Chapter 1: My Begining
You know how they say that as you die your life flashes before your eyes? Well, that’s what this is going to be: the story of my life... before I die, anyway. My name is Jake Pierce, and I’m pretty sure these are the last few moments of my life. The past few months have been a roller coaster of events: high parts, low parts, parts that spin you in circles till you throw up; but in the end... Exhilarating. Even on the verge of death, there’s the lingering question everybody has throughout their life: whats next for me? Will it be Heaven? Will it be Hell? Reincarnation? Eternal Abyss? Will I just cease to exist like the textbooks say? I used to be so sure... But after this past year, the time since that day... I don’t know anymore. Well, you probably have a lot of questions, so I’ll stop rambling and get to my story.
Again, my name is Jake Pierce. I’m fifteen years old, have medium length dark brown hair that’s spiked in the front, and blue eyes. Not the typical blue; It’s this weird pale blue color that kind of changes shades, and sometimes colors, depending on what I’m wearing. I’m the average weight (145 lb) for my height (5′ 8") with an average body type.
I live in Staunton, Virginia. It’s not pronounced the way you would think, however. It’s pronounced StAnton. So far, I’m a weird kid from a weird place. Don’t worry, it gets even better. My “dad” is named Robert, and for some reason he goes by Bob. Where does he get “Bob?” Rob or Bert is understandable. But Bob? I don’t know. Anyway, the reason I say “Dad,” is because he isn’t my real dad. He’s my adopted dad, and he’s absolutely horrible. Ever since mom died, he’s been a drunk. My mom was great, and when she was alive, my “dad” wasn’t too horrible. Unfortunately, she was murdered on her way home from the supermarket. She was found on a sidewalk with a Red Joker playing card enlodged in her face. To this day, the killer hasn’t been found. As long as I don’t cause Robert too much trouble, he doesn’t care about me at all. Most people would tell me to get out of there, to report him. But where do I go then? Back to foster care. There’s only one reason why I stay... and his Name is Damien Hayes.
No, he’s not my lover. No, I’m not romantically attracted to him. He’s just my only friend. His Parents are dead, but he’s in the care of his 21 year old older brother, Elijah. His Brother is pretty cool, but doesn’t have a job. He doesn’t really need one, actually. When Mr. and Mrs. Hayes died about three years ago, around the same time as my mom, they left their entire wealth to Damien and Elijah. Let me just say one word: Millions. Damien and Elijah are set for life with interest adding thousands every week. They earn more on interest every week than they spend. I usually go to their house, but there is one thing about Elijah that I don’t like: He really, REALLY likes drugs and alcohol. Damien hates the guy. I would take him over my dad any day though.
You’re probably thinking, “Okay okay I get it, just get on with the story!” Sorry, but there’s one more thing I need to cover.
My real parents never existed. My DNA has never been seen. Ancestry.com has nothing, I’ve tried. I have no birth certificate, nothing. I just appeared one day.
Now that you have that little piece of important information, I’ll start my story.
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“Jake!” I heard amongst the loud chatter in the school hallway. I looked to my right and saw my only friend Damien pushing his way towards me.
Every time I saw him, I couldn’t help but wonder what a popular guy like him was doing being my friend. We were both freshmen, but he was six-feet tall and a starter on the varsity basketball team. He’s only fifteen but has already broken many of Virginia’s state records after one season of Varsity. He had brown hair that was longer on the top than on the sides and striking grey eyes that had this odd, but cool golden circle around his pupils. He was one of the most popular kids in school: tall, lean, athletic, good looking, and friendly. What surprised me (and everyone else, I’m sure) is that he hung out around me more than anyone else. We had been friends since we were little, but I had always expected the stereotypical story to unfold; He gets popular so he starts hanging with the cool crowd and forgets who I am, but that’s not what happened. I remember at the beginning of basketball season a group of really popular girls asked him over and over again to go to their party, but repeatedly he declined because we were already going to hang out. I made things worse by walking up, putting my arm around his neck and saying “Haha! He’s mine ladies!” Although awkward for everyone there, it got the girls to go away and it gives us something to laugh about to this day.
“Hey, Damien!” I called as he approached me. As he was walking by, he turned me around by putting his arm around my shoulders and dragged me along with him.
“So, apparently there’s this new restaurant downtown called CJ’s, and I’ve been hearing it’s really good. Do you wanna go down and try it out after school, then crash at my place for the weekend?” he asked enthusiastically.
“I’d love to honestly, but I’m broke right now,” I said sadly. Truth was, I was always broke. Wasn’t quite old enough to get a job, and my dad never gave me money. I started to walk faster, to avoid what I knew was coming next, but Damien put his arm across my chest and stood in front of me.
“Aw, don’t let that stop us! You know I can pay for you!” Damien coaxed.
“Damien I don’t want to burden you like that...” I said.
Damien smiled. “Burden? What are you talking about? Look, you’re just in a bad spot right now.”
“Have been for the past 15” I mumbled
“And one day you’ll get out of it.” Damien continued. “Look, if you bothered me I wouldn’t be your friend.”
“Damien you always pay for me,” I argued.
“Yeah, and I got money to burn. Literally. The other day I walked out back to shoot some hoops, and my brother was smoking a joint made out of a hundred dollar bill.” He chuckled, then put his hand on my shoulder. ” C’mon dude. You know I enjoy giving as much of it as I can!” he exclaimed.
That was true. Even though his late parents were multi-millionaires, Damien didn’t care. He didn’t wear nice stuff or have an expensive phone. The nicest thing he had was probably his Virtual Reality set. Instead of using all his money on himself as any normal teen would do, he always donated it and spent it on other people. One month, he even paid our rent. Also, he bought my phone (which is even nicer than his) and actively pays my phone bill.
“Jake, I want to hang out with you. Text your dad to make sure it’s ok, then you’re coming home with me today. Kapeesh?”
I chuckled. “Fine. Thanks, man.”
“Hey, you’re my friend! There’s no need to thank me!” He looked content, glanced at his watch, then his face twisted into dread. He quickly patted me on the back and ran off saying. “I don’t wanna be late!”
I chuckled. ′He really is a great friend.′ I thought to myself. I walked down the hall and sat in my seat. I quickly sent a text to my dad telling him where I would be that weekend.
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Later that day after final period, I was walking to find Damien when I heard his voice from inside a classroom down the hall. I walked over to tell him I could go with him tonight, but I heard someone else’s voice from inside. I stopped by the doorway and peeked inside. There was Damien along with two other Basketball players: Joseph Long and Brandon Johnson. I quickly pulled my eyes away and pressed my back up against the wall. Joseph and Brandon hated me for some reason. Honestly, I still don’t know why. I didn’t want to have a confrontation with the two of them, so I was about to leave when I heard Joseph say: “You aren’t playing basketball next year?”
“Nah. It’s getting boring, and I would rather hang out and spend my free time being with my friends.” Damien responded.
“What?! We need you! Cmon. You’ve never been to a party right? You can come to mine tonight. VIP.”
“No, I have plans with someone else already,” Damien responded. “Sorry man. I’m not into partying anyway, you know that.”
“Who you got plans with?” Brandon asked. His voice was getting a little hostile. Brandon was the starting Point Guard. He had red hair and rust colored eyes. He had pale skin and was only 5′ 10". He was a sophomore but was as dangerous on the court as any senior.
“Jake Pierce. You guys remember him, right?” Damien responded happily.
“Jake Pierce? That weird kid?” Joseph laughed. “You still hang out with him?”
“Yeah of course I do.” I heard the scratch of a chair across the tile. “He’s my friend. I gotta go. I’ll see you guys on Monday.” Damien had told me multiple times he couldn’t stand those guys. They only pretended to be his friend so their team record got better... because Damien was the best on the team.
“Wait, hold up,” Joseph said. I heard the tug of clothing, and I knew that Joseph had either grabbed Damien’s jacket or backpack. I peeked through the doorway and saw that it was the jacket. Joseph was the starting Shooting Guard. He was 6′ 5", and had a wicked three-point shot. He was well built and had a very chiseled jaw. He wore glasses and had bright green eyes. The most striking feature? His lime green hair. He had dyed his hair green this year off of a bet; if he scored more than 30 points on three’s alone in a game, he would dye his hair the color of the school they played. He scored 45 points off of three’s alone.
“My friend is waiting on me, Joseph. I’ll talk to you later.” Damien said. He brushed off Joseph’s hand.
“I said wait,” Joseph said. “First, you say you’re done with basketball. Next, you say you can’t come to my party because you have plans. Are you choosing that Jake kid over us?”
“Look, I had plans with him already so just get over it,” Damien said trying to walk away.
“Damien, it sounds like your choosing him over your real friends: Us.” Brandon said as he pointed to Joseph and himself. He was definitely getting mad.
“That hurts man!” Joseph teased.
“He is my real friend!” Damien yelled, turning around. I could tell by his voice that he had lost it. In a way, it was kind of touching. “He’s my best friend! I would choose him over you any day!”
Joseph and Brandon looked mad. “What... what is wrong with you? He’s a nobody!”
Suddenly, I felt a firm hand on my back push me into the room. I fell to the floor embarrassingly at Damien’s feet.
“Look at who I found eavesdropping!” A familiar voice said behind me. I looked up and saw Derrick Lawless, the 6′ 10" center for the basketball team. He really took his last name to heart, as he didn’t really care about the rules. He had dull features and was always looking tired. He was kind of dumb and had a weird fashion sense. He had long purple dyed hair and always wore purple contacts.
“Wow, speak of the devil.” Joseph said as he walked over to Damien and put his arm around him. He looked right at me and said: “Now I want you to stop hanging out with my pal Damien here. He doesn’t need your kind around.”
“My... kind?” I asked.
“Stop Joseph!” Damien exclaimed as he pushed Joseph off of him. “Leave him alone guys. Let’s go, Jake.”
Damien helped me up and we started to walk out, but Derrick stood in our way. Now, Damien was tall, but Derrick was more than tall... he was like a brick wall. He was built like Arnold Schwarzenegger but as tall as Blake Griffin.
“Derrick, c’mon man! Just move!” Damien pleaded.
Derrick walked off to my side, over to me, then pushed me down hard.
“Hey!” Damien yelled.
“You stop hanging out with our friend, ya hear?!” Derrick shouted stupidly in my ear.
"You stop hanging out with me! I can be friends with who I want to be friends with! So stop!” Damien yelled.
Joseph walked over to me and kicked me in the gut. He looked over at Damien smugly, but that didn’t last long because Damien’s elbow flew into Joseph’s face fast as the eye could see. Blood trickled onto my arm, and I realized that it wasn’t mine... it was from Joseph’s now crooked nose. I looked up as Damien slammed his backpack into Brandon, turned around, and was punched square across the jaw by Derrick. Damien twisted around and fell onto the back of a chair. Derrick advanced towards Damien but didn’t see that Damien had grabbed onto the chair, and was using the momentum from the punch to twist his body around and slam the chair into Derrick’s chest, knocking him back. Damien grabbed my shoulders and noticed that Joseph and Brandon were getting up. Damien looked me right in the eyes and said one word:
“RUN.”
We ran out of the classroom, exited the school, and didn’t stop running. I had never run so much before, but I knew that the basketball players weren’t far behind us. I could tell that Damien was holding back so he was by my side, and I felt bad. I was certain I would get caught, but I didn’t want Damien to get beat up... not after he had stood up for me like that.
“Damien...” I said as we sprinted (well, he was more jogging but whatever). “Go on without me... they’ll catch me, but they won’t catch you.” I gasped out in between breaths.
“No way!” Damien exclaimed. “If we get beat, we get beat up together.” He chuckled, probably realizing how horribly corny that line was. Even I cringed. He looked to the right. “Hey, let’s go in there! We can probably lose them... that place is a maze!”
He pointed to the building on our right. There was a chain link fence surrounding a large building; Damien and I (out of sheer boredom) had gone in there more than twelve times... and gotten lost each time. The worst time was this last time... it was about three weeks ago, and I had sworn never to go back. I don’t know what it was but I could... sense something. Something malevolent, and I didn’t like it. It wasn’t just an adrenaline rush. It was more than fear. It was darker than the midnight sky. I was hoping it was just me, but Damien said he felt it too. We kept hearing these disturbing noises, and the howling of wolves. Which was weird because we didn’t have wolves in Virginia.
Before I could protest, he sped up a bit so I could follow him, and in one leap he hopped the chain link fence that surrounded the large building. I jumped up, rolled over the top stupidly, and fell onto my butt.
Damien helped me up by my shoulders and rushed inside. I looked to my right, and saw a strange thing... a large black SUV. It was parked behind the building so it wouldn’t be seen unless you were on the property. I ignored the vehicle and crawled into the building.
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I followed Damien in silence for a long time and heard footsteps behind us splitting off in all directions. We found a side room and walked into it. As we walked, I could’ve sworn I’d heard voices. Ahead of us, behind us, to the sides, I couldn’t tell. I couldn’t see anything, and Damien and I bumped into so much stuff that the whispering voices got creepier and (was it just me? I couldn’t tell...) louder. Although it was pitch black, I could tell that Damien heard them by the way he was moving. Ahead, we saw a small light. Hoping it was daylight, we rounded a corner and walked smack dab into Joseph. He grinned, grabbed my shirt, and raised his fist to bring it down on my poor face when we heard a deep voice say: “What’s the status on my portal?”
“Everything is going well, my lord. In just a few short months we will be ready to open the portal, using the earth dwellers we have enslaved.” A sinister voice squealed. Joseph dropped me and nodded in the direction of the voices. I looked over to my right and saw that we were on a ledge overlooking another floor. Just to the left of the us was a staircase going downwards. On the floor below was a tall man in modern attire. He wasn’t skinny, but he wasn’t muscular either. He had slicked back dark hair and pointed features. He had a very smart expression and was obviously very proud. He had pale skin and a small scar across his mouth. In front of him was the oddest thing I had ever seen: There was a hologram (like from Star Wars) of a man dressed in long dark robes. I couldn’t see his face, but I could feel evil emanating from his body. It was the same presence I had felt three weeks ago.
Joseph started to creep forward when I noticed a large crack at his feet. I reached out to grab him, but it was too late. He tripped and fell over, causing a racket. I looked up, and the skinny guy was staring at me... but he had something weird on his hand. There was a glowing circle of light floating just off of his palm. There were Runes on there which I, of course, cannot read. I didn’t know why, but I felt a strange sensation in my gut.
“Who is it?” The glowy guy said as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
I looked at Damien, then back at the man and said, “We won’t tell anybody!”
“Kill them.” Mr. Glowy said.
The skinny guy snapped his fingers and the circle grew bigger; In a flash of bright blue light, two gigantic wolves were standing in front of Skinny Dude. Their fur changed between dark blue and black, and an aura of light blue fire encircled them. Other than the difference in color (and the flames) they looked like the Direwolves from Game of Thrones.
I looked at Skinny Dude, and he smiled cynically. “Leave no trace.” He said simply.
Now I would love to say that this is when my powers were awakened and I swept the floor with those stupid things, but that didn’t happen. Joseph grabbed me and used me as a human shield as the dogs rushed us fast as lightning. I didn’t even have time to scream.
Something strange happened, though. As I watched my death come barreling towards me, a bright white light appeared below me and suddenly I was falling through the sky. I could see the golden sunlight glistening off of the puffy white clouds. I felt comfortingly cool air hit my face and body as I began to fall. I looked up and saw the most beautiful sky. Purple swirling galaxies and huge planets dotted the scene. I stared up at the sky and looked over my back, which was barreling quickly towards the ground. It seemed like something out of a beautifully edited movie... the scenes were sharper than what I believed was reality. I let my body go limp, and I took one last gasp of air. I stared at the sky, now covered by the golden clouds that had just been far below me.
I didn’t understand why I was falling, but I was certain I was about to die. I looked to my left, and saw a shadowy figure falling. Same to my right. I realized it was probably Damien and Joseph. I somehow felt that it was my fault that they had also been sucked in. “If only I had one more chance...” was my last thought before I hit something hard and blacked out.
