My name is Brandon Goins, and on July 31, 2012, I laid two eggs. Now I know what you're thinking, but I'm a relatively healthy American boy. I'm about 5'11 in height, about 180 pounds in weight, with short brown hair, black wire framed glasses, and blue eyes. Then, on the first day of school, I woke up and had two very decorated eggs laying in my bed. I had laid two eggs.
Of course, the story began a little before then, a day before, to be exact. I was taking a walk that night, which I normally do when I am trying to think about something. Today was because of the letter that I got a couple of weeks beforehand, informing me of my acceptance into the school's honor society, it's sort of like a student council. Most kids would be happy about this, as only a few select students get into the honor society, but I was hoping I wouldn't make it in. You see, I'm somewhat terrible at social interaction. Most of my life consists of waking up, going to school, coming home, going to bed, repeat. I don't really do school activities, and I've never been focused on anything except schoolwork, that was it. If I had to be part of the honor society that means my entire life will have to change. Not to mention the fact that my socialphobia has always been a problem. Coupled with the fact that I don't like people staring at me and I hate talking in front of crowds, I'd be the worst member of the honor society ever.
I'll have to give up my old life and trade it for a new one. That new life thought might now be so bad.
If I was able to overcome my fears, then being a member of the honor society would be a great…well…honor! We get to do so much good work, I could get out there, people would know my name, and I'd be like a mini celebrity.
That's what caused this confusion though. I have to pick between keeping it safe and staying with my old life, where nothing will change and I'll be normal, or I could take the risk and keep with the honor society, where things could either go really well or I could fall flat on my face and be publicly humiliated everywhere I go.
Getting back to the story though, I was on a walk around my neighborhood when I got lost and it was already night. The street lights radiated orange light over the dark grey pavement of the sidewalk below. All around me houses with windows shining like beacons were filled with families, and the black street was calm and empty, not a car for as far as I could see. My neighborhood wasn't that bad, it'd be fine if I could just not get lost.
I wasn't really focused on finding my way back, my question was the forefront of my thoughts. Do I stay the way I am or go another route in my life? Of course this only made it harder to traverse where I was and soon I found myself sitting on a bench as I tried to figure out where I was. I don't know when I did it but at some point I just started staring at the sky. I was drawn to a star to the left of the moon for some reason. It looked bigger and shinier than the other stars. It grabbed my attention and it gave me a feeling of hope for some reason. I remembered when I was a kid how people would always wish on stars for their answers to come true. I didn't really believe that wishing on a star would help, but I still put my hands together and got in a praying position.
"Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight." I said. "Star, please, I just want to know what to do. My entire life could drastically change tomorrow. Star, please, give me a sign. Do I work with the honor society, or should I stay with the life I have now? Please star, I just need an answer…please…" For some reason, after I let my hands go, a huge wave of pain washed over my head, like I had just banged it on something and now I had a headache. I rubbed my temples with my eyes closed for a minute before a familiar voice called me.
"Brandon, where have you been?!" I looked up to see the familiar face of my mother, with long brown hair, washed out blue eyes, driving a white SUV. I was glad that I was about to go home, but something changed within me that day, thanks to my wish.
I don't really remember going home and going to bed, I remember my alarm going off for the first day of school, me crawling out of bed, and turning around when I heard a click and saw two eggs, a green one and a white one, both laying on my bed. I had no idea what to think of it.
"What...?" I said and stared at the eggs. The first thing that came to mind was a joke. "Oh… ha, very funny Ethan." I called to my younger brother who wasn't even in the room, in retrospect it didn't even make any sense, he lived up north with my Dad, he wouldn't have been here last night to put eggs in my bed. "What was the point of putting fake eggs in my bed?" I looked from my door back to my bed. "They're fake, right?" I crouched down and scooped up the eggs only to drop them again, they were warm. "Nope, those are real!" I said in surprise. That's when I started panicking.
"Okay…so there are two eggs in my room, lying in my bed, and they are very warm…" I kneeled down next to the eggs and stared at them, for some reason I felt…connected to them. I'm not sure what to call it, but I felt like I needed to protect them, like they were my eggs. That couldn't be true though, humans didn't lay eggs. Still, they looked so delicate…so I scooped them both up into my hands. They felt so hot, like they had just come out of an oven or something.
"They're warm." I muttered to myself. "That means something will be born soon…right?" I asked to no one in particular. I had no idea how to handle this. It felt weird that I looked at them like they were my eggs, but I guessed that they were. So I did the only real sensible thing after I changed clothes, I put them in my bookbag and took them with me.
My mom drove me to school, which would have been a perfect time to ask her about the eggs, but I spared myself the awkward moment. I mean, how do you say, "Hey, I laid some eggs, is that normal?" to someone without it being awkward? My guess, you don't. So I was on my way to school with a couple of eggs stuck on my mind.
After getting out of the car and walking into the building I noticed a blue watch on the ground. It looked old and was probably important to someone. I would have just left it, but something told me to pick it up and take it with me. Call me a klepto, but I pocketed the watch and walked into the building. Where literally all I could think about were the eggs. What if they hatched? What if they never did? What exactly were they? How did they get in my bed? I went through most of my day perfectly fine, not really paying attention to what was being taught, and just kept to myself, until lunch time.
The cafeteria was butter yellow and filled with all kinds of tables. In the back corner of the lunchroom was where I sat, with a couple of other people that I didn't really pay attention. There was a loud rumble of people talking refracting off of the walls, doubling the sound in the room. I didn't do much, until a girl sat down next to me. She had long, wavy blonde hair, big brown eyes, and she wore a grey short sleeve shirt, and blue jeans. Her skin was flawless, with almost nothing unattractive about her, and the weirdest part was that I had never talked with her before and she sat down next to me.
"Hello." She said. "My name is Angelina. I'm the queen's piece in the honor society. You're…Brandon, right, the new member?" I was a little stunned about the fact that she was talking to me, to even speak, so I nodded my head slightly. "I've been sent to get you. We are having a bit of a meeting today, follow me." She stood up and walked towards the exit. After being a little more stunned, I followed.
The trip took a long time, at least for school standards. We walked down so many beige hallways that they started to blur together. At some point we turned to a courtyard door and Angelina opened it, revealing a lush green garden with park benches, sitting on them were four other people, who I assumed was the honor society.
There was a tall boy with jet black hair and blue eyes, wearing a silver short sleeve button up shirt, and khaki pants. I remember that he was the one who interviewed me at the end of the year. There was a girl next to him with short red hair and a purple shirt and skirt, with black high heels. She looked a lot like a secretary. There was a boy with chocolate skin and green eyes, wearing a Celtics shirt and basketball shorts and a pink haired girl wearing a red bow. She wore a yellow blouse and jean shorts. They must have been the honor society. I also noticed something with them, a brown box sat on the table behind the professional looking boy in khaki's. It looked like it had something carved on it, but I couldn't make out what it said, and it certainly looked regal.
"Hello." The professional looking one said. "My name is Cameron, king piece of the honor society." He motioned for the girl in purple. "This is my friend, Clara, bishop piece."
"Oh, oh!" The girl with pink hair said. "My name is Alicia, and I'm the rook piece!"
"Then there's me." Said the guy in the Celtic's shirt. "I'm James, the Knight piece."
"And you've met Angelina already, great. Now come along and sit with us Brandon, we need to talk to you." Cameron called. I followed Angelina down and sat across from Cameron. "Good, now Brandon we need to have a word with you. You see the honor society is run by students of the school who have some…interesting talents. They are the pride of the school, and are the voice of the students. You were the student picked out of 100 others, how does that make you feel?"
100 others…? That… I didn't know what to say to that. I beat out one hundred other deserving kids just because I wanted to cure a bit of boredom? That just…that didn't seem right to me. "I'm…I'm proud…I guess…"
Cameron gave me a curious look, checking me up and down, studying me. "I see." He said and folded his hands on the table. "Brandon, I'm afraid there's been a mistake. You see, when we interviewed you we thought you had something special to you. Unfortunately… you do not."
"I'm sorry, but…what are you talking about?" I asked inquisitively. What exactly did I not have? I had good grades, I certainly wasn't lacking at that.
"Something I can't say." Cameron sighed. "We're sorry for wasting your time, but you-"
Then there was a flash of black, the sound of flesh meeting wood, and the sound of feet hitting the soft green glass. I looked to my right to find a girl with long black hair, grey eyes, and small nose. Her clothes were jet black and she smirked, while holding the brown box on the table. She turned to us and smirked. "Yoink." She said, then turned and ran.
"Wait!" Cameron called and stood up. "We have to go after her!" The honor society chased after the girl leaving me at the table, staring at where Cameron was sitting.
They were about to say I couldn't join. They were about to say that I didn't have the requirements. I knew this was a stupid idea. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up about this club. It was a dumb idea. I stood up and was about to turn around when a voice interrupted me.
"Shut up and go after her!" A small snarky voice said. I looked around, but I was alone.
"Hello?" I asked.
"I said go after her!" I turned to my plain black book bag, and the front pocket was bulging and moving around, the pocket where I put the eggs. I quickly opened it up and fell backwards in surprise. Floating in front of me was…well…me! He had long brown hair, black wire framed glassed, blue eyes, a green hoodie, and a mug in his hand. He snarled at me. "Listen, you want to prove yourself to the honor society, you need to go after that girl!"
"What the hell are you?!" I managed to get out as I rose from the dirt.
"I'll tell you later, right now we have a thief to catch!" He floated off towards the honor society, while stood there.
"Wait, what's your name?" I asked as I chased after him, he was quick.
"I'm Teris, now let's go!"
We ran for almost a mile, Teris somehow knowing where to go. We ran way off the school zone, dashing into the streets and down the sidewalk for the longest time, large buildings of all kinds passed us by, until we came to a closed down museum with a marble white exterior that turned grey due to decay. The windows were boarded up and the doors were wide open. I didn't want to go in there but Teris followed. Still unsure of anything that I was doing right now, I followed.
Entering the museum was a bad idea. There were cobwebs and spiders everywhere, alongside the abandoned and haunted feel to the place, two things I despised immensely. At the center of the museum I managed to find the honor society all glaring at the girl in black, who was way high up on a ledge, laughing at them. "Aw, did the little chess board get all upset?"
"You know you can't even use the wand, why on earth would you steal it?" Cameron asked.
"Let me at her my king, I'll lynch this thief if it's the last thing I do!" James barked.
"He's such a loyal pet isn't he?" The girl asked maliciously and opened up the box. "Oh! It's shiny!" She said enthusiastically, then went to pick it up and gasped. Something must have happened, because she dropped the box, with a large navy blue wand falling out of the box. The honor society held their breath, and Teris yelled at me.
"Brandon!" He called. "Grab it!"
I rushed forward, with no idea what was really bringing me to do it, and snatched the wand out of the air. I didn't know how I got it, but I knew it I had it, and that was what mattered. I turned to the honor society and smiled a little. "I…uh… got your toy back…" I said.
"No way, kid." The girl jumped in front of me. Her shoes had become black combat boots and her hair seemed to be drawn back, a sword now glowed in her hand and if looks could kill, the glare she was giving me right now would have brutally murdered me. "That wand is mine; I stole it, so give it back!"
"Don't be ridiculous!" Teris shouted as he floated next to me. "We're not gonna give it back to you because you just want it! If stealing it makes it yours then grabbing it from you makes it ours!"
"Aww, you have a newborn chara." The girl cooed. "Oh, that'll make this so much fun!" She slashed at me, and I panicked. So what was the one thing I did? I threw my hand up, the hand hold the wand, causing the wooden thing to meet the steel blade, yet it somehow managed to hold up perfectly fine, without any damage, in fact it repelled the blade. "The hell?" The girl asked.
Teris turned to me. "Put the watch on it!" The watch? The watch! I had no idea what it would do, but I fished the watch out of my pocket and touched it to the wand, causing both objects to glow and made the watch disappear, causing the thing to vibrate.
"Teris I hope you know what you're doing." I said as I backed up. "Because I have no idea what's going on…"
"Then let me help!" Teris yelled like I had done this before.
"How do you propose I do that?" I said back a little frustrated.
"Open your heart!" Teris called, his eyes staring at the girl.
Open my heart? What did that even mean? How did I do that? Still, there had to be a way, so I focused on the eggs, the way I felt that connection, the way I felt like they were my eggs, like I was the one who needed to protect them. They were mine and no one else's. I knew that I had to protect them, like they were…like they were my children.
I opened my eyes, and touched the wand to my chest. "My heart, unlock!" I called out fiercely and felt the world start to drift away from me. I was alone, and a bright green light glowed in front of me. It felt so warm and familiar, yet strange. I don't know what drove me to do it, but I jumped into the light and it felt…oh how do I describe it? It was like jumping into a warm pool of water and being fully submerged. I closed my eyes and when I opened them I was in front of the girl with the sword.
I was different. My clothes were now a green hooded shirt, and black jeans. My shoes felt like, almost like they were part of my feet. My hair was longer, and went down past my ears. The best part though, was the power. I felt so powerful, so different than normal. I felt like I could take on any challenge presented to me. My mind swirled with ideas, and concepts. Math seemed so easy right now, puzzles would be a breeze. I could calculate every exit in the room, every second someone breathed; I could tell when someone what move a person would make, like the girl with the sword who was swinging towards me.
Oops, I ducked under the blade and stepped to the side, where I found myself pointing the wand at her. "Kill her." A voice in my head said. "What good is a thief anyway? Let's just take her out now, it would be better for everyone." The voice belonged to Teris.
"No." I said aloud. "We're not killing her."
"Who are you…" The girl started to say. "Oh my god, you're talking with your chara aren't you? You are so-"
"Ha!" James tackled her sending her to the floor, while Clara came and grabbed the wand from me.
Having the wand taken away from me felt like jumping out of a warm pool during the winter, my body froze, I felt like I was going to throw up, and all of my energy plummeted. I didn't even know if I could breathe. I opened my eyes again and I was normal once more, sitting on the ground, where Alicia held me up. I stared face to face with the girl in black, she was back to normal as well.
"You know, you're kinda cute when you're sleeping." She flirted.
"Shut it, wench." James said, tying her hands with a rope.
"What…was that…?" I asked.
"We'll explain soon." Cameron said as he walked towards the girl. "So, Angelina, what do you think we should do with Katy?"
Angelina sighed. "Let her go, she didn't do anything too permanent. We got the wand back and no one was hurt. Just let her go."
"I was hoping for a good lynching…" James muttered as he untied her.
"Aw, well I guess you'll have to settle for a seat on the master's lap." Katy said and turned to me. "So…you're the keeper of memories? You don't look it."
"I'm the…what?" I asked while trying to catch my breath.
"We'll tell you later." Alicia sighed. "I hoped today was going to be a good day, but now knight girl went and spoiled it."
Katy smirked as the ropes came off her and she jumped up. "See you later…what was your name…Brandon?" She laughed and ran off.
"Why…why did you…?" I started to ask.
"Don't strain yourself." A small chipmunk voice said, causing me to look up and be greeted with a small woman about Teris' size holding a clipboard. "You've exerted all of your energy. You need to rest."
"Who are you?" I asked.
"I'm isabelle." She said. "Now shut up, and lie down."
"Isabelle that is no way to treat others." Clara said sternly and approached. "Cameron, what do we do about him?"
Cameron studied me again, as if he was looking for something, and then clicked his tongue. "The only thing we can do. We take him in, and tell him about the characters." I tried to say something but Angelina stopped me. "We'll tell you when we get to the school. This is going to take some time…"
And that was how I first learned about the thing known as chara's, and this was the first day that would lead me to my destiny.