terrible fashion sense and it still continues. Pretty sure that, if I vomited on her, it would improve her taste in colors a lot. Her eyes were green, something I didn’t inherit from her ‘pool’. Instead, I inherited my grandfather’s eyes that were a nigh-black hue.
My father was sitting to my left on an oak chair covered in red cushions, his legs crossed. We all had one, but he had the innate ability to kill the atmosphere with his stupid, smug face and suit. He ‘coiffed’ his hair back with gel to make it look flat. I think it was just to intimidate people. He wasn’t exactly ‘weak’, to be honest. What a waste to see him wearing so much black that went even to his leather shoes. All that monopoly money could’ve gone to better use.

Sitting before us on his giant, rotatable chair sat the lawyer with reading glasses so big they made him look like an owl. He was pretty old and sporting a shaved head and wore a gray suit with a tie. He held up the will of my grandfather and starting reading it aloud.

“To my dearest son, who is quite the successful businessman like I am...or was, since I am now dead.” The lawyer stopped part way and pinched his nose bridge. “I...Moving on,” he said before clearing his throat. “I leave my oil and fabric industries to my son, Gerald Wilhall.”

I crossed my arms angrily whilst the bastard nodded, his smug grin turning into a full on smile. I was expecting him to put a pinkie finger to his mouth and yell ‘One million dollars!’...I should really read more books instead of watching so many movies.

“To my daughter-in-law: You have very bad taste in clothing.”

I muffled a laugh while the lawyer frowned and turned to see my mother keeping her composure but her face turning red.

“So I am giving you a collection of my wares,” the lawyer continued. “They’re from all around the world, so maybe this will help your colorblindness.”

Despite the added insult, that...bitch still had the gall to say that she was grateful for what she was given and how much she loved my grandfather, disregard that she didn’t even know he existed. The lawyer and I exchanged glances, showing that we both knew about her comedic play.

“And finally, to my favorite, and thankfully only grandson; Derry Wilhall...I am sorry that I could not reach through to you during all these years. Unfortunately, it seems that I will never have the opportunity to see you smile like you used to for time has taken me away. I know how rude and dismissive your parents are and how you were treated in school, which led to your aggressive outburts.”

I crossed my arms and looked down. “They aren’t THAT bad…” I mumbled under my breath. “Because of the idiots serving as your parents, I leave to you my personal cash reserves not shared by my companies.” The lawyer’s eyes widened. “Sixteen billion worth more-or-less, and my mansion...I know everyone says that money can’t buy happiness, but at least you can rent it.”

My parents’ jaws dropped and they stared at me silently. I could feel immediately that they were going to try and kiss up, so I stopped them in their tracks in a case of ‘Preemptive striking’.

“You had your chances. Twenty-one years worth of it. And you blew it. Too late now.”

Those two…jerks were never the best at counter-arguments. Great parents, really. I told the lawyer that the mansion needed to be turned into a hospital. All 64 acres of it. A great amount of space to help the patients move about and feel relaxed; and I’d give them two billion to start off. However, until my cabin in the woods was finished, I would be living in it. We shook hands and the lawyer gave me a polite goodbye. My parents just watched me leave the off, but before I left the office, I turned to face them, showed them my middle-finger, then slowly closed the door, letting it creaked loudly.

It barely took five months for the cabin to be made,so I sent a letter to the lawyer and stayed to greet the builders as they came to make the mansion into a hospital. Just because I don’t like to be in public doesn’t mean people have to suffer for my preferences. That’s weakling talk. My new home high in the mountains but still next to a village so I could reach the store and call for help if ever needed. I even managed to get electricity from my own wind turbines and solar panels outside of the forest my home was located in. I even installed some electrical fences too, so any would-be thieves and intruders would encounter a shocking experience. Torturing unexpecting people is the best security system. Ha. I also liked that my cabin was made to make it look like an old fashioned jumbling if Lincoln Logs. It had all the amenities I needed: Bathroom, living room, kitchen, and bedroom. Small and comfortable. Just how I like it.

To pass time, I would go to the village at the foot of the mountain and get some mountaineering stuff to travel around, collecting any rocks that I found interesting as well as observe the flora and fauna. Bears are really frikkin’ scary when they aren’t on a store shelf saying ‘I love you’ when you squeeze them. Just some traveling her and there. Nothing special or overly complicated.

Unfortunately, nature, or maybe even God or older gods, decided that my views on life were bad. I had a rough childhood, only a single friend -Who wasn’t even real, might I add-, and I didn’t believe in ‘love’. How else was I supposed to react to a world that only showed me that side of it? Maybe I was the Luke Skywalker who was tempted by the dark side and succumbed. Oh well!

My alarm clock rang loudly, making me groan in pain, fatigue, and annoyance. It was only five in the morning. Why was I getting up so early when I didn’t need to do anything? Simple: I found a nature pamphlet on the local area that spoke of a blue jewel hidden within range of my cabin, but it would only appear at irregular intervals. I knew just where to go and I loved crystals. What luck! Even if I didn’t find it, I would have still done a nice little trek through the mountainous woods. The pamphlet mentioned that the most common time for the jewel to shine was between seven and nine am. There was the other time, but...meh...I could barely move forward, inching only forward by using my toes.

“This is getting me nowhere,” I complained. “Come on, Derry. Use your inner strength!”

I struggled a lot, but I was already prepared. I had my clothes on, my backpack ready, and I had taken a bath last night.

“Let’s see...I got everything. Have I eaten breakfast?” I burped in response. “Check. Dying from my own oral fumes? Check.” I pondered. “Hmm. It’s also pretty cold this time of the year, so I need a jacket.”

I fumbled through my closet to find my thick red jacket. The kind that makes you look like you’re big and buff when you’re more of a scrawny toothpick, like I am. It seemed to clash with blue jeans and orange shoes, but I’m not here to please people’s eyes. I’m here to do a mountain climb. After readjusting my backpack again to sit tightly on my back, I noticed that Silver was resting on the counter separating my living room from my kitchen. I stared at her for a while, debating what to do.

“Eh. Why not,” I thought aloud.

I shrugged off my concerns for what other people doing the climb might think, what with a twenty-six year old man carrying a giant stuffed pony in his front pocket, which was quite big for a pocket. I locked my door, turned on the security system, and then went on my way.

The forest wasn’t exactly thick, what with most of the trees looking mostly like matchsticks, and the ground was mostly mud with very little in terms of grass. It was a strange forest, although I could often find large swathes of grass, mushrooms, winter flowers, and the occasional pinecone that would make you slip when stepped on. About an hour or so later, and I finally found the spot on the picture of the pamphlet. There was no jewel in the wall, but I shrugged and plopped down onto the floor regardless to regain my strength.

“Well, Silver,” I said to my plush. “It seems that we might have been tricked.” I wiped my nose and took a deep breath of freezing air. “I bet there are already people trying to get into my home.” A loud thundercrack confirmed my suspicions. “I thought so.”

People had learned about my wealth and heard that I had kept it in my home. This wasn’t true, and I had it looked over by my grandfather’s accountant, Mr. Tierry. That didn’t stop people from trying to get into my home regardless. So, I just sat there, wobbling my boots whilst listening to the cracks, enjoying the ‘music’. Music is subjective after all, no?

“So many today,” I noted.

Before I could leave and smoke some sausages over their smouldering bodies, I found the mist meandering at about ankle-height spread far away from the mountain side in an instant. I turned around and saw a blue crystal slowly grow out of the wall, causing small black bits of rock to tumble to the floor.

I approached it and gazed at the crystal growing from the wall. It’s beautiful! Of course, it was nothing my mother would like considering her tastes. The mist that dissipated came back in the form of a rainbow colored fog after I touched the crystal, causing some concern.

“Uhh…” I looked around and started to stress. “Maybe I shouldn’t have touched that.” I tapped my fingers together. “Time to leave!” I tried to move but noticed my legs were paralyzed. “Why can’t I move?! HELP!”

My body became stiffer the higher the mist went until I couldn’t even move my head. I could still feel it raise me into the air. I wanted to run around screaming, but was more disturbed by the fact I was in a zero-g environment. I looked around as best as I could, realizing that the forest was fading away to a pure white, and even though all that was left afterwards was indeed just that, only the crystal remained, and I gradually felt sensations coming back into my body.

I must be dead, I thought, so I forced my body to grab ahold of Silver who was floating away from me and held on tight to her. If I was dead, then I would at least keep the one gift and memento I had from my grandfather. At least she would stay etched into my mind and soul. The light grew brighter and brighter, blinding me, and although I couldn’t feel my body, I could still feel SIlver somehow, and that was all that mattered. If I’m leaving this world, then so be it. I accept everything that has happened to me and would have, so as a final farewell: ”Screw you, Earth!”