2 Present Day (Chapter 1)

The clouds dissipated, uncovering a bright sun, immediately brightening the outside. The shining rays of golden light landed through the light blue curtains and onto a sleeping child's face. The sleeping boy lay on his stomach sprawled out and covering the whole bed, the left half of his face buried in his pillow. His left arm disappeared under the pillow, while the right one went off the side of the bed, barely reaching the floor.

The sun illuminated the boy's features, his face could be mistaken for a girl. With the baby-like face and his light brown hair long enough to reach his shoulders, he opened his right eye when the light of the sun woke him from his slumber. He rolled over to face the ceiling and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He sat up, yawning, and stretched his arms behind his back.

Once awake, he got up from his bed and walked over to his closet. He opened his closet and looked in a mirror on the back of the door. Sighing to himself he muttered, 'no matter how many times I see myself, I hate it.'

He was referring to his left eye, which was covered by an ugly grey eyepatch, the only thing "ugly" about him. He was unable to take it off, as it was sealed on him with high magic. He was told that he had an extremely unfortunate accident when he was 2 months old and there was "nothing but a hole" that people would make fun of.

"Sam!" a clear shout rang from a couple rooms away interrupting his thoughts, "Lunch is ready!"

"Coming mother!" He replied, sighing as he gave one last look, and quickly changed his clothes for the day.

Sam came out of his room to a hallway and turned left towards the stairs. He ran down the stairs and turned into the living room. He immediately saw his younger sister sneaking around on the other side of the couch and "hiding" from him. As per usual, he pretended not to see her and continues on through the room. He almost reached the kitchen when she jumped at him, tackling him from behind.

"Morning bro! How are you?" She exclaimed, and, without waiting for a reply, continued to go sit down as if nothing had happened.

"Lydia, can you please stop that… it hurts!" groaned Sam, getting up while rubbing his back.

"Huh? I don't know what you're talking about..?" she replied, looking away and starting to whistle.

Lydia wasn't his real sister, but they acted like family because they all lived in an orphanage and grew up together. Sam and Lydia were the both there the longest out of every child. Sam was around a year older and was soon celebrating his 16th "birthday". The orphanage did not know Sam's exact birthday, so they went with the day he arrived there, which was April 13th.

"Never mind…" Sam grumbled to himself. "Let's just go eat."

As he was about to sit at the table, a voice was heard from the kitchen. "Sam, can you go get your father and the others, please?"

"Ugh… I thought it was Lydia's turn to do tha…" he started to grumble, before immediately shutting up when he saw the glare in his mother's eyes. "Yes, mother. I'll be right back"

"Great! Thanks! Your father said he would be in the woods, around the hills to the north of the lake."

"Mom can I go?" Lydia started to plead.

"No Lydia… I need to speak to you for a bit. So please wait here with me," she softly replied.

Disappointment clearly showing, Lydia let a unenthusiastic "yes" before Sam started to walk away. As he was about to exit the house he heard his mother starting to say something extremely unnerving to his sister.

"Lydia no matter what happens, always stand by him. Ok? No matter what he does or what occurs, please do not abandon him. He needs…"

At this point the door closed completely and he stood there a minute before starting his small journey. As he was walking, he thought about what he heard and pondered over what it could mean.

Little did he know, there was someone… or something… that was following him in the shadows.