CHAPTER 1: AMBITIONS AND DREAMS

[23rd August, 2011]

{Unknown location}

It was a dark day. Rain was falling since morning. Lightning and thunder ruled the skies, constantly illuminating the dark clouds above. Grim looking flashes of static electricity emerged continuously up above. Amidst in all of the chaos, a lonely boy was sitting on a wooden bench, unfazed by the harsh weather.

The leather of his shirt was soaked to the core, his small red cap drooped down, covering his face. The boy was shivering due to the cold but made no effort in moving. In fact, he wasn't planning on moving anytime soon.

"Why?" the boy muttered. His voice was one of pure grief. The grieve of losing someone very important to him. It was a tragic lost, but fate is never kind to anyone, at least, for him it fate never was.

The boy sat there, tears running down his face like a furious waterfall, only to be combined with the gushing rain water. Even his tears could not be seen, so what's the point anymore? Now, he is all alone. Alone, with only a strange book in his arms and a silver pendant around his neck. A constant reminder of what he had lost.

To be honest, he wanted to throw away the two items. He wanted to rid himself of the pain, the torture. His mind was in constant turmoil. It was as if another storm existed inside him. A constant back and forth between what he wanted and what she wanted for him.

Yes, the boy lost his only parent, his beloved mom. He's only left with some of her inheritance. A small house, some cash, a book and a pendant. But he didn't care about any of that. As a child, he wanted only one thing, his mother back, holding him in her arms, keeping him warm and safe from the cold rain.

But no one's coming. No one wanted to take care of him, not his uncle nor his aunties. Not that they don't care for him. They had to many things to take care off and he understands that taking care of him would only put more load into their problems.

Tomorrow, he will be taken into a local orphanage. But he's not concerned about that. Not now. With his mother gone, he has no one to guide him when growing up. "What should I do? What can I do?" the boy asked through his tears.

As he sat there, his mind travelled back to the past, hoping to find some answers to his predicament.

[Flashback, 3 years ago]

A small child was sitting on the front porch, his eyes looking up into the night sky. The stars were shining ever so brightly, and the moon gave light to the sky.

"Hey there bud. What'cha doing?" asked a woman approaching him from behind.

"Nothing mom. Just looking at the stars. Hey mom?"

"Yes?"

"Is it true that the stars are the souls of everyone who passed on to the afterlife?" asked the boy.

"Souls? Why'd you think that?" asked his mom.

"I don't know. I read about it from a book in school. I thought it was cool, so I wanted to ask you about it" answered the boy.

"Oh Alex. You are correct" answered the woman, smiling at her adorable son.

"Really?" Alex beamed in happiness.

"Yup. The people who die, will all become the stars up there. They never left, they are just watching over us from far away" explained his mom.

"But mom, isn't that sad? Now that they're too far away, we can't visit them anymore and they can't visit us" exclaimed Alex, sounding slightly sad.

"Hey, cheer up bud! Even if we can't visit them,it doesn't mean that they're not always there with us. I know, come, follow me" said his mom.

Alex followed his mom to her room where she picked up a dusty old book from a wooden shelf.

"Here you go, Alex" his mom handed him the book. At first, the sheer weight of the thick book threw Alex a little bit off-balanced but he steadily gained his footing back.

"Careful there young man" said his mother while chuckling slightly.

"What is this ma?" asked Alex.

"Read the title"

Alex gazed down upon the book and saw a few words written on the hardcover of the book.

"Book of Souls?" pondered Alex.

"Yes. Did you remember what I said about people becoming stars when they're passed on?" asked his mom.

"Yeah?"

"You see, not everyone turned into stars" stated his mom, confusing Alex even more.

"What do you mean? What happens to them then?" asked Alex.

"There are some people that...stays here when they passed on" explained his mom.

"Stayed? Why? Do they not want to be the stars up there?"

"No-no-no. It's not that they don't want to be stars. It's just that...they can't. Not everyone has the privilege of being a star" stated his mom.

"Huh? Why?" asked Alex, in a state of more confusion.

"How do I explain this? Hmm?... It's like this. Alex, if you didn't finish your homework, what would your teacher do?" asked his mother.

"Umm, Miss Valentine said that those that don't do their homework gets detention after school" answered Alex.

"Correct. And that is what's happening to these people. They did something wrong, or something wrong happened to them, so they are cursed to roam the Earth forever. They are called ghosts" explained his mom.

"Are they evil mom? You did say that they did something wrong and that's why they are punished" inquired Alex.

"No, they're not evil. They were just at the wrong place at wrong time. Listen to me Alex, when you grow up, they will be people that will love you and people that will hate you. But, you need to remember this. Always treat everyone with kindness. That's the virtue of being a human" adviced his mom.

Alex listened closely to her advices and heeded them. "Mom, can't we do something to help the ghosts? They must feel pretty lonely" said Alex.

"Help them? If they're lonely, you can help them by being friends with them" suggested his mother.

"But how, I can't see them like you do" Alex whined.

"It's okay Alex. Even if you can't see them, they'll show themselves to you if you earn their trust. Remember that" explained his mother.

"Okay mom! I promise that I'm gonna find and help all the lonely ghosts when I grow up!" Alex promised her.

"Of course you can buddy! Alex, listen to me. Never stop dreaming, always start believing. Anything can be reality, even lost dreams. Even haunting nightmares. It's up to you after all"

[End of flashback]

Strolling through memory lane, the boy found himself crying even more. He cried harder and wailed in agony. His mom was always his guardian angel, and now, he has none to protect him anymore.

"No...no. Mom said.....even if she's not here anymore... she's still looking after me. I can't give up now!" said the boy, recovering back some of his spirit.

"I'll do it mom! I'll make you proud! I'll find all the ghosts and I'll be their friends. Just you wait mom!" declared the young boy. And this is how his journey into the depths of the spectral world begins.

[Timeskip, 14th February 2021]

{A small apartment, somewhere in New York}

Today is the day. Alex Kryt, will undergo his first trial of many more trials to come, in the business of actual ghost hunting. He had spent enough time collecting money through multiple part time jobs and buying every single equipment he needed. Ultraviolet and infrared scanners, camping equipments, he even built himself some E.M.P. (electromagnetic pulse) traps.

Although, none of them meant more to him than the silver pendant and book his mom gave him. Though, they don't serve any other purpose than as mementos to him. The silver pendant itself wasn't even worth much, even with the green rock embedded to it. The book on the other hand, well... it's actually completely f***ing empty. There were only blank pages inside.

However, there were some red rings stored in a strange compartment at the back of the book. There were around 15 of them and Alex discovered their existence about 5 years ago when he was fiddling with the book. He brought them to an appraiser but even the appraiser didn't know what they were. There's no recorded element in the periodic table with the properties the red rings possesses.

The rings were super strong but at the same time, they were easily stretchable. They glow in the dark and vibrates really furiously when near any E.M.P. sources. Alex decided to keep those rings, maybe they served some purpose to the book.

He even wears one of them on his pointing finger. At least it looks pretty too.

So, with everything explained, you might be wondering what Alex is doing right now? Well, he's sleeping. Quite soundly in fact. His snores travelled throughout his entire room as his body laid on the bed stiffly.

He seemed quite tired which explains why he's snoring this loudly.Not that he hasn't any excuse for his loud snoring. For the past two weeks, Alex had been prepping for his first ghost hunting trip. And it was not easy at the slightest.

Scouring the city for camping equipments wasn't hard, the trip planning was. Since his first case involved him needing to travel out of state. So he had to book flight tickets, a hotel room for a few days and plan the starting location of his hunting trip. But that was not the worst of it.

It was really taxing for him to do research on what he's hunting. And the things he found about his first case made him fear the near future. It's certainly will not be a playdate. If things go wrong, he might become the next victim. And no one would know about it. Since no one actually believes in the existence of ghosts roaming around the Earth.

*ring* ring*

An alarm clock started buzzing while also vibrating gently on a wooden desk besides Alex's bed. The sound reached into Alex's ears, stirring him awake. Alex slowly wiggled on his bed, his arms flailing about until he finally found the stop button for the alarm.

Once he turned it off, Alex remained still for a couple more seconds as he tried to find the energy to wake up. Slowly, he stood up and stretched himself, fixing all the loose joints in his body.

As he opened his eyes, he could see light trying to pierced through the window curtain. He approached the window and pushed the curtains apart, inviting the warm yellow rays into his dark room, completely illuminating it.

"Today's the day. I'd better get ready quick. The flight will take off in two more hours. And I surely don't wanna miss this one", chuckled Alex to himself.

He picked up his towel that was hanged on the wall, and immediately entered his bathroom. After a relieving shower, he put on his clothes and packed all the stuff he required.

"Let's see. E.M.P. traps, a compass, some torchlights, the camping gears.....what else am I missing? Oh yeah, the scanners and some spare clothes. Including the book, the rings and the pendant, I think that's about it" muttered Alex to himself as he did one final check to his list of stuffs he needed to bring.

As he scanned his room once again, his eyes laid upon something. Slowly, he moved towards his desk and on it, there was a picture frame with a photo of him during his childhood with his mother.

"Mom....." Alex felt a little bit sentimental while he was looking at the picture.

"I wish we could've had more time together. If you could only see me now" muttered Alex.

However, he still remembered what she said to him before. "Please...look after me mom" said Alex.

After taking a glance at the picture once again, he put it back down and heads out. "Now, to the airport!" cheered Alex to himself. He was feeling a mixture of both excitement and nervousness. And if anyone else were in his shoes, they won't be blaming him for what he felt. Especially because of what will happen next.

[1 hour later]

{J.F.K. International Airport}

"I hope I make it in time" said Alex, patiently waiting in queue for his turn to board his flight.

The airport was unusually busy that day, especially on his flight. It seemed that there were a lot of people wanting to go to Minnesota today.

"I don't recall it being holiday season yet?" muttered Alex to himself. After 30 minutes of waiting and 30 more to spare, it was finally his turn to check into his flight.

"Hello there, sir. How may I help you?" asked the clerk.

"I want to check in into my flight. I had booked a sit yesterday" said Alex, showing the clerk his e-receipt.

"Okay, Sir Alex. Please wait for a while, I'm going to do a double check and make sure everything is correct"

No less than two minutes later, the clerk had checked everything out and Alex was clear to board the flight.

"Okay, everything is correct. Have a safe holiday trip in Minnesota!" the clerk wished him well in a cheerful tone.

"Well, it's more of a hunting trip" Alex corrected the clerk while picking his bag up again.

"Hunting trip? If you don't mind me asking, what is it you're hunting at this time of the year?" asked the clerk.

Alex stood in silent for a while before looking back at the clerk with a excited grin on his face. "Wendigo" answered Alex.