SPIRIT OF HOPE

  Chapter 1: Leaving Home

  Two kids stand in a peaceful valley, where the tall grass reaches their hips and the sky shows a visible galaxy.

  The children, a boy, is wearing black, while the girl is wearing white. They seem to be around the age of 7 or 8. Their faces are familiar yet unrecognizable like trying to remember someone from an old memory.

  The boy steps forward. “Time has come for your story to begin, as we watch your story unfold, open your heart and let it guide you through hardships.” He said, his voice soft.

  The girl speaks up, her voice low. “Your courage and selflessness will not go unnoticed, Your outcome has been decided,”

  “seek forth for you have been chosen as a Guardian.” The Boy said

  “Your legacy will start soon. We wish you the utmost luck” The Boy and Girl said.

  A teenage boy wakes up from his dream covered in sweat. He slowly gets out of bed, wiping off the sweat.

  “The same dream again.” He mutters, turning to look at his alarm clock.

  CLOCK: 6:50 AM

  “5 minutes early” He said, shaking his head.

  He turns off his alarm clock and sits on his light green bed staring at his cozy room. He finally gets out of bed and gets dressed. He exits the room, making his way down a long hallway and to his bathroom. He wraps his fingers around the handle and pulls twists hard, but it doesn't budge.

  He frowns intensely, grunting as he struggles to open it. He places his body against the door and slams into, finally opening the door. He switches the light on, which flickers to his presence. The dim light reflects his light brown skin tone accompanied with his dark brown eyes. He begins picking at his short hair, his curls slowly springing back into place.

  “I hate curly hair sometimes” He said, in a whiny tone, picking at his disheveled hair

  He freshens up and makes his way down stairs.

  “Mom?” He calls out. He looks around, heading for the kitchen, where he spots a note on the counter.

  “Sorry Sohjin, I’m going on a business trip for a few days.

  I miss you already sweetie,

  Love Mom”

  His eyes soften up for a brief moment, before returning to his neutral look. “She couldn’t have texted or called, '' He mutters, putting it down and making his way towards the fridge.

  He turns on the TV, switching through each channel, where a news channel catches his attention. It reads as follows, "Breaking News: SUBWAY ATTACKED EARLIER TODAY; BRIGADES SAVES LIVES.”

  Sohjin groaned. “Looks like I gotta take the long way.”

  He cooks food, grabs his bag and leaves out the front door for school. Sohjin hastily makes his way to school, which is about 42 minutes away.

  Halfway there Sohjin begins to hear a subtle ringing noise coming from an alleyway. Curiosity struck at him like a lighting bolt, sudden and electric, jolting his thoughts into motion and sending his heart racing for answers. He slowly crept his way down the alley way. Nervously looking around, nothing seemed unusual or out of place. He kept looking but was unable to pinpoint the ringing noise. Sohjin shrugged it off and placed his hands on his backpack straps and went on with his day.

  He finally makes it to school and goes through periods 1-4. Each class had the same ringing noise from earlier. By lunchtime, Sohjin found himself adjusting his hands on the straps of his backpack, looking for a place to eat.

  “Ah man, all the good spots are taken.” He said, looking around at the filled tables. The large outdoor cafeteria buzzed with energy and the sound of people talking with their friends filled the area.

  Sohjin sighed, turning into the direction of the library. “Library it is.” He said, his voice low, as he walked away from the cafeteria.

  The farther he got from the crowd the louder the ringing got. The sound was sharp enough to make him come to a stop. He froze, glancing around the area. “Why does it feel like this sound is following me?” Shaking his head, Sohjin kept walking forward, his thoughts trailing off. “Sophomore year blows, I didn't think I would spend the majority of this year ALONE. Even at ho-“

  A familiar voice called out behind him, interrupting his train of thought.

  “Well if it isn’t Sohjin Teca, been a while, it’s good to see you”

  Walking towards him, Hamza, around the same age as Sohjin, has a warm brown complex and a confident demeanor. He has long wavy hair that covers his ears. He wore a gray sleeve sweatshirt and yellow shorts and had a friendly smile. He walks up and reaches his hand out to greet him.

  “Likewise.” Sohjin replied, dabbing him up. “What’ve you been up to?”

  “Nothing much, Just the usual, y’know the family restaurant thing.” Hamza said, slipping his hands into his pocket.

  “Ahh I know how it feels, kinda. So how’s business?”

  “Well...at first it was slow but we’ve certainly made a comeback after we won best local restaurant.” He smiled.

  “Oh nice congrats.” Sohjin happily said.

  Hamza thanked him and the two stood in silence for a moment. They looked around, waiting for one another to talk.

  “Sooo..down to hang, after school?” Sohjin asked.

  Hamza grabbed the back of his neck. “Nah sorry gonna have to decline, I got..Family work.” Hamza said.

  Sohjin looked away, rolling his eyes.

  “Hey Hey look, maybe we can hang out tomorrow,” Hamza said.

  “I don’t know man I think I got ‘family work’”

  “I’m free Saturday evening, Maybe we can even get Alex and Chase”

  “Chase and Alex! You know for a fact they aren’t going to make it. Chase is in Chinya, he isn’t traveling 30 mins to Midnight City for us” Sohjin laughed. “And Alex is well. He's always busy with school stuff.”

  Hamza slightly shrugged. “I guess you're right, but it wouldn’t hurt to try,”

  “Yeah, guess you're right, you better not bail at the last minute for ‘family work’.” Sohjin said, with a teasing grin.

  They both laugh, and Hamza feels his all black watch vibrating. He looks down at his watch and sees that it’s flashing red.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “Damn..I gotta bounce, it was nice catching up.” Hamza said, covering his watch with his hand.

  “Right now, but it’s lunch.” Sohjin said, looking at the time in his phone

  Hamza slowly stepped away from Sohjin. “Yeah I know, I promised my friend something.” Hamza said, slowly turning around. “DON'T FORGET ABOUT SATURDAY”

  “I COULD SAY THE SAME FOR YOU” Sohjin yelled.

  End of School, Sohjin walks home while looking at his phone and sees on the news that the Subway cleared up. He smiled and made his way.

  On the subway train, Sohjin looked out the window, a blur of the city flashing by. Below the people, traffic crawled through the streets and people hurried home, coming from work or school.

  He looked at his reflection, his light brown eyes staring back at him. He notices a strange figure standing behind. The figure was a purple humanoid with a white scarf, checkered abs that went up to its chest where the rest of the arms and chest were covered by a white and gray tight cloak paired with a gray samurai skirt. Shocked, he quickly turns around, only to be met with nothing.

  “The hell!” Sohjin yells, louder than he had meant to be. His outburst startles the people around him. They all stare at him with a confused look.

  “Sorry guys sorry” He said, feeling his cheeks blush.noticing an empty seat and he made his way to the empty seat.

  While making his way to the seat his head begins to throb in pain. The ringing sound becomes more pronounced, he sits down holding his head. Quickly the figure flashed across his mind, more clearer now.”

  “Sohjin...We Shall meet soon. Your time will start soon”

  He holds his head and groans in pain. The train grew louder, drowning out any and all sound.

  As the pain slowly subsides, Sohjin pulls out his wired headphones, plugs them in, and plays his music, closing his eyes and drifting into sleep.

  He wakes up from his nap, it felt like hours, almost like eternity. He slowly opened his eyes, his body felt heavy and sore. Something wasn’t right. He sat up, his hands melted into the icy ground and realized he’s not in the subway or in a city, but rather in a city in ruins, blanketed in snow. The same loud ringing noise echoes through desolate streets. Sohjin rises, his breath visible in the frigid air, and cautiously begins exploring, calling out occasionally for anyone who might be nearby.

  As he ventured deeper into the ruins, the ringing grew louder, more piercing. The noise becomes deafening and unbearable, forcing Sohjin to cover his ears. Just as he turned to retreat, a faint blue light flickered in the corner of his eye.

  The light crept out from a nearby alleyway. An icy chill crawled up his spine, as Sohjin stepped toward it, drawn by curiosity. HELLO!” Sohjin shouts. “Anyone there?”

  The light becomes brighter, as he approaches a sharp right, illuminating the icy walls. His body trembles with sweat pouring down his face.

  “Shit…Why am I here?” He mutters to himself repeatedly.

  He takes a deep breath, his voice shaking. “COME ON, you got this” He whispers, forcing his legs to move forward. As he turns around the corner, his breath catches in his through. Hovering in the center of the alley is a blue butterfly, its wings shining like a fractured glass in the light.

  “Woah” He said, his fear briefly replaced by awe.

  He inched his way forward, captured by its beauty, reaching out his hand to touch it. Before his fingers could make contact, the butterfly reacted, darting into the air and circled around him, creating a barrier. The wind howls like a storm, slamming into him as an unbearable force. Tears form in his eyes, as he struggles to stay upright.

  “THE HELL IS HAPPENING” He yelled, his heart pounding out of his chest.

  The butterfly flies in front of him, creating a purple orb, before evaporating into energy, combining itself with the orb. The strong gust of wind finally stops and Sohjin slowly stands up.

  “Your story”

  “Happiness”

  “Touch it”

  “Anger” “Reach out and touch it.”

  “Tragedy”

  “Rebirth”

  “Reach out,” “Do it touch me.”

  The orb continuously repeated these words in his ear. Sohjin feels a cold chill shrivel down his spine, as he slowly reaches out shaking the closer he gets, sweat slowly falling down his cheek. The orb whispers louder repeating the same words; chanting the same cryptic message. Sohjin, breathing heavily, finally touches the orb and a large gust of wind hits him violently. The orb begins to suck in his arm and pieces of it reach out and climb his arm.

  His heart pounded wildly as his eyes widened in horror. He yanked his arm with all his strength, but the orbs tendrils continued crawling up his arm like a cold, creeping vine sucking him in.

  “STOP…THIS…THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!” He stammered, desperation surged through him as he struggled with each pull.

  The orb suddenly begins glowing and blinds him forcing him to shield his eyes. The orb then starts to hum and the humming and ringing become more persistent.

  “Wha-” His words are cut off by an explosion and the force hits him like a bull and sends him flying and into the barrier. His body crumples to the ground and a large gust of wind blows on him.

  Shielding himself from the wind, the orb rises in the air and breaks apart with the energy surrounding him and going into him. Across from him, he spots the figure from the subway train.

  “Together, we are one.” The figure said, slowly making its way towards Sohjin.

  The figure reaches out towards him, Sohjin, unable to move, the figure pushes his forehead. Sohjin falls backwards and onto his bed. As he wakes up covered in sweat. Breathing heavily he quickly gets out of bed.

  “What..Just…That had to be real!” He said, wiping the sweat off his face and reaching for his phone while shaking and his heart rate finally calming down.

  Saturday, April 16, 2016

  10:30 am

  1 missed messages from Hamza.

  2 missed messages from Mom

  He puts his phone down and walks out of his room contemplating what happened. He makes his way to the bathroom. The door is once again stuck.

  “Damn door. I thought I left you open” Sohjin said, confused.

  He puts his body in the door getting ready to bust it open. He takes a deep breath in and out.

  “Please don't fight me today,” Sohjin said, annoyed.

  He gets ready and closes his eyes. Unbenounced to him, electricity swarms around his body. Finally, Sohjin bursts through, doing an electrical dash through the door and into the counter. Sohjin groans in pain and gets up from the destroyed counter. He stumbles over and looks at the mess he made.

  “Did I just?” Sohjin said looking at his hands “I have pow..? I HAVE POWERS!!” He squeaks.

  His body begins to light up with electricity sparking off him. He laughs and accidentally dashes into his room. He gets up and tries to control his dash but ends up tripping out of his room down the hall by his stairs.

  “THIS IS AWESOME!” He yelled.

  Sohjin gets up and dashes downstairs and dashes around the living room and kitchen. Suddenly he sees the same figure from earlier standing by the kitchen.

  “The more you reject me, the less control you’ll have” The Figure staring Sohjin.

  Sohjin’s head starts to hurt, his vision goes blurry and comes to an abrupt stop from a crushing pressure that causes him to accidentally hit the trash can and lose control, falling face first on the ground. He groans in pain, slowly sitting up holding his sides and face.

  “That thing from yesterday. Wasn't it a dream? But how did I end up home?” Sohjin questioned, he looks up at his fridge, and through its reflection he sees the same figure.

  “That thing…is haunting me? It’s inside of my head..I have to get rid of it…” He said, his voice trembling.

  “I have…to..Someone who could help me..Alex, ALEX could help me, he would know and..and he could figure out what’s going on, he’s always been good with tech and a little nerdy for superheroes .” Sohjin says, standing up.

  “Alright buddy, hope you're in the mood for company.” Sohjin said, standing at his feet and sprinting up his stairs, static shocks him on his way up and into his room where he bursts into his dresser still getting shocked and rummages through old clothes.

  He pulls out an all black outfit with white dots all around it. The outfit was comfortable and stylish. He then pulls out a white mask, skiing glasses and black gloves with red that highlighted the knuckles and palm.

  “Listen Sohjin you need to trust me, allow me to stop resisting me.” The figure appeared behind him.

  Sohjin turned with concern and met with nothing.

  He then quickly puts the outfit on and hastily makes his way out the front door and runs towards Alex’s neighborhood.

  “Don’t remember where his house is, but I do remember his neighborhood, I hope.” He thought.

  As he’s running he looks down and realizes that his feet are conducting electricity. Streaks of a vibrant combination of green, blue, and fiery red trailing behind him. The air crackles with energy and the ground begins to hum with each step. His body feels weightless and overcharged, his movements become faster and faster, almost too fast to keep up.

  The world around him becomes a blur and his heart pounds as he struggles to maintain control. He starts to stumble, his legs slowly start to give out, but instead of falling he surges forward and his body naturally performs an electrical dash, leaving a faint scorch mark where his feet once were. He comes to a stop and turns around looking at the streaks he made. Sohjin smiles uncontrollably and his body surges with energy, he then electrical dashes away and continues on his way.

  Next time on Spirit Of Hope,

  Chapter 2: New Threads