Chapter 1
“Marty, you’re taking forever in that bathroom! Come on, we need to go! Your hair is amazing by itself, you don’t have to style it for two hours! Nobody will see it in the truck anyway!” I heard my dad say behind the bathroom door.
Hey, my name is Marty Abrax, and I am 19 years old. When I was around 5 years old, doctors found out something about me, and after finding out what it was, my mother didn’t want to see me anymore. She cheated on my dad, took my older sister, and disappeared from my life.
Dad didn’t have it easy, but he raised me well. I didn’t spend much time at school because I was helping my dad with truck duties. I was a bit weirder than others when I finally made it to school, so you can imagine that I didn’t have many friends my age. We did go to church, and the older people there really love me. They are really nice, and I got used to being around older people more than people my age.
Back to the present. I opened the door and let my dad come in. I quickly went to my room, which wasn’t visited much since we were home so rarely, and grabbed my things: my notebook with all my songs, my camera, my DVD player, my CD player, and my MP3 player. Let’s just say that all these things were used before me, so they were a bit rough around the edges, but they still work.
If you don’t know, it’s the fall of 2008, and it’s pretty cold outside, so I had to put on my beanie to hide my short, straight brown hair. My appearance: short brown hair with a fringe over my eyes and brown eyes. People also say that I am very small, which is definitely not true! I am 165 cm (5.4 feet), which is not that small. I also have a bit of a mixed-up body. My chest is thin, and so are my arms and hands. My legs are bigger, and my bum is like a huge pillow that I don’t really like, while my ankles are thin too. Weird, right?
You’re probably asking, Marty, who do you even like if you’re so weird around everyone ? Well, you will discover that soon.
I work as a part-time photographer and cameraman. People order me directly when I’m in a location. For example, we are heading to Texas now, so I’ll just go on my Facebook page and post that I’m available in Texas, US. It helps a bit. My dad works really hard doing his job, so I want to help as much as I can. It’s a long ride to Texas, so that means I’ll have many DVDs to watch and music to listen to.
A couple of hours later, I was looking for some new CDs to play on my Discman. My taste in music is rather strange—it’s a blend of Christian worship music, pop, rock, musicals, classical, and soundtracks. My grandparents say that secular music is bad. I agree in a way.
But everyone is different and not everyone, even artists, believe in God and we need to respect that.
I was never a huge fan of boybands. I had heard about them, but they are all choreography and weird hairstyles. But the idea of it is nice—to have a group of guys who are like brothers to you and always have your back. Singing songs would just be a bonus to the friendship. But I know there is a darker side to this industry.
If you’re asking if I sing—I do, but only for fun, and I don’t think I have a good voice. It’s a blend of feminine and masculine, but mostly it’s high-pitched. Since I heard people say that I’m off-key, I stopped singing in front of others.
If it were up to me, I would create a different kind of boyband—a Christian boyband. They wouldn’t sing only worship songs but also my own written songs that are a blend of Christian, rock, and pop. It would be a boyband that worships God while also calming people and making them happy with its music. But that’s only in my head. I would never be able to find that kind of talent.
I finally found the perfect CD to play—theBack to the Futuresoundtrack. I put it into my CD player and lay down. I completely dozed off.
I woke up, almost falling off the bunk bed, and saw that my dad was nowhere to be seen. I panicked. I knew that Jesus would come at any time—but not right now!
I opened the truck door and saw my dad peeing in the bushes. Yeah... okay, false alarm.
I stepped out of the truck to look around when my CD player fell to the ground, and the CD popped out of it.
Oh no—please work!
I panicked again and bent down to pick it up when a pig came and took the CD.
I quickly picked up the player and started running after the pig.
“Hey, that’s my CD! Give it back!” I shouted while chasing it.
When I was inches away from it, it suddenly turned, and I fell into mud... at least I hope it was mud.
I didn’t waste time. I quickly stood up, rubbing the mud off my face, and acted like nothing had happened. When I was finally done cleaning what I could, I saw a figure coming into view.
It was a guy, a bit taller than me. He had raven hair and dark eyes, and he was holding the crazy CD-stealing pig.
“Hey, fella, is this yours?” he asked with a Texan accent.
TO BE CONTINUED!
