Chapter 1
Let's Start From the Very Beginning…
I never know how to start a story. This story is especially hard to start because I know how it ends. But no matter what decision I make or what I say in the chapters to come, please promise not to judge me. Do you promise? If you do than I swear to tell you the whole, honest, sincere truth. Now I will start, the only way I know how to, from the beginning.
I was nine years old when I ran away from my mother. I grabbed one change of clothes, some bread and bologna, an apple, a screwdriver, 237 dollars, and most importantly, the largest kitchen knife that I could find. You might think that I was crazy and that I would never survive, but I was a smart kid. I wasn't school smart because I had ADHD and dyslexia, but I had common sense. I knew how to survive. I had pretty much raised myself because my mom never wanted a family and would forget about me. Sometimes for days she would forget about me. You would think that I would hat a mother like that, but I didn't. She was my best friend and the only one who accepted me no matter how much trouble I got in and how many schools I got thrown out of. My most treasured times were the ones of her and I in the workshop creating robots for my science fair or just tinkering with metals. You might wonder why I ran away. I ran away because these things kept happening when my mother wasn't there. I would feel so abandoned, so alone, I would fade away, fade into the shadows. Suddenly, my conscience was there but my body was not. I would stay in that state for minutes or even hours. It scared me to death. I thought I was going crazy. I swore never to tell anybody, not even my mother. After these, occurrences, kept happening, I snapped. I ran as far as I could, not breaking my pace until I collapsed. In my dreams, a strange man spoke to me. He wore a cloak to cover his face but the little I saw was severely misshapen and covered in a scraggily beard. He was twenty feet tall. I sensed I should be scared of this man, but his presence oddly comforted me. "You must go the summer camp; it is the only place safe for you. You have a stronger scent than any demi-god, even one of the elder gods." He said, well more boomed his voice was so loud. It seemed strange to me that this man was telling me to go to summer camp. I was in the middle of nowhere with barely any money, couldn't my summer activity plans wait? "Uhh, I don't…" I began but he stopped me. "Hush darling, don't worry, I will lead you to safety. It breaks ancient rules but what kind of a father would I be if I didn't help you? Pity my curse is so beautiful." Did he say father? I never knew my father and the one time I asked my mom about him her eyes flashed dangerously and she said she swore she would never speak of him. How could this man possibly be my father? "I must go now, just follow your instincts and remember me in your heart and you will find safety." He said. "Wait!" I yelled. "Are you my father? What rules are you breaking? And what curse?" But the man was gone. My eyes popped open.