Chapter 1: Life after the End

The scene opens on a bright sunny village and a group of strange fox eared creatures stand around an altar on a big stump with a green flame flickering. Suddenly the area begins to shake like it's been hit with a large earthquake. Suddenly a young voice sounds as the creatures faded away.

"I watched as my friends the Raposa vanished one by one fading away before my eyes and soon the landscape followed. My friends and the villagers were all gone and I was left in blackness. Mari the Mayor, Jowee the Adventurer, Rapo the Hero, all of them gone. As I stood in utter blackness I was approached by the little Rapo girl Heather. And the Creators voice boomed for the last time."

"What do you remember about that day?"

"It was dark and raining."

"What else?"

"Thick black smoke."

"What were you doing when it happened?"

"I was holding onto him."

"Could you draw us a picture of what happened? I see…thank you."

"Heather faded away as well and then I found myself fading but not before I heard her one more time."

"Creator…just brxnu ackk ii gggitl bfahrr uo em."

"And then I heard my sister, Heather's, voice."

"God…just bring back my little brother to me."

"The next thing I know I'm in a bed with my sister praying over my body. Cops and doctors are everywhere. Seeing me she cried and gripped me. She then told me everything. How we went to the fair with our mom and dad and on the way home we were crashed into by a drunk driver, how the crash killed them, put me in a coma, and burned my sister's right side of her face."

The scene ends and we see a young 13 year old boy with spiky blonde hair standing in front of a classroom. He was taller than most boys his age and wore a white shirt with a black leather jacket and blue pants. The students all looked at him seeing he was done looked at each other and laughed.

"That's enough students!" A wiry elderly woman with grey hair slapped her ruler on the desk. She then turned. "Mike that was a wonderfully done essay on your saddest experience. However this was supposed to be a biography of your experience not a fantasy. Although it was clever in how you added your saddest moment in this story I'm afraid the highest grade I can give you is a C.

"But it's not fantasy! Those things really did happen to me. And the saddest part was leaving my friends."

"Mike, be reasonable. No where on Earth is there any recorded evidence of…Raposa. Except that plush toy series that's all the rage. You simply dreamed up all that stuff. Genesis Village, Turtle Rock, the malevolent Wilfre…none of that is possible. Now please take a seat."

Mike walked over to his seat ignoring the snickers and looks he got from his fellow students.

At recess Mike was drawing as usual. What he drew was a Raposa with a yellow dress and a red ascot around her neck. Both ears were pierced with small golden hoops and she had short shoulder length brown hair. Next to her was another Raposa. This one had messy orange hair with a pair of goggles on his head. He wore a white shirt with a blue rectangle on the front and blue borders on his sleeves, a red scarf with a bell around his neck and blue pants. Above their names were Mari and Jowee. As he finished a small tear escaped Mike's eye. He missed his friends and no matter what everyone said what he'd seen and experienced was no dream. His friends were real and their world was real. Somewhere out there they had existed.

"Well if it isn't the nerdo world traveler!" Mike's tablet was ripped from his hands as Wilfred, the school bully, decided to show him who was boss again. He shifted through the pictures. "Look at these guys. Mike has some of the greatest art skills in the school and what does he draw? Babyish fantasy creatures who he insists exist. Mike got angry.

"Give that back! Why can't you just leave me alone?!"

"Because it's my job to bring you back to reality so you can focus on more important things. Like doing my homework and paying the Lunch fee every week. Instead of wasting my cut of your allowance on this crap!" He then ripped the picture of Genesis Village in two. Mike snapped and in seconds his fist connected with Wilfred's gut sending the jerk to the ground grasping his stomach and wheezing. A teacher saw what happened and came over. Wilfred's posse ran for it as Mike collected the two halves of Genesis Village off the ground.

Mike sat in the Principles office as Heather came out. She was older than him by about four years. Like him she shared the same characteristics having blonde hair and a similar taste in clothes. She wore a white shirt covered by a green jacket and a green skirt. Her messy blonde hair was tied in a pony tail. She saw him and sighed.

"Well come on lets go home." Mike collected his things and left with her. As they drove home he finally asked.

"How bad was the damage?"

"You're going to be suspended…again. Mike do you realize that if you do this one more time I can't stop them from expelling you…again? You've gone through three schools in one year. All over being bullied and fighting."

"So I'm just supposed to let those jerks beat on me without defending myself?"

"That's what the teachers are for."

"They don't do anything. I don't have proof so they just let them go free and the beating hurts twice as much the next day."

"Well you won't have to worry about that for the next week. But Ms. Cerci isn't going to be happy with us." They arrived at Mountain Valley Children's Home and got out to see a stern middle aged woman glaring at them.

"So I understand you got suspended from school again Mike? What was it this time?"

"He was being bullied again."

"You know that could all be solved if he'd act normal."

"He is normal! So he has a fantasy world he likes to dabble in. It's no harm."

"I'd have to disagree, Ms. Heather and watch your tone. Don't forget the only reason your still here is to take care of your brother and keep him out of trouble which your not doing a good job at I might add. Anyways you know the rules. He eats last and has to do the chores." She marched inside as Mike groaned.

Mike grunted as he finished taking out the trash. It was late at night and well past dinner. All the other kids had finished by now. So he went inside to find nothing at the table. All the pizza was gone. Mikes stomach growled in protest as he stared down angrily. Every time it was like this. There was always enough for them all but the others took everything and never saved him anything! He threw the box against the wall and sat down and cried. He remembered the delicious Banya Bread from Genesis Village. It wasn't very sweet but when mixed in with bread it was like eating peaches with a hint of cinnamon. Thinking of that made him even hungrier. He heard footsteps to see Heather approaching with a slice and some water.

"I saved you some brother." She smiled but Mike knew better. It was a rule you couldn't save anything. First come first serve was the rule. Heather had saved him HER portion and he didn't want it.

"No thanks."

"Mike you need to eat and keep your strength up."

"So do you. You work harder than me."

"It's okay I wasn't that hungry tonight anyways."

"No. You need your strength so you eat it. I'm going to bed." He marched off and got out of his clothes. The pajama's had to be washed and dried so tonight he'd have to sleep in his underwear. As he drifted to sleep his mind filled with the memories of the Raposa and his two friends. The Raposa Twins who had been locked up with him in Rapo City and had kept saying he had no ears. He smiled remembering how annoyed he'd been back then. Despite the strangeness the Raposa's world had felt more like home than this place had.

Heather finished the pizza her eyes stained by tears. Mike was so brave and prideful. Their parents would have been proud. But still Mike was wasting away the way people treated him. She didn't believe his stories of these Raposa or the adventure's he had. He found it very hard to believe he'd woken up one day with fake Raposa ears glued onto him although she thought that would be funny to see. She looked to the stars. As long as Mike had been in that coma under these same stars she'd wished to God that he'd be revived. But now the way life had treated them she wished he could have stayed in that world and be happy even if he wasn't with her. She just wished he could return and take her with him.

"That's right doctor…yes I know its extreme but its for his own good…you'll be here tomorrow…yes I'm sure these fantasies are poisoning his life and he's bringing a bad name to this place…9:00 am…understood. Thank you doctor." Heather waited for Ms. Cerci to leave the room and then going to the phone pressed the 'redial' button.

"Welcome to Dr. Salem Stein's Psychiatric Ward and Mental Rehabilitation…we're sorry but we're not available. Please leave a message as to your emergency, name and phone number and a receptionist will get back to you. Have a nice day." Heather dropped the phone here eyes wide with shock and anger. A mental institution! Mike might have trouble with reality but he wasn't insane. That place would kill him if he was locked up there! She shook with fury. She knew what she had to do for Mike's sake…and her own.