Welcome to a New Reality

-Chapter One-

A Not-so-Normal Day

Gym class started and all the students piled into the gym, Fate was one of the last ones to enter as everyone began stretching. Being the last day of school, everyone was allowed to do whatever they decided to do for gym. Fate sat on the benches and watched as the track team got together to discuss whatever it was they decided on talking about.

“Fate, there you are!” He looked over when he was called to see Alex coming up the benches towards him, followed closely behind by Brendan and Dannie.

“Hey, guys,” Fate said as the three sat down around him. There’s his little group.

Brendan, or Benny as they called him, is the game nerd. With all the video games he’s got, they could probably build a house. Aside from being good at video games, he’s also a great fighter and could easily take any of the school bullies on by himself. Anyone who says video games are bad for you obviously wouldn’t know Benny- a lot of the moves he knows is what he’s learned from the games he plays. Give him any type of fighting game and he could probably learn the character’s moves within a few days.

Alex was the main fighter of the group and the twin brother of Brendan. Throughout the school they’re known as the ‘Twin Fighters’ because of being the best tag team within the entire school. Alex is usually the one to wander off and taunt the bullies or bug the girls, and the latter always leads to Brendan and Dannie dragging him away and smacking him upside the head.

And then we have Dannie. She’s pretty smart and knows how to handle situations well, so it’s no wonder the rest of them usually go to her for advice. Fate’s known her pretty much all his life, by now she’s more of a sister to him than anything. She’s told him that he’s more of a brother to her than any of her real brothers and that he and Kate are the only ones she’s really ever opened up to. Dannie’s the musical one of the group. She can play so many instruments; violins, flutes, guitar, piano, etc.

And then there’s Fate, the quiet one who keeps everyone together. He’s usually the one to keep the other three from doing anything stupid or getting in trouble. Though the three of them tend to look at Fate as the leader of the group, he’s really more of the ‘sit back and watch’ kind of person.

The four of them never really did anything during gym aside from sitting on the benches and talking about their favorite games or movies. Once in a while there’d be something in the gym that got their attention long enough for them to participate in, but nothing too big.

“Hey, are you doing anything tonight, Fate?” Dannie asked as she sat down on the bench down in front of him.

“I don’t think so. Nathan’s suppose to be getting dropped off, but that’s it,” Fate told her as he propped an elbow up on his knee and rested his cheek in his hand.

“Party over at Fate’s house!” Brendan shouted with a grin on his face, throwing a fist in the air.

“Kate would kill me. Besides, she has the night off, so I don’t think she’d want a million teenagers to deal with,” Fate said.

“And we all know how much of a pain Benny can be,” Alex joked as he wrapped an arm around Brendan’s neck while drilling his fist into his head in a playful manner. Finally releasing Brendan from the neck lock, Alex leaned back against the upper bench. “I wouldn’t be able to come, anyway. My dad has this crazy idea for us to go camping over the weekend,” He said, sighing.

“And apparently I’m being dragged along,” Brendan said as he lay down on the cold bench with his hands folded behind his head.

“Wish I could come,” Fate said as he stared off towards the far wall.

"You seem out of it," Brendan pointed out as he sat up sideways on the bench, one leg propped up while the other hung off at the side.

“I’m just tired,” Fate said, looking over at him.

“Maybe you should go home early and take a nap,” Dannie suggested.

“Can’t, I’m helping out at the instrument shop. It’d be stupid to go home now, I’d just have to turn right around and come back,” Fate told them.

“Well then,” Alex started as he stood up. “You take a nap here while we go beat up a few idgets. Come on, Benny.”

Fate shook his head as Alex and Brendan left the benches to wander off around the gym, taunting the wrestling team.

“I think a nap would be a good idea,” Dannie said as she looked back up at Fate.

“I’ll take one later when I get home,” Fate said. They always worry because he’s always tired; even though he tries to convince them he’s fine. Oh well, nothing he can really do about it.

A few moments later a loud thud rang throughout the gym, making everyone cease what they were doing and look over to see Alex flat on his stomach with a member of the wrestling team stepping on his back.

“Crap. It’s Dorn again,” Fate jumped off the benches and ran towards the group with Dannie right behind him, but before he could get there Brendan was tackling Dorn to the floor, eager to rip his head off.

“Benny!” Fate shouted and rushed up behind him, grabbing him under the arms and pulling him off and away from Dorn.

“Let me go, Fate,” Brendan growled as he tried to get himself out of the arm lock Fate held him in.

“Brendan, calm down. We can deal with him later, but right now we have to make sure Alex is okay,” Fate said, struggling to keep a hold of him. Brendan being a bit taller than he was made it a bit difficult to keep him under control, but he somehow managed to keep him in the arm lock.

Brendan sighed and gave up struggling, nodding slightly. “Right, I’ll deal with him later,” Brendan said as Fate released him from the arm lock. The three of them rushed to Alex’s side, kneeling down next to him.

“He’s out cold,” Dannie said, shaking her head slightly.

“Come on; let’s get him to the nurse’s office,” Fate and Brendan lifted Alex up off the floor and made their way out of the gym, through the halls and to the nurse’s office.

Twenty minutes later and the three of them were waiting outside the office. Brendan was pacing back and forth while Fate and Dannie sat against the wall opposite of the door. Finally the nurse came out, sighing slightly.

“Is he okay?” Brendan asked, rushing up to her.

“He’ll be alright. He’s got a few cracked ribs, though, so he’ll have to take it easy,” The nurse said. Brendan sighed in relief and walked past her and into the room, coming to the bed Alex was laying on.

“Hey, you okay?” He asked as he pulled a chair up beside the bed and sat down.

“I’m fine,” Alex said, shaking his head slightly at the look of concern on his brother’s face. “Relax, Benny. I’ve had worse than a couple cracked ribs.”

Dannie and Fate came into the room and pulled a few chairs over and sat down near the bed as Alex spoke. “That’s what worries me,” Fate said. “You’ve broken your arms, wrists, legs, nose, fingers, knuckles, and now your ribs. What’s next?” He counted the things off on his fingers as he listed them, shaking his head.

“I’m still alive, aren’t I?” Alex said, rolling his eyes.

“Thank God,” Brendan said.

The school bell rang a few minutes later and the four of them exited the nurse’s office and into the now crowded hallway, making their way to their lockers to get their stuff before heading home.

“Alex, do you need any help carrying stuff?” Fate asked once they had made it to the lockers.

“Don’t you have to go to the instrument shop? You’ll be late if you go all the way to their house.” Dannie said as she opened her locker.

“Mr. Williams will understand,” Fate said but Dannie simply glared at him and said that she’d help Alex take his things home. No use in arguing with her, so Fate grabbed his backpack and slipped it onto his shoulder as he said goodbye to the three of them before leaving.

Fate walked out of the school building, being greeted by the bright summer sun and the cool breeze that rolled over him. Many other students walked passed him, looking like a school of fish in the same colored uniforms. His black hair had a few spikes on the sides and a few bangs dyed a dark green, making it easy to spot out where he was in the crowd of students. Another thing that separated him was his multi-colored eyes; his left being green while his right was blue.

He brought his head down a bit to avoid the sun as he began to walk down the sidewalk in the direction of the busy town ahead. About fifteen minutes went by before he got to the small shop he needed to be in, the streets outside bustling with many different people now that school was out for the summer.

“Ah, there you are,” Fate was greeted by an elderly voice as he closed the shop door behind him, the bell on top the door jingling as he walked over to the counter, setting his backpack down on the floor as a man came out from the back of the shop.

“Am I late?” Fate asked the store owner who immediately shook his head as he replied.

“No, no. You’re not late at all. I owe you quite a lot, Fate, for helping out every summer,” The man made to go on but Fate interrupted him.

“You don’t owe me anything,” Fate said, shaking his head. “It’s my choice to help you out, so don’t think you have to repay me.” Each summer since middle school he would come to the small instrument shop to help Mr. Williams throughout the day; whether it was simply stacking boxes or helping customers, he would gladly help out.

“Still, thank you. Well, I trust you can handle things here. I’ll be in the back if you need anything,” Fate gave a nod as the man disappeared behind the door that led to the back of the shop, leaving the teen at the counter to await any costumers.

During the wait time, Fate went about doing other things; reorganizing a few things here and there, pacing around the shop, etc. Finally, after and hour or so he took himself over to the keyboard that occupied the right front corner of the shop. Turning it on, he switched it over to a piano and rested his fingers on the keys and begun to play a soft melody. The song that filled the shop sounded like something one would hear in a fantasy game or movie; it was soft and sweet, something that could probably calm anyone down if they were frustrated.

The ringing of the shop bell made Fate stop and look over to see two girls walk in. “Anything you need help with?” he asked them as he approached the two middle school girls.

“Um, we were just wondering if you had any violins,” The red head asked, looking up at him.

“Violins are over here,” Fate led them to the end of the left wall where all the violins sat in their open cases.

“Any particular one you two are looking for?” he asked as he placed his hands behind his back as the two girls scanned the cases.

“Those,” The blonde said as she pointed out one of the violins near the top of the shelf.

“Two?” Both of the girls nodded as Fate reached up to get the cases down, though he was a bit too short and had to climb on top the counter to get to them. Cases down and violins paid for, the two girls waved as they left the store, leaving the building empty once again.

Sighing, Fate leaned against the counter, resting his arms atop its cold surface. “Slow day...” He said to the empty store as he stared around the room.

“Fate, it’s supposed to storm today, you should get home before it starts,” Mr. Williams’ voice sounded from the back.

“Are you sure?” Fate asked, turning around in the direction of the back room.

“I'm sure, I'm sure. Now get home before I have to kick you outta’ here.”

Fate gave a laugh but did as he was told, grabbing his backpack and swinging it over his shoulder as he left the store, once again being greeted by the summer sun.

He looked at his watch when it beeped as he began to walk, seeing the digital numbers change to show that is was now seven o’clock PM. “Better get home before Kate freaks out,” with that, he took off at a run out of town, pass school again and soon skidding around the corner that led towards home.

Ten or so minutes later he was jumping over the fencing that went around the yard of the white, two story house. He came up to the porch just as the rain began falling down, opening the door and walking inside. He was greeted by the smell of dinner cooking as he shut the door behind him, a sigh of relief escaping his mouth. Within a minute of his return, he was leaning back in slight terror as his sister rounded on him.

“You’re late,” she huffed, her hands on her hips.

“Sorry. It’s summer, so I went to help out at the music shop,” Fate told her.

“Oh, right. Well, dinner’s almost ready,” Kate said, disappearing back into the kitchen.

Fate sighed and tossed his backpack against the foot of the couch as he sank down into the cushions, resting his arm on the armrest as he closed his eyes. The house was quiet… It seemed so empty without his parents around.

“Fate, dinner’s ready,” Kate’s voice interrupted his thinking, leaving the teen sitting on the couch for a moment before standing up and heading into the next room. The smell of chicken and rice welcomed him into the kitchen as he took a seat at the table, grabbing a fork and beginning to eat.

Several minutes went by without a word being spoken, the only sound being that of the utensils against the glass plates.

“Fate, you’ve been rather quiet. Are you alright?” a look of concern was on Kate’s face when Fate looked up after being addressed, but he stared back down at his plate.

“I’m just tired, that’s all,” Fate replied. He finished his food and stood up, taking his empty plate to the sink and washing it. “I’m going to go lay down for a bit,” he told Kate as he dried the dishes and put them away. “Wake me up if I’m not up by the time Nathan gets here,” he walked out of the kitchen and went to the stairs, climbing them to the second floor and going to his room. He went to his dresser and picked up a small case, removing his contacts and placing them inside before going to his bed and laying down, falling asleep as his head landed on the pillow.

Fate’s watch beeped at nine PM. Kate came up the stairs and knocked on the door to wake him up before leaving for work and before Nathan showed up.

“I’ll be down in a second,” was Fate’s reply from the other side of the door. He yawned and tiredly rolled off the bed, hitting the carpeted floor with a thud. He pushed himself up and went to his dresser, opening a drawer and pulling out some clean clothes. He changed into a pair of dark blue cargo zip-offs and a grey shirt before going back to his bed and grabbing his glasses, pushing them onto his face as he exited his room and went down the stairs.

“I thought you had the night off?” he asked as he watched his sister gather her things for work.

“I did, but Stacey called off so now I have to go in and cover for her,” Kate explained as she checked her bag to make sure everything was in it.

“Can’t you fire her or something?” Fate asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“I wish I could,” Kate said, shaking her head slightly as she slipped her shoes on. “Behave and don’t break anything.”

Fate rolled his eyes and opened the door for her, watching as she went to the car and pulled out of the driveway. He shut the door and went about doing other things, such as video games and ignoring phone calls until Nathan showed up.

The doorbell rang right when Fate was in the middle of a battle. “Why must he have such bad timing?” he hit the pause button and got up to answer the door, only for it to open and knock him over. “Gee, thanks,” he gave a glare at the boy before him as he pushed himself to his feet.

“Sorry, dude,” Nathan said, lifting his shoulders slightly in an 'I didn't know you were there' kind of way as he put his couple of bags down at the bottom of the stairs.

“I still don't see why you can't just stay home by yourself,” Fate walked past Nathan to close the door, waving off his parents before the large wooden door clicked shut.

“Is Kate home?” Nathan asked as Fate resumed his seat on the couch to finish his game.

“She had to go in to work because someone else called off for some reason,” Fate told him.

“Oh. Well, I'll just go raid your fridge, then,” Nathan said as he annoyingly walked in front of the television before retreating to the kitchen after Fate attempted to throw a book at his head.

Video games done and over with, the two of them sat on the couch, flipping through the television channels in hopes of finding something interesting to watch. “There’s nothing on,” Fate groaned as the same channels began to show up one after the other. He turned the television off and put the remote down on the table in front of him before leaning back again, sighing.

A few moments of silence went by before Nathan turned to Fate, asking; “Hey, do you still have those fireworks from a few months ago?”

Fate stared at him for a moment, knowing exactly what he wanted to do with them. “No. Kate would kill us if we tried anything like that again,” he said.

“Nothing major blew up!” Nathan tried to convince Fate to get the fireworks out, but he simply reminded him of what happened the last time they tried setting explosives off in the garage and put an end to it.

The phone rang and Fate got up to get it, hearing Dannie’s voice on the other end. “Dannie, calm down, I can barely understand you,” her voice was shaking and it sounded like she was crying as she tried to explain what was going on.

“Alright, I’ll get there as soon as I can,” Fate hung the phone up and walked over to the couch, picking up his backpack and rushing up the stairs to his room. He opened the bag and dumped out all the school books and papers then went to the bathroom to repack it with rolls of bandages and a first aid kit. He slipped his arms through the straps of the backpack as he went back downstairs, pulling his shoes on.

“What’s going on?” Nathan asked, hopping off the couch and stopping Fate at the door.

“Dannie said they went to the park when the rain had stopped and Dorn showed up. She said Alex is hurt and so is Benny. I gotta get there to make sure they’re okay,” Fate explained to Nathan as he tied his shoes and went out the door.

“If you’re coming, you better hurry,” he went to the garage and hopped on his bike and rode off down the street before Nathan had any time to make up his mind, disappearing around the corner within seconds.

“She said they were by the fountain,” Fate told himself as he got to the park about twenty minutes later, taking a small path that led through the woods. A couple minutes later and he was out of the woods with the fountain in sight. “There they are,” he quickly jumped off his bike, letting it roll away as he ran to the three of them. Alex’s arm was bleeding badly and Brendan had a long slash across his chest that was even worse.

“What happened?” Fate spent no time waiting for an answer before he sat his backpack on the ground and began to pull the first aid kit and bandages out of it.

“Dorn and a few others showed up with knives. Brendan tried to get them out of here but he couldn’t take the five of them on by himself. And Alex was too hurt from earlier to do anything,” Dannie said through tears as Fate began to clean Alex’s arm off. “I tried to help, but…”

Fate shook his head as he took a needle from the first aid kit, threading it and beginning to sew the knife wound on Alex’s arm. “Don’t worry. I’m sure you did all you could. It can’t be helped,” it took a few minutes before he was finished with Alex’s arm and moving on to Brendan’s chest. “Crap, this looks bad,” he ripped Brendan’s shirt a bit to make cleaning and sewing the wound easier.

“Will he be okay?” Dannie asked as she wiped the tears on her sleeve.

“The wound doesn’t look deep enough to be a life threatening problem, so I think he’ll be alright,” Fate said as he began to clean most of the blood off and cleaning the wound. He rethreaded the needle and began sewing the wound shut, wiping up blood here and there as he went.

“There,” Fate said with a sigh once he finished, packing up the first aid kit and grabbing the bandages. He ripped some of the bandage off and wrapped the piece around Alex’s arm, tying it a few times so it wouldn’t come undone. The rest of the bandage he used to wrap around Brendan’s chest and tied it tightly. He got up and rinsed the blood off his hands in the fountain, not exactly caring if anyone had a problem with it the next day.

“Are you alright?” Fate asked Dannie as he sat on the grass beside her. “You’re not hurt, are you?”

Dannie shook her head and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “I’m fine, I’m just worried about them,” she said, leaning up against Fate as he put a hand on her shoulder.

“They’ll be fine, don’t worry. Did you call anyone else?” Fate asked.

Dannie nodded. “Yeah, I called their house and got their dad on the phone. He should be here soon,” Just as she said that, Alex and Brendan’s dad came into view and was heading towards them. He was shocked to find his sons unconscious on the ground but calmed down a bit once Dannie and Fate explained what happened. Fate helped carry the twins to the car and was relieved when they woke up before they went back home.

“Want me to walk you home?” Fate asked Dannie after he repacked his bag and got his bike.

“It’s too far to walk, you know that. Looks like I’ll be crashing at your place until I can get a ride home in the morning,” Dannie said as she began walking in the direction of Fate’s house.

“Alright,” Fate said as he rode his bike along side her.

The two made it back to Fate’s house around eleven thirty after taking a detour around the park for a bit, before actually getting on the road and heading home.

“There you are,” Nathan said, coming up to Fate as he walked into the house, followed by Dannie. After once again explaining what happened, the three of them wandered up to Fate’s bedroom to sort through games.

While Dannie and Nathan debated on what game they should play, Fate kept himself busy by packing up his backpack with the stuff he always had it packed with in the summer; bandages, first aid kits, the usual camp and survival stuff, etc.

Fate’s watch beeped and its digital numbers changed to show it was now midnight. No more than a couple moments later a strong, loud wind roared outside and blew through the open window.

“Well, that’s weird,” Dannie said as the three of them went to the window to see what was up, though the wind had stopped.

Fate was in the middle of stuffing a few more things into his backpack when a light caught his eye. At first he thought it was just a star until he looked again to see that it was glowing in and out within the center of the full moon.

“Now that’s weird,” Fate said as the light seemed to thicken. Dannie and Nathan came to the window to see and agreed that it was a bit odd.

“Maybe it’s just a helicopter?” Dannie suggested.

“Helicopters don’t stay in the same spot. Well, not usually,” Fate pointed out.

Suddenly, the blue light grew and filled the room and began to wrap itself around the three of them. It pulled the teenagers from the room, and soon away from the Earth, leaving nothing but light. Fate didn’t know what happened to Nathan and Dannie as he drifted off into a sleeping state. All he knew—all he was sure of—was that every thing would change.