The Present
It was Christmas Eve, and the kids couldn't sleep. They had been put to bed early, knowing that it was just a trick. Their parents had put them to bed, saying that the earlier they fell asleep was the earliest moment that Santa could come down the chimney.
There was only a few problems with that theory. First off, they didn't have a chimney, and second… well, why would Santa come when the parents were still awake?
Even though Jared was eight and Ethan was a year younger, they were still smarter than they let their parents know. They had known, ever since they discovered their parents planting presents under the tree last Christmas Eve, that Santa didn't exist. Even if he did, he didn't live to fly around in a sleigh and dispense toys to wanting children.
Even without that lucky clue from their parents, Jared would have guessed sooner or later. His class mates would tell him…or he could compare American gifts to other parts of the world. If there was really a Santa, why did only the wealthy families get treated well? Surely Santa wouldn't ignore others just because they lived in another part of the country.
The story said he traveled the world, and yet commercials for groups to help children in poor countries showed sad faces and toyless arms. There was no Santa. Anywhere.
Now, standing at the head of the stairs, parents deep asleep, the youngsters wanted revenge for their parents lies. They didn't want to harm anyone or anything, but they wanted revenge nonetheless. And a plan had formed within Ethan's brain. Something so good that he had to share it with Jared.
And tonight they would put that plan into action.
Their small feet hardly made a sound as they climbed slowly down the stairs. Jared had reached the bottom step, halting at the sight of the presents. From atop the steps, they had seemed smaller. But up close…they just seemed huge. Especially in a child's eyes. Mom and Dad had gone overboard this year. And because of that, Jared was having second thoughts.
But Ethan wanted to fulfill his plan. After all, it was his idea, and Jared had seemed to like it a lot. He didn't want it to fail. Everything needed to be perfect, then maybe…just maybe he wouldn't be looked down upon as they little baby of the family. He would be looked at as the mastermind of the great plan.
And as the mastermind, Ethan had assigned himself the position as the boss. He had full tactical command over his bigger brother, something that never happened before, and probably will never happen again. So, he pushed Jared out of the way, risking the punishment, and stepped down to stare at the presents.
The air had an almost sweet taste as Ethan stood in front of the presents, in a power stance, like the many cartoon superheroes did after they claimed victory over the enemy. This was a small victory in itself. Just getting to the presents was an accomplishment, and one that Jared had doubted would be possible.
Now the real challenge was beginning. It was time to fulfill the plan
chapter 2
Ethan walked closer to the presents and admired the sheer number of them. He beckoned Jared over. This would take a while, be very risky, and call for many trips back and forth. But he knew that nothing would stop them. Not after they had come this far. Nothing.
So Ethan bent over an picked up two of the biggest gifts and handed them to Jared. After he had chosen two of his own, they made their way up to the room they shared. With the presents tucked safely under the beds, they returned for another load.
Soon they devised a system that helped to quicken the pace a bit. Jared would wait halfway up the steps, and Ethan would deliver two presents, and Jared would take them to the room, making a sort of assembly line.
Soon they had every present tucked safely under their beds. It was a surprise that it all fit under the beds. As Jared sat on his mattress, with a confused smile on his face, Ethan stood in the doorway, proud that he had gotten away clean, his plan a success.
Jared looked to Ethan. "So what now? Do we open them?"
Ethan hadn't thought that far ahead. He was also amazed that Jared had asked him what to do. "I'm not sure. It's kind of a waste to let them just sit there, right?"
"Yeah," said Jared.
"So?" Ethan liked it when Jared was confused.
"So…We open them!"
"Exactly." Ethan was now grinning the widest he had ever grinned. He was in power, at least for now.
So they pulled out all of the presents and opened them, not caring who hey belonged to. They just tore into the wrapping, quietly of course, and shoved the ripped paper under the beds, along with the gifts that didn't belong to them, and the crappy clothes parents insisted on giving them every year.
When they had opened everything but the last present, they sat staring at their presents. They had gotten many things ranging from a new video game console to books to clothes. They wanted to risk digging into the game console, but they knew it would wake their parents. So everything went under the bed with the ripped papers.
So they stared at the last present, which was wrapped with black paper, tied with a blood red bow. The paper was wrinkled, as if it had been wrapped in a hurry, and it looked scratched, like something was trying to sneak a peak at its contents.
The two boys reached for it at the same time, each wanting to open the last present. Jared pulled his hand back.
"It was your idea, you open it."
Ethan raised his right eyebrow. "You sure?"
"Go ahead."
So Ethan pulled the box toward him, without giving it a second thought. The paper felt rough to the touch, and seemed hard enough to withstand diamond studded scissors, but when Ethan dug his fingers into it, it ripped easily, as if he was the only one who could open it.
The paper revealed a black box, made of metal. It looked like a safe, impenetrable to anything except the person with the key. And there was a key hole. But no key. But there was a card. Ethan opened it and read:
Ethan.
That was it. Nothing else. But that one word spoke volumes. It was written with handwriting he didn't recognize. It wasn't from his parents. It wasn't from Jared, either.
The card doubled as an envelope, and inside of the slightly concealed pocket was a key. A blood red ribbon allowed Ethan to pull the key out of the envelope, and Ethan examined it. The key looked like one of those giant, old fashioned keys, but a skull, with glaring purple eyes had been sculpted on its end. Some bits of rust flaked off as Ethan looked at it, indicatiing it was indeed old.
Ethan shoved the key into the lock and turned.
chapter 3
The lid popped up with a hiss and black smoke drifted out. When it cleared, Ethan looked inside, eyes aglow at the site of its contents. Jared sat impatiently, wondering what it was. Ethan stuck his hand in to pull it out, but then quickly withdrew and started to s&k on his fingers. When he was done, he looked at the gift as if he hated it.
"That thing is really hot."
Then Ethan rummaged under the bed until he found a package of socks. He pulled the socks from the plastic and placed them on the floor, making a makeshift nest. Then he picked up the box and turned it upside down, the gift tumbling onto the soft nest.
Jared had no idea what it was, and it was apparent that Ethan was equally baffled. On the nest of socks sat something that looked as if it was stolen from a witch's hut. It was a glass ball, about the size of a small bowling ball. It was completely black.
Something was moving inside of it. Closer inspection didn't reveal much, except that it looked like miniature bolts of red lightning. A storm in a looking glass.
Ethan attempted touching it again, and it had cooled down a bit, still hot but possible to touch. The storm raged on within the orb. It was slightly mesmerizing, and for a while Ethan and Jared couldn't look at anything else. They had seen something like this before, when mom had taken them to the mall. In one of the windows was a glass ball that contained lightning, and when you touched it, the lightning would find your finger and follow it.
This didn't seem like one of those toys though. This seemed weird, and not knowing who it came from made it seem even weirder. The surprise had worn off, and for some reason the orb had lost its special feel among the two brothers. It was no longer important to them after they had determined it was useless. So Ethan put it back in its box and locked it again.
With the orb back in the box, Ethan had time to admire the details on the container. It was definitely made of metal, a strong metal that wouldn't even think of denting if hit by a hammer. And the designs were so detailed it was like they were carved by the tiny hands of fairies.
On the front side was a large dragon, as black as the box, baring its sharp teeth. It was curled up like a snake about to strike. On the left side was a hawk, or falcon or something. The kids didn't recognize it as anything but a huge bird, scales instead of feathers, and a large and extremely sharp beak. The tail whipped around its body and ended with three spikes that looked that they were of the killing kind.
On the back was a large field, with the dragon sleeping in the background and the hawk in the sky. A third creature hung from the rows of trees near the side of the field. On the right side, the third creature stood in full detail. It resembled a monkey, only it had razor sharp teeth and claws, and a long tail that ended with a scorpion-like barb.
Without much knowledge of what this object was, it was of no use to the children. So they stashed it away in their closet, hidden until morning. The morning would bring angry parents and scolding, but it would also bring an opportunity for a better examination of the strange object.
So the boys quickly forgot about it, for now, and climbed into their beds. The mission had drained them, and they needed their energy to withstand the punishments that were sure to come in the morning. So they closed their eyes, and quickly fell into dream land where they imagined themselves playing with the toys they had stolen from under the tree.
They didn't even realize their lives were about to change.
A bright purple light peaked its way through the small crack in the closet door.
chapter 4
Thunder sounded throughout the entire world, although no one heard it. Lightning struck down at nothing, causing no damage for people to notice. All in all, the world was chaos, but no one knew it.
And only one place allowed the slightest hint that the world was changing.
In a small room, in a two-story house, where two boys were fast asleep, dark shadows crept up the walls, covering and absorbing everything in its path. Soon, the only light in the room came from the closet. The shadow had absorbed the boy's tiny nightlight, casting everything into a darkness that seemed more complete than a starless night.
The closet flew open, pushed by an invisible force, and the box exploded. Everything was deathly quiet. As if God had pressed the mute button on his universal remote. The explosion had made absolutely no sound, and the shrapnel from the explosion froze in midair. God had also pressed pause.
But not everything had been paused. The purple orb flew out of the closet, and halted in the middle of the room, floating a few feet above the floor. The storm within it raged greater than before, a quiet, miniature version of the storm outside.
When the darkness inside the room was complete, the orb started to pulsate. The lightning within it flashed faster, and the bolts grew thicker, and then the orb was glowing a bright white. A bright white ball, in the middle of the dark room. It didn't even affect the shadows.
But one wall began to act like a mirror, reflecting the light, a two-dimensional representation of the white ball. And then it started to grow, not casting any more light into the room, but still growing, until the entire wall was white, but the room still dark. It looked like a wall of fog in a moonless sky.
The orb started to pulsate stronger, quicker. And then the world was turned upside down. Literally. The room tipped onto its side, and the beds, along with the two boys and everything else in the room, slid into the wall, and disappeared.
The white wall faded to black once more, and the orb fell, shattering on the floor. The world returned to normal, back to the way it was before, except it was missing two of its children.
It was cold. Very cold. The depths of the mind can be a very cold place when it isn't your choice to be there. And it was exactly like that for Jared.
Ever since he had fallen asleep, he had known something was wrong, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't wake. The light wouldn't come and he couldn't wake up. He had been stuck in this dark void, for who knows how long. Too long, no matter what the real time was.
But he could see light. It was barely a pinpoint in the distance, but it was something. So he started to walk towards it, pushing through the darkness that seemed to be as thick as brick but as giving as water. As he neared the light, his breath came in short gasps. He could hardly get a lungful, let alone two. The light had grown from pinpoint to quarter-sized and now it was the size of a small child's fist.
But it didn't matter. Jared couldn't go on. He could barely breathe, as if the darkness around him was the vacuum of space, without stars or the sun, and a tiny moon far away. There was no hope of escaping this place, and Jared was just about to accept his fate. He would die in the bowels of his mind, never to see light again. Then he fell, into the darkness. He was unconscious, in an already unconscious mind. And everything was cold once more.
He awoke, to light that was just as cold as the darkness he slept in. He wasn't sure if he was dead or dreaming. So he opened his eyes to explore his surroundings.
Something felt odd. Jared's body tingled, like a leg would after it had been inactive for a while. The feeling was intense, and Jared wondered if this was what being paralyzed felt like. After all, he couldn't move his entire body. His legs were numb, arms felt as if they were dead. If he couldn't feel the bitterly cold air being drawn into his lungs, he would have thought those had failed too.
But he was alive.
Jared had no idea what had happened in the few hours he had been asleep. Has it only been hours? Or days? Thought Jared.
But he soon found that the numbness was draining away, slowly but surely. Soon he would be able to stand and search for anyone who would help him. Somehow, he knew, he felt with every bone in his body, that he was nowhere close to home
chapter 5
This is crazy, Thought Jared.
It was freezing outside, and his legs were somehow made of jell-o. A picture of Bill Cosby dancing around a giant pot of pudding flashed into Jared's mind. That always made him smile. Picturing Bill Cosby acting like a witchdoctor just made him happy. He had no idea why.
Now, with cheeks red with the stinging cold fire of winter, Jared looked at his surroundings. White snow covered most of the ground around him, but the burnt-down remnants of a large fire had cleared the spot where he lay, next to the hot coals. And, even though he was close to the coals, he didn't feel a bit of its warmth.
He wondered who had made the fire. But that soon left his thoughts as he noticed he was the only one in the clearing. But, a large cloud of smoke was floating above the trees to the east. There were people there. At least, there should be.
Jared was finally able to walk. He slowly stood, looking out to the woods around him, and wondered if anything was looking back at him. The tingling feeling on the nape of his neck told him there was someone, or something, looking through the trees to spy on him. But, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't spot anything.
So he walked to a small opening within the trees. As he neared it, a path was revealed. He stepped into the woods, where the feeling of being watched was greater than before. The snow wasn't packed, and no human tracks tainted the snow. Dry leaves crunched underfoot as the white powder gave way.
The trees thinned out a bit, but smoke curled into the woods, so thick it was hard to breath. After Jared had ducked beneath the cloud, he stumbled into a thick patch of thorns. He managed to escape from the woods with minor scrapes and cuts, very few of which were on his face and most on his hands. He had banged his knee on a rock, which made that leg feel like jell-o once again.
But he had made it out of the woods, and Jared was now looking at a small hut