Chapter 2
Usually, having someone to help guide you through new and unfamiliar territory is one of the best and wisest courses of action. Unfortunately for Mattheau, his parents had already left and taken Madeleine with them, leaving him to wake up all by himself.
"Well this is just great," he muttered casually. "I wonder what other disappointments are in store for me today." Aside from the occasional instances where his parents are needed and aren't able to be there in the early morning for Mattheau. "Can't blame them really," he thought to himself as he munched on a stale piece of bread. "It's not their faults they have to work." He dismissed the whole idea and stood up, brushing some crumbs off his jacket as he walked towards the door. "Well, time to go make a difference," he muttered sarcastically.
Upon opening the door and stepping outside, he was surprised by how similar the street was to where he used to live. "This place might not be so bad," he reasoned, "Just needs a fresh coat of paint, that's all." His thought was punctuated by a loud bang from the end of the street, followed by a yell. Mattheau turned to see what the commotion was about, and saw that a pot full of tomatoes had fallen off a rack onto a vendor's head. Shrugging, he turned to begin walking up the street when he was suddenly hit by a red-orange flash and fell to the ground.
After a moment's delay he felt his forehead where he could tell a bruise would be forming. He winced in pain as he opened his eyes, only to be met with the blurry image of someone's face staring at him. He blinked a few times to clear his vision and when he opened his eyes again, he was immediately left breathless. A beautiful girl with ginger hair and freckles was leaning right above him, growing more concerned with each passing moment that Mattheau was seriously hurt.
While he wasn't hurt too much, Mattheau definitely did not enjoy the sudden impact of another person's forehead slamming against his. Because he got the wind knocked out of him when he fell, his breath caught in his throat, which prompted quite the reaction from the mystery girl. "Oh my goodness, I am so sorry! Are you alright?" Mattheau still hadn't drawn a breath in yet, and his face started turning red. The girl's gorgeous green eyes widened in alarm as she put an ear close to Mattheau's mouth, listening for breath. When she heard none, she began to think that he really was hurt, and that he needed CPR.
Now this wasn't too out of the ordinary for Mattheau, who expected he'd catch his breath in a moment or two and everything would be fine. What he didn't expect was the girl suddenly pumping his chest in some attempt to resuscitate him. He was about to sit up and let her know that he was fine, when she suddenly pinched his nose and pressed her lips against his, blowing air into his lungs. The contact only lasted for a moment before she broke away, but Mattheau would never forget it.