JumpStart

Damian Rice is a seventeen-year-old, 5'6" in height, with short brown hair, blue eyes and an average-looking boy. He's a loner. The kind of kid who's friends with the "girl", but never actually gets her.

Like right now. Damian is stealing glances at the "girl", Millie Harrison. A fresh-faced beauty sitting near the front of the class. Millie's the prototypical girl next door.

Damian turns to his right and blushes in embarrassment having been caught staring at Millie by Mark Kobold. A smirking jock in a jersey mouthing silent kissing faces at Damian. The other kids snicker.

The bell rings and the students rise. Mark makes his way over to Millie, throwing his arm around her shoulder and giving her a kiss while staring smugly at Damian.

Damian's face falls as he watches the two kiss. He notices Mr. Bowker motioning him over who sips from his coffee mug which reads: " ...And The Geek Shall Inherit The Earth".

"Got another riddle for you. You're in a room with three monkeys. One has a banana, one has a stick and one has nothing. Which primate in the room is the smartest?"

"Me. I'm a primate too." Damian answers. Mr Bowker gives a knowing nod towards Millie and Mark. "We all are. Never forget that. Don't worry, You'll get your day in the sun."

"You think?" Damian asks sceptical. "Guaranteed. Now beat it, before I get any more Obi-Wan on you." Mr. Bowker gives him a small pat on the shoulder.

[Line Break]

Damian is at his locker when he sees Millie approaching him with a smile. Damian and Millie have known each other since grade school. Even though she won the popularity lottery, she was still cool enough to give a nobody like him the time of day.

"Seven more weeks, Damian. One more set of finals, then it's over. I am so ready for that. The moment summer's here, I'm gone." Millie starts excitedly.

"Speaking of summer--" Damian reaches into his pocket, handing Millie a small box. She looks up at him curiously. "Open it." Millie does, pulling out a gold charm of the Eiffel Tower. "It's for a charm bracelet. I figured you could start one. You can keep adding more from all the different places you'll be seeing."

"You didn't need to do this, Damian." Millie stares at Damian, deeply moved. "I know your birthdays coming up. And we're friends, right? So--" Damian shrugs pleased by her response but bashful. "The Eiffel Towers got one thousand six hundred and sixty-five steps. I looked it up."

"Like the proud bookworm you are. You keep your nose buried in those pages, you'll end up falling down a rabbit hole one day." Millie teases playfully. "I like the rabbit hole. It's safe in there."

"Head's up, Ricebowl!" Mark shouts as he side-swipes Damian. Damian groans in pain as he falls against the lockers, dropping his backpack. "Ooh, fumble!" Mark and two other jocks, Berkhoffer and Jefferson jeer.

"Mark, come on. Leave him alone!" Millie scolds Mark, who scoops up Damian's backpack and tosses it to Berkhoffer. Damian lunges for his backpack but Berkhoffer lifts it out of reach.

"Relax, Millie. Brain boy could use the workout." Mark laughs as he catches the backpack from Berkhoffer and runs down the hallway. Damian runs after him.

[Line Break]

Mark and his cronies race down the school steps, whooping. They head across the snow-covered commons, making for the woods at the edge of the schoolyard. Damian follows behind but is panting heavily barely keeping up with his tormentors.

They pause, toying with him, allowing him to catch up. Mark extends the backpack to an exhausted Damian. "Okay, okay, don't have a C-section, Rice. We're just having fun--" Mark takes off again into the woods.

Mark breaks from the trees, slipping down the hillside towards the frozen Huron River. He skids to a stop, then flings the backpack out onto the ice. Shortly, Mark is joined by his cronies. Then Damian. On the hill above, Millie and a few other students gather, watching.

"Why do you have to be such an asshole?" Damian angrily pushes past Mark, moving to the edge of the river. "Don't know. Maybe it's genetic." Mark sneers back.

Damian tests the ice with his foot. Finding that it seems thick enough to traverse. Tentatively, he starts towards his backpack, one step at a time.

"Damian, don't. It's not safe!" Millie cautions from atop the hill. Damian glances back at her but continues on anyway. He finally reaches his backpack and picks it up.

"It's fine, see?" Damian grins triumphantly, but his victory is short-lived as the ice caves in beneath him.

Damian panics, trying to claw his way to the surface, reaching towards the light shining in through the break in the ice.

Damian futilely beats against the underside of the ice trying to free himself.

Through his struggle, he gulps mouthfuls of water as the current drags him deeper and further downriver.

His vision slowly blackens as he suffocates. His frantic pounding against the ice slowly dies down.

His limbs start feeling like lead as he is dragged downward.

His heartbeat is the only sound he hears.

As darkness closes in...

..

.

Then a WHINING NOISE overtakes everything else.

[Line Break]

The noise vanishes. Damian's body crashes down with a splash of water on a carpeted floor.

After a beat. Damian jolts awake coughing up water. Damian shivers disoriented sitting in a pool of water. He sees books scattered around him, having been knocked from their shelves. He also sees a boy standing at the end of the aisle, clutching a Dr. Seuss book, staring open-mouthed.

Damian picks up a book on the floor. There's a stamp inside the cover, "Property of Ann Arbor Public Library".

Damian gets up and hurriedly makes his way past the front desk, drawing stares from the staff. His clothes are dripping wet and he's leaving behind wet footprints.

"What the fuck just happened?"

[Line Break]

Street lights flicker on as the sun dies down. A bus pulls to a stop at the end of the street in a Suburban neighbourhood. Damian exits, clutching himself to fend off the chills, making his way to an unassuming shabby and depressing ranch-style house. A pickup truck is in the driveway.

"Shit." Damian curses his luck as he enters the house and ducks his head down, crossing the living room. "What the hell happened to you?" Wiliam Rice asks looking over his son's soaked clothes.

Damian's father is an average-looking man with brown hair, blue eyes and a scruffy beard. He's dressed in his work clothes, looking as if he just got home from work. He's lounging on his sofa with a beer in hand.

"Just some stupid kids at school," Damian replies dismissively. "Jesus, Damian. You've got to defend yourself." William shakes his head while taking a sip of his beer. "Go dry yourself off. You're getting the carpet wet,"

[Line Break]

Later at night, Damian enters the bathroom to take a shower. Still clothed, he reaches for the shower handle to get the hot water running.

His face suddenly pales. He starts sweating profusely. He starts trembling uncontrollably, his muscles tensing up and feels a prickling sensation in his hands.

"W-w-what t-t-the fuck?" Damian stares confused and shocked at his hands and down his trembling body. "W-w-what t-the h--" He chokes out, collapsing to his knees. He begins panting, feeling unable to draw enough air into his lungs. A crushing weight presses against his chest and all the air is being sucked away from him. His vision darkens around the edges until all that's left is a haze. Blood rushes to his ears and he hears the pounding of his own heart.

Then suddenly a WHINGING NOISE overpowers everything...

[Line Break]

Damian crashes onto a carpeted floor and gasps loudly, suddenly feeling like he can breathe again. He lies down for a moment as the faintness winds down. The trembling, tensing and prickling sensation stops. The heaviness and tightness in his chest ease. His heartbeat is back to normal.

"W-what the fuck was that?" Damian mutters sitting up and staring at his hands. He places a hand on his heart to feel its steady beat. "That was--fuck!" He leans against a bookshelf and runs his hand through his hair in distress.

He looks around the now-empty library and his eyes land on a poster with a bespectacled badger which reads, "ESCAPE TO YOUR LIBRARY--OPEN A WORLD OF WONDER". Damian scoffs leans his back against the bookshelf and closes his eyes for a moment.

"Worst fucking birthday ever." He grumbles as he gets up and exits the aisle. "I teleported again? I guess I wasn't going crazy." Damian looks around the darkened library searching for the exit.

"Just great." Damian stares blankly at the locked shutter doors. He tries to push against the shutter doors but stumbles and suddenly finds himself in his bathroom.

"Right, okay." He rights himself as he looks around at his bathroom. He suddenly tenses when his eyes land on the shower. "F-f-fuck n-not a-again." Those same symptoms slowly take hold again. With a whoosh, he suddenly finds himself crashing onto his bed.

"Fan-fucking-tastic." Damian groans as he calms down. "Who fucking knew drowning would traumatise me to the point of having fucking panic attacks, with just the thought of water coming out of the stupid faucet. Nope, not this guy." Damian sighs heavily, turning his head and notices a picture of him and his parents when he was a kid.

"Guess we're about to have something else in common Mom," Damian says bitterly as he grabs his backpack and starts filling it with some clothes. He ducks under his bed, lifting the loose board and taking out his stashed money.

He hears shouting outside and looks out his window down below. His dad is busy arguing with two police officers. "I guess that's my cue," Damian closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, trying to tap into his power.

He stands still for a moment with nothing happening. Just as he opens his eyes to give up. He's gone. Leaving behind what looks like a scar in the air.

[Line Break]

Damian stumbles off a Greyhound bus in Lower East Side, Manhattan, Alphabet City. He takes a moment to calm his breathing and for the dizziness to fade. "Aquaphobia. What a wonderful experience,"

He takes a look around at his surroundings and then enters a run-down hotel. The lobby is shabby with a few residents slumped in chairs. Damian makes his way over to the glassed-in manager's window. "I'd like a room,"

"We don't take runaways," A shifty-looking grump of a clerk grunts out. Damian slides a hundred-dollar bill through the gap at the bottom of the glass. "Fifty-eight a night, five-buck key deposit, bathroom's down the hall," The clerk grudgingly slides a room key back after making sure the money is legit.

"Fine," Damian nods taking the key. "Don't deal here. I don't care what you do away from the hotel, but if I see anything that looks like a deal. I'll turn you in myself," The warns with a hard glare.

"And don't bring home any tricks!"

[Line Break]

A fast-food manager sits across from Damian, an application in front of him. Damian is sitting upright with a polite smile.

"Looks good, you seem bright to me. All we need is a social security number for the W-2 and we're set."

"What if I don't have that?" Damian's shoulders slump as he asks nervously.

[Line Break]

A Drudge sits across from Damian, pushing forms towards him.

"--Fill out these forms and bring me a copy of your birth certificate."

"And If I don't have that?" Damian slouches in his chair with a wince.

[Line Break]

A harried manager sits across from Damian, shaking his head.

"I don't care how talented, smart, or hardworking you are. If you don't have a high school diploma or a GED, we can't hire you."

"Right, of course," Damian mutters, slouching further in his chair.

[Line  Break]

A kind-looking middle-aged woman sits across from Damian.

"I'm sorry, but if you're under eighteen, you need permission from a parent or legal guardian in order to take the GED. You also need verification of attendance from the last school you went to. You come back with those or a birth certificate and we can talk."

"Yeah," Damian sighs in defeat.

[Line Break]

Damian shuffles along the street at night, finishing his hotdog. He passes a convenience store and sees an ad for the lottery but moves on when he notices the requirement is being over eighteen years of age to participate.

He passes an alleyway. A panhandler in a nearby doorway asks him for some spare change. "Sure, why not?" Damian fishes in his pocket for some change.

Damian doesn't notice the movement from the alley. He is hit in the back of the head with a blunt object, knocking him out.

A few minutes later, Damian groans in pain as he regains consciousness. He feels a wet sensation dripping down the side of his head and immediately tenses up, his breathing shallows, he starts trembling, feels chills down his spine.

"F-f-fuck...I-i-its j-just b-b-blood..." He croaks out as he swipes the side of his head with his hand and brings his trembling hand to his line of sight with difficulty.

"S-s-stupid b-body," As he registers the red liquid on his hand as blood from his head injury. His breathing becomes normal, the trembling stops and the chills stop.

"Oh my God, are you alright? What happened to you?" A jogger asks, as he looks Damian over with a grimace.

"I was mugged..." Damian winces as he checks his pockets, finding them empty. "Fuck,"

"You just hold on, I'll call 911," The jogger says as he reaches for his cell phone. "No, that's alright. Not like they can do anything anyway," Damian gets up unsteadily.

"Are you sure, you don't look so--" The jogger looks concerned as Damian takes unsteady steps. "I'm fine," Damian waves him off as he rounds a corner, dizzy. He tries to visualize his hotel room. He sees a flash of it and suddenly finds himself crashing against his dresser.

He steadies himself and looks to the vanity mirror as he probes his hair. He sees a flash of another mirror. One that opens into a bathroom cabinet, revealing, bandaids, aspirins...

Damian suddenly finds himself in a bathroom with his outstretched hand touching the bathroom mirror. "Well, shit.." He glances around recognising his childhood home's bathroom.

Damian sighs as he opens the medicine cabinet, and grabs gauze, hydrogen peroxide and a bottle of Advil. He takes one last glance at the bathroom door, visualises his hotel room and teleports back.

[Line Break]

"So I have three jump sites. The library, my old home and my hotel room..." Damian sits against a tree in Central Park as he makes notes while studying a New York City guidebook.

"Okay, let's try the Statue Of Liberty," Damian flips to an entry of the Statue Of Liberty and focuses on the picture intently. He closes his eyes, bracing himself. He opens his eyes after a moment when nothing happens. "Well, that's a bust,"

"Empire State Building. Been there, done that," Damian frowns as he stares intently at the observation of the Empire State Building.

"Whoa! Shit!" Damian suddenly finds himself on the Empire State Building observation deck. He gets up and stares amazed at the view.

"Obake--," A Japanese tourist gasps looking wide-eyed at Damian.

"Boo!" Damian grins at the man's frightened expression and teleports back to Central Park.

[Line Break]

"Just act natural," Damian mutters as he pushes through the revolving doors of the Emigrant Savings Bank. He walks up to the guard standing duty. "Hey, is there a bathroom for customers?"

"This way," After looking him over and deciding that he's not a threat. The guard motions for Damian to follow him.

Damian follows after the guard. They walk down a flight of stairs, passing the bank vault. Damian gets a good glimpse of the inside of the bank vault as it is closed by two other guards.

"In there. Be quick," The guard stops in front of the employee bathroom door. "Thanks," Damian nods as he walks past the guard entering the bathroom.

[Line Break]

Later at night in his hotel room. Damian slips on a pair of gloves, then a black ski mask over his head. Finally, he picks up a flashlight, takes a deep breath--

Damian lands in darkness and clicks on his flashlight, illuminating the inside of the bank vault. He waits a moment for any alarms and then pans his light around to carts that are stacked high with bundled piles of money, trays of rolled coins, and canvas bags.

"Holy fuck," Damian whispers in awe as he sets the flashlight down and gets to work. He picks up a bundled stack of hundreds and  Jumps--

--He dumps the stack onto his bed and Damian  Jumps away again.

He reappears in the vault, grabs more stacks and  Jumps.

He dumps dozens of bundles on his hotel bed. His bed cover is completely covered by all the money. He  Jumps again.

Faster and faster he  Jumps from the bank vault to his hotel room and back again.

Finally, having emptied the vault of all available money, Damian pulls a note from his pocket, setting it on one of the empty carts. The note reads, "Thank You For Your Generous Donation".

An hour later Damian is sitting on the floor of his hotel room surrounded by stacks of money. Stolen calculator in hand as he types in a list of numbers penned on a notepad. His finger trembles slightly as he hits the final addition.

1,053,050.42

"Holy fuck..." Damian stares shocked at the readout and then starts laughing in absolute joy. His celebration is short-lived by a pounding on his door.

"Hey! Let's go- two day's rent. You owe me rent. Hello? Hello?"

"Buzzkill," Damian scoffs as he counts out the two days' rent and slides it out under the door for the clerk. Damian waits a moment and hears the clerk walk away.

Damian flops on his bed with hands behind his head and grins looking at the stacks of money.

[Seven Years Later]

Natalie Rowley is a beautiful twenty-four-year-old woman, 5'7" in height, with blonde shoulder-length hair and hazel-green eyes. She is dressed in a sleeveless black dress with a black leather jacket over.

She is currently enjoying a cup of coffee in a cafe while updating her travel journal. She takes a moment to look at the soft drizzle of rain outside.

She is so lost in thought she doesn't hear the chime of the cafe door. A man enters the cafe and after standing by the entrance for a moment, he looks around the cafe and then walks over to her table.

"Is this seat taken?" A tall handsome man, with short brown hair, a five-o'clock shadow beard and blue eyes. He is dressed in a white t-shirt, a black leather jacket, black cargo pants and black boots.

"It's all yours," Natalie smiles politely as he takes a seat across from her. She watches his slightly pale face and how he takes a few calming breaths before giving her a small smile. "You okay? You look a little pale,"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks," He smiles waving off her concern. He calls a waiter over and makes his order before turning back to her. "My name's Damian," Damian holds out his hand with a charming smile.

"Natalie," Natalie shakes his hand, with a soft smile of her own.