[Present Day, 2020; 12:14 AM]

A thunderstorm, probably one of the worst there's ever been is raging outside, nearly flooding the streets and the asphalt roads too bad for anyone to drive through it... and yet, one brave and very drained soul was bold, brave, or stupid enough to drive in such conditions anyhow.

A vehicle, one that looked like a beat up and very worn out Honda, carefully drove through the night, the rain cascading down on the faded cinnamon colored paint. The vehicle swerved and slipped on the road, narrowly avoiding anything or anyone unfortunate enough to be in the vehicle's way. Eventually, the car skidded to a stop and pulled into a garage, and out from it was a very tall, stocky, and very drained man.

The garage door closed as the storm seemingly got worse, the wind howling like a cacophony of wolves and coyotes, the rain crashing down onto the roof of the garage like bullets being fired from a million assault rifles. It was hell, but this was the life he was used to. Constantly being reminded of his current point in life, even by the harshest weather conditions.

"Guess I got lucky, for once..." the man walked through a door, wiping his feet on a black welcome mat with white letters spelling 'Welcome' on it. The man was dressed in a heavy snow coat, colored in an aubergine color. He took it off and hung it on a rack. Despite the removal of such a coat, the man was still dressed in a huge trench coat, his face being obscured by the popped collar. "Let out of work early, got my work done before the deadline instead of on the deadline, got another raise... God damn it, who am I kidding, this is awful!"

The man took the coat off and laid it on the back of a bubble-wrapped recliner, one that seems to have not been touched in a while. The man's skin was caucasian, but it seemed a bit pale, even for most white guys. His hair was a mess, nothing but a dark brown fuzzy mess, and the slightly untrimmed stubble on his face looked incredibly prickly, like small black needles were growing out of his face. He wore a pair of aviators, though the obvious black rings and bags around his eyes were clear as day. He grabbed a photo off of a nearby shelf, examining it.

"Life was so simple back then," The photo contained what looked like a photo of a fourteen year old boy, standing next to his father and mother, they smiled gleefully. The man bit his lip and clutched onto the photo. "Hard to believe this was five years ago... Leon Derrickson, where did our time go?"

[5 YEARS EARLIER...]

[Early 2015; 8:15 AM]

The blaring of an alarm clock rang out, causing someone to yelp and sit up. In bed was a fourteen-year-old boy, with short light-brown hair and a shining glint of hope in his eyes. He looked towards the alarm clock, seeing it flash as it continued to blare.

"Oh yeah, I got time." the boy said, hopping out of bed as he turned a lamp on, illuminating what seemed to be a pretty well-taken care of room, adorned in numerous posters of superheroes, monsters, aliens, as well as some posters of black metal bands and movies. "Let's get this rollin'!"

He undressed himself as he pulled a few clothing items out of a closet. He dressed himself in a deep blue and white t-shirt with a black short-sleeved dress shirt over it. He pulled up some dark black dress jeans and put on a white belt, then slipped on some white socks and gray sneakers. He dusted himself off and went over to a mirror, combing and styling his hair just a fair bit before looking himself over with a smile that oozed confidence and optimism.

"Who is this handsome devil I see in the mirror? Oh wait," the boy shoots some finger guns at his reflection as he puffs his chest out. "It's me! Ahh... the next day of work always feels like the first, excellent!"

"Leon!!" A feminine voice called out. Leon opened the door and looked towards a set of stairs leading down. "Better get down here before your breakfast gets cold! Can't go to work on an empty stomach!"

"I'll be right down, Ma!" Leon yelled out, smiling as happy as can be. "Thanks for the reminder!"

Leon Derrickson quickly made his way down the stairs, walking past a man who sat on a very fuzzy orange couch, dressed in nothing but a yellow hawaiian shirt with dark green flower patterns all over it, cargo shorts and blue crocs with socks.

"Mornin' Dad!" Leon called out, sitting down at the kitchen table as he beheld the sight of his breakfast. French toast with powdered sugar, syrup, scrambled eggs, bacon, and orange juice. "I guess you already ate?"

"Nah, just takin' a moment to wake up so I don't choke on anything." the father remarked, sipping on a can full of some kind of drink.

Leon shrugged and scarfed down his breakfast, making sure he had his fill before he left for work. Leon worked at a supply warehouse, because he needed the money for a lot of stuff, mainly stuff he thought looked cool or neat because it was on TV, not that he watched TV, he'll just catch glimpses of stuff that looked awesome or cool, and dare he thought, radical; It'd be on his mind till he got it, even if he didn't know what all he was getting, it just caught his eyes.

Leon, in a little matter of time managed to clean his plate and down his juice. He got up and put his dishes in the sink as he quickly moved towards the front door, ready to take on the day as he let the sunlight shine all over him, laughing as he ran to his mother's car. A Cinnamon colored Honda that looked practically brand new.

[Present Day, 2020; 12:21 AM]

The sound of loud thunder and lightning crashing outside snapped the man back to reality. He looked over at a window, seeing a lot of the night sky outside light up due to the number of flashes of lightning happening. The man seemed to have a lack of expression, until he grimaced, gritting his teeth as he closed the curtains. The dark storming world outside lighting up, even through the closed curtains.

"This isn't the life you wanted for me," The man lamented, looking at the photo. He removed the aviators from his face, showing a pair of darker cyan eyes staring back at the photo, but also looking at the man's own reflection through the glass picture frame. "But it's the life I got... and it's the one I'm stuck with."

Suddenly, the phone begins to ring. The man walks over and grabs it off the wall, seeing it was an unknown number. He pressed the talk button and put it on speaker.

"Hello, you've reached the police department, fraud division, how can I help you?" The man asked.

**You know that'll never work on me, right Leon?** A gruff but high pitched voice spoke out through the phone.

He recognized that voice, and he hated the guy behind the voice.

"And whatcha gonna do, report to HR, like the last secretary did to you when she just got the job, Jameson?" Leon remarked.

**Haha, hah... oh, you're a funny guy, really funny, pal.** The voice said with an unsettling chuckle.

Leon liked a lot of people at work, but this guy was just the embodiment of uncomfortable. Maxim Jameson, a real asshole, and someone who thinks he's incredibly funny, but has comedy standards and jokes so low, not even a worm, deadly parasite or an STD would find him funny.

"We're not pals, and you know it. What the hell do you want anyway, especially at this hour? You know the only reason I'm your emergency contact is because I'm the only one trying to keep you out of handcuffs. But when you start acting like you, you make that very difficult." Leon stated.

**I'm aware, and I'm very thankful! I paid you handsomely many times for your service! Remember?** the man asked, seeming to be acting coy.

"You didn't pay me money, Maxim! Instead, you gave me numerous unused rubbers and called them 'favors', you frickin' idiot." Leon sneered, looking at one of the unused rubber packages on his counter top.

The storm raged on, the sounds of large objects could be heard falling to the ground, crashing onto the road, or just mainly the streets. Leon kept the phone in his hand as he moved the couch in front of a side-door that led to the front yard, then proceeded to use a deadbolt lock on his garage door.

"Look, it's storming bad out there, so whatever you want, just cut to the chase and say it. I'm already in a bad mood, and I will hunt you down just to scream! You know I will." Leon chastised, getting very angry.

**Fair enough, pal. Listen, what I'm about to say might sound crazy, but I found a cool thing online during work hours yesterday, and I just had to share it with ya.** Maxim said.

"You called me just for that?! I swear, you are one of the most irritating creatures on god's green Earth, you know that? It's storming outside, I might lose power and I already had a restless and bad day, bucko! Don't contribute to making me mad!" Leon warned, looking incredibly exhausted, but still had a furious demeanor. "I swear if it's another link to--"

**Hey, It's not a bad thing, I promise! Plus, with how steamed you're beginning to sound like, you might benefit from this more than I could.** Maxim interjected. **It's just breathing exercises, a prayer to make before you go to sleep. Supposedly, it's been reported to work. C'mon bud, would I lie to you?**

"You'd sell your sister for money, then pimp her out just to pay back your mother! Of course you would lie to me, there's a reason why your nickname at work is 'Miser Max'." Leon remarked.

**Look, just hear me out, pal. I forwarded the exercise and prayer to you, so just have a little faith in me, and by the time you wake up in the morning, you'll be right where you want to be, feeling right as rain!**

Without another word, Leon groaned and hung up, putting the phone back where it was as he went upstairs into his old room. No longer dressed in the numerous posters, but now dressed in nothing at all except for a fresh coat of gray paint. He turned on the lamp by his bedside and pulled out his laptop, logging into his emails and found the very email Maxim forwarded to him.

'For all I know, this has foreign malware that will mess up my work and get me fired, or it'll destroy my laptop and I'll have to get a new one... Why should I even trust this?' Leon thought to himself.

Leon went over his options and decided to have some malware detection installed before opening the email. It took a couple minutes, but eventually he got it installed. He carefully opened the email, and saw a whole PNG of a list of instructions. The file of the image was 'SeekWisdomBeGrantedStrength'. The instructional file was decorated with what looked like blacked out silhouettes of what seemed to be ponies, and immediately Leon was second guessing going through with this.

"I knew this asshole couldn't be trusted." Leon muttered, "But, might as well see if this actually works. I could use a new method of relieving my work stress. How do I do this shit, let's see..."

Leon set the laptop aside and got out of bed, then took off his work clothes, feeling the coldness of the air sending a chill or two down his body. He dressed himself in some more casual clothes, like a black t-shirt and blue shorts. He looked over the instructions, and oddly enough, it was just instructions to do a certain prayer, or certain kind of prayer.

Best Wishes Prayer

1. Do this prayer before you fall asleep at any given point.
   1A. MAKE SURE YOU ARE ALONE.

2. Breathe through your nose and exhale through your mouth whilst you're on your knees; Bow once.

3. Pray to your designated God, then for whatever you wish in the following fashion, 'Mighty heavenly lord above, hear me not as one of your creations, but as someone who needs your guidance and directions to a better future. Please, heavenly lord above, give unto me '[Insert Wish here]', that is what I hope for the most.'

4. After praying, fall asleep.

When you awake, you will be right where you wanted to be, gifted with the tools to help you.

"Here's to hoping I don't summon the devil to my abode, or I'm really gonna kick Maxim's ass..." Leon remarked, stifling a yawn as the storm kept raging on outside. "Who am I kidding, I'm gonna look and sound ridiculous because I went along with this nonsense, this is punishment enough."

Leon slowly got down on his knees and started to follow the instructions on the image. He took in air through his nose and exhaled through his mouth, then bowed before getting into another position, putting his hands together as if he were getting ready to pray at church.

"I haven't done this in years..." Leon took a deep breath and sighed, trying to steady himself as he tried to recount how the prayer went. Soon enough, he remembered it... as he did, the storm seemed to get even more aggressive outside.

"Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven..." Leon began.

The house began to rattle as the winds picked up, the lightning flashed brighter, striking the ground as parts of the asphalt was broken by the strike. the rain poured down so much, it was just a wet, hazy pitch black nightmare to navigate through, even with bright lights or a proper vehicle.

"Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us;" Leon continued, closing his eyes as he kept his focus on the prayer at hand.

The sound of metal being torn away could be heard, indicating that the storm was beginning to get incredibly destructive, yet Leon kept praying.

"...and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Leon finished, opening his eyes as he grabbed his laptop and ran downstairs. He went through a door and went down lower into his home, into what looked like a storm shelter. He closed the door and flipped a switch, showing a pre-prepared mattress, a radio, bottled water and food.

Leon sat his laptop down and got back down on his knees. He couldn't believe he was trying this, but he gave up some faith, hoping this prayer had some weight behind it.

"Mighty heavenly lord above, hear me not as one of your creations, but as someone who needs your guidance and directions to a better future. Please, heavenly lord above, give unto me A better Life, that is what I hope for the most." Leon prayed, feeling some kind of emotion whelling up from within him. "Please, I know I stopped praying, I stopped believing... please, if you know anything of mercy, please spare some hint of it unto me... spare me the grisly fate of death this storm threatens to bring me!"

Leon's words echoed around the concrete walls, all while his home was torn to shreds by the storm, yet he remained. Leon got onto the mattress, covering himself up in a blanket as he just laid there, waiting for some kind of end. As he slowly fell asleep, the lights in the storm shelter went out, and the loudest crack of lightning echoes from up above.

All was silent.

Author's Note

This is a reboot of The Hourglassed Stranger, mainly because I thought the original story was kinda stuck where it was... I couldn't figure out where to take it, so the best idea was to reboot it.

Hopefully you all enjoy the reboot, because the original will still be up for those who want to read it, but it's not going to be continued.