Contract 2

"God the only true god, wants you to be happy. He wants all of his children to have joy, but the only way everyone can be happy is by giving your fellow man a leg up" The schools pastor went on and on about God and how he wanted us to live our lives. Thankfully I couldn't give a fuck about God or his words. I nodded along to the pastor's sermon but my mind wandered back to my birthday. . . . .
"Happy Birthday baby boy!", The only time Dad ever got away with call me baby. He would always get me something amazing for my birthday. Mom said it was because he loved me. Part of me believed that, the other part new Dad just wanted me to rub it in every kid's face on the first day of school. He was always trying to one up the neighborhood dads but every time he would raise his game someone would jettison theirs. He would get me a Swiss army knife and some kid down the street got a hunting bow. It was inevitable that his pride would be wounded and he would buy me something else to try and save his ego.
"James!!" I looked up and the pastor was standing in front of me with a hideous scowl on his face.
"What is it Mr.Rodgers?", I admit screwing with the clergy at my school was a twisted pleasure that was unique to me.
"I believe you meant to say Pastor Rodgers. James closing service ended two hours ago. I was under the assumption that you needed to speak with me?"
His tone was condescending at best. So I replied with sarcasm, "Oh yes pastor let me just tell you all my problems, get out of my face old man." Before he could respond I jumped over the seats in front of me and off the balcony where I was sitting. I landed with an echoing thud that shook the chapels walls.
(God could that guy be more transparent?) As I walked out the doors of the chapel I heard the pastor whisper "Delinquent!". The word sent a smile spreading across my face that I couldn't control.
My next class was study hall so I ditched while the dicthing was good. About four blocks from the school was a theater. Through out the school year it's closed during school hours, thankfully security is none existent. It just so happens to be my favorite place in the whole city. My body was growing to much. I could barely slip through the chains holding the stage doors together. I made my way from the stage doors  to center stage. I imagined the last time I was in this theater. The day before the fire....

The Contract

Entering my realm of imagination is dangerous for most. I warn you now because once you read the following, I cannot and do not guarantee, you will be the same after you complete this tale.
What if I told you every single fairy tale you heard as a child and as an adult were based on some form of truth? You would probably tell me I'm crazy and walk of right? Well If you want to stop ignoring the world around you, I will indulge your curiosity with a totally true tale.
"Wake your sorry excuse for an ass up loser" Jane screamed from the other side of the bedroom door. I was already up, or more accurately never went to sleep in the first place. As I staggered to the door in my uniform I could hear my cousin talking on her cell phone, while she knocked rhythmically on the door.
"Oh my god! I cannot believe Marie cheated on Chuck. What a SKANK!" I opened the door but she continued to tap her fist into the air that would have been my door. Jane is a bit of an airhead and one hundred percent bitch, she means well though most people wouldn't pick up on that. She was five years older than me a staggering twenty one. She took me in after my parents died gladly spending the money my parents left me. Good new is she could only get out nine hundred a month enough to pay our rent and her car payment.
"What do you want?" I asked her after she finally noticed I had opened the door.
"Today is your birthday right June sixth?" She picked a small envelope out of her purse and handed it to me with this look of disgust.
"You.....remembered my birthday??" I was taken aback in the sixteen years I had known Jane not once had her or her family ever given me a gift.
"It's not from me stupid, your lawyer sent it over it's from your parents." Okay now that was more believable at least. As she opened her mouth to say something else I slammed my bedroom door in her face. That sent her stomping off down the hall. I placed the envelope on my desk starring at it not sure whether to open it.
"Damn it Jamie I ain't got no time to take you to school today get your lazy ass to the bus stop!" Jane yelled from the kitchen.
"Fine I'm going." I screamed right back at her. "Good, now come use the door like a normal kid." but by the time good had left her mouth I had slung on my backpack and was on my way down the fire escape that hung outside my bedroom window.
(inner thoughts)
(Okay James No weird looks, no mood swings, no emo bullshit. Today you're just like everyone else. When someone asks you how are you doing you say fine with a smile and walk away. Don't sit around and chit chat just go to school focus on the class  and before you know it, the first day will be out of the way.)

Smoke & Mirrors #3

As the oars dipped into the water they splashed water into the boat. The liquid was colder than any winter I had endured in my life so far. Which confused me if the air was so warm how was the water so cold and where was that scent of flowers coming from? I looked around me and as far as I could see there was no sign of land. That's when Oka stood up , he spoke in an unfamiliar tongue and he spread his arms wide. As he did this a great crimson colored light surrounded his body. Looking at him soon started to hurt my eyes, so I turned around to shield them. When I opened them again the light emitted from Oka's body was being absorbed by towering panes of glass. The glass just seemed to go up forever high into the sky and past the heavens. Slowly as the light was absorbed into the glass I began to make out shapes and from beyond the glass I heard the strange sounds of music. It  was a high tempo melody played on some sort of wind instrument. Soon I could make out not only land but buildings and mountains far beyond the glass. I heard the echoing noise of children laughing and men yelling. My mind soon clicked into place and I realized what was happening. It was a city, a city on an island protected by these giant panes of glass. As I formed this thought in my head the light which had been pulsing from Oka had finally ceased. When I turned to look at him, he was gone. Nothing remained of Oka but his robes.  After the shock of him disappearing had scared me something awful I proceeded to look for him fearing he had fallen into the sea.
I didn't find a sign of him anywhere soon I was paddling as fast as I could toward the glass hoping to attract the towns peoples attention. I was about to hit the glass when something I could not have imagined in any possible way occurred. The nose of the boat passed through the glass as did I and the rest of the boat. It felt as if I was being pulled through a gel rather than shattering glass which is the worst i had expected. Once on the other side of the glass there was a deafening sound I could only be describe as being part way between the crack of thunder and the roar of a beast. Suddenly all the other noises stopped, no music, no children laughing. As I looked to the shore ,more than one thousand eyes stared back.  Then from the shore they came thousands of arrows, they traveled at the same time and pace as though they had been fired from the same bow. I did what any rational person in my situation would do.
I started to scream, not the oh so dramatic and composed "goodbye cruel world". No It was more along the lines of, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
In a split second reaction I threw the stone I was tethered to over the side.

Smoke & Mirrors 2

The man in the red robe, also known as Oka, bought me from my father.  Oka was silent most of the time but when he spoke it was terrifying. It felt as if the ground shook with tremors strong enough to knock over mighty oaks, but his voice was no louder than a gentle hum. He kept his face covered as he tied me, binding me with rope. He first bound my hands, then my arms to my body wrapping the line so tight around my torso I had difficulty breathing. Oka left my feet and legs unbound so I could walk . I cried for my father's help but it was beyond useless he sat with a smile on his face counting the coins he had received from Oka. I wondered what I had done to anger him , as I contemplated this Oka drug me outside leading me only a few steps at a time.  I screamed and tried to run but he had a tight grip on my leash. As I pulled with my legs trying desperately to break free, Oka seemed unconcerned and soon he was dragging me through the dirt and sand.With one hand he picked me up by my bindings and tossed me into his boat. It was a shabby thing without even a sail and only two pitiful oars that had seen far better days.
"Where are you taking me? " I asked as he entered the boat. He remained silent, once he was inside the boat he tied my bindings to a large rock and put a gag in my mouth. I understood the significance of him binding me to the stone if i tried to escape I would drown it was that simple. As for the gag that too was self explanatory.  I fought the urge to cry, but I was unsuccessful. I sobbed and gasped despite the gag. When I awoke the next morning I felt warm air rush over me the sun was far to bright to see after just waking up and the scents of flowers wafted over me in waves. But after my eyes adjusted to the rays of the sun I saw we were  in the middle of the ocean with no land in sight. I noticed that most of my bindings had been undone though my wrists were still bound to the stone. In front of me laying atop that very stone sat a water bladder and half a loaf of bread.I felt my mouth with my hands and realized  that I was no longer gagged.
"May I have some water Sir?" I asked but in my mind I was already drinking the entire contents. Oka simply made a gesture towards the water, this had been the first time I saw him in the daylight and his skin was a sickly green color and he had no fingernails. His crimson eyes barely peeked through the shadow of his hood. He must have seen me staring I imagine the curiosity was written all over my face. We made eye contact for a brief second then he returned his eyes to the oars and continued to row.

Smoke & Mirrors 1

Entering my realm of imagination is dangorous for most. I warn you now because once you read the following, I cannot and do not garuntee, you will be the same after you complete this tale.
Many people assume that magic does not exist. Because if there is no proof human's are naturally skeptical. But what if I told you that magic is all around you even inside you hidden somewhere dark and deep within yourself? Speechless, unsure, afraid are the most popular answers I get when I ask that question. But occaisionally I do get the rare "curious". Nothing excites me more than finding a human who does not fear the unknown. My name is Nick and once upon a time I too was human. My story begins in a time when magic was strong within the world. It was woven into the fabric of society much as technology is today. No one feared it but most marveled at what it was able to accomplish. Magic could heal the sick, repair what was once broken, find that which had been lost and so much more. I was a baker's son in what is now called Great Britan. My father grew , harvested , milled and baked his own wheat from the time that he was of age. He earned well enough for me and him enough to keep a roof over our heads and food in our guts. My mother passed sometime after my birth but so soon I cannot remember her face. Father always said "Your mother had skin as smooth as cream and eyes that shone like the fiery embers of our hearth.". I assume from this that I took more after my father because my eye's were dull green and my skin was always rough and muddy from chores same as him. We lived on the sea and our home shook and trembled with every storm, the bright side to this was of course the traders. Most days when the sea was calm and the wind was strong, ships from all over came to trade for my father's bread. Once when I was not a child but not yet a man a strange man dressed in vibrant red robes came to our shore asking for my father. After they had conducted their business my father brought in a small purse filled with silver coins. I knew that we had made much money but usually when so much was given much more was taken from us. So I stared at my father puzzeled for a week, until I gained the courage to ask him what had happened. He never answeared but I found out that night when the man in red robes returned. He had sold me to this man for 50 silver pieces.