Chapter 1: When One Door Closes, Another Opens

Thin beams of sunlight filtered through the window blinds, illuminating my entire bedroom in a soft golden glow. I grunted semiconciously, slowly pulling the covers over my head in a halfhearted attempt to delay the inevitable. A sudden, always-too-cheerful melody blared in my ear, jarring me awake. Groaning, I groped around on my nightstand for the culprit and brought the tiny cell phone to my ear.

“S’ who’s there?” I mumbled.

“MARK! Why’re you still asleep? Dude, It’s already past eleven, wake up!”

I slowly sat up, rubbing my eyes with my spare hand. Why did he always have so much energy? It was finally the summer and for me, by default that meant sleeping in.

“Ok, Kevin, I’m up, I’m up. Why’re you calling me so early in the morning?” I grumbled.

“You’re wasting away your summer! We should get out and DO something, now that school’s finally finished,” he explained, “We won’t have many more chances like this after I leave for work.”

I grunted my acknowledgement. Although Kevin was my best friend, he still drove me crazy sometimes with his incessant need for activity. However, this time, he made a good point. He had scored a job at a construction company a few hours drive away and had to start in a few days. Our time together was limited, and it might be the last for a long time.

“Fine, meet you in the park later. We can, uh, skateboard or somethin’. How’s two o’clock sound?”

“Great, see you then, don’t be late!” With a click the line fell silent. Yawning, I lazily stood up, stretched my arms and started heading towards the bathroom to get ready for the day.

By the way, my name’s Mark Wayson, 18 years old and a fresh high school graduate. Currently a very groggy graduate, with messier than usual dark brown hair. I managed to tidy up and shower and - now refreshed - cheerfully made my way downstairs for what was now lunch.

As usual, the house was empty; my dad still off traveling for work. He was almost never home, usually away for months at a time. My only contact with him was the weekly check in the mail so I could buy food and pay bills. I never knew either of my parents well, since their unfortunate divorce when I was a little kid. Although by now I’ve pretty much gotten used to it; I was always the independent type.

Shaking these thoughts out of my head, I managed to whip together a quick lunch. Ok, I admit it was a microwavable frozen dinner, but I didn’t care. I had never had a keen sense of taste.

Satisfied and no longer starving, I threw on some sneakers and set out to find my car keys. My hometown was relatively small, with suburban streets everywhere. Although most places were within walking distance, about a mile or two, having a car made life immensely more convenient.

- - -

It was a beautiful afternoon, crystal clear skies and a slight breeze. The willows around the pond swayed in unison, the dangling branches creating ripples that travelled across the central pond. A concrete path lined with benches encircled the banks, commonly pedestrian traffic. All around, I could hear the sound of chirping birds, the rummaging of squirrels searching the grass and trees for food in this time of plenty.

A perfect harmony to be broken by the terrible skateboarding duo.

“Take off the elbow pads, you’ll get a ton more flexibility,” Kevin suggested, frustrated at how long it was taking me to don my gear. He was already up and idling in a circle, his blond hair streaming in the breeze.

From my seat, I sighed. “Unlike you, I value my safety and health. You should at least wear a helmet, if not the pads.”

He rolled his eyes, ignoring me, obviously not thinking about the consequences and living only in the moment. Kevin always had a sort of recklessness about him. You think he would have learned his lesson when he broke his collarbone last summer attempting a kickflip down a set of stairs, but I knew he never would.

A few rounds of the pond later, we retired to the shade of an oak tree for a break. Off in the nearby open grass, we watched a golden retriever play fetch with its owner, not a care in the world. After a several minutes, Kevin spoke up again.

“How come we never thought of adopting a dog? It’d be fun, and we could train it to grab sodas and stuff from the fridge.”

Once again, I wondered how his mind kept coming up with these crazy ideas; does he think his thoughts through, or just vomit them out off the top of his head? We both knew he was habitually irresponsible with pets, and his parents were neat-freaks, having a dog enter his house was totally out of the question.

“You mean a dog that I would end up taking care of all the time? And I have no interest in that kind of responsibility by myself,” I responded.

He paused, mulling over my predicament, before caving in. “I guess so, but it’d totally be worth it... Interesting idea, anyways.”

I laughed, “Most of your ideas are interesting, but just as unrealistic. You should at least anchor yourself to reality.”



We hung out for the rest of the afternoon, at least five more crazy thoughts spewing from Kevin’s mind, before we were hungry and had to return home for dinner. Since I had a car, I ended up giving him a ride home. The short drive was silent, trees and houses whipping past the windows as I sped along the road. Clearing his throat, Kevin broke the lull.

“I’m going to leave tomorrow afternoon.”

I pulled to an abrupt stop outside his driveway. “What? I thought you weren’t leaving until next week!”

He stepped out of the car, closed the door and leaned back through the open window.

“That’s when I have to start; my parent’s don’t have any other free time to drive me there, so I have to leave tomorrow. But I’ll see you tomorrow right before I head off, I promise.” With a slight wave, he turned and trudged up to his front porch.

- - -

Dusk crept up into the sky, fading to navy blue as the sun descended behind the trees. I didn’t expect to have this little time, I lamented, quietly heading home in solitude. Sighing, I pulled up into the driveway, once again to an empty home. Only now, I felt more alone now than ever.

Another microwave dinner later, I trooped upstairs to my room. A click, and the bright flicker of my desk lamp illuminated my desk in a soft yellow glow, but left the far corners of the room in deep shadow. I wouldn’t say my room was particularly messy, but I admit you could clearly tell a teenage guy lived here. Various objects I’d meant to put away were strewn haphazardly across the carpet: books that were no longer needed were stacked in a few piles, a heap of clothes lay in corner of the room.

Sitting down and waking up my computer, I started browsing the web idly. Kevin was right about one thing, I thought, I’m definitely wasting away my summer. I needed something worthwhile to occupy my time.

Suddenly, my screen blinked for a second. Hm. That’s unusual. Sputtering, it then blacked out completely.

Frustrated, I slapped the side of the monitor, hoping it would help. Nada. A couple seconds later the lamp next to me also started flickering on and off. I warily stood up only to be plunged into pitch black darkness. The hair on the back of my neck was standing on end, as if static was building in the air. What’s going on? I wondered. The night was silent; there certainly wasn’t a thunderstorm outside, but what else could explain the power failure?

As my eyes adjusted, I realized that the room was not completely dark; I could see my dim fuzzy shadow on the wall and desk in front of me, gradually solidifying against a faint glowing light. A low hum rung in my ear, getting louder until it became a crackling buzz emanating from behind me. I slowly turned around, and immediately fell back into my chair.

There, building and expanding in the center of my bedroom floor, a spherical shell of translucent blue-violet plasma glistened in the darkness.

About a foot in diameter and growing rapidly, its hazy surface danced with small arcs of electricity. A strong glow radiated from its center, eerily casting uneven shadows on the walls and floor as the light rippled and swirled around inside. Pulsating rhythmically, this... thing... steadily grew to about a meter and a half, before suddenly flaring with a blinding white light. Stumbling back, I shielded my eyes and braced for what, I didn’t know.

As suddenly as it had developed, the sphere of energy dissipated, imploding and leaving behind only a few bright wisps of fading energy. The room was cast back into darkness, the only illumination the faint moonlight struggling to pass through the window blinds. Temporarily blinded, my vision slowly adjusted to the dimly lit room, and I noticed something small in the middle of the floor among the rest of my familiar junk. Was that there before?

The desk lamp hummed before flickering back on, and I could finally see clearly the small eevee slowly stirring on the floor.