A Rose By Any Other Name Chapter 1
Prologue
He gasped as air filled his empty lungs and coughed as the smell of dirt and grass filled his senses.
Opening his eyes was a struggle as they felt sticky and impossible to use.
There was no sound.
No light.
Nothing to grasp onto.
As his eyes adjusted to the cold dark night, the first thing he saw was a whole sky of shimmering stars and a large yellow moon that hung low near the horizon.
The silence didn't last long when he was startled by a gasp and another round of coughing coming from beside him.
Sitting up slowly he turned his head and saw that another boy was sitting beside him and had just woken up as well.
Without realizing it, he reached over and patted the boy's back until he stopped coughing.
The boy's green eyes assessed him before he gave him a small smile.
"Thanks…."
The boy said before pulling his knees up to his chest.
"Fuck its cold. Do you know where we are?"
He said as he too adjusted to the night's blanket of darkness.
He shook his head as his eyes roamed the large grass courtyard around them.
"No. I don't have a clue."
The other boy let out a little laugh before he got to his feet and held out his hand.
"Well, it looks like it's just us two here. What do you say we go look around and see if we can find some food?"
He nodded and accepted his new friend's hand before an excited smile appeared on his lips.
"Shadow. My name's Shadow."
He said quietly but was surprised when the other boy turned and looked at him with wide eyes.
"Gally. My name's Gally. I just remembered it."
He said as he moved closer to the boy named Shadow.
"What do I look like?"
Gally asked as Shadow's eyes finally got used to the lack of light. Licking his lips, he started to chuckle.
"Like an ugly son of a bitch."
Gally's face scrunched up in a weird expression before he lightly punched Shadow's shoulder.
"You're an asshole. And you look all dark and dreary wearing all black and having black hair."
He said with a smirk as Shadow looked down and realized that Gally was right.
He was dressed in a pair of black cargo pants that fell over his sneakers and a black wife beater.
Shrugging he held out his hand to Gally who he now could see had short dirty blonde hair, unusually shaped eyebrows and was a head taller than him.
"Well, guess we're both ugly now. I think that means by default we should be friends."
Gally let out another laugh before he pulled Shadow in for an awkward hug.
"Guess so. Friends it is then."
And so began the story of the Glade.