Chapter 2
Two weeks later.
I had the dream again last night. I woke up startled. My sister is down stairs yelling at Kyle about cleaning his mess. Took a quick glance around my room. It was a wreck, in the corner by the door sat a bag I stuffed last night for the big trip the majority of my class and I are going to the powder horn ski resort in Colorado . I walked across my room to my bathroom. Its cramped and littered with junk. I washed my face and looked up into the mirror. My red hair was a mess but i threw a beanie on and tucked my bangs in instead of brushing it since my brush is already packed.
Once i got downstairs to the kitchen I found a note on the fridge from my father. It read:
'Dear Ax and Ash,
Uncle Mike and I are leaving for a while, we won't return for a couple
weeks. There are a couple hundred for food and anything else you
need on top of the fridge. Don't give any of it to Kyle. Have fun on
your ski trip kids I should be back sooner than you know it! Take care
of yourselves!
Love you,
Dad. '
Couple of weeks? That's ridiculous. I thought when I reached on top of the fridge to retrieve whatever money was left there. My eyes widened when I looked at the cash in my hand. So much. Soo much. I counted fourteen hundred dollars in total. Dad obviously meant to be gone longer than he led on. What kind of father just vanishes like this? Not that he hasn't done it before. My dad has made a habit of only being here enough for us to know he's not dead like our mom. At least he's taught us proper money management in the process. You only need to not eat for a week one time to learn a lesson from it.
"Morning bro." Ashley said cheerfully as she entered the room. Her voice obviously worn from yelling at kyle earlier. She walked past me carrying a tall stack of plates from the living room where kyle sleeps. This is how it usually happens, he makes a mess, we get mad, then we clean it. Two thirds of the time 'we' is Ashley. She set the stack of dishes by the sink and turned toward me.
"Did you see this?" I asked her angrily, shaking the note in her direction. She looked down and grabbed her elbow nervously.
"I did..." She trailed off. I crumbled the note up in my hand and sighed."How much?"
"Fourteen hundred, its the most he's left yet." I responded.
"Then he'll be gone longer this time." Her voice cracked a little. "I'll be at Lucy's house for a week or so once we get back from the resort. You can hold onto all of that for now." She ran upstairs trying to hide her tears from me. She's really attached to dad. She always has been, they bonded a lot deeper than he and I did. I was his son but she was his princess. I rather it this way though.
My best friend Kyle sells weed out of our living room and pays to stay here by keeping food in the house with his profit. We usually end up wasting the money dad gives us in a week or two so without kyle all three of us would probably starve. He's the most responsible irresponsible person I've ever met.
I came into the living room and sat down next to him on the couch. Kyle's short dark blonde hair was sticking out of the backwards baseball cap he was wearing. He had an all black hoodie on and a rolled blunt was pinned behind his ear. His eyes were bloodshot and he slowly looked over at me." Your sister can be a bitch." He smirked.
"Are you ready for the snow?" I asked genuinely curious if he had packed yet. "You know the bus leaves the school in two hours right?"
"Just the essentials." He said and nodded to a small backpack on the ground by the couch. I would guess that the only things in there are one spare change of clothes and paraphanelia. He pulled the blunt from his ear and lit it. "Is Lucy gonna be at the resort?" Kyle asked. He's always had a thing for Ashley's friends.
"Yeah, pretty sure she's sharing a room with Ashley." I answered. "Girl creeps me out though. I'd say keep your distance." I warned him. Lucy is pretty weird despite being cute. Her short blonde hair and bright pink clothes she usually wears can be misleading. She's really obsessive and a borderline stalker. I remember when she was younger she would sneak all the way from her house into our house in the middle of the night, and crawl into Ashley's bed. Ashley says she's just dependant but it freaks me out.
"I'm just saying," he hit the blunt between his words." I would not pass up an opertunity to be with her." He said smugly and passed me the blunt.
"BE WITH HER? Or just have sex with her?" I hit the blunt, then took my phone out to see that I missed several calls from Arty.
"Of coarse I just mean sex. The crazy ones are the best in bed!" He smiled as I passed him the blunt.
"You guys are pigs."Ashley said from the kitchen doorway. Her hair was done in little red pigtails and she had a black scarf on over her jacket. She had her purse and a large pushable suitcase with wheels at the bottom. It was twice the size of my bag so I could tell she really wasn't coming home for a while after this trip. Why would she though? I'm never home and Kyle pisses her off. I could hear Lucy honk her car horn from outside.
" Does that make your friend the troph?" He laughed. She stormed past us punching him on her way out the door. "What?" He asked as if he didn't know he was making an ass of himself. Kyle had a habit of not knowing when to not make jokes. He says anything he can think of to entertain himself.
"Don't be a dick dude, she doesn't like you talking like that." I lectured. "Especially about her friend. That's disrespectful." He passes me the blunt and makes an exasperated face at me.
"I'm not the one screaming all the time. And I've lived here for two and a half years now how is she not used to me yet? " He got up and threw his backpack on. "Come on let's go. We can stop for burgers on our way out, my treat."
We got to school, where the bus was leaving from about ten minutes early. I started texting Arty right when we got there. Me and Kyle sat separated from the crowd still pretty high. We knew if we stumbled through everyone to look for Ashley we'd end up bumping into Tyler, or someone else who would be able to tell we were high.
I had my headphones in and I was just looking around the outside commons area where everyone going on the trip had gathered. All of the juniors and seniors this year were invited so the crowd was pretty thick. I could speratically pick out people I recognized. James from the kendo club was here so were members of my MTG group and the football team but I chose not to talk to anyone. We had plenty of time for that during our five day trip. Kyle elbowed me to get my attention so I took out my headphones.
"Here." He said handing me a muffin. "If you eat this now you'll be out for the whole drive."
"Whole drive?" I said surprised. " Its a thirteen hour bus trip?"
"It's an edible Alex." He pulled out a bag of about five more. "I baked them the other day and made them way too strong." One of our female classmates walked up to us and motioned toward Kyle.
"Twenty a piece right?" She pulled a twenty dollar bill out of her bra. She didn't seem to mind that we were surrounded by people. Then again neither did he. Kyle pulled a muffin out other bag and traded off with her. She then ran off and rejoined her friends.
"Your a natural entrepreneur." I commented sarcastically.
"My father taught me that everything i do is an oppertunity to make money." He grinned.
"You hate your father." He laughed at my response.
"I've learned that the people you hate are the easiest to learn from." He chuckled some more. I nodded in agreement and put my headphones back in then pressed play on my music. The bus pulled up and everyone filed into a line to board. We caught a glimpse of Tyler long enough for him and Kyle to lock eyes for a second, but we ended up on a different bus than him and my sister. The trip was pretty uneventful, I slept through most of it.
The next day I woke up in my room in the resort. I was half asleep coming into the room so I don't remember the layout of the resort yet leaving me a lot of exploring to do today. Kyle laid still asleep in the bed on the opposite side of the room. He already had his bag unzipped and his things littered throughout the room. A quick scan of those objects and I found almost none of them were supposed to be allowed on this trip. There's a bong, a pipe, weed and - wait. My sword hung half out of his bag.
"KYLE!" I yelled as I yanked the blanket out from under him, toppling him onto the floor waking him.
"Huh? What?" He muttered sitting up on the floor.
"You brought my sword?" I asked angrily, grabbing it up out of his bag.
"Dope right?" He seemed to ignore my tone.
"Nah. Not dope." I scoffed at him and picked my phone up off of its charger.
"I thought you might need it." He said clueless standing up and grabbing his jacket. I opened up my phone to see a couple texts from Arty, and one from Ashley.
"Why would I need a sword?" I asked.
" I don't know, what if shit hits the fan?" He shrugged and we both put on our jackets. I slung the sword over my shoulder. Might as well have it I didn't see why not at this point. I opened up the message from Ashley, it read: ' Hey bro, the first lift up leaves at 9:30 and Lucy and I are gonna try out the slopes. You should meet us there!' I sent a quick 'Ok, on my way' and Kyle and I went out and rented our supplies before heading up to the lift.
It was really cold outside and the bright sun reflecting off of the glistening white snow can take a minute to adjust to but the Mesa in the morning was beautiful. We got to the lift a little late but Ashley and Lucy were still there waiting on us. We got there and my sister gave me a hug while Alex and Lucy awkwardly nod at each other.
"Sorry we're late." Kyle said.
"Oh it's Ok. I got some one on one time with Ashy!" She said excitedly. I made a judgemental face at Ashley and she shrugged in response.
"Once we get up there I heard they have rudimentary lessons for newbies." Ashley pointed out. "We can get the basics down before we take on the bigger slopes." She added.
"I think I'll pass on that." I said scratching the back of my head. "I just don't find the thought of a seasoned athlete repeating the words 'pizza French fry" over and over again appealing. I'm alright with falling until I get the hang of it myself."
"Kyle!" The girl from yesterday yelled out to kyle from a distance running toward us waving her hand. She's a cute girl. Sierra I think her name was. I had seen her hanging out with him a couple times before. She's a tall slender African american girl with poofy curly hair and a big smile. She's wearing Capri's despite being surrounded by snow and was wearing a knitted panda beanie. She was a known stoner and was exactly Kyle's type.
"Hey what's up?" He turned to her.
"You wanna blaze man?" She blurted out. I could see Lucy and Ashley get irritated by the mentioning of the subject. They were both good girls, never once partook in taboo things such as drugs. Kyle pulled a pre-rolled joint out and started to walk away.
"Always. You got a light?" She pulled a lighter out from her bra. He turned around toward us and said " Alright guys I'm gonna ride a lift up with her you have a good time." Before walking away with her. Good for him.
"I don't like him." Lucy said as he left.
"Give him a break, he's a nice guy" I said guiding her and Ashley toward an on coming lift. " He just forgets what that means sometimes." The lift comes by and the three of us hop onto it. We rode in silence up to the top and split up. They went to the guy for lessons but I was strapped in ready to ski. I got to the send off point and was met with unwelcome company. Tyler stood there ready to go down with his entourage of douchebags. They were going to mind their own business and go down the slope until he saw me. He trounced up to me in his bulky skis and took off his goggles.
"Hey Terment. I see your ready to go downhill." He said smugly while sizing me up. " I see you have my sword with you." He glared me in the eye.
"This is my sword I won it fair and square." I stared him right back in the eye. Tyler was big but I had been hit by bigger.
"Is that why you have it with you now?" He snarled. "To rub that in my face?" He stood way too close to me and stared down. I'm not going to lie I was intimidated. Tyler trained hard for years in his military family. He's consistently been the strongest and fastest in our school except for me. His three friends started circling me like sharks.
" Look do you want it back? Because you lost it. If you want it you'll have to win it back." I said sternly. I don't know what it is about this kid that riles me up so much.
"Ok." He smiled big. " whoever makes it down to the bottom first wins. And if that's me I win my sword back." He put his goggles back on.
"What if I win?" I asked in a serious tone.
"If you win I'll give you thirty dollars. That sound fair?" I had a lot more than that on my person but I didn't care. I was gonna show this asshole up again.
"That's fine." A couple seconds later we were off, bolting down the mesa at top speed. I couldn't tell what was happening. Everything flew past me in a blur. I could tell I was losing but he hadn't fully passed me yet. Tyler stayed close and watched me struggle to evade the trees and stones. Everything seemed white. Tyler laughed at me before spraying me with snow as he cut across me. I almost lost my balance and covered my eyes with my arm. I was kind of flying out of control but I was going fast. I hit a rock and flew past Tyler and ate dirt at the bottom of the slope. I had won, it hurt but I won.
" God damnit!" Tyler yelled as he took his goggles off and threw them to the ground angrily. He took a twenty and a ten out of his pocket and extended his arm out to give it to me."Here, I'm a man of my word."
"No." I pushed his hand to the side. " I don't want it. I had fun, that's reward enough." I took the sword off of my shoulder and offered it up to him. "You can have this back just don't be such a dick all the time." He put his hands up to turn down my offer with a nervous look on his face.
"You're right I lost it fair and square. I'll win it back from you some day." He put a hand behind his head and actually smiled. "Yaknow your an Ok guy Alex." He walked off immediately after saying that. I smiled hoping this to be the start of a new friendship. I didn't like him at first but I've always thought that there was a little good in everyone, though I wouldnt keep thinking that way for long.
I ended up meeting up with Ashley and Lucy again shortly after that. We all went down the slope a couple of times and had a lot of fun. At a later point in the day I got scooped up by the football team and they made me go down a couple of times. By the time it got dark I was exhausted. I didn't realise I didn't eat today until I was on my way back inside. I got into the resort and bought way too much food before going to my room with it.
I expected to be greeted by Kyle when I came into our room but instead found a note on his bed. It said he was going to stay in Sierra's room tonight. Under the note sat two blunts and another muffin that he presumably left for me. I turned the resort room TV on and lit up a blunt. I, between hits grabbed my sword and pulled it out of its sheath. An original Masamunay katana huh? These things are rare and all custom made, so they don't hold much monetary value. Masamunay was a sword smith sentenced to death for testing out all of his blades. He had a documented kill count of at least seventeen but there were over one hundred and fifty swords forged throughout his career and he claimed to have 'tested' all of them. So this sword has already taken a life? I pondered. The longer I look at the sharp blade the more it looked back. I saw my reflection on the metal, my red hair looked like blood on the edge. I quickly resheathed my blade and put out my blunt, then went to sleep.
I stood in a field, large and green. The back drop was a perfect blue sky with exactly one cloud. The sun shined without interruption and the wind whisked my hair behind my ears. I was overtaken by the feeling of calm and I laid down in the tall grass to look up at the sky. I inhaled slowly and let out a gruntled sigh as I outstretched my arms to the heavens. I cupped my hands so as to make it look to me like I was holding the lone cloud. I smiled and hummed a tune that I don't remember hearing before. I heard footsteps and then my view was obstructed by the shadow of someone standing over me.
"You seem to have made yourself comfortable." Her voice rang in my ears as I tried to process what was happening. I tilted my head back to see who the familiar voice was coming from and saw her grey eyes. It was the girl from my dreams. I jolted upright embarrassed. She sat down by me and put her hand on my shoulder and I blushed. I was dreaming right? All of my dreams with her before weren't so vivid. I couldn't smell, taste, or feel her presence before. I could FEEL her hand on my shoulder. I turned to her and she smiled and closed her eyes. "Are you afraid of me hero?" She asked and I turned away embarrassed. "That is one thing you cannot do, I'm afraid." She said more seriously. "You can't fear anything. Ever." She cupped her other hand over my cheek. I shuddered. "Promise me this." I didn't know if that was a promise I could make. I opened up my mouth to speak but could not find the words.
"I -I" My attempt to respond was cut brutally short as I woke up in the room I shared with Kyle. Ashley was outside banging on the door trying to wake me. I picked up my phone and looked at it to see her and kyle had blown me up with messages. There was a class wide race where everyone, including her, Tyler, Kyle, and various other classmates of mine. Lucy kept falling when she was learning however, and she and a couple others decided to not participate.
"C'MON BROTHER WE ARE GOING TO MISS IT! " Ashley was screaming as I opened the door ready to go, sword and all. We dashed down the stairs and jumped on the first lift we saw it brought us up and we made it just in time for the line up. There were a few exchanges between classmates. Tyler's friends were all three lined up next to him and he was on the opposite side of the line from Ashley and I. I could tell that the course was not meant for this many people at one time so a lot of us will end up hugging the shoulders and running into trees. Kyle came in and squeezed between Ashley and I at the last second. He looked over at me, then pulled his scarf down low enough for me to see a hickey on his neck. Ashley almost dropped one of her skiing sticks in aw. Right as she was about to outburst in anger the starting pistol went off.
The race was a blur. More so than when I raced Tyler the day before. I took off immediately taking the lead. I glided past Tyler who was in second place and then got a hefty lead on the whole group. I was a natural and felt a swell of pride in my chest. Then suddenly, Ashley flew past me at twice my speed hurling me to the ground. My momentum and angle kept me rolling and my head bounced off of a rock on the ground before the whir of white snow and red blood in my peripheral mixed together. I heard a muffled 'Alex!' from who must have been Tyler and then stopped rolling and hit a slab of concrete.
I struggled to open my eyes through the stream of blood coming down my face. It wasn't enough to worry about bleeding out but there was a gash on my forehead that was leaking into my eyes. I forced my self to sit up and wipe my face off a little, then took off my jacket, balled it up, then pushed it against my wound to soak up the blood. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. First I looked at myself, gauged my wounds. Other than the bigger than preferred head wound there are only minor scratches and bruises. My chest hurt, but mainly from impact with the concrete.
Concrete? I looked around. I was sitting in what looked like an old shrine room. I fell through the roof which must have been built into the mountain. I looked up to see my entry hole in the wooden roof. There were murals on the walls of characters resembling gods from the myths I heard about when I was young. Zeus god of lightning, Rah god of the sun, Odin the all father, and others. There was something odd about this though. The mural depicted them interacting with eachother as if they were all gods from the same religion. It looked like a mythological fan fiction. In the center of the room was a stone monolith with strange symbols inscribed all over it.
When I looked at it my eyes locked.I could not even force myself to look away. It started to glow. The next thing I knew I was on my feet. I discarded the jacket and let the blood resume obscuring my vision as I walked up to the stone.
"Alex?! Are you Ok!?" Tyler called down into the shrine room from where I fell in but I ignored him. I placed my hand on the monolith and it glowed brighter. A powerful wind surrounded my body then everything flashed white.