As a Tuesday morning broke over one particular park you could see a young man, still in high school, walking along a ridge hunched over. He hardly ever looked up, and was clearly deep in thought. A flash of red reflected over the ridge of a hill as the sun hit his dark ginger hair, so dark you may have even mistook it for brown.

This guy, Kearney is his name, walked along the dirt path, his mind racing. He thought to himself as he walked, trying to work up the courage to pull out his phone.

"Just ask her out" he said with the slight burr of an Irish accent, "There's no risk."

Kearney pulled out the phone and started dialing. "But what if she rejects me?"

And his phone fell dejectedly back into his pants pocket. His frustration started to boil over; clearly this was well thought into. "AAAGGGGHHHHH!" he yelled out suddenly, scaring a few elementary age kids who were playing on the side of the dirt path.

While his mind raced it could only think about one thing. The one thing was a 'she' to be specific. Her name is Tia, a childhood friend of Kearney, and one of only two people to accept him, to be kind to him. Kearney picked up a stick and held it like a sword, remembering their past. In his mind a memory flowed through, Tia playing with a flower, picking at the petals and letting them float away. She smiled

"I always wanted a knight in shining armor to come save me, isn't that right, Sir Kearney?"

The words of the past drifted through his mind, colliding with other memories. Tia, Kearney, and another girl named Azure playing with sticks pretending they were swords. Kearney practicing with the stick until he could win, Kearney begging his mom to let him go play with Azure at the park, the trio of them walking along a river.

Kearney threw the stick at a tree, bouncing it right off and into a nearby stream. Slumping over on a rock he looked down over the park he was walking through. It was what every average park would be: skate park, kids play set, open fields, dog park, fountain, picnic area. Looking out at the park caused a few more memories to be bounced around, Tia and Kearney jumping around on objects pretending to be ninjas. That idea worked out well, until Kearney had broken his foot.

Kearney smiled and shook his head like an etch-a-sketch.

"Come on, you already let her be asked out by someone else before, and you remember how that worked out."

He looked down into the stream the stick had fallen in, and saw a white Irish-American looking back. A breeze hit them, ruffling their red hair, and he smiled. Then the smile on his face vanished. Kearney remembered the day around a year ago that Azure had gone missing, Tia and him had assumed she was abducted. Kearney had wanted to ask Tia out that day as well, until they learned Azure disappeared. He picked at his shirt keen to get moving again.

Kearney splashed over to the stick and picked it up again, taking a few slashes and jabs before throwing it again. It arced through the air, twisting and flipping all over until it hit the tree again. The birds in the giant oak tree heard it swinging through the air this time and flocked up as the stick crashed down through the branches. The birds took off into the headwind, flying away towards the rising sun set against an orange sky.

The same wind rustled around Kearney, whipping his tee shirt and cargo pants around his somewhat wimpy body. Some think of him as weak, but he wasn't completely hopeless, he just wasn't ripped.

Kearney ran down to the tree and picked up the stick. As his fingers wrapped around the cool wood, the air around him grew hot, cold, then muggy hot again. Perturbed, Kearney stood up. The second his knees locked a crack like a gunshot filled the air and a flash of heat washed over him, knocking Kearney backwards. He got up coughing out dirt and leaves that were blown around. A flash of light racked through the air like lightning and hit Kearney on his head, blowing him back again. Kearney hit his nose when he landed and his vision grew blurry through tears.

Then, just as suddenly as it began, the weird weather ended. Leaving everything as calm as it was before, save for a few stray oak leaves rattling around the path.

Kearney's ears stung from the sound the light made. It left a high pitched whining interjected with muffled yells and explosions, though that may just be coming from the box… wait, what? A box had appeared in the middle of the path, scorching the dirt around it and leaving tendrils of smoke rising.

Apparently the sounds did come from the box, they got louder as he got closer. Kearney took a look around the box, all one piece, all one color: black, and when Kearney tapped it his finger sizzled like a fried egg. When he pulled his finger away he saw it was bright red and raw, the top layer of skin was burned away. Kearney yelled in delayed pain, stuck his burnt finger in his mouth and turned around looking for the elementary kids he scared earlier, they were in the air like they had just jumped off a nearby rock. But they weren't falling, not moving at all.

He came up and tapped one on the leg, no movement, no reaction, it was like they were frozen in time. But that's preposterous, time has to be fluid, there is no stopping it. So they taught Kearney in science, but he understood science to be as fluid as they say time is.

Kearney's phone buzzed in his pocket and he took it out. Oh great, it was Tia, just who he wanted to call. He hit the accept button and Tia's voice came on over the receiver.

"Kearney? It's Tia, did something just happen to you?" Kearney looked around again. "A giant flash of light, and now there's a black box in front of me." Tia was quiet for a moment.

"same" she said "I checked on my parents, and they're frozen or something. They wouldn't talk, wouldn't listen, wouldn't look at me."

"That seems to happen often around here" Kearney said sarcastically. "I'm in the exact same situation. Only difference is that my box is in the park."

"what are you doing in the park?" asked Tia

"Uhhhh, nothing. Just walking."

"well I tried calling people, but they won't pick up… you're the first who actually answered their phone"

Kearney smiled shoddily. "I don't know what's happening, but this should make our lives a lot more interesting.

The box in front of Kearney started to glow and hum.

"Kearney?" Tia started "What's going o-AHHHHHH!" The line ended there.

"Tia? Tia! Tia! Damn it."

Kearney turned to face the box head on, "Okay you stupid box, what just happened?" He asked turning towards the humming box. "I was going to ask her out today, you jerk, you ruined that for me."

The box, being a box, said nothing back.

"I don't know what you think you are, but that isn't cool, now give her back."

And with that, the box rose up into the air. A light shone from the inside of it, illuminating layers upon layers of metals, and shot out of the box. It hit Kearney on his chest and lit up the surroundings like a meteor shower.

It felt like fire within Kearney's heart, it burned through him and scorched his insides. And then it spread, to his legs, arms, and head. When it reached his head he felt a pain behind his eyes so bad it felt like he would die, and he collapsed. No life in his eyes.