The Parade

 The roaring crowds with the bashing of drums and blowing of horns were all it took to overrun a person’s senses when they walked out to see the parade. The eyes were immediately assaulted by the rainbow confetti that fluttered down and the flamboyant floats that trudged along beside a multitude of exotic dancers as they hopped and spun about in an assortment of ways. Despite the overwhelming chaos that ensued, what really stood out from the crowd were the giant balloons that effortlessly hovered above all the madness. They bounded along aimlessly, following the strings that tied them down from escaping. While most would point and smile at them for their resemblance to familiar characters, a lone Eevee who had made himself scarce amongst the crowd gazed up in awe for a much different reason. What it was exactly he couldn’t say for sure, but something about these gentle latex behemoths had filled his eyes with a hot spark that made them open up nice and wide as they stared on overhead. Was it their intimidating size; their call for attention as they menacingly blocked the sky with their sheer volume? Who knows? But for whatever the case, this Eevee had taken what may have been a very unhealthy interest in them.

  He tried to poke his head through all the hustle and bustle in order to get a better look, but when you just barely reach one foot, life can be challenging in a world not meant for you. A group of overbearing heads obscured his vision which prevented him from being able to truly appreciate the mighty balloons in all their glory. With a pout puckered on his face, the Eevee sat down in a huff. Life had a bad reputation for dealing out its cards unevenly, but even the poorest of souls can draw the ace on occasion.

  “Wow! Jimmy, look an Eevee.” Before he had any time to comprehend what was going on, a pair of arms had snatched him up like he was the last toy on the shelf. “I can’t believe it, an actual Eevee. Man, are these things rare. Do you have any clue what we can do with this little guy, Jimmy?”

 “Pawn it on the GTS?” Answered Jimmy.

 “Yes, but we should probably breed a couple before we go and do that.”

  Pawning and breeding? The poor Eevee could only tilt his head in a daze while he tried to piece together what these two were talking about.

  “What do you think he’s doing out here, Joey?” Jimmy asked. “I thought they only appeared in the Castelia Park.”

  What the Eevee assumed to be a “Joey” rolled his eyes up while he scratched slowly at his chin. Joey turned his attention to the parade before snapping his fingers with a conclusion. “I‘d be willing to betcha’ that all the noise from the parade is what attracted him from his little corner.”

  “Well, curiosity killed the cat, or in our case, bagged us an Eevee.”

  “Since I don’t have any Poke-balls on me, I’ll let you sit on my shoulder for now.” Acting as if he was handling a common house cat and not a wild animal that was found on the streets, Joey brought the Eevee up and placed him on his shoulder, just like he said he would.

   It would have been a blunt lie to say that he didn’t mind the boys’ company, but if it meant access to a better view than the Eevee decided it best to just simply play long. Atop the youngster’s shoulder the parade balloons appeared as massive as ever. When one passed on overhead, it shrouded the Eevee with its shadow, sending a sporadic shiver through him. Looking up, he felt like an ant. How small he must appear to something that was so much bigger and higher up than him. The parade continued on without a hitch, being still just as lively as it was when it began. While all the commotion continued on without end, Eevee had unknowingly lost himself in his own imagination. He thought about what it was like to be so big and powerful. What it must feel like to leisurely move about at your own pace, staring the world down as you dwarfed them from up above. He could imagine everyone’s face as they gazed up upon him; he saw their mouths hanging open dimwittedly, their fingers pointing up with surprise and shock. All the attention was on him, every pair of eyes beheld him in all his power while all he could do was laugh. He let loose a booming laugh that shook the world to its core and revealed his strength to the onlookers below. He was basking in all the glory when an unsuspected jolt shook him and brought him back to reality.

  “C’mon Jimmy it’s getting late. We should be going home now.”

  When Eevee had secured himself back in the real world, he looked around to find that the streets were now empty, and had nothing to show for the parade besides bits of garbage and leftover confetti that lined the otherwise vacant roads.

  “Hold on, Joey. I know my I dropped pocket change around here somewhere. If I only didn’t have to look through all this dang confetti.”

  Seeing the dimwit digging through the colored paper made it dawn upon Eevee that the parade was over. He couldn’t believe that he let himself fall asleep in his daydreaming, especially when considering all the noise that surrounded him. A hallow lump formed in his chest at the prospect of missing such an opportunity as to see those magnificent balloons in their entire splendor.

  “There’s my last quarter. Alright Joey lets book it outta here.”

  “Alrighty then. Ok, Eevee, let’ go check out the day care center you’ll be signed up in.”

   With no reason to stick around any longer, Eevee jumped down from atop the boy’s should and landed with a slight thud on the concrete.

  “Joey, watch out, he’s getting away!”

  Joey’s head locked down and linked his gaze with Eevee’s. “Aw no you don’t.”

  Without hesitation, the foolish child lunged for the Eevee and landed with a harsh smack as the runaway effortlessly leaped out of harm’s way. Sitting up, Joey clutched his elbow which was now blistered a harsh pink from where he scrapped it. “Get him, Jimmy. Don’t let him escape.”

  Jimmy had sprinted from where he was standing and stood himself right in front of Eevee. Eevee eyed the situation carefully, his eyes switching sporadically in every direction. Without a second’s notice, he ran straight at the boy aiming to slip right between his legs. He was almost home free before a tight grip clutched its fingers around his tail. “Thought you could escapes did ya?” Jimmy cackled as he brought the newly caught prize face-to-face with his own. Staring fate right in the eyes, the Eevee immediately began swiping his paws at the boy’s face, leaving behind thin red scratches with every blow. With a harsh yowl, Jimmy loosened his grip from the tail and Eevee tumbled to the ground before sprinting onward as fast as he could, not even once thinking about looking back.

  He continued to run through the street, steering past every other city resident silently praying to himself not to get caught up with another one. After clearing a good block or two, he finally slipped between two buildings and into a back way alley. With no other person in sight, Eevee slowed his pace to a stop and took the liberty to lean himself against a wall for a rest. His heart was ready to burst out of his chest and his throat was dry from the rough heaves he sputtered, in an attempt to catch his breath.

  Sitting himself down, he cocked his head around to make sure that no one had followed him down this route. With the coast clear, Eevee laid himself down completely on the rugged floor. He closed his eyes, wishing he was back at the parade and away from all this trouble. A cool wind blew into the alley, brushing up against his fur and helping to release him from the heat that choked him. With one last deep breath, Eevee staggered to his paws, groaning from the aches that still clung to his legs and chest. He knew he had escaped capture from the boys, but a dark alley was still a dark alley, and instinct told him that trouble was just as likely to blow up here as anywhere else. Placing one paw slowly in front of the other, he steadily began to make his way forward.

  It was damp and empty in the alley. If he listened hard enough he could hear the water drip from the loose pipes that lined the buildings. Another quick gust fluttered past him. He tensed his body to brace the icy wind; suddenly these bursts of air weren’t so comforting as before. As he lingered on, hot, hungry, and tired, his mind drifted back to the balloons he saw at the parade. They didn’t have to worry about stuff like this. What joyful bliss it must be to soar against the wind, going wherever nature thought you would best fit at. Eevee smiled to himself for being so silly as to actually feel jealousy for an inanimate object. Looking up, he saw that he was nearing the exit for the alley. As he closed in for his destination, a sudden urge drove him look over his shoulder once more. Nothing unusual appeared, as he expected. However, he couldn’t help but develop a strange curiosity when he saw that one of the doors along the side of a building remained eerily open.

  The door hinges moaned as the wind battered itself against it. Eevee, very cautiously, walked closer to the opened entrance. He often took little interest in man-made things, normally preferring his tiny green patch of wilderness over the greys and yellows of the city. But like most things, there’s always an exception, and along with the door and the balloons, our Eevee was about to discover a third one. Slowly, he peaked his head inside. His leg muscles became tight and could feel his heart starting to pick up its pace. Once his eyes cleared the door surroundings, he could finally make out what was to be found in the room. It was large and empty. The floors were constructed from lifeless concrete that had become covered in a coat of dust while cracks lined themselves against every crevice. For what it was worth, it was not very exciting. Floats from the parade were parked in what could only be a giant storage room. Their vibrant colors and tatters of exotic fluff became muted against the grey musty room. Leftover boards and unopened cans of paint were left as reminders of the work that was needed for these floats to be brought to life, only to be left for dead here in this room. It was quite depressing, this room was, but Eevee was too busy staring bug-eyed at a couple of helium tanks that sat in the middle of it all to either notice or care. He stepped one paw onto the cold floor, and the remaining ones quickly followed in-suit before instinctively marching to the tanks.

  Looking at the tanks with his hypnotic gaze, he was reminded of the balloon venders that would visit his park occasionally if the weather was fair. He could see in his head the balloons as they were instantly filled with that life-giving air, only to be whisked away by the happy children that made them bounce and dance like a fiesta as they skipped away. And it is at this very moment that we see Eevee’s wild imagination get the best of him.

  Standing before the tanks, he placed a paw against the cold steel that sealed away his wishes. An excited shudder pulsed through his body, causing every single hair to stand on end. Atop the tank was the air valve which sat beside a pressure gauge. Coiling down like a snake on a tree was the hose, which managed to reach all the way down to the floor for easy access. However, the valve proved to be the troublesome part as it sat just out of reach for Eevee’s paws. Not yet ready to declare sour grapes, he hastily scoured the room for something helpful. Amidst the debris a stepping ladder was found, most likely used to reach the higher parts of the floats. After an eventful struggle to position the ladder, the fun was ready to begin.

  Climbing the steps, Eevee dragged the end of the hose up the ladder and firmly clenched it in his mouth upon reaching the top. He reached over and placed a paw on the valve, next to breathless with anticipation. Counting down, he readied himself for the event that would change his life. Three. Two. One. With a powerful heave the valve turned, releasing the air through the hose and into his body. It hit him like a tidal wave. His tail shot up with the filling gas, swaying back and forth while other crevices began to fill. His midsection started to push out from under him and already he felt light enough to drift away. He spat out the hose and turned the valve off before he reached the point of immobility. Feeling the softness of his own body, he giggled between wispy pants, rubbing and pushing into the rubbery plush of his belly which squeaked as he did so. He turned back to look at his tail which had molded into a football-like shape. He tapped it gently and watched with a dumbfounded smile while it rocked left and right, similar to a weeble-wobble. The hose sat dormant in his paws. With a faint voice it called to him and he knew he was nowhere close to being finished. To please his own twisted psyche, Eevee placed the hose back into his mouth and turned the valve once more, continuing with his transformation.

  More gas was pumped into his body which rushed into other occupancy’s to make room. His stomach and tail proceeded to swell with his front and hind limbs following a similar route. It was a short wait   before he finally felt himself lift off the chair only now becoming air-borne. His dreamed achieved, he now only wanted to get bigger. To become as large and intimidating as the parade balloons he witnessed, that was his new goal, and with each passing moment he inched closer and closer to that goal. His body had started to round out a bit, and he actually began to look like an over-inflated blimp. His puffy legs swelled out beside him, becoming spherical next to his body with his paws being sucked into each limb. His massive tail swayed gently behind him, proving to be just as elastic as the rest of him. Continuing to grow, his body had become ridiculously large, managing to fill up about a fourth of the giant where house. His body squeaked and squelched as it expanded beyond belief, a rubbery stretching sound forming as it did so. Eevee had long since lost himself in his imagination once more. He pictured himself in the parade, ropes tied around his body to secure him. He saw the people’s faces, their mouths hanging ajar with fingers pointing and cheers being hollered. All eyes were on him and he basked in the glory that was far from the empty storage bin he actually occupied.

  Unbeknownst to him, the pressure gauge below had started to rise dramatically going from a safe green into a cautionary yellow. Of course he wouldn’t have known this in his current position, but in his bliss he failed to notice an unsettling creaking noise that started to conjure as his body reached its limit. The bigger he grew, the farther he was lost in his imagination. The more he inflated, the louder a previously faint groaning noise became. The gauge switched from the cautionary yellow and into the deadly red. If our Eevee hadn’t noticed by now then it was too late.

  Eevee had truly become the parade balloon he had dreamed of becoming, a good half of the room now dedicated to his new-found girth. His body had grown to the point of being unidentifiable. Now a balloon in the truest sense, his limbs had receded into the ever-growing mass that was his body, leaving behind little divots to indicate their original position. Following along, his head had sunken in completely as well, the hose still hanging out from the indentation it left. Nothing remained but a fuzzy brown sphere with a giant fluffy tail. The gauge had reached the far end of the red side, the point of no return.

  It had finally started to dawn on Eevee how large he had grown. The pressure he felt was impossible to describe and he could feel his body beginning to rumble, a sign that he was close to bursting.

  But I can’t quite now, he convinced himself. I can still grow bigger; I know my true limit is endless.

  The gauge below had cracked. His body started to completely fill the room, pushing against the floats that would soon witness firsthand the end result of such vanity.

  M-more. I know I can hold more. I’m bigger than any parade balloon could hope to be. I am the best, the biggest, the-

  The explosion was enough to literary shake the building to its core. Windows shattered and walls cracked from the sheer force of the bang. Those who coincidentally stood by the building claimed a bomb had been set off by someone. The hose responsible landed on the floor, sputtering out the last bits of helium that remained in the tank. All that was left of Eevee were brown tufts of fur that fluttered down gently and aimlessly.

 Poor Eevee, succumbing to the fate many balloons before him had experienced. Now what should be known about this Eevee is that he wasn’t remarkable. He wasn’t complex or interesting in the slightest. The only chance at fame was being sold like jewelry, among the hundreds of other Eevees that get traded daily. This lack of self-worth is what brought upon his interest for the balloons. The dream to rise above others and dwarf them with our size and importance is one shared by many, but realized by few. We cannot fault Eevee for dreaming big, but it is the failure to realize his own limits that ultimately destroyed him. While it is true that our Eevee wasn’t remarkable, he did at least succeed where others failed. He managed to go out with a bang.