1 A New Beginning
Carey Ting lived an almost normal life. His family was also quite normal. His brother had a job at a school for the mentally retarted. His parents were retired and lived happily at home, but Carey always suspected something was wrong. His brother had a strange variety of items in his room. Carey had snuck into his room countless times to explore its wonders. There were giant pots with four legs, textbooks he couldn't understand, an owl, and a stick that practically lived in his brother's pencil box. Today was just another one of those days when Carey snuck into his brother's room.
Just one more time tonight. Carey thought to himself, Just one more time. The wooden door creaked open as 10 year old Carey Ting pushed it lightly with his finger. As he popped his head into the room he saw that his brother had his back to him. Just before Carey could retreat he heard his brother talking to someone. Carey then hesitated, should he stay where he was and listen or retreat back to his room? Due to his nature, Carey stayed beside the door and quickly found out his brother was talking to their mother. "...not a single bit out of him!" yelled his mother, "I'm telling you he doesn't have it in him!" Carey heard his brother starting to pace. "But that wouldn't make any sense! He's got to have at least a little!" He heard his brother tell their mother, "He could be a Squib though right, Mum?" As their conversation continued Carey was starting to become more and more confused of who they were talking about. "...birthday is in fifteen days Mum!" Carey heard his brother yell. Carey suddenly felt a chill on his spine as realization dawned upon him. Wait MY birthday is in fifteen days. "But I simply don't find it possible! He has never even performed an act of magic for nearly 11 years!"
The next ten days passed before Carey's eyes. Acts of magic Carey thought, I find this hard to believe. He went down stairs to get some OJ from the fridge. On his way down he found a heap of letters on the floor. Instantly, Carey froze on the spot and his heart pounded his chest madly. What if... As his hand reached for the stack of bills and magazines that lay messily in front of him the doorbell blared loudly and he snapped out of his trance. He quickly cleaned up the stack of mail and opened the door. "Hi, Carey!" said the blue haired girl standing before him.
"Oh, its just you Caty." said Carey, "Dye your hair again? I think you look nice with this color." Caty grinned, "So your birthday's coming up." Carey immediately knew where this was going. "Caty, you really don't have to buy me anything." Caty looked slightly discouraged but once again brought a smile to her face. "I didn't buy you anything." Caty said with a suspicious smile. "Then why were you asking ab-" But before Carey had finished his sentence Caty pecked Carey's cheek. For a second Carey felt the whole world did not matter. As long as he was with Caty the whole world could go to hell and he wouldn't care. However when Caty's pony tail brushed his face he snapped back to reality. "So...how do you like your present?" Caty said as she blushed furiously. Nothing but gibberish came out of Carey's mouth. "T-th-th-thanks." Carey managed to stammer. Caty smiled slightly and stood up and left the house. It took several minutes to realize what he was doing before Caty came and kissed him. Once the thought came back he remembered about the stack of mail on the chair.
Carey sighed as he started looking through the mail. Bill, bill, bill, advertisement, magazine, bill, bank notice. There seemed to be nothing for him the mail. He sighed and tossed the mail on the floor and returned upstairs. As he reached for the doorknob he heard a rustling in his room. Odd. Carey thought I don't think there is any sort of living thing in my room. However Carey was mistaken, as the door creaked open a large owl collided with his face. After realizing it had collided with Carey, the owl flew off. "Hey! Wait!" Carey cried at the owl. What the was that about? As Carey stood up he felt something slide off his chest. He stared at it and it took his mind a few seconds to register what was laying at his feet. Carey's heart skipped a beat.
It was a letter addressed to him.