WHAT A FOOL!

The pale crescent moon shone like a silver dime in the night sky, peeking through the cracks of the blinds in Nico’s bedroom as he sat on his twin-sized bed starring at his alarm, calmly waiting for the time to change. He couldn’t sleep a wink because he was prepared for what’s to come the next day. Nico had made sure that all windows and doors were to be locked, all rooms in the house were to be cleaned, and that it had looked isolated before April 1st.

Nico did not particularly enjoy April Fools because it was the day to pull pranks and jokes on people. Every year his friends would pull pranks on him, but things didn’t go well for poor little old Nico.  ‘The pranks they pull aren’t even funny. If anything is more like a beast is out for blood’ Nico thought to himself as the background noise of crickets began to fade away and his vision begins to blur as he recalls a memory of the past.

***

 The first rays of sunlight spread across the city like water. Orange and purple danced around in the sky giving Orianson City a refreshing morning. All students from Orianson High came bustling into the halls as the bell rang loudly across the campus. Nico was with his group of friends in the cafeteria having a conversation about what sports they will be participating in. 

“ I joined soccer this year. I made it to varsity and I’ll- WAKE UP!- be a starter as well” Matt Wilson said to Nico face-to-face with a straight face as if nothing happened. This bewildered Nico. He was confused and had said, “ W-what did you say.”

“Huh all I said was the I joined soccer this year. And I made it to varsity and that I’m a starter. Are you okay Nico? You seem kinda off” Matt said with worried written across his face as he starred back into Nico’s grey eyes.

“Yea. Just thought-” Nico was cut off by students in the cafeteria “WAKE UP! THERE’S NO TIME!” they all said at the same time facing Nico. The students went back to normal as if nothing just happened. Nico became terrified but didn’t let it show. He just shrugged it off and continued with his day.

Later, Nico walked the empty halls on his way to his class. When he had gotten to his classroom he opened the blue door and entered. There were five rows of seats and his seat was in the back of the class by a window. It was his favorite spot because the campus had a beautiful scenery. The class soon began and the Teacher had asked the students to open their journals to write what they thought about a quote that was written on the board.

Nico grabbed his backpack and opened it. He pulled out his journal as he let his black and white backpack hit the ground with a soft ‘thud’. When he opened this journal there was writing in it with big and black bold lettering saying, “WAKE UP” and “THERE IS NO TIME”. This horrified Nico. He didn’t know what to do. Every page was filled with the same words. Nico panicked and raced out of the classroom like lightning. He began running in the halls, but something was different. Nico stopped in his tracks and took a look around the hall with wide eyes and an open mouth. To his doomsday, the halls were filled with an abundant amount of papers written on it saying the same big black bold lettering. This drove poor Nico insane. Turns out the whole school was in on it.

***

The sound of the alarm went off; snapping Nico out of his daydream. Nico’s eyes came into focus and looked at the alarm once again. It had read 5:00 am. That’s when Nico’s eyes widen knowing that today’s the day of April Fools. He rushed down the hall filled with pictures of him and his precious dog hanging on the walls. He then went down the wooden steps with loud thuds as his feet hit the wooden floor. One thing he forgot to do was to close the curtains and as he did the house became dark and fell into silence. Nico went into the living room and sat on his comfy grey couch and laid there until the day passed by. 

There were times he would hear knocking on the front porch, but he would never answer because he was too afraid that it might be his friends or someone trying to pull a prank on him like the times in High school.

Then Night fell like a blanket of stars stretched into infinity. Nico felt exhausted and wanted to sleep. His eyes began to feel droopy and as he closed his eyes, his phone tinged indicating that someone had messaged him. It was none other than his best friend Matt Wilson. The message read “Hey, where are you? Don’t you remember today is reunion day.” 

Nico ignored the message. He promised himself he wouldn’t fall for their pranks any longer. He didn’t want to feel embarrassed or feel crazy. Nico didn’t felt the courage to ignore his friend so he simply responded with, “Sorry. I don’t think I will be going this time around.”

Nico looked outside his house to see the night sky glowing with city lights. It felt calm and reassuring that he made it through the day, but there was no guarantee that his friends might pull a prank that was overboard like last time. He decided that the next day when he is safe and sound he will talk to his friends about how he feels and tell them to stop with the pranks. Nico had enough, it felt like the world was miserable and dull on the day of April Fools. 

Nico’s phone ‘dinged’ filling up the room with a dim light coming from the screen of his phone. It was another message from Matt. The message said, “You’re like an open book.” Nico squinted his eyebrows together not understanding what his friend meant by that. He began to type but Matt sends another message not giving Nico a chance to respond. It said, “I hope you do know that it’s April 2nd and not April 1st. We decided to stop with the pranks. I mean, after all, we’re now all adults. There is no need to worry now so rest easy.” 

As Nico read this, he felt his ears became hot from embarrassment and looked down at his lap ashamed. He went to such great lengths to isolate himself from the world to avoid pranks.

"ARHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! WHAT A FOOL I HAVE BECOME!" Nico said screaming at the top of his lungs.