Chapter 1
“William!” I hear a woman’s voice shout out. I blink my eyes open to see a red-haired woman with amber eyes smiling down at me. I feel the urge to scream at the unfamiliar face only to feel my nose start to bleed. As the blood trickles down from my nostril I remember that this woman is my mother. “William! Your nose is bleeding!” She screams before pulling her phone out of her pocket. She nods lightly before pulling me into a sitting position and telling me to pinch my nose shut while leaning forward. I follow her instructions and the nosebleed stops almost instantly.
I let out a sigh as I stare out the window at the bird perched on the tree next to it. I stare at the crow. The image of volleyball is suddenly in my head. However, just as quickly as the image arose it shrank away. Why in the world does a crow make me think of volleyball? I think before shaking my head slightly and looking at my mom in the eyes. “Mom? I think it’s time for Amy to wake up,” I remind her, seeing the time and as she glances over at the clock she practically screams in panic.
I ignore her ramblings as I pull out my clothes for school and slip them on casually. I feel pain shoot up my spine as I double over while walking down the hallway. My dad’s brilliant blue eyes and pale green hair is next to me in seconds and had his paintbrush still in his hand. He quickly pulled out a pair of fresh gloves and a syringe filled with my medicine. He stabs it into my arm and I feel the warm liquid rushing through my body, melting away the pain.
I hold up my right hand in the signal of being fine, that the medicine is still working. There’s nothing to be afraid of, I’ll be fine. I push myself up off the floor and head towards the kitchen, acting as if nothing happened. I see the only other blonde, James making buttermilk pancakes with raspberries, my favorite. He smiles at me with a tired grin on and I let out the smallest groan, knowing that buttermilk raspberry pancakes were never a good sign. I carefully watch as James places five of the fluffy pancakes on my plate along with ten pieces of my favorite bacon and three eggs. Oh no, this must be devastating news. I think as I take my plate to the empty table. After a few moments, the rest of my family joins me at the table, munching on their breakfasts.
I wait anxiously for the upsetting news coming my way only to never receive it. “William,” My mother starts and my high spirits fall almost imminently, I spoke too soon. I think and I look her in the eye, giving off an unintentional coldness that froze the air, waiting for my heart to be broken. “We’re moving again, but this time!” She says enthusiastically.
“It’s permanent unless we want to move again,” My father finishes and I feel a surge of pain in my heart, one that isn’t caused by my rare medical condition. Wait, where are we moving to exactly? I mentally ask and that was when I felt like I was going to die all over again. “But we’re moving to Finland,” I remember the group project I was forced to do only a year ago and feel my heart pounding so hard that I feel like it might escape the confines of my ribs.
“Well, by ‘we’re’ we meant ‘you’re’,” My father told me and I felt even more anxiety settle in my stomach. Fears of living alone settled in only to be told something I couldn’t make out. I look at my dad expectantly and he repeats himself. “Go pack up your stuff, the plane leaves this afternoon,” He says and I shake my head in shock. I quickly finish my breakfast while doing my best to not show my worry.
I head upstairs and brush my teeth while compiling a list of all the things I don’t need to bring with me to Finland. I finish and head into my room to pack only for my phone to vibrate on my desk. I check the caller ID and recognize it as my best friend Charlie, I answer while putting the phone up to my ear. “Hey,” I say and Charlie starts to scold me loudly.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING SKIPPING CLASS!?” He shouts at me and I let out a sigh before showing my emotions to him.
“I’m moving to Finland today, I’m packing right now. I won’t be able to see you again,” I say with the coldness of my tone freezing more than just the air in my room. “Don’t worry, you’ll still have your baby sister, it’s just me moving away this time,” I tell him before noticing my sister standing in the doorway. “Speak of the devil, I need to go, bye Charlie,” I say, hanging up the phone promptly.
The adorable girl’s purple eyes stare into mine as tears start to well up in them. I beckon the ravenette over as I saw all the characters in my books doing and she runs into my arms. I hug her tightly like the hero is supposed to while stroking the long black waves that stream over her shoulders and down her back. I let her cry into my shirt as I held her and once she started to calm down I started to let the words flow from my mouth. “Amy, I’m not very good at words so please bear with me. I love you and I always will. I hate to have to move on without you. But you need to be strong, you need to still sing and play every instrument you can. You need to share your gift with the world because it will make so many people happy,” I feel her eyes start to water again so I just silently hold her as they fall onto my once clean shirt.
Damn, this is my favorite shirt. But, wow do those characters know what to say, she’s crying again. I think glumly as my sister stops crying and releases her hold on me. I almost let out a small snicker when I saw the wet spot on my shirt had ended up on the basketball player at the end of the evolution chain, luckily I held it in. Amy then kissed my cheek lightly before running off to her room. She comes back moments later with a large blue bass guitar in her hands. “I was planning on giving this to you on your birthday but, I guess you should have it right now,” She says handing the instrument to me. I smile at her gently and pat her head lightly before practically screaming at our brother.
“James! Stop hiding and face me like the idiot you are!” I say slightly louder than normal so he can me. The blonde’s soft hair looks slightly disheveled and his bright brown eyes are unnaturally red. I let out a small sigh as I saw him and started to continue acting like that popular punk in my book. “Hey come here,” I say gesturing towards my brother in the same way. He walks over slightly nervous but I just scoop him and my sister into a tight hug. “Come on, let it all out,” I say gently and my shirt steadily grows even more wet with my sibling’s tears. Damn it, I must secretly hate myself or something, ruining my favorite shirt more than once. I think to myself coldly when I hear James talking to me.
“I’m gonna miss you, William,” He blurts out and I can’t help but feel guilty at the fact that I still feel so... empty despite his kind words. I let them go and our dad shoes them out of my room so that I can pack. After they all left I silently packed while wondering what my life would look like in Finland. The time flies past and before I know it I’m lost in the world of panicking about whether or not I got everything.
“William!” My mom calls out to me and I pull my suitcase down the hallways until I reach the front door. She pulls me into a tight hug with tears in her eyes, Ugh, not again! I just got a new shirt. I think as she interrupts my thought process. “I’ll call you every day! If you ever need anything just call ok!?” Her voice tells me while shaking uncontrollably. How can she still love a disgrace like me? All I do is destroy everything I touch. I think forlornly and let a red-haired adult woman shed such useless tears. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Letting yourself be weakened by such emotions of loss over someone who only ever caused you pain and heartache?
“I need to go or I won’t catch the plane,” I tell her while pulling out of her arms. She nods understanding that I’ve always hated to see her cry over me. I grab the handle on my suitcase and drag it out to the taxi, where my dad is waiting to say goodbye.
“Goodbye William,” My dad says simply with the slightest hints of tears in his eyes. Knowing how much I hate it when others cry he must’ve considered that when saying his goodbye because he walked away from me and into the house before breaking down.
I climb into the backseat of the taxi after placing my luggage in the trunk. We reach the airport and I find my seat with relative ease. I stare out the window absently at first but then pull my headphones on and listen to music on my small black CD player. I listen to my music until someone with black hair in a similar style to my own, with deep red eyes framed by a pair of round glasses lacking most of the frames. The glasses only appeared to be lenses, a nose piece, and the arms, I blinked at the person beside me and recognized the glasses to be oddly familiar.
“William, it’s nice to finally meet you,” The person beside me says in a tone that gives me shivers running down my spine. The look they give me is so unnerving that I can feel something in my heart tell me to run away. I just let out a sigh before tearing my gaze away from the person next to me and he then tells me something that gets my heart pounding furiously. “I’m your enemy William, you can just call me They or Them. You have something I need, but I rather do love the chase. Until I find your soul, be prepared to lose William,” They told me and moments later I was knocked out cold.
When I woke up it was a girl with pale blue hair touching the seat They had been in right before I passed out. She looked at me with the most vibrant violet eyes and seemed quite worried. “Excuse me sir, but you wouldn’t happen to be William Shirtbook, would you?” She asks in a professional tone and I just let out a sigh as I turn off my music.
“Unfortunately,” I reply with ice in my tone and I feel her give me a hard glare.
