1.
Sammy notices something. The moment his family moved from Maine to Canada, they became peculiar. His mother was first on edge when they first moved for who knows what. His sister can communicate, see, and summon the dead, while his brother seems normal—but he knows better than that—Sammy’s seen him talking to nothing and being favored by the priest at their church because he has a knack for haunted objects. He feels left out because there’s nothing special about him.
Their mother loves them all the same, no matter how weird her kids are, but it doesn’t fix the feeling of being left out that he feels because he’s not peculiar like his siblings.
He notices this happens in their library, so he starts there. He then remembers that although the library is an eventful room in their home, it’s transcended by the attic, so he starts there instead.
Since he’s the only one home, he doesn’t have to change his clothes. He wears something simple—black pants, a beige shirt, and a brown sweater.
As he walks down the second-floor hallway to get to the attic, he spots the single drawer of a console table that’s just open. He walks up to it and looks inside, finding a rusty key. He assumes it’s in the attic, so he takes it, closes the drawer back, and continues his small walk. Once he’s in front of the stairs that lead to it, he feels uneasy as the attic emits an eerie aura.
He needs answers, so he pushes the feeling down and makes his way up the stairs. Sammy turns the doorknob, expecting it to be locked, but it’s not, so he waltzes right in. As he walks in, he takes in his surroundings—which are very creepy—and spots a chest near boxes in the center of the room. It took him a little while to notice since there were so many.
Unlike the boxes, floor, walls, etc. in the room, it’s not covered in dust or cobwebs. It also looks like it is shaking, like something inside is trying to get out. Sammy walks towards it and kneels in front of it to see what’s inside. However, it’s locked, so he retrieves the key from his sweater pocket and inserts it into the keyhole.
The key turns with a click before flying open! Sammy falls back a little, but sits himself up to see what’s inside. All there is inside is a single bow and a quiver for it that holds many arrows. He’s visibly confused to see that the bow was making the chest shake and picks up the bow first to inspect it. Instantly, these strange flashes came to him. The moment he grabs the quiver, even more flashes appear, too.
It freaks him out too much, so he gets up to leave, but sees a small paper slightly peeking out from behind the old thing. He picks up the paper, closes the chest, and reads it,
Those who find this have something awaiting them, whether good or bad; the consequences are unknown.
“Great, isn’t that great? Could’ve read the damn thing before opening it…” Sammy mumbles to himself as he crumbles up the paper and tosses it to some spot in the room.
He leaves the attic and returns to the comfort of his room to change into pajamas because he plans to take a nap. He opens his closet door and tosses both items onto the floor before closing it back. He changes clothes and then enters his bathroom to brush his teeth. Once done, he re-enters his room to find an unnerving surprise.
The bow and its quiver were sitting on his bed with a letter next to them. He looks around his room for any signs that someone was in there, but nope, nothing. He hesitantly approaches his bed and picks up the letter to read it.
Greetings, Sammy. Congratulations, you’re the new bow holder. This might be new to you, so here are some tips and notes about the bow below. It’s a combination of Cupid and Valentine’s bow, so there’s even more of the power of love in it. How sweet! Don’t worry about the arrows running out as they refill themselves.
He pauses from reading to think to himself. “Should I even continue reading this? How does this freak who wrote this know my name already?” Sammy rolls his eyes before going on with reading.
You might wonder, why should I keep this bow instead of destroying it or leaving it somewhere? Well, it’s indestructible, and leaving it far away to get rid of it isn’t an option because it’ll always return to its user. Anyway, expect a visit from me soon because this bow is very dear to me and I need to train my new assistant!
Signed, Amadeus.
Sammy is now deeply regretting trying to be like his siblings and picking up the key in the hallway. He picks up the bow and opens his bedside drawer to fetch some tape. He ties it to the quiver before he tosses it back into the closet. This time, locking it.
He gets into his bed and turns off the lamp on the bedside table. The only thing illuminating the room is the sun beaming through his closed windows and slightly opened curtains. He finally dozes off and has a peaceful sleep.
When he awakes, he notes that his closet door’s still locked, so he unlocks and opens it to make sure the bow is still in the same condition he left it in. They’re no longer taped together, but are in the same spot. Another thing he notes is that he, in fact, did not take a nap, but woke up the next day, realizing that he had missed at least one meal. He shrugs it off and grabs some clothes for school. Sammy’s thankful his high school isn’t a uniform school, but he wishes it were sometimes, so he wouldn’t have to struggle to determine what to wear every day. He walks into the bathroom to get ready for school.
After getting ready, he leaves to go downstairs to meet everyone else. The first person he sees is his little brother, Damien. He’s sitting in front of the window, staring at something outside that seems to really grab his attention. He gets curious as well and steps next to where Damien’s sitting to look. What he sees is just some flowers, which he ignores until it’s time for them to leave.
He picks up his books and school supplies near the stairs before walking into the kitchen to get something for breakfast.
“Good morning, Sammy! How did you sleep? I’m guessing well because you missed dinner…” his mom ponders.
“It was alright, I guess,” he responds as his mom puts a plate of scrambled eggs and toast in front of him to eat, which he immediately does. He knows he’s not himself when he’s hungry, so he eats something.
Once done, he puts his plate in the sink. Those flowers in the yard are really on his mind suddenly, so he goes towards the front door to put on his shoes before stepping out. There, he approaches the mysterious bouquet. He picks it up to see if there’s a name on it, and he finds a name tag and reads it.
From Amadeus to Sammy K.
“Ew, that freak of nature knows my last name, too?” He sighs quietly. He throws the flowers into the trash can before waiting near the steps for Damien and his older sister, Mary.
“Hey, Sammy? Who were those flowers for?” Mary asks.
“Apparently, they were for me, but flowers aren’t really my thing—so I tossed them,” he explains.
“Oh, Sammy’s got an admirer!” Mary teases him.
“Maybe the girl who left them really likes you!” Damien tags along.
“You guys are the worst.” Sammy exaggerates.
Once at their bus stop, and on their way to school, he notices a lot of… love-related things he never noticed before. Like, there’s a newly opened Valentine’s store, a chocolate store, and a brand new flower shop. He wonders if the store has always been there, but he never noticed—but he doesn’t remember now that he thinks about it.
When they got to school, he felt less stressed now that he could hang out with his friends to forget about a potential stalker. He sees his friends Angelo, Kyle, and Simon waiting by his locker. Sammy walks up to them, and Simon is the first to see him. “Hey, it’s Sammy! Where have you been? You’re usually early.” Simon inquires.
“The bus was kind of late today, so I just got here,” Sammy explains.
“Well, you’d better hurry and get to class. I heard there’s going to be a new student in our class!” Kyle says.
“A new student?” Sammy repeats, confused.
“Yeah, apparently he’s wealthy and his family’s from Italy,” Angelo explains.
“That’s pretty cool,” Sammy adds.
“Yeah, but we really gotta get going before the bell rings,” Simon reminds him.
“See you in class!” Angelo waves. Sammy waves before opening his locker to put his unneeded stuff away before walking to class. The moment he enters, the bell rings. Guess he was pretty late to school today. He sits him and his stuff down at his desk the moment the teacher stands up.
“Alright, settle down, class. Today, we’ve got a new student, as many of you have already heard. News spreads like wildfire around here—it hasn’t even been that long. Anyway, please welcome Amadeus Andrea,” the teacher introduces.
“There’s no fucking way. This has got to be a bad dream. I must be in a coma after walking into the attic,” he thinks to himself.
Amadeus walks in, and it’s some boy with dark brown hair and dark brown-red eyes.
“Amadeus, go sit in that empty seat on Sammy’s left. Sammy, make sure that you raise your hand so he knows where to sit,” the teacher orders. Sammy, defeated, raises his hands and walks over to Amadeus to sit next to him. Sammy officially thinks this is the worst day of his life, like slightly a lot worse than watching his dad die in front of him.
After a couple of classes, it’s finally lunch time. Sammy gets up from his desk and goes to leave, but stops when he hears someone call his name. He turns around, and it’s Amadeus.
“Hey, you’re Sammy, right? You’ve probably heard my name already, but I’m Amadeus,” he says to Sammy.
“Yeah, you’re right… Do you need anything?” Sammy says, trying not to sound rude.
“Could you show me around the school? I don’t exactly know where anything around here is…” He chuckles.
Sammy looks him up and down, in a judging manner, before sighing, “I guess, follow me.”
Sammy gets even more pissed off because the school is huge, and now he can’t even eat lunch. Sammy decides to show Amadeus the different clubs first because that’s the easiest part of a tour for him. Before Sammy can explain anything about the chess club, Amadeus asks, “So, did you get the letter?”
Sammy’s eyes narrow in frustration. “Unfortunately, yes. Out of all the places you could’ve left it, why in my room and on my bed? That’s creepy. How do you even know where I live?” Sammy confronts him.
He doesn’t get a response, but they keep walking regardless. When they get to the gardening club outside, and before Amadeus can speak, Sammy picks up a shovel, pointing it at him.
“Okay, tell me everything. You can’t just break into my house and leave me a letter like it’s normal.” He demands an answer from Amadeus.
“Fine, since you’re so impatient. I’m from a Valentine realm, and since you picked up the bow, I can communicate with you even if I’m not near you physically,” He explains. “Now that you’re my apprentice, I have to train you how to use the bow properly. Also, when you get home, get the bow out of the closet. It doesn’t like dark spaces.”
“What, is it conscious or something? Why the hell should I care? You broke into my room.” He sighs as his eyebrows furrow in annoyance.
“Yeah, sorry about that, but we still have to train,” he explains. That makes somewhat sense to Sammy, so he lowers the shovel and puts it down. He goes to say something one more time, but gets tripped by Amadeus.
“Ow, what the—” Sammy is cut off again by Amadeus, laughing before helping him up
“—Gosh, you’re an idiot. Whatever, it’s almost time for class again. Let’s go.” He sighs. Sammy’s livid because he feels like Amadeus made a fool of him, but he pushes the feelings aside as they both leave the gardening club to go back inside.
After school, he leaves his classroom and quickly walks outside the building. He spots Mary and Damien talking, and Sammy walks up to them. Damien sees him walking over and smiles.
“Hi, Sammy! I heard from others that your class has a new student! Did you see him?” Damien asks.
“Unfortunately, I did. He’s a pain in my ass,” Sammy replies.
“How come?” Mary wonders.
“He’s snobby. He tripped me earlier when I was showing him the gardening club,” he replies angrily.
“Hm, maybe you’ll warm up to him soon?” Mary hopes.
“Not in a year, not in a decade, and especially not over my dead body.” Sammy spouts.
“Well, not with that attitude you won’t…” Mary mumbles.
The three continue talking back and forth with themselves until their bus finally arrives.
When they get home, Sam is quick to take off his shoes and immediately goes to his room. He shuts his door behind him and drops his books on the floor. He plops onto his bed and pillows, staring at the ceiling. He flips onto his left side and is greeted by Amadeus. Sammy gets spooked and falls off his bed, scrambling away from him.
“Oops, sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. I honestly thought you’d see me.” Amadeus smiles.
Sam sits himself up from where he is on the floor. “Why are you in here? Can’t you go home or something?” Sammy groans with annoyance.
“I would, but then you wouldn’t know how to use the bow you’ve gotten blessed with!” Amadeus reasons.
“More like cursed.” Sammy retorts under his breath.
“Hey! Don’t be like that,” Amadeus replies.
“I’ll figure out how to use it on my own. Now go away,” Sammy repeats as he gets back onto his bed.
“Aw, come on, you don’t appreciate my presence? Not even a little?” Amadeus asks.
“No, I don’t. Now leave.” Sammy demands.
“Ugh, fine.” Amadeus rolls his eyes before teleporting out of his sight.
Finally, some peace for Sammy. He gets off his bed and opens the closet to find the bow and the quiver.
He grabs both items and sits on his bed to get a better look. The bow looks like it’s made of some pink quartz and clear crystal. The string of the bow isn’t rough. It feels smooth, like it’s made of silk or something. Sammy remembers the note it came with. Now that he thinks about it, since Valentine wasn’t some Greek god like Cupid was, how come he was used to describing the bow? Speaking of Cupid being Greek, isn’t he Italian or something? Could it be a love bow or something of the sort?
Being a mini Cupid would be cool. Sam thinks of a couple of people on his street that he can use the bow on. He puts the quiver on and gets up to leave his room and sneak out. Suddenly, his back starts hurting and aching like crazy. He stumbles away from his bedroom door, trying to rub at his back to stop the pain from worsening. It feels like something’s coming out of it.
He falls onto the floor from the pain, still attempting to feel his back so he can confirm what the hell’s going on. Suddenly, the pain stops. Sammy doesn’t trust that, so he gets himself up off the floor and goes into his bathroom. He’s horrified once he sees what was causing his back pain.
