Colossus of Rhodes

You could feel the temperatures dropping, in Providence, Rhode Island. Summer had just ended, and the trees began to change color as they prepared for autumn and the eventual winter. Alexander never liked fall, it meant just one word to him, “School”. This year would be his last at Providence High, and then he would have to deal with the hassle of finding a good college. At least he had his birthday to look forward too.
“Eighteen” he though, “Maybe now everyone will see me as an adult and not some kid.”
Alexander had always been rather small for someone his age, or at least, small compared to the rest of his friends. He was 5’7, and his best friend William had just reached 6’3 back in May. Alexander knew he would grow up to be short, his dad was 5’8, and his grandfather was only 5’5.
“It’s probably because of my Greek heritage. I doubt that they were tall…” he said with a bit of annoyance in his voice.
Back in 1968, his father was taken, along with the rest of his family, to the United States. It was there that they hoped to live, and not struggle through any future problems Greece may have. It wouldn’t be long before he met the love of his life, and had a son whom they named Alexander.  Even before then, Alexander had family records that went as far back as 300 BC! But enough history lessons, we should just focus on Alexander.
 Alex woke up early so he could get in a little exercise time in before he left for school. Though he was short, he tried really hard to develop some muscle. Unfortunately, he didn’t look very different, especially since he had been doing this for the past three months. He did feel a little stronger, but no differences in his body that would cause pretty girls’ heads to turn. After his workout, he would quickly scarf down donut and run out the door. It was feeling nice out, so he decided to just walk to school. Along the way he stopped by his friend William’s house.
“Hey Will, you ready?” Alexander shouted as he stepped into the front room.
“Yeah, just give me a moment!” replied Will from his room.
Alex walked up the stairs, and into the room to see Will going through his drawers in quite a hasty manner. He looked completely dressed, except for his lack of socks.
“What are doing?” asked Alex as he stared at Will’s foot.
“I can’t find any socks!” he yelled back, “I think my brother took them all.”
William’s brother, Alfred, was a total pain in the ass. He was always “borrowing” stuff, and never returned them. One such incident involved Alfred taking one of Will’s video games, only for Will to find it broken into tiny pieces on the floor. Alfred says it was an “accident”, but we all know he did it on purpose.
“Why don’t you just skip the socks, wear some flip-flops, and get going? I don’t want to be late.”
“Fine!” He replied in angry tone.
Soon Will and Alex were out the door.
“You know, you could have just driven us to school, and then I could have had more time to look for my socks.”
“Oh come on, it’s beautiful outside! Besides, walking is good for you.”
“Ok yeah, walking is good, but not in flip-flops. Especially when you’re wearing an old pair!”
“What happened to- it was Alfred wasn’t it?”
“I pretty sure it was. I don’t get why he would have taken mine though, they don’t even fit him!”
“Maybe he likes taking stuff from you?”
“I don’t know, but it’s annoying because now I have to wear flip-flops that I haven’t worn since I was fifteen.”
“What size are they?” inquired Alex.
“These? Size ten, and the ones he stole were size twelve. He could have just stolen these and actually get use out of them!”
Alex wasn’t complaining. Though he was straight, he found that male feet were quite a turn on.
“Well at least we’re almost to school.” Alex said.
“Yeah, that’s true.” Will replied.
Soon they arrive at school, a little late, so they missed the morning announcement. Throughout the day it was boring class after boring class, until eventually it came to world history class. Despite his hatefulness towards school, Alex enjoyed his history classes. Usually, each week was about a different time in history. However, today the teacher decided to talk about the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
“Who can name all sevens wonders?” was the question Mr. Liet chose to ask first.
A blonde girl name Agatha raised her hand. Mr. Liet chose her, and she stood up.
“The seven wonders of the ancient world are: The Great Pyramid of Giza, Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, Colossus of Rhodes, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus, the Temple to Artemis, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria.”
Alex looked over to see Agatha looking at him as she named the last wonder.
“You are correct Agatha. And does anyone else know what they all have in common?”
William had the same history class as Alex, and this time HE raised his hand. Mr. Liet quickly chose him.
“With the exception of the pyramids, they were all destroyed?”
“Good answer, but not what I was looking for. I was hoping to hear, ‘They were all built around the eastern Mediterranean.’”
Will gave a look of annoyance because he thought the answer would be more complex than that. Then Mr. Liet continued on about how a lot of them were destroyed by earthquakes, how the island of Rhodes inspired the name of the U.S state, and the conspiracies on how the Hanging Gardens may not have existed at all. For some reason, Alex began to feel very tired. He tried to stay awake for Mr. Liet, but just couldn’t do it. He began to dream, but it wasn’t his usual dreams. Nothing was happening; it just felt like darkness all around him. Then he began to feel warm across his body. He looked up to see the sun, which was the only thing present in the empty void. He looked back down to see a man, standing far of into the distance. The figure was to far away to see anything else. Alex could see the man start to walk closer to him, but disappeared just as Alex was startled awake. Turns out, some kid knocked his book off his desk. Alex had just woken up in time to hear the sound of the bell ring. Alex got up, and walked out the door. William wasn’t too far behind, and eventually caught up to Alex. Together they both started walking home.
You know, Mr. Liet was wrong.” Said Will, breaking the silence, “Babylon wasn’t on the Mediterranean, it was in Mesopotamia. So they weren’t ALL located in the same area.”
Alex didn’t reply, he was still deep in thought over what his dream was about.
“Hey, is something bothering you?” asked Will suspiciously.
“Hm? No, I’m fine. Just had a weird dream.”
“Yeah I saw you had fallen asleep, what’s up with that? You love History!”
“I don’t know, maybe I woke up to early and exercised too hard?”
Will shrugged, “Maybe. You have been working hard.”
“Yeah but nothing has changed.”
“Maybe if stop eating donuts right after you finish, then you will notice some progress?”
Alex chuckled, “You’re probably right.”
The two boys stopped in front of Will’s house.
“Hey, why don’t you stop by an we can watch a movie?” asked Will.
“That sounds nice. Then maybe I can stop thinking about my dream.”
“Great…” replied Will, but with a little bit of confusion in his voice due Alex’s strange behavior.
Will was glad to finally have the too small flip-flops off his feet, and plopped down on the couch. They chose to watch the movie 300, as it seemed to fit a little bit of Mr. Liet’s lesson. Will put his legs across Alex’s lap and wiggled his toes. Both his and Alex were straight, but occasionally William would let Alex rub his feet, just to make him happy. However, Alex paid no mind the feet that were placed in front of him. Instead he was focused on the movie. Will wondered if Alex was still thinking about his dream earlier, but chose not to ask and just went back to watching the movie. After the movie was over, Alex quickly got up and left without even saying goodbye to Will. He ran back home, and rushed right through the door. His parents were they’re waiting for him, but Alex didn’t say anything and went up into his room. He hopped onto his computer and began looking up stuff like, “Sun, Sun man, or Man of the Sun.” Nothing of interest came up, and Alex grew tired again.
“Maybe if I sleep on it, I’ll have something by the morning.” He thought to himself.
Alex quickly changed into his pajamas, and went right to sleep.