Chapter 2

A young teen casually walked up the mountain listening to the music blast through his ears. Some people thought the mountain was haunted or cursed but he didn't believe in such things. Ghosts, gauls, monsters? All are fake. He had his heart set on proving it! He scribbled in his notebook writing down various ideas and thoughts as he walked.

People always called him names at school, but he didn't really care. He was always different. He valued knowledge and self betterment than a night out with friends anyday and it wasn't uncommon to see him at home studying or reading a book alone in a dark room by himself. He liked being alone after all.

In this particular moment he was mainly remembering various memories of the past. One day in particular he remembered someone calling him "weirdo." to try to hurt his feelings. He remembered the person asking why he was laughing and he casually said "I'm a short kid with glasses, I read books in my spare time, I make good grades, and I play video games in my spare time. If that's all ya got, you won't hurt anyone."

People were always saying much worse things about him, but everyday he put a smile on his face and pushed on. He always acted like it didn't bother him, but deep down it did. You'd never see him cry or even see a small hint of his disappointment in the way people treated him though. He found it important to be happy and not be an angry soul in the world.

He couldn't help but feet he was the unluckiest, most useless, weirdest, ugliest kid alive everyday. Despite this, he always took the small things he was given and ran with it. Give him a little bit of algebra and geometry skills and he'll do you're trigonometry homework in a few days. Show him how to flip burgers at your local MacDucks and soon, you'll turn around watching him flip 3 burgers at a time to be efficient. Tell him he did things ok, and he'll be happy you noticed him.

He was always happy, or at least acted like it. The only time you'll ever see him upset or unhappy is few and far between. It would almost always be because he was sick as he has a chronic stomach issue and he just can't be happy and be in that much pain at the same time. He still always tried to at least be considerate, however when in pain he was typically a jerk. The only other time would be to stick up for someone else who was too afraid or too weak to stick up for themselves. He got into fights often and the one he remembers the most is the one that got his arm broken. He couldn't stand watching others get pushed around or bullied and even stuck up for them despite being small and no good at fighting. So he ended up getting into it with a bully for sticking up for a kid who didn't deserve it.

He had his faults or his own selfishness though. He wouldn't think twice to cut in line or even take the last slice of pizza just because he wanted to. He didn't mind cheating on tests or even being dishonest in certain situations. Why? He couldn't answer that nor could I. Maybe because it benefited him? Maybe because he felt these things were so small they didn't matter? Who knows?

The kid would be suddenly knocked out of his thoughts. Something…... was….following him? He closed his notebook placing the pen on the rings before looking around frantically. His eyes darted from shadow to shadow from each of the trees before he thought it was just his imagination and ultimately gave up on the idea. He started to take another few steps before seeing the same thing he thought he saw before. He knew it wasn't his imagination this time. His fight or flight reflexes kicked in. He chose flight. After all, he didn't who or what it was, and he wasn't that strong anyway. He flipped his headphones down and started rushing through the trees running towards a logs so he could run up and across it. He chose to do this so he could use the time to hear if something was actually giving chase even though it slowed him down a little. He could defiantly hear the crackling of a pursuer behind him that sounded almost like rice krispies violently crackling behind him getting louder as they got closer. Soon, he came to a rushing halt. He stood before a deep dark hole in the ground. It seemed to be deeper than a bottomless pit. With very little chance he'd be able to go around in time he turned around to see what was chasing him, but ultimately seen nothing. He looked up at the noon sky before being knocked off his feet by something grabbing his legs. He tried to hand onto a root. He didn't want to fall.

"No no no not this way" he thought to himself. "I-I can't leave yet!" Unfortunately, he ultimately would be unable to hang on and pull himself up before slowly falling into the deep dark despair below.