Four Words

Chapter 1- New Friends

..these words are completely meaningless.

Having hope is pointless.

The future is not something you can just say, but have to experience.

Your destiny is not planned out for you.

Everything ends. There is no such thing as eternity.

As Reiko wrote down these words, she thought to herself, "This is just telling the truth. Why would anyone believe in this kind of nonsense? I mean really, having hope is pointless. Everyone says the future can turn out this way or that, but no one can predict it. Destiny is such a useless word. No one can see his or her own destiny. And eternity, that one is the most ridiculous out of them all. Everything stops sooner or later. Nothing goes on forever."

She put down her pen and looked out the window. It was a grim, cloudy afternoon that looked like it was about to rain. The weather reflected much of her mood. She walked over to her bed and buried her face into her pillow. This was just one of those days where you feel like everything is going wrong and that no one believes in you or your abilities.

Reiko is an Asian girl who loves to write and draw, though all she has been doing nowadays is write. She seems just like a surly teenager. Well, that's because she is. Reiko had been going through a tough time these past few years. Her mom and dad died in a car accident a few years ago, so she was forced to live with her godmother and her son. Can you blame her for being like this?

"Hey, Reiko."

Reiko looked up to see Matt, her godmother's son. Matt is a blonde Caucasian who is always goofy but is smarter than he looks. She never knew Matt before she moved in with him, so she tries to distance herself from him sometimes.

"What is it you want?" Reiko asked annoyed.

"I just came to tell you that my mom is leaving now for her business trip if you want to say goodbye."

She got up and walked to the front door to see her godmother there, waiting.

"Well, I'll see you two in a few weeks. Behave, all right?"

"Yeah mom," Matt replied. Reiko just nodded.

With that, she walked out to the car and waved goodbye. Then she drove off.

Reiko went back to her room. Matt just went and sat on the couch. He is the exact opposite of what Reiko acts like. He smiles a lot and is pretty much always in a good mood. He and Reiko go to the same school, are in the same classes, and walk home together, but they have told no one that they are living together.

"I wonder what's bothering her," he said to himself, "Although technically, she's been acting like this ever since she got here."

The next day at school, Reiko was talking to her best friend, Ardie about some schoolwork.

"Did you get the answer to number 24?" questioned Ardie. Ardie is a Filipino girl who smiles a lot. She is very energetic and spontaneous sometimes.

"Yeah, but it took me a while to figure it out," Reiko replied.

Across the schoolyard were Matt and his friend, Roger. He is a short, Hispanic boy who loves to play soccer. He almost always jokes around.

"I don't get it," Matt said out of the blue, "She never talks to me. She always keeps things to herself."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Roger asked.

". it's nothing," Matt replied nervously. "I almost forgot that he didn't know about Reiko and me living together."

He looks over to Reiko and Ardie talking and laughing. Then he sighs.

Afterschool, Matt is walking home when he sees Reiko walking in front of him. He runs up to her and greets her. She just keeps on walking.

"I've been wondering, you've been living at my house for some time now, right?" he asked her.

She replied, "I guess so."

Then he asked, "Well, then how come you never talk to me? I mean, by now, I think I could have gotten to know you a little bit, but I don't know anything about you. All I want to do is be your friend."

Reiko stopped and looked at him. "Aw crap. I think I just made an ass out of myself," Matt thought. "Do you really mean what you said?" she asked him. That was not the response that Matt had expected. He replied, "Yes, I do. I want to be your friend." Reiko smiled and walked on. "That's good to know." Matt was stunned at her response to his statement. That was the very first time she ever smiled at him. But, does this mean that they're friends, or will she still ignore him?

This question puzzled him all night. So much so that he barely got any sleep. He went to school the next morning, yawning all the way. What's worse is that he had baseball practice that afternoon. So, of course, he performed terribly at practice. He went home feeling worse than ever.

When he got in his room, fell face first onto his bed and slept there for about two hours. By the time he woke up, it was nine o' clock at night. Reiko then came into his room.

"Are you all right? You don't look so good," she said.

Matt was too tired to notice that Reiko was actually worried about him. He just replied, "I'm fine. Just tired after practice."

"Well, all right. If you're sure," then Reiko left the room. Matt just put his head back on his pillow and fell asleep.

The next day, Matt was feeling better than ever. He had completely forgotten about last night (probably because he was half asleep when it happened) and just went to school. He saw that Reiko had already gotten there and was cheerfully chatting with Ardie again.

"Hey Matt," Roger said to him.

"Hey Roger," Matt answered.

"I noticed lately that you've been staring at Reiko a lot," Roger stated.

Matt gave him a surprised look. "Really? You noticed?"

"Yeah. Do you like her or something?"

"." Matt didn't actually know if he liked her, but he didn't know how to tell Roger that.

"I guess, not really, no," Matt said indecisively.

"Okay, just wondering," and Roger went on walking.

"Do I like her?" Matt asked himself. "Nah. I can't."

It was a dark and cloudy day, much like the one when Matt's mom went away. After class, Reiko was sitting at the rooftop, just looking out onto the scenery. Matt opened the roof door to see her there.

"Oh there you are. I've been looking everywhere for you."

Reiko looked back to see him standing there. "How did you find me?" she asked.

"I saw you on top of the roof, so I just came up here. Come on, let's go."

She got up and started to walk towards, when a flash of lightning came down onto the roof and struck the fencing around it. Then the sound of thunder and falling rain came down on the two students.

"Let's get off the roof!" Matt shouted and reached out his hand. By this point, wind had started to pick up. Reiko struggled to get to the doorway, fighting against rain and wind. She finally grabbed his hand and he pulled her to him. Just then, another bolt of lightning came down and did something that neither of them could believe. It had opened some kind of portal in the middle of the roof, and it was sucking them in.

They still held on as they fell through the portal. As they did, it closed up, leaving no one to know where they had gone, only the rain, the wind, and the thunder and lightning to continue. No words could describe what was in the portal, or how it felt to travel through there. They fell unconscious as they neared the end of the tunnel, but they still held on to each other. What awaits them on the other side, they will soon find out.