Prologue: The Day Everything Went Wrong
Every day was a living hell; I was a senior in High school and just today I was eighteen years old. And because of my good grades, short height, and un-masculine figure, I was constantly picked on by all the jocks and any of their groupies. What do I have to listen to when I come back home? I get to hear my drunken father yell at me about how much of a disappointment to him. And after that, I get to sleep just to wake up to the same thing… every single day.
But today will surely be different, it has to be, or so I hope.
“Hey guys, the baby is back. The elementary school is five blocks away.” They laughed. “What’s the matter?” He shoved me into a locker. “Too scared to fight back?” He shoved me again. “Afraid your mommy won’t be here to save you?”
I felt my blood boil when I heard those last words. That was the last straw. “SHUT UP!” I said as I punched him as hard as I could, it was enough to knock him off balance for a little bit, but now he was angry. I tried moving out of the way from his punches, but shortly after his fist collided with my face. Warm blood trickled down my face. I didn’t care, I tried to punch him back, but he just put me into a headlock.
“What’s wrong? Too weak without your mo-“
“Guys cut it out.” A teacher said as he pulled him away from me. “Mason Workman, head to the principal’s office. And you Andrew, let’s go to the nurse, the principal will deal with you later.” He led me down the hallway, with blood still coming from the fresh wound on my forehead. I was in trouble, and with the way our school was set up, I knew I would get the short end of the stick. We proceeded into the awaiting infirmary
“Oh my god, come this way, quickly!” the nurse screamed when she saw blood pouring out of my head. She proceeded to wash off the wound and wrap it with a cloth bandage. It was enough to stop the bleeding, but still not enough to stop the pain. “How did this happen?”
“Well, it was-“
“Andrew Doyle, to the principal’s office.” A voice announced from the loudspeakers. Well that was quick. “You better get going” she told me. I sighed and headed to meet my fate. The walk down the hallway felt slow and painful, but there was no way I could delay this very long. As I entered the room, a dark silence fell upon the room.
“Do you know why you’re here?”
“Is it because I saved a life?” I said sarcastically.
“Do you think this is a joke? You could have injured Mason, and the state championship match is this Friday, what would happen if he couldn’t compete?” Unbelievable, not only does he not care that he could have killed me, he is siding with Mason because of a football game. “I’ll have to give you suspension for a week, so don’t show up.” He said as he pointed towards the door. “You can go now.”
Great, just great. I walked towards my parent’s house. Now I get to be nagged out by my drunkard of a father for being suspended. I looked off into the distance.
Wait, is that smoke?
“CRAP!” I ran towards the direction of my house.
The house was ablaze with a squad of firefighters attempting to put it out. “LET ME THROUGH!” I yelled.
“Sorry son, but this is no place for children.” A policeman stopped me. I couldn't believe this.
“I’M EIGHTEEN, AND THIS IS MY PARENT’S HOUSE!” I yelled with blind fury.
“Is that so? Well I apologize in advance, nobody made it out of that house alive, I’m sorry for your loss.”
“…” I ran from there as fast as I could, now what? I have no home, I have no family, I have no school, no savings, no relatives, and no nothing. I was walking along the sidewalk, “Is there really nothing left for me?” I thought to myself. “I lost everything, all in one day.” I was nearing a bridge. “Even if I wanted to, there is nobody I can turn to, I can’t live in an orphanage, and I’m too old now. I was midway across the bridge, and I stopped to look over the edge. The cold waters below looked inviting, almost as if they were calling me. “If this happened on my birthday, what awaits me for the rest of the year?”
“Jump” a voice said in my head. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense.
“Jump, and leave this whole world behind.” Now it seemed like there was no other option.
"Okay.” I’m done.
I felt the air rushing through my hair as I was hurtling downwards, the cold waters below expecting my impact any second. I could remember all the times where my father yelled at me, all the times my life felt pointless, and most importantly I remembered her, my mother. I closed my eyes and braced for impact. I sunk slowly, the water started to fill my lungs. This is what I wanted after all.
Then everything was still, everything seemed to be still, and time itself was stopped. Then “he” appeared. Death was before me, “Many a time have I seen one take the life of him/herself, but for reasons beyond my own comprehension, I cannot take yours right now. In your case one might be reborn into another world, but such an event is so rare and unexpected that there is no known cause here. You are dead in this world, but soon you will meet a new life. I can guarantee nothing, except for one thing: You may never return here.” And with his last words, he raised his scythe and split my soul from its body, never to return. Death took his scythe and cut thin air, tearing a hole in the fabric of space itself, and threw me in it. “Farewell.”
I felt darkness overwhelm me, then suddenly I could feel the wind again, it felt so familiar, yet so different. I started to regain feeling in my limbs. I slowly started to open my eyes. And to my surprise my eyes met another, and a pair of amber eyes stared back.
“HI THERE!”
I yelped as I scrambled backwards. I got a better view of her; it was a light green unicorn. I know I should be shocked to see a talking unicorn, or even a talking pony in general, but for some reason this felt normal. After all I had just… wait, what was I doing a while ago?