~Chronicles of the Lost
Chapter 1: The Boy
A siren rang out through the city streets, echoing off of glass sky scrapers and alerting local pedestrians to get out of the way. A black and white police car was racing down the streets. A boy no older than the age of 18 was fleeing from it. Jumping a fence into a back alley he looked back to see the flashing red and blue lights whiz by. The boy sighed as he listened; making sure that the siren was getting further away before deciding to take a rest. This had been the third time in the past two days that he had had to avoid the police. Still panting for air the boy observed the surrounding alleyway. A small light buzzed overhead, to his left was a no doubt locked door with the numer '103' stamped onto it. Farther back a dumpster covered in unidentifiable fluids and gunk rested against the brick wall behind it. The lids had either been torn away or broken as the dumpster seemed to be overflowing with trash bags and other junk. The alleyway kept going and seemed to fade into darkness. The boy took one last deep breath before starting to move again.
As he walked passed the dumpster he noticed a cracked mirror propped up against it. Thinking back to the last time he looked at himself he shrugged and walked over to it. ‘Might as well see how much I’ve changed over the past few days’ he thought to himself as he glanced at his reflection, his face which was previously soft and lively had completely thinned out and his normal healthy skin had paled. After days of no care his hair was a greasy mess and there was even a bit of stubble on his chin. He bright green eyes were now bloodshot and dulled, and his clothes were a total mess. The black jacket he was wearing was nearly shredded and covered in dirt, hardly any protection from the elements in its current condition. His jeans on the other hand were till in somewhat good shape, a few scuff to the denem here and there and clearly he had gotten mud on them at some point but other wise fine. “God I look like a mess huh?” he said giving a rhetorical question to no one in particular.
“Who's there?!, HE’S OVER HERE BOYS!” a shout from the streets caused the boy to look up to see a police officer pointing at him ‘not again’ he thought to himself. The boy started to run again heading back towards the fence to jump over it again, a police officer shouted after him “Hold it right there!” the kid stopped in front on the fence and with one jump was on top of it. He looked back at the police officer who looked stunned, and saluted him before jumping back behind the fence landing on the street below and taking off into the night leaving the officer cussing in the alley.
* * * * *
the next day after the incident in the alley the boy woke up on a bench, and old newspaper clutched over is shivering body. He sat up quickly taking in his surroundings. The park was mostly deserted as the weather had been growing colder recently. Satisfied with his observations and that no officers seemed to be nearby he yawned and laid his head back down on his arm. The sun had been up for probably a few hours now.
“Hey there Shep” The boy woke with a start, he had dozed off again, luckily he had woken up before anyone managed to find him and turn him in. He sat up and began to stretch, sleeping on a park bench was never very comfortable, its a good thing his parents were gone, at lease he knew they wouldn't have to be worrying over where he was right now and why the police were busting down there door looking for him. "Uh, Hello, Shepard? you okay?"
Shepard looked around and spotted a girl around his age looking at him with concern. Mei, she was his oldest friend, they had met back when he was still going to school. He had been subject to many bullies there but every time Mei would always come to the rescue chasing off who ever was terrorizing me that day. Of course that's just the way she saw it, in reality I was the one picking the fight and she would always come in and ruin the fun. Oh well she had always meant well even if she could be sort of a pain. Of course she also happened to be the daughter of the local police chief so she had her uses as well.
"What, it's just you?" Shepard stood up and began to walk away.
“What’s that supposed to mean!?” the girl said frowning and sounding upset “You’re cute childhood friend comes to see you and thats all you can say!?" With a huff she followed after him, a plastic bag swinging from her hands.
“I wonder if I can manage to find something to eat" Shep said to himself while walking away from Mei who seemed determined to chase after him.
“Jeez why are you so rude to me, even though I was looking for you all morning to give you this!” She held out a plastic bag with a grocery store meal inside still warm from the microwave. Shep turned and looked back, when he saw the bag his whole demeanor changed.
“Oh Mei, wow you’re as beautiful as ever I’m sorry I guess I didn't notice before, I was still half asleep” he smiled at her and chuckled his objective was obvious and he knew she probably wouldn't buy his act but hey it was his breakfast on the line here after all.
Mei sighed “Yeah, yeah, it’s good to know food is more important to you than your childhood friend”. She gave him the plastic bag which he quickly opened and pulled out the food digging in. “So I heard from Dad that they nearly got you last night” Mei said sitting down to watch him eat “hmm” he mumbled as he was devouring his food. Shep looked up thinking about the incident last night. Mei couldn't help but grin when she noticed a bit of syrup had splashed across his chin.
“Not really, they only got within 5 meters of me after all” he said going back to eat more of the meal, a serving of eggs, two pancakes with syrup, and a small serving of hash browns.
“Isn't that a bit too close!” Mei practically shouted after hearing what he said, “That’s nearly within touching distance, just what were you doing that they were able to get so close to you?” She sighed when he didn't answer “well, whatever, I guess its fine so long as you weren't caught”. She stood back up a looked at the sky “Though now that I think about it, you still haven’t told me why they’re chasing you yet”. Shep paused for a second before quickly finishing his meal.
“It’s not important” he said finally finishing the meal and letting out a burp. Mei looked down at him disbelieving every word.
“What do you mean it’s not important!” she said frustrated with her reblious friends attitude “It’s clearly very important if the police are chasing you! I just want to help you, and all you can think about is your stupid next meal!” When Shep didn't respond she sighed and looked away. "Fine, I suppose if you can take care of yourself I shouldn't be bringing you food anymore huh?" That would get his attention. She looked back to see Shep had already disappeared on her. "SHEP YOU GET BACK HERE!" She shouted before running off in a random direction hoping to find where he had run off to.
In a nearby Tree Shep watched as his childhood friend chased after nothing.
"I'm sorry Mei" with a grunt and push Shep jumped from the branch and landed on the ground scrapping one of his hands in the process. "oh well, Thanks for the food, hopefully we don't meet again, you don't need to become part of this". Shep ran in the opposite direction that Mei had left in. It was time to visit a certain shop.
* * * * *
The eastern part of town was a run down dump of an area, pawn shops littered nearly every corner, and there wasn't a decent looking person for blocks, best of all the cops were lazy on this side of town. No one was going to start a chase here and Shep was glad for that much, after all he'd needed to meet with someone for a few days now but hadn't been able to due to his recent run ins with the police. Shep stopped in front of a particularly strange looking building, a pawn shop at first glance but for some reason this one was a bit less noticable than the others on the same street. Instead of flashy neon signs and bright colors painted onto walls and barred windows this shop looked like it was based out of some Victorian era home that had been constructed here long ago. It was the place Shep had been looking for for days now.
A simple wind chime set on the door was all the noise he heard when entering the shop. A dimly lit room filled with oddities was the first impression he got from the place. After the first time he'd been here though he knew better than to think that that was all it was.
"Mary, you in?" Shep called out, he dug into his pockets pulling out what looked to be an old compass, the arrows of which spun wildly as though it couldn't tell which way was north. "I have the thing you wanted!"
"One moment child, I'll be right there" Shep jumped at the voice behind him, looking from where the voice had come from he could see a pipe. It reminded him of one of those phone pipes at the public playgrounds, he would love shouting things into them back and forth with his friends. "Feel free to look around while you wait my dear".
Shep sighed and stepped further into the store, this place gave him the creeps, and it didn't help that the place was strait out of the 1700's and renovated several times to allow for electricity, phone lines, and other modern age utilities that weren't around when the place was first built. He glanced over a few shelves his eyes passing over a few of the items. Rabbits paw, Topaz skull, ivory flute, poker chips, a golden medal with a strange purple star printed on it. Wait a minute, he picked up the topaz skull "This thing is sick" He quickly changed his mind when its eyes glowed red for a brief second in his hand. He quickly put it back and the shelf and walked away as fast as he could.
Before he could get over the shivers crawling up his spine he heard the familiar thumping of boots on wood. Shep turned from the shelves and walked back to the front door where there was also a counter with an old fashion tender machine sat, how the archaic cash register still worked was beyond him. From a curtain, that was hung over an open doorway, emerged an elderly looking woman dressed in a dark blue dress. Her dark grey hair curled around her head, her wizened face was wrinkled into a display of pleasant surprise. Yellow eyes shined upon him curious of the young boy.
"Now lets see, if I remember right..." She trailed off looking lost in thought for a few moments, and before shep could ask if she was alright she moved to behind the counter and pulled out a little black book. "Hmm, lets see what you've got there boy" She said to Shep holding her hand out for the compass in his own. Without hesitation he reached up and dropped the compass in her hand, glad to finally be rid of the troublesome thing. "Ah, yes, The wayfarers Compass said to point the way to that which the holder needs most". The elderly woman flipped through the pages of her book before ripping one out and handing it to Shep. "Consider your debt paid young Shepard, that's the pass that will take you to what you desire most.
Shepard looked down at the piece of paper in his hands, at some point the ripped paged had turned into a train ticket. He stared at it wide eyed before smiling and looking up at the old woman.
"Thanks Mary, it was fun doing business, but I hope you don't take offence when I tell you I'll never do one of your jobs again" The old woman just smiled and laughed.
"Now now, it wasn't that bad" The old woman put the book up and moved out from behind the counter and over to one of the shelves where she placed her newly aquired compass. "After all, all you had to do was sneak into one of the museums most heavily guarded wings, find the correct lock box, get the compass and run right?" She smiled at her collection before caster her piercing eyes on the boy once more, "Plus you were able to do it before the week limit I gave you, so you managed to keep your soul as well! Though I do find it odd that one so young would be willing to bet something of such value on something like a worldly desire".
Shepard annoyed with the womans behavior simply shook his head and started walking towards the door.
"It's none of your business anyways, It's just something I need to do" before he could leave he heard the sound of shifting metal behind him. Shep turned to see the woman was right behind him and holding something in her hands.
"The young are always so impatient," The old lady gave a annoyed huff before smiling and holding up one of her hands to him "here, consider it a gift to go with the reward, it's not everyday a runner is able to finish a contract with me so quickly!" Shepard held out his empty hand and watched as Mary placed a golden ring in his hands. Examining it Shep found it to be an ordinary gold ring, there were no scratches, no engravements, nor any jewels, just a gold ring.
"What is it?" Shep knew better than to think anything from this place would be normal, so seeing something this mundane looking put him a bit on edge.
"What's it look like, it's a ring" The old lady smiled and began to walk away, "Dont forget to try it on later, you might need it" Shep looked at the ring for a little bit longer before looking up again. She had vanished and he could tell from the atmosphere of the store that it was time for him to go. Slipping the ring in his pocket Shepard left the shop to its own weirdness, he didn't need it anymore now that he had his ticket to what he wanted.