I'm just a normal kid. I go to a normal school. I eat normal food. I wear normal clothes. I have normal friends. I live in a normal house. I say normal things…I am normal…I WAS normal.

Let me go back from the start.

It was early in the morning when I woke up to get ready for school. I have insomnia, so sleeping at night is difficult to say the least. So, I got up early and did my hygiene stuff I normally do and got ready for school.

Afterward, I sat in the living room of my house and waited until I had to leave to catch the bus listening to the clock tick.

"Morning, sport. Sleep well?" Came a voice from behind the couch.

"Morning, Elliot. I slept ok." I responded taking my earphones from out of my pocket and getting ready to slip them in.

"So, uh, you feeling alright? How is the prescription I gave you doing?" He asked causing me to sigh.

"You know, we are at home…you don't have to treat me like one of your patients." I paused for a second, "It works sorta…"

"I need to up the dosage? I can do that." He said softly.

I felt a hand on my shoulder before seeing him sit next to me, "You know your mom and I care about you, and your brother and sisters, right?"

I nodded and laid my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes, "I just miss my dad…"

"Yeah…I miss the big guy too. No one knows what happened to him." I heard Elliot say.

"I don't care what anyone says…I know he didn't leave. I saw what happened to him. No one believes me." I said in protest, slowly opening my eyes.

"Connor…we've talked about this." He started saying but I stopped him.

"No, I know what I saw. We were at the beach, and he fell through shallow water. I tried to grab him, but the sand stopped me." I said again trying to hold back tears.

I heard Elliot sigh and I stood up to walk away, "Well grab yourself some breakfast before you leave."

I nodded and put on my earphones then my beanie before going into the kitchen and grabbing a granola bar.

"The World began in darkness. And from that darkness came light."

"Huh?" I took out my earphones, then turned around and saw no one standing there, "Elliot did you say something?"

No answer…must have been hearing things, I do remember Elliot saying that lack of sleep causes the human brain to develop illusions.

"From the light came the people, and the people had hearts."

"Who's there?" I started looking around frantically, "Guys, that not funny…stop it!"

There was still no answer so I quickly grabbed my backpack and ran out of the house quickly heading to my bus stop.

Once there I saw a group of kids look my way and smirk.

Shit…I was so worried about that voice that I completely forgot that I hate these guys.

"Check it out. It's Connie!" said one of the kids.

I kept silent and turned the volume up on my earphones before feeling myself yanked back.

"Hey, Connie...I'm talkin to ya'. Learn a little more respect." Another one said before shoving me to the ground.

I hit the ground hard, feeling a few chunks of gravel scrape my face. I felt myself then pulled back up to my feet.

"Tell us, Connie, where did you get those nice shoes?" I heard one say before he stepped on my left shoe and drag his foot as if he were putting out a cigarette.

I stayed silent and tried to hold back my frustration. There were 5 of them and one of me…as much as I would love to give these ass clowns the business, I know for a fact they don't fight fair.

Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain to my gut. I fell to my knees and looked up to see that one of the bastards gave a nice jab to my gut that may or may not have done more than knock the wind out of me.

They started to laugh at me before I spit blood in one of their faces, "How's your sister, Ass Pin?"

The kid, Aspin looked at me and punched me in the face, "You little rat…I'm going to make you regret that one. Hoist him up."

I felt myself get yanked back up and put in a choke hold while 2 of his other friends held my arms so I couldn't block or fight back.

Blow after blow, I felt that same stinging pain in my gut that only got worse as my vision started to blur.

I heard shouting before I was dropped and saw Aspin and his goons run off.

"You ok, son?" I saw a figure walk toward me and held out my hand.

"D-dad?" I asked before realizing it was one of my neighbors.

"Connor, its me." He said.

"O-oh, sorry Mr. Marcus. I thought you were someone else." I responded.

He helped me up and dusted me off before giving me a rag to clean my face with, "Here, take it. That damn boy needs to be taught a lesson."

I started to clean my face before seeing the bus show up.

The driver opened the doors and I started to get on, "Thanks for scaring them off Mr. Marcus. I appreciate it."

The man smiled and nodded at me and waved before the bus started to pull off.

"Evil burgeoned in those hearts, begetting more darkness. And the darkness spread across the World like a plague."

I looked around hearing the same voice from before.

Sora..

Sora…

Riku…

Keyblade…

Xehanort…

X-blade…

Kingdom Hearts…

I started to freak out which caused my stomach to hurt, "Ack!"

At School

The bus pulled into my school and I got off quickly running into the school building.

I hurried into the cafeteria and looked around before seeing a hand on my shoulder.

"Connor? You ok?" Said a soft voice.

I jolted and turned around to see my friends Layla and Leo, "huh? Y-yeah I'm fine."

"Dude…what happened to you? No offense, you look like shit." Leo said as Layla held my face.

I tensed up in pain feeling her touch. "Nothing happened…I fell."

"Fell my ass! Was it Aspin? I will kick his ass right now. Where is he?" Leo said gritting his teeth.

"He missed the bus…please don't cause a scene, Leo…I don't want more unwanted attention." I protested but he was unbudging.

"No, he went way to far this time. Look at you! He is treating you like a doormat!" he shouted.

"What do you mean?" I asked softly.

"It means, you're letting him walk all over you. You need to stand up to him one good time." Layla responded.

"Guys…I just don't want to get into even more trouble." I said sighing. "I've already had a weird enough morning. First I start hearing voices…then I had to deal with him."

Both of them looked at me, "Voices? Are you sure you're ok?"

I nodded, "It sounds like some weird monologue…I don't know how to explain it."

"You too huh?" Layla asked me.

"Huh? What do you mean?" I asked seemingly confused.

"Layla, and I were hearing voices today too…she even had a weird dream last night." Leo said.

"Really? What was it about?" I looked at her.

"Remember that story I told you guys when my family and I went to Venice, and I almost drowned?" She asked.

Leo and I both nodded. It was a scary story that ended with her falling into the water in Venice and needing a defib after they got her out of the water.

"Well it was a dream about that…but when I fell in the water, I landed on some form of stained glass foothold of myself with a voice talking to me. Then I saw some…personal memories play out in front of me and well…then I woke up after opening a door. I don't remember much of what had happened…but I do know there was more I did after opening that door and before waking up." Layla said.

I was stunned…it sounded like a crazy dream but I do admit…that almost sounds closely similar to what happened to my dad. Except he didn't drown, he just disappeared.

"Tell him about yours Leo." Layla said to Leo who crossed his arms and shook his head.

"Not a chance. Mine was too freaky to recall. I don't want to try to remember. Trust me…its for the best." He started saying before I gave him a look.

"Come on, Layla shared hers…why cant you share yours." I asked.

"First off, that's what she said. Second off, it's just really weird and creeped me out, ok? I just…felt off." He responded before getting the same look from Layla.

"How do you think I felt watching myself drown for a second time?" She asked a little heated.

"Fine! Fine! Ok…I'll explain." Leo said before taking a deep breath, "So just like with Layla, I was at a pool and when I dove in, I soon felt myself being pulled closer and closer to the bottom where I felt myself standing on something bright. A voice began speaking to me but I couldn't make out what it was saying…before I knew it, I had a sword in my hand and was fighting a bunch of weird creatures. Then a really big one came out and…I lost." He said turning away, "The worst part is, I saw her…"

"Her? …you mean Brenda?" I asked making him nod.

"I blacked out but I saw her clear as day before I did…" Leo said.

"But…she lost her fight…we all went to say our goodbyes." I said softly feeling a tear drip down my face.

We went silent before hearing the bell ring.

"We better get to class." Layla said before waving goodbye with Leo walking away.

I wiped my face before walking to my first period class, History.

History

I sat down in my seat and waited for my teacher to start rambling on like he normally does but something felt off.

I laid my head down on the desk and started to sleep.

Dive

I woke up standing on a beach…wait…this beach is familiar.

Quickly, I ran to the water until it was up the my ankles. "Dad? Dad! Where are you! Dad! Speak to me! It's Connor!" Every word I spoke was silent and as such, the only response I received was more silence.

I looked around and saw the beach was gone and I was in the middle of the ocean in ankle deep water.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of a wave heading for me and I started to run for it.

The water was too fast as the giant wave crashed on me and pulled me deeper and deeper into its depths.

I felt myself land on a platform and I looked up, there I could see the water surface with the sun shining down on it. The water around me didn't touch the platform I was on and I saw 3 doors.

The light, the symbol of the World's hope, was devoured by shadow. Leaving nothing but ruin... An utter failure.

There was that voice again…this was getting too weird. As I approached the doors the voice spoke again.

But, the first light—the light of Kingdom Hearts—it can give us a new start. An empty World, pure and bright...

I looked at the doors and saw a glimmer of light shine from one and as I started to open that one, the light got brighter and brighter.

I soon saw memories of my past appear in front of me.

One was of my Dad, before he disappeared.

Another was of my friends, supporting me when they found out about my dad's disappearance.

The last was of Aspin beating the hell out of me.

Which of these memories do you treasure the most

I put my hand on the memory of my Dad and the other memories disappeared before the memory of my dad turned into a mirror.

There I saw myself, wearing different clothes, and…a smile…

I'm just an keyblade wielder. I go to keyblade training. I eat strange food. I wear magical clothes. I have abnormal friends. I live in a large house. I say crazy things…I am not normal…I was NEVER normal.

That sounded exactly like my voice…

Is this you?

I heard the voice again. Well, yeah, that is me. He looks, sounds, and acts just like me, "Yeah…that me alright."

The me in the mirror put his hand on the mirror where my hand was and smiled.

The mirror glowed and I felt myself being pulled in. When the mirror stopped glowing, I was wearing the clothes the me in the mirror was wearing: A hoodie with different graffiti designs on it, fingerless gloves, ripped cargo jeans, bright and flashy sneakers, a V necklace that I think represents the Roman numeral 5, and a pair of large headphones around my neck.

That huge wave started coming back for seconds and I ran towards it seeing that sunlight shine, It was like running to the surface when I thought about it.

The wave splashed and I started floating slowly until I was standing on the water again like when the beach disappeared.

There was nothing but water for miles and nothing but the sky above with clouds and the sun.

Gain the courage to fight.

A staff appeared in my hand and soon dark creatures started to slowly appear out of the water and approach me.

"Get back!" I yelled swatting one away that leapt at me causing to disperse into a poof cloud of smoke.

More started to appear causing me to swing a lot wilder trying my best to keep them from hitting me, "I said, stay back!"

They all stopped coming closer and began to form up on each other getting bigger and bigger until the result was more than 5 times my size.

I got ready to fight until I saw Leo run up and start singing a sword at it.

"Huh? Leo! Over here!" I tried to yell but I was completely silent and couldn't speak. It also looked like he couldn't see me.

I then saw Layla run up and attack the thing with a shield. Just like Leo, she couldn't hear or see me. It also looked like they didn't hear or see each other.

The both blocked a hit from the thing and slid back almost as if waiting.

I ran up between them and get my staff ready, "I'm not sure if you 2 can hear me but taking this thing on together is the only way we are going to win…so lets take this thing on together. Ready? Break!"

We all ran at the thing and began swinging at it.

It punch into the watery surface and began to call more of those creatures to assist it.

Leo almost got blindsided by one of them but Layla ran up and swatted it away with her shield while I started to whack at its giant hand.

Layla had my back while Leo ran up its arm and got to its head and lash at it wildly with his sword.

I saw Layla start to get overrun and couldn't think of what to do until, almost as if on instinct, I pointed my staff at her, "Aero!"

Layla was surrounded by a gust of razor sharp wind that began to slice anything that came close to her.

Leo had jabbed his sword into this things head and jumped dragging his sword down with him allowing light to flow throughout the giant creature.

It began grabbing at its face as it began contorting and twitching as the light began destroying it from the inside out.

"Well done wielders of the light." Came voices from behind us.

We each turned around and saw 5 people standing there, each in white robes and wearing animal masks: a bear, a unicorn, a fox, a snake, and a leopard.

Without hesitation, Leo ran and leapt at the unicorn mask wearer only to get smacked aside by the bear mask wearer who was holding what looked to be a large key.

Leo struggled to get up but the snake mask wear walked up to him and placed her hand on him causing him to slowly sink into the water beneath us.

Layla ran to the one with the leopard mask but was intercepted by the fox mask wearer and pushed back.

I tried to go assist her, but the unicorn mask suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of me and pushed me back causing my staff to reappear in my hand.

He smiled and stepped back before the girl with the snake mask shot a fireball at me.

"Blizzard!" I yelled shooting a large ball of ice at her fireball causing a large cloud of steam to cover the area. I couldn't see but fell myself struck from behind and hit the ground.

The snake woman walked up the me and place a hand on my chest and I soon felt myself start to sink into the water, "N-no. Layla…"

I looked over to see her meet the same fate as me and Leo as I became fully submerged into the deep blue calming waters.