Brightside by Mark Tullius (story books to read txt) 📕

why he never showed me how to use a rifle or anything else long range. The Mossberg 12-guage could shatter your skull across a football field, he said, but move twenty rows into the stands, and you’ll just end  up with a bruise or blind if you’re not smart enough to blink.

Dad’s lecture worked in theory, but it didn’t do much to inspire confidence in my part of the plan, the part where I have to take down a fully armed chopper hovering in the sky.

When I was nine, I used to point my finger as a gun and take out the airplanes flying over Columbus. I didn’t realize I was playing terrorist, never imagined one day that’s what I’d be called. Thought Thieves were deemed the most dangerous people on the planet by the President, the government, every school board across the country. All because we knew everyone was lying.

The politicians weren’t a surprise, but the pastors and priests; the little league coaches and lunch ladies threw everyone for a loop. It was just easier to get rid of us, ship us here to this mountain, than to face the truth that our society was based on the ability to lie. Parents tell their kids they’re special, that they love them. Teachers tell students they can achieve anything. Bosses want their employees to know they’re valued, that they aren’t just a warm body underpaid and abused. It’s how everything keeps moving. Without the lie, people have to fix shit, face conflict, come to terms. Lying is the buffer that keeps us all from ending up like Rachel.

Thought Thieves aren’t any better. We told ourselves Brightside could be worse, we bought into the bullshit, even though we’d been ripped from our homes, stripped of our jobs and families. We were banished to this prison in the clouds, but we told ourselves we’d just relocated. We had jobs, went on dates, fucked coworkers and the last person left at the bar. Lies have kept this town intact. They give us a reason to shower, brush our teeth, make our beds.

But none of it was real. It was no different than when I was back in the outside world. The other salesmen at BMW were just like us. We worried about paperwork, what we were going to have for dinner. We wondered if we should move the couch to the other side of the room. Little tasks and stupid nonsense kept our minds busy, but also kept us from realizing all of it was shit. Our lives, jobs, the people we called friends.

I’ve been hearing other people’s thoughts for as long as I could remember, but no matter how many times I heard their lies, their excuses, their justifications for doing horrible stuff, I never realized that I was no better. Until Day 100. That’s when I saw who I really was, a coward, a fraud, a waste of potential.

I could have been anything, could have used my gift to get elected to office or the head of a company. I could have rubbed elbows with the rich and powerful and had my own island. But I pissed it all away, told myself I was better than those cheats, even though I did nothing but swindle. I stole girls’ hearts, told them what they needed to hear to get them in bed. I sold luxury cars to unsuspecting souls. I convinced people I was sensitive, caring, when I was simply regurgitating all the things seeping out of their heads.

It was easy to keep secret because no one was like me. Not like Brightside, where secrets are more precious than life. I still can’t believe I’ve lasted a hundred days. I guess I’m lucky Wayne escaped and Sharon accelerated the plan. Another week and I’d be locked away in the Cabin or in a cage with the orange jumpsuits. I’ve been cracking, letting too many people in. Now Danny’s with Wayne and Sara’s involved. Then there’s Rachel, poor faceless Rachel, shoved in my closet, her version of a suicide note still stained on the ceiling, the floors.

Sara’s in the bathroom, so I decide to take the opportunity to say goodbye. I open the closet and crouch down next to Rachel. I tell her I’m sorry again, imagine she forgives me. I tell her there’s a good chance when this is over I’ll be joining her. I wonder if they’ll put us side by side in the cemetery.

If the rumors are true, we might all end up there soon. Wendell and Carlos; Krystal and Phuc. Every Brightsider buried to keep the world safe. I honestly don’t know how they ever thought this could last. Selling timeshares and other crap over the phone was never going to keep this place going. Just another lie we told ourselves to keep one foot moving in front of the other.

I just keep thinking about Wendell and all the people we’re going to abandon, the ones too risky for Sharon’s club. If I succeed and take out the helicopter, there’s going to be panic and chaos, bullets ripping through bodies. The Boots won’t know who’s with Sharon and who just happened to be taking a walk. It’s all a part of Sharon’s plan. The distraction, the confusion, the melee that follows. It’s going to buy us time, keep the Boots one step behind.

Collateral damage is just another detail in this fucked up scheme.

Sara comes out of the bathroom and says she wants to know how I’m going to pull this off. There’s no point in lying. I haven’t a fucking clue. Sharon had suggestions, like climbing a tree or throwing rocks to get the pilot’s attention. Our brilliant leader is an idiot.

Sara asks how close I have to be. I tell her under fifty yards, but probably under twenty to be safe. It’s been over ten years since I’ve fired this shotgun, and I know I’m going to be shaking and scared out of my mind. I’ve only hit a few birds, but that was because of the buckshot spray. It only took one tiny pellet to take out a quail. The helicopter’s going to take a hell of a lot more.

Sara says she wants to come with me, but she’s only being polite. She also needs to stay hidden. The Boots are busy looking for Wayne, but if they find her they won’t hesitate to take her in. I tell her she needs to stay here until it’s time to make a run for the cave. Sara refuses, says there’s no way she’s going to just sit here while I’m out there risking my life. Plus, she wants to find Danny. She says she saw a flicker in Wayne’s thoughts. It was just a blip, but she saw Danny near a tree. I tell her Wayne isn’t dumb enough to slip up like that. In all likelihood he’s trying to get her caught, giving the plan another distraction to keep the Boots off our ass. Still, she’s definitely not staying here, she says, so we make a compromise. I tell her she needs to make sure no one sees me go to the office. She can help me get in so I can get to the roof.