"Dream, dream until your dreams become a reality" from a glance they might seem like words you would find on a bumper sticker. Meaningless drivel meant to placate a delusional kid. But to me those words meant the world, to me those words were hope. I….I tried to live by those words , after all, those were my mother's last words.
"BOY!! GET OUT HERE!!!"
The sharp cry startles me awake, ridding me of the last vestiges of sleep .I groggily make my way out of bed, the gleaming light of the sun shines in my eye forcing me to squint. A quick glance at my alarm tells me how screwed I am.
"CRAP I'M LATE!!"
I hurriedly scram to get ready for my first day of school and thirty minutes later I stand in front of the mirror. The visage of a pale skinned, dark haired, short athletic young man with dark brown eyes that fail to hide his displeasure at his rather short stature.
"SIGH!...when will that growth spurt finally kick in."
"DAMIAN DON'T MAKE ME COME IN THERE!!"
"COMING!!" with one last check I grabbed by bag and headed out of the house. In front of me stood a beaten up truck that was probably going to breakdown any minute now. Inside it was my uncle Henry with a scowl on his face. I make my way inside the truck, mentally preparing myself for his berating.
"What did I tell you about time?" he asks in a cold tone unbefitting a guardian.
"That every second wasted is time enough for the enemy." I answer in a low monotone voice
"Then why the tardiness?"
I finch at this and hesitate. I resolve my self to stay silent and not reply but a glare from him breaks my newfound resolve like a fist through a castle of sand.
"I...…I d-dreamt about her again." I say with a slight stutter as I hold my breath, with my eyes fixed on the dashboard.
He takes a couple of seconds to reply, probably contemplating whether to hit me again like the last time. A few seconds, to another that's all they were but to me they might as well have been ages.
"And?" he says with reignited anger tinged in his voice.
"It was nothing, It meant nothing, SHE meant nothing." I say almost robotically having said those same lines to quell his hatred of her on several occasions.
"Good." He says and turns his attention to the ignition, starting up the truck. With a strained sound the truck thrums to life, making its way along the road to the start of my new journey, high school.
Though I guess I have yet to introduce myself. The names Damian, Damian Hunt. The only son of Roland and Harriet Hunt, the former a politician and the latter a botanist of all things, can you believe that, I mean a biologist I can understand but a botanist .
Anyway mommy dearest was diagnosed with cancer a few years after my birth this drove her to spend as much time with me as possible. God I can still hear the tunes of some of her favorite movies I mean how many times can a woman watch "The Sound Of Music" before it gets boring. I can still hear her hum that darn song to this day. It was one of my best memories.
She made sure I received the best education she could provide and inspired me to pursue whichever goal I set my mind to. After finding out about her disease from overhearing my dad on the phone with our doctor, I in all my naivety sought to find a cure for my mother, thinking if there wasn't a cure then I simply needed to find one.
However both Harriet and Roland were ill prepared when during a night out to enjoy the little time they had left with each other, a homeless man strapped with a homemade bomb blew up In front of a dinner they were in, instantly claiming the life of my father and the waitress that was serving them at the time. My mother on the other hand barely made it and was rushed to the emergency room.
She lasted a full two days before she died. Their case was ruled as closed when it was later discovered that the homeless man was an ex marine named William Turner that had gambled away his savings and lost everything else in his wife's divorce. Fed up with his suffering, he finally decided to take his own life, but why go out quietly. So he put together a homemade bomb and to literally go out with a bang.
After the incident, my uncle Henry Hunt an ex special forces operative who was discharged due to suffering from a near fatal bullet to the hip, was handed custody of my six year old self. Initially my time with my uncle was uneventful I mainly studied in school, did my homework, practiced some krav-maga skills every dawn and night, taught in passing to me by my uncle. After turning nine, he begun taking me to the shooting range to learn how to shoot during the weekends.
Now at the age of fifteen I begin my life in high school. And it was going to be oh so glorious.
**********
Dreary, noisy, and filled with raging hormones. Those are the words that aptly describe my first impression of Florida State High School, after the sum total of four hours being here. It was currently lunch break and I was quietly sitting at a table close to the trash dump having my lunch of a salad and some apple juice, a meal I was looking forward to all day.
Now in no way was I expecting ivy league level infrastructure, but this was depressing. The school in itself was impressive with open grounds and well furbished furniture, stacked libraries, orderly classrooms and labs, mowed lawns and colorful school buses. However once you look past all the glamor the true nature of the school reveals itself.
Like that janitor who secretly just stuffed what seemed like a sports bra into his outfit thinking none the wiser. Yeah I'm just going to forget I ever saw that. There's also the issue of how the cafeteria meals almost always consisted of glop and a serving of chocolate pudding, leading to students mainly bringing their own lunch . Oh and let's not forget the lanky kid chasing after a giant rat that just stole the stake out of his burger .
"Oh would you look at that he got the stake back." I watch with fascination as the kid takes the stake, places it back into his burger and proceeds to eat it.
"Aww…...aww why!? Why would you do that? "
"I think I'm going to be sick." As I struggle to force myself from puking up my lunch, I try to distract myself with another scene, one of two students. One was a pretty freckled redhead girl, probably a new student like me, making out with a with a silver haired young man with milky white skin and sharp features including a chiseled jawline, high rising eyebrows and pale grey eyes.
"On the first day? I'm honestly too impressed to even feel jealous." Having had enough of staring at the obvious couple, I turn my attention to the group of guys headed my way. They wore matching outfits, probably belonging to the school football team.
As one of them arrived at my table, with a sharp "swoosh", he swipes his hand across my table, tossing away my perfectly good salad. Darn it I was really looking forward to eating that. The group encircle me, and the guy who so rudely wasted my meal spoke up.
"Look who we have here if it isn't the pocket sized white knight." He says with a mocking grin on his face, while sporting a reddened nose he tried desperately albeit poorly at hiding.
Now you might be wondering this feels like the generic new guy goes to school and gets bullied by the big bad football team for being socially awkward. Well in any other situation you would be right. But in this particular instance it's all totally my fault.
You see in high school your reputation is everything and me wanting to make the most impact, decided it would be a great idea to take out the biggest guy in school, that being in the form of Daniel Miller. Tall, athletic, and a total prick to everyone even his friends. I really couldn't have asked for a more perfect candidate.
So during first period I waited for my opportunity. My chance arrived when he bumps into a tall dark haired Asian girl. And Daniel being his usual self, acts like the dick everyone knows he is, and proceed to try to get handsy with the girl. However like a knight in shining armor or rather a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt, arrived and proceeded to give a well placed straight ,knocking him out. Luckily enough no teachers were around to witness that incident, allowing me to go scot free.
I now had a reputation as the short kid that could kick your shit in if you pushed enough of his buttons. And I was happy enough for that to be the end of our little drama. But apparently Rudolf the red nosed reindeer and his friends had other ideas.
"I'm sorry you are?" I ask feigning ignorance as I stare at him with righteous indignation at having my lunch wasted. A meal that I remind you I was looking forward to eating very much today.
"IT'S DANIEL YOU LITTLE SHIT!!" Rudolf says with an angry face, spittle getting dangerously close to me.
"Right and how can I help you?" I say in a relaxed tone irrespective of their flaring tempers.
"Meet us at the abandoned warehouse a few blocks from the park. You and I have some unfinished business." He says with a smirk, leaving with his crew after having apparently done saying his piece.
"Sure thing Rudolf " I say with a smirk of my own, knowing just how to get under his skin. With a tired sigh I plop back onto my seat with a wronged look on my face still distraught about not finishing my meal.
"Oh well let's go give back Santa his missing reindeer, preferably with a few missing teeth." With those words I make my way to my final class .
[Unknown POV]
Watching everything that happened at table a few paces ahead of me, a small smirk traces my face.
"How interesting, I guess I won't be getting bored anytime soon."