THE STERLING CRONICLES

Book 1: Luck of the Devil

Chapter One

My life is an epic of events that have changed the way people view the

world and themselves. I had always thought that my life was a journey that had gave me thrill, danger, and a reason to live. My life was never lucky, it was always the luck of the devil.

I lived in a normal, urban town with decent people, no gangs or violence. I was 15 at the time and if I remembered correctly it was around noon when my mother gave me an order to go the store some streets down and pick up bread and milk. Of course, being a decent person, I did what I was told and ran out the door.

It was autumn at the time and the trees began their shedding of the leaves and the streets were of a bright, orange color. I was enjoying the time and taking my time through the streets and took in the wonderful view of nature. This was a most wonderful time to be alive

As I kept walking, I took in every sense I could, not missing one moment of my life. I heard the crisp sound of leaves as they were being crushed on my feet, the cool air as it hit my face, and the spark of glare that distracted my view on the ground near the corner of the street.

As I went to take a closer look, I notice that it was a case made of metal. Further inspection proved that it was just polished and you could easily see your face on it. As my curiosity won over me and I opened the case, I could not believe my eyes. What I was looking at was a computer chip. Of all of the things you could find, I found a chip. The chip was of course a square and was transparent green with funky gismos on it.

"What do you have their, little boy?"

The voice surprised me and I put the chip in my pocket as I got up.

"I said, what do you have their?"

The man before me was dressed in black, a weird color for this time of year. He wore a black suit on top of his vest. He had a neat pocketed red handkerchief on his breast pocket and wore a black hat with a red ribbon on his head. Just by the look of him I knew he was not friendly.

"My mother told me to never talk to strangers." I said trying make him leave

"Hmmp!" The man laughed, "I am no stranger to you or to anyone else in that matter. I am just interested that you just picked up a random object off from the ground?"

"I dropped it."

"You dropped it. You expect me to believe that statement. What do you think I am, an idiot? To take responsibility of your actions, why don't you hand the computer chip to me and we can forget about this encounter?"

Something sounded fishy with his command. "Wait a minute, I never said that I picked up a computer chip!" I explained.

"Hmmmp. You Americans are all the same." He said this with a tone as he pulled out a revolver out of his belt pocket. "Now be a smart child and hand it to me or your mommy will be short a son."

As the moment he said this, I ran off towards the streets.

"Hey! Come back here!" He shouted as he chased after me.

I just kept on running for my life as I heard the gunshots of the goon passing me by. I tried to find a way to escape him and found a deserted street to my right. I took it and ran right into a chained fence.

I tried to jump over it but it was too high for me. I thought I was a doomed, then my teenager senses kicked in.

For no reason, I thought I could copy a ninja and jump from the wall to the top of the fence and taste freedom. The only thing I tasted was the pavement.

The goon found me and started laughing at me for my stupid stunt.

"Hahahahaha! You Americans are so stupid. You always think you can win." He said and then he pulled out a knife with my reflection on the blade.

At that moment, my life passed before my eyes, my short life. As the goon made his pose to stab the life out of me, the most wonderful sound came, a police alarm.

The sound of this made the goon come back up and said, " It seems the luck was upon you today. You survive another day, but I will be back for what is rightfully mine.

He backed up and thrust his hand to the street and a pod flew from the ground as fast as a train. A sliding door appeared and he stepped in and pulled a lever and then it closed and the light on it flickered as it went below the ground the the dirt rose back up.

I never forgot that moment, but the man's voice still haunts me in my sleep. "Another day?" Will he be back for me or forget it. I then did not know, but that was the beginning of a string of events that will change my life. People say it was bad luck, but it was worse, it was the luck of the devil.

November 15, 2012