The boy walked down the hall like he had many times before, like many times he would afterward. Somehow this walk was different. During this walk he couldn't eject one vexatious thought from his head. For some reason, he thought he was searching for something. He couldn't remember what it was, just that it was exclusively important.

Somehow, he could only conjure up a few details about it. These details remained for him only, until he found what he was looking for.

For Jack's whole life, he had a feeling that someday he would be historic, but right now it felt as if he was mediocre in the eyes of everyone else. He wasn't great at sports, or the smartest one around. He wasn't popular, nor a loner. Everything he did he seemed to excel, but just not as much as a few others. If he got a ninety nine on a test, there was always someone who got a hundred. If he scored a goal in a game, someone else would score two. He would beat his best time in a race, but someone else had won first place.

When he was younger, Jack was addicted to learning about great people. Whether it was reading a history book, a biography, or a comic book, Jack had to read it. There was always something about these people, something Jack didn't have. All of those people had been treated like kings since the day they could speak. Even if they did start out poor, they carried a leadership about them, and became successful.

He didn't have this quality. Whatever he did, or how well he did it, he always seemed to get passed up by someone seemingly better. Jack knew one day he would show someone that he may not be the best, but he was still great.

Throughout his life, he spend his time trying to prove it to people. He competed in sports, but could never carry his team for a win. He studied hard, but didn't come out on the top of his class. He applied to every college he would consider going to, but never got back good news from the impressive schools.

Later on Jack found out that college was just a more mature repeat of high school. No one seemed to notice, or take special interest in him. He was always just Jack. He pledged a few frats, but walked off as soon as the hazing got bad, even if it wasn't him that was being harassed. At parties, he would always laugh and try to have a good time, but he felt like something was missing, and the searching feeling came back.

Eventually he became an accountant. It was a good job, it paid the bills and then some, and he liked doing it. A few years passed by and the old thought from high school popped into his head once more. What was he searching for? Could it have been just a wild nightmare that he just kept on looking for something, but couldn't find it?

Jack threw the idea out the window. The thought couldn't be just a dream, it was real. He savored the bits and pieces he knew about the thing he was searching for, and remembered them. The thought came to him at least once a day now. It reminded him of what he was really doing, what he was looking for.

Then one day something happened.

He found it.