Season Cut Short

[Aura]

Late at night in the Cappotelli household, Lorna walked upstart to go to bed.  However, she caught glimpse of a light coming from underneath her sons's bedroom.  She raised an eyebrow, perplexed.  He had to wake up early the next morning for a school trip.  She should have been in bed already.  She moved in to investigate the source.  She turned the doorknob and opened the door.

She was greeted with the sight of her son, Bart, sitting at his computer, looking at the screen with a smile on his face.  "Bart?"  She called to him.  What are you doing up?  You need your sleep for your trip tomorrow."

Bart turned to her, still smiling.  "Mom, I finally did it.  I finished my script."

"Script?"  Feeling rather tired herself, Lorna was a bit confused by her son's excitement.

"The script for my cartoon pilot.  I just finished writing it up!"  Bart excitedly pointed at the screen.  "I've got enough material for about 10 minutes, and I have my character sketches saved as well.  All that's left is to start storyboarding, animating, and voice acting."  He looked back at his mom.  "I'm finally making some real progress."

Lorna could feel herself starting to tear up.  She couldn't remember the last time she saw her son so happy and enthusiastic about something.  "I'm very proud of you, Bart.  But you still need to get some sleep.  You earned that trip, and I don't want you to miss it."

"I know, mom.  I'm just winding things down now."  He saved the document on his computer and shut it down.  "Good night, mom."

"Good night, Bart."  And with that, Lorna left the room and shut the door.

Bart walked over to his bed and slid right in.  He was making major progress and feeling more confident than he had in a long time.  Sure, the school trip would be a little time off, but a short vacation would probably be good for him.  He could have some fun and keep himself from getting overworked.  Yeah, it was gonna be great.

Bart couldn't help but feel optimistic about the future.

((B017: Bart Cappotelli-Start))

Bart sat on one of the benches in the cafeteria and cried silently.  He couldn't think of anything else to do.  He was trapped, he was out of shape, he had nothing to defend himself with, and most of all, he had almost no chance of outliving the rest of his class.

He should have been more cautious about the trip.  He should have remembered about Survival of the Fittest.  He should have remembered that high school classes had been targeted in the past.  If he had kept any of those thoughts in his mind, then there was a very good chance that instead of sitting in the middle of nowhere with a death sentence around his neck, he could be back home safely working on his animations.

But right now, all he could think about was how much of a fool he had been for feeling so optimistic.

He had already gone through his bag, and the only thing of note aside from routine survival gear was a book.  The book's title, "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living", was more of a cruel joke than anything.  Bart had just gotten around to easing his worries and resolving to enjoy life more before the trip started, but now all of that positive progress was replaced as he fell deeper into despair than ever.  All of his goals that he had been working toward his entire life were going to be all for naught outside of the remote chance that he somehow managed to get off the island alive.

Drying his eyes on his sleeve, he stood up and grabbed his pack.  Even though he was still crushed emotionally, he knew that he wouldn't be able to accomplish anything by sitting and crying all day.  He walked out the cafeteria doors with the silent hope that maybe, just maybe, he could have a chance to survive.

((Bart Cappotelli continued in Little Pig))