There was once a small town by the name of Jonston, Montana. The town was mostly isolated, and the population was limited. It had a small church by the name of St. Michael the Archangel, and it was Roman Catholic. All of the town inhabitants knew each other, being that there were only a few thousand inhabitants total. This isolated town was fifty miles from any other settlement, and even in March of 2020, where there was complete globalization, the town was nevertheless completely isolated.



The inhabitants of Jonston didn’t seem to mind. They still got electricity, and having their own power plant, it wasn’t hard. It wasn’t as though the people of the town were behind the times. On the contrary, they were almost more advanced. They still got all of the new advanced computer junk and anything else necessary for an advanced town.



Jonston was one of the overall richest towns in the Continental United States, but as a town, they had just never had the wish to expand. They had always remained a small town, and had that small town mentality. Anyone who wanted to get out of a small town setting simply just moved out on their own without complaint, and most of the time they were never heard from again. They might come back to see their families, but most of the time their families either went to see their relatives on the outside of the town or they simply never spoke again.



This was a way of life that had been accepted for two hundred years, even through all the progression of technology and society. The only difference between Jonston and the rest of the world was Jonston seemed to have the ability to progress faster than everywhere else, and it did.



However, there would come a day when a certain couple of kids did not like this society, and Jonston was certainly not ready for what was about to happen. They had lived through the American Civil War, two World Wars, the Vietnam and Korean Conflicts, the Sixties Revolutions, the Cold War, the first Gulf War, and the War on Terror and not changed their way of life. What Jonston was not expecting, was the want of change to come from within.



There was a certain family that lived in this isolated town by the name of Clark. They were just a fairly young, well to do couple by the name of Robert and Carla Clark who had identical twin boys, James Wilkonson Liam Klark, and John Robert Flint Clark. John and James had found at very early that they were different from everyone else. They possessed a great mind, James had a mind that allowed him to somehow, by the age of six, pass an advanced Calculus exam and score a perfect on a Physics exam that not even the smartest person in the world at the time had done. He also scored perfect on both the ACT and SAT by age nine. John, on the other hand, simply had one of the greatest photographic memories of all time. He could recall any formula and any equation thrown at him, and if he had even opened a book, and looked at a single page for a second, he would be able to recall word for word what was on that page at any time later, but that wasn’t his only gift. He was able to remember anything that anyone had ever done or said if he had been around them. Both James and John were celebrities, and perhaps the only people of Jonston, Montana that anyone in the outside world were aware of, but that is only because of an interview they did once for the Today Show on NBC News. They were just like everyone else in Jonston, and remained mostly isolated in Jonston. The problem was that by March of 2020, at the age of sixteen, they were not satisfied with that.



It all started when they began their junior years of high school. Obviously, neither of them really should have been in high school. They were far too advanced for school at all at this point, yet Robert and Carla saw fit to keep both James and John in school, and not even allow them to skip a grade. Their argument was that, though James and John were probably the most intelligent people on the planet, their maturity levels did not match their intellectual levels. James and John, especially by their junior years, resented this idea. And, they went to school with this resentment on their first day. They had large a rather large amount of friends, and that probably had to do with their intellectual levels, because there was nothing different about their social ways. David Thompson, Keith Richards, Jeremy Maylow, Grant Warden, Reagan Smith, Emma Christensen, and Hope Johnson were all the main friends in the twin’s inner circle, but there were others.



All of them had ambitions that they wanted to accomplish when they were older, and had mostly kept their interests throughout their whole lives. David was always interested in politics, and already knew that when he was out of school, he was going to become a politician somehow. Keith was also interested in politics, but also interested in business and history as a whole. Jeremy was always looking into the mind, and had a wish to become a sociologist or psychiatrist. Grant was always looking at jewels and gems and had an overall interest in the rocks and minerals of the earth, though he had no occupation in mind at that time. Reagan was an ambitious young girl, and had always had high hopes for going out and exploring the world outside of Jonston. Emma was similar, but she actually had an idea of what she wanted to do when she got out of Jonston. She wanted to become an ambassador to foreign powers. Hope was perhaps the only one whom really wanted to just stay in Jonston and lead a humble life, passing on more inhabitants to Jonston.



Even with these ambitious young friends, none of them honestly wanted to do anything against Jonston, or try to make it grow in size, both land and population. They were content with just leaving Jonston as it was. James and John were not. As they got on their bus to go to their first day of school, they sat with each other and began to discuss the plans for the year.



“John, what exactly do you wish to accomplish in school?” asked James. “I mean we have never missed a question on anything in school. What do you think our purpose is in being here?”



“I don’t know,” replied John. “What do you really want to do when you get out of Jonston High School?”



“I don’t know that either,” said James. “I really feel like we are supposed to do something important, and leave our mark on history somehow.”



“I believe everyone thinks that,” said John, “I guess we should just let time take its course.”



“I want to know now,” said James, in a rather frustrated tone. “I am not going to leave this town, though. I am going to change this one horse town into something greater.”



“The rules are simple,” said John. “We should just leave the town and make something of ourselves elsewhere.”

“I am wanting to really change this place up,” said James, getting riled up.

“What do you honestly plan on doing?” asked John. “Jonston has hardly changed in the last two hundred years, and you are telling me that you want to change it suddenly now! People are set in there ways in this town, and I am fine with leaving it that way.”

“Have it your own way,” said James. “I am not going to school again, though.”

“What do you mean?” asked John

“I am not setting my foot into Jonston High ever again,” he said forcefully. “You can if you want, but I am not going to. As soon as I get off of the bus today, I am running away to the small forest right outside Jonston.”

“What will mom and dad say? What will David and the others say?” asked John.

“What will you say?” asked James rhetorically. “Listen, we have the brains that we could leave and make lives for ourselves and be remembered through all of time. If we stay here in Jonston, what are we left with? A bunch of talent and brains and a town that will shut us out from the rest of the world.”

“It isn’t right to run away, James,” said John. “We can leave peacefully if we talk it over with everybody first. Besides, didn’t you say just a minute ago that you wanted to change Jonston, make it a bigger town, something to be remembered?”

“I did, and when I said I was running away, I mean to come back and change from the outside in,” said James.

“Let’s stay and talk it over with at least mom and dad tonight,” said John. “We will decide what to do from there. Running away will accomplish little to nothing in the greater scheme of things.”

“I see your point,” sighed James. “I still do not think that mom and dad will be too happy with us wanting to move on, though.”

“We’ll see,” said John. “All I know is that we need to give them a chance. They deserve that, at least.”

“We’ll talk to them when we get home, then,” said James.

“Yes, James,” said John comfortingly. “Now, let’s go to school and have a nice day. Besides, I know you’ve wanted to see Hope for the entire summer.”

“Yes,” James smirked. “Our parents were right in putting us in because of growing up socially. I just don’t feel like doing a bunch of busy work. Hope, however, is worth coming to school for,” he said as he smiled as the bus pulled up to the school.

“And so are the rest of our friends, like David, Emma, and Reagan,” said John.

They got off the bus and went into school that day. It was a pretty normal day of school overall. They had no teachers, they were just given some paperwork to do and books to read by the school’s assistant principal, Mr. James Arness. They didn’t have any real resentment towards him, but they just thought of it as an inconvenience. The teens at Jonston High always were respectful and admired John and James, but hidden in each of their hearts was a slight feeling of jealousy. James and John were quite aware of this, but they weren’t really bothered.

Once the school day was over, they always walked home with their select group of friends, consisting of David, Keith, Jeremy Maylow, Grant, Reagan, Emma, and Hope. James obviously had a major attraction to Hope, but Hope seemed completely oblivious, and James was oddly enough too timid in that regard to declare himself to her. Everyone else knew of James’s attraction, but they guarded the secret and kept it from Hope. Keith really like Reagan, and David really liked Emma. Grant and John just hadn’t found anyone they were particularly attracted to. Jeremy, on the other hand, everyone knew was homosexual. This did occasionally make the guys of the group a little awkward, but Jeremy never really made a move on them. Now, when it was stated that John hadn’t really found anyone yet, that was more of a lie. He had found someone by the name of Julia Klark, a girl who was two years older than him and went off to college in Ohio not knowing his feelings for her, and the only one who knew about his love for her was his brother James. John made a promise to himself that he would not love anyone else but her.

“So, how was your day, John?” asked Grant as the group began to walk home together. John and James were always first to get home because they were closest.

“A little boring,” John replied. “I am tired of doing completely pointless busy work that I could look at for a second and get the test right. I have to waste a seven hour period at school doing a bunch of work that I could probably get done in thirty minutes.”

“I understand how boring that would be,” said Reagan. “I am just curious, though, John. How does it feel to never forget a single thing that you have seen or heard?”

“Well, Reagan,” said John slowly. “You may think it is a cool talent to have, and frankly it is in a way. I must say, though, it is both a gift, and a curse. I am just afraid that it will all come back someday to haunt me.”
“That must be difficult,” said Jeremy. “James, how was your day?”

“My day was agonizing,” said James with a certain harshness in his voice. “I am tired of waking up every morning to do nothing but busy work! This whole town can be blown up for all I care.”

“Wow, James,” said Hope. “I hope you are just using a figure of speech to express your frustration.

“Oh yes,” said James. “Don’t worry about anything. I actually love this town. I know I may complain a lot, but it is just going to school that I hate. I sometimes wrongly take it out on the only place in this harsh world I wish to call home.”

“May I make an observation?” asked David. “I notice that whenever you talk about things that you hate or even just dislike, this old town of Jonston is always at the top of the list. I am thinking that you really do have a certain level of contempt with this town. And why not? You have quite a bit of talents that can’t really be tapped into in a small town like this, and you would like to get out of here so that you can tap into that extraordinarily brilliant mind of yours.”

“You know,” said Emma. “I think David has a point.” David smiled at this statement, feeling proud of himself. “My only question is, why do you so often deny your contempt for Jonston?”

“I guess I believe it would offend people if I showed the amount of contempt I felt for Jonston,” said James, as they neared James and John’s house.

“Well, I think we are about here,” said John to his brother. “Goodbye, you all.”

“Goodbye, John and James,” said the group in semi-unison.

After a moment of going up to their front porch, James faced John, and spoke. “Do you really think I have such a contempt for Jonston?”
“Well, James, I must admit, I have been questioning your emotional stability of late if you remain in Jonston,” said John. I believe you would scoff at anyone actually trying to do any sort of harm to this town. However, I think you are so ambitious that you are kind of in denial of what is actually going on in your mind. Brother, I love you, and I want to help you achieve all possible goals, but there is a point you must come when you face reality, and accept that you must face yourself before you allow yourself to face the rest of the world.”