Prologue

'Great... Once again, it's just one of those dull and hellish days... as always...'

These are the thoughts of a young boy who was walking down the street after a long day of school. For many it would be just a normal day, but for him... it was just another day where everything sucked – which he now considered a 'normal' day.

The boy had messy brown hair and green emerald eyes. He was wearing a light green T-shirt, dark blue jeans supported by a dark brown belt, and black and white sneakers. Looking closely, one could notice bags under his eyes due to a lack of sleep.

His name is Arthur Jones, a 12 years old boy. His life was a living hell: an abusive father with anger and drinking issues, his classmates would bully him every chance they get, and on top of that no one including his professors would do a thing about it.

Everyday was the same routine: waking up, receiving insults and threats from his father for not receiving enough good grades, going to school, assisting to some long and boring classes, getting bullied by the other kids, going back home, hiding in his room and playing video games until bed time.

A few years ago, he used to be a nice, cheerful, hopeful, yet shy boy. However, this same routine and everything he went through had changed him... He grew cold, bitter, aggressive and somewhat snarky. He became distrustful of other people, prefering solitude, and has been suffering from depression and anxiety. On top of all that, he has been having suicidal thoughts and even tried to commit suicide a few times, but it always failed as he would either chicken out or someone would get in the way. As he always said: even death didn't want him.

As he was making his way back home, Arthur looked at the piece of paper in his hand with a desperate expression. It was a math test he did last week, and the results were not pretty for him: another F.

God... he hated math! No matter how hard he worked on it, he would always get a bad grade at this class. It was too complicated for him! So much numbers, theories, and methods... If he was being honest, he had stopped trying to understand a long time ago, even though he knew his father wouldn't be happy about it. Just the thought of it made him cringe. He sighed, relucantly putting the test in his backpack. If he could, he would just crumple the paper and toss it in the first trash can he saw, but he knew he couldn't...

"Guess I better prepare for dad to give me hell... Honestly, I don't care anymore... He could just kill me for all I care, that'd do me a favor..." Arthur grumbled. Though he really didn't want to deal with his father just yet. If he could somehow delay the confrontation for just another day, that would still be something... even if he knew he was screwed anyway. He secretly hoped his father would be either passed out drunk on the couch or away at the bar so that he could easily hide in his room and just play video games for the evening, maybe even draw a bit. Arthur enjoyed drawing as well, it was a way for him to express his creativity and just pass time.

Arthur was pulled out of his thoughts when his house came in sight. He could already feel his anxiety kicking in and he hoped he wouldn't start hyperventilating now. It was a problem he had with his anxiety: he would begin to hyperventilate whenever the situation gets too stressful or intense for him and then he would have to try to calm himself down which usually takes a while. He stopped and took a few seconds to breathe. Once he calmed down, he took a deep breathe and began walking again.

"Well... here goes nothing," he said as he headed for the entrance. He reached it and slowly turned the handle. He slowly pushed the door open and took a peek inside, looking around for any sign of his father... and he spotted him. Here he was, out cold on the couch in the living room, with the TV still on. Judging by the few bottles of beer that were lying on the side of the couch, he probably drank until he passed out.

Arthur sighed in relief. Maybe he won't have to face his father today after all, but he'd still have to deal with him the next day, which is something he wasn't looking forward to. He slowly stepped inside, closing the door behind him silently as to not wake up his sleeping father. He then tiptoed his way upstairs and into his bedroom, making sure to lock the door behind him.

Arthur took a few seconds to breathe, relieved that he was able to avoid his father. He looked around his bedroom. It was a bit disorganised, his bed was undone, some old toys, papers, and notebooks were scattered on the floor and his bed too. There was a desk with a computer on it, which allowed him to play games and make some researches on the Internet for his homework. A TV was also set in front of the bed, which he only used to watch his favorite movies. The room was a bit dark due to the window being only slightly open. Hanging up on his wall were posters of some of his favorite movies and video games, as well as some of his drawings, all old western themed. Indeed, Arthur was a big fan of the Wild West. It always fascinated him. Cowboys, horses, old trains... he just loved it all.

Speaking of which, he made his way toward his closet and opened it. His eyes set on something he always treasured: a cowboy hat. It was black, made of leather, and a string was wrapped around it forming a knot on the side of the hat. Arthur picked it up and smiled as he looked at it. It was something his mom bought for him for one of his birthdays a few years ago before she... He shook his head. He didn't want to think about that again. Every time he did, he could feel tears forming in his eyes and then he'd be called a crybaby if done in public. No... he would make sure to never show any sign of weaknesses to anyone ever again.

Arthur put the hat on his head, happy to wear it again. He'd only do so when he was in his bedroom since he knew people would make fun of it if they saw it, even his dad called it stupid once. He shook his head and walked toward his computer to play video games. However, that's when he noticed something new... There was a strange hourglass resting on his desk, right in front of his computer screen.

"Huh? That's new... Where did that come from?" Arthur asked to himself. He picked it up to examine it, but as he did he noticed something off about this hourglass. It was... glowing? How does it just do that? There was no sign of light bulb or any other light sources in it!

"The heck...?" he said confused.

Suddenly, a loud crashing noise and a swear coming from downstairs caused Arthur to jump in surprise and drop the hourglass in the process. He tried to catch it but he wasn't fast enough, and then... *CRASH!* The strange object hit the ground and shattered on impact.

"Ah, god dammit!" Arthur shouted in frustration. However, to his surprise, the broken hourglass began to glow brighter and brighter, and suddenly what looked like a strange portal appeared right above it.

"What the..." Arthur said as he looked at the portal with wide eyes. He took a few steps back until he suddenly felt himself being pulled toward the portal.

"What?! No no NO!" he yelled as panic overwhelmed him. He quickly turned around, trying to grab onto the foot of his bed but he missed it from an inch.

Arthur let out a scream as he was sucked inside the portal and disappeared out of sight. As he did, the portal vanished and the broken hourglass was gone like it never was here in the first, leaving the room empty.

A/N: Hey everyone! So yeah... this is my first story attempt on and this is A Hat in Time story. Now, I'm aware that this kind of story has probably be done before, but I really wanted to do my own version with an OC. I promise I'll do my best to make it as different from other versions as possible. Also I'd like to make things clear first: this isn't a self-insert. The main protagonist of this story has a different name, a different age, a different personality, etc. It's a character I've come up with and doesn't represent me in any way. Also I can't really define a schedule for when I'll be updating this story, it will depends on my motivation, disponibilities, etc. This story was inspired by 'Finding Home' from Imagigamegirl, 'Megacharge' from 1423, 'A Journey Through Time' from TheGrimSavage13 and 'A Hat in Time: Amnesiac's Journey' from Konan720.

With that said, I hope you enjoy this story and I'll see you guys next time.

PS: I'm open to all kinds of feedback, so if you guys have suggestions or things to say to improve my stories whether it's positive or negative, just let me know. Just a warning, I won't tolerate reviews that are meant to just lash at me or hate on my stories. You know... that kind of comment that says "Booo! Your stories suck! Get a life!". Yeah, these kind of comments will be straight up ignored. No use making them. Alright, that's all folks!