It was a night just like any other for the eleven year old, still up at three in the morning. It was summer break after all. School would be starting soon, and it was very obvious he could wait. Nonetheless he was as anxious as always before something new loomed over the inevitably dark horizon like the mass of dread building up inside of him. He hated school. He always had, ever since his first grade teacher had it out for him. "It sounds ridiculous, I know," he thought to himself, "but how else do you explain the detentions for nothing, the scrubbing the walls for the writing I 'put there'". He scowled at the memory of Mrs. Sunbeam, "the evil sadistic witch," he said aloud to the tv he was absentmindedly staring at.
Then he heard it. A loud screech, that sounded like some kind of odd animal dying, a rustle of wings, then a soft rap on the window. "Damn it Jeremy what have to you? One the tv's not to be turned up loud this late AND, two school is going to be starting soon so bedtime is now EARLY!", he heard his stepfather screaming from the short hall way to his room. But for once Jeremy really wasn't listening, he had gotten up to open his window as fast as he could so that a large tawny owl came swooping in onto his bed. His stepfather having already entered the room stood there with a very vacant expression staring at the large owl sitting precariously atop his bed, with its short little leg stretched out, clicking its beak wanting the large envelope attached to its leg removed. Jeremy slowly approached the rather menacing bird, and gently, as to not give it a reason to sink its long shiny talons into his eyes, took off the envelope attached. As soon as it was loosened enough it spread its wings gently grazing the side of his face with fathers and flew once again into the darkness of the moonless night.
He stared at the envelope, It had large a large emerald colored S in front of a very odd crest with a silver cloud surrounding a large star, bronze mountains with swirls of wind around them, a deep violet colored out line of a rabbits head... or a ducks it looked like both, and an odd navy blue flower with a large drop of water in the center. He hadn't even noticed that his stepfather had gone to fetch his mother so she could see if, either he was hallucinating, or, to see the phenomenon of an owl acting like this. They stared at him for a moment as though wondering what to say when finally," are you going to open it or just stare at it all night long," his mother said making them all jump, and with an expression as tough she had to see whether or not it would explode before she went back to bed. He opened it carefully so he didn't rip the crest (He wanted to examine it again to figure out the bunny-duck thing). He looked down upon the most beautiful and elaborate hand writing he had ever laid eyes on, and read aloud, "To Jeremy Smith of Bluff City TN. We are pleased to inform you that we believe you are what it takes and are cordially invited to Skylands Institution of Magic. There will be a group transport to get the things necessary in preparation for your schooling items. It will leave July 25 at approximately 4:20 A.M. from your local train station. Yours sincerely Dean Hudgenson." " Do you belive this load of crap?", he asked as he slowly looked up. Truthfully he somewhat did believe it himself, but... it was hard to believe even for an eleven year old. His parents did not say a word they simply came towards him took the note and walked back to their room, evidently to verify Jeremy's account of what was on there without showing their disbelief to him.
Morning came. Jeremy (still awake and barely able to keep his eyes open) had stayed up all night waiting to hear the final decision on the letter, and whether or not his parents had decided it was some grand hoax being played on all the neighborhood children in order to lure them all to some unsuspecting death by a madman in a ripped-up straight jacket ready to pounce on them and eat their souls one by one. When finally the bedroom door opened to reveal a very dis-shelved looking set of parents who (like him) had stayed up all night. "It says you're supposed to go alone to this..this..thing at the train station. We'll drop you off and if it looks like trouble we'll at least be there to try and protect you." Jeremy's heart lept into what felt like his stomach, which was consequently in his throat. He had been hoping that they would say yes. All night he had thought about the owl, and some ordinary nutcase could not have been able to train an animal like that, "not in a million years", he told himself as he watched the sun rise earlier. "It's the day after tomorrow, so you'd better keep up in your chores, no slacking off to go and start daydream about running away on some train to a crack-pot school that we don't even know exists." It didn't matter if it was real or not as long as he got out for a couple of days, away from this undreamt nightmare they called maturity, adulthood . His eleven year old mind burned at the thought of being what his parents had become. "Soon", he told himself, "soon I'll be gone..."