Empire of Dreams
Written by Doggiegal
Chapter 3: Devil in the Wishing Well
Our team won earlier, 34 to 27. After the mini-concert performed by Third Eye Blind (one of the best bands ever!) following the game's end, we then began the car ride home. Okay, okay—so what if we'd only started driving a couple of minutes ago? Geez, I think I can narrate my life however I want to, thank you very much. I don't need pointers from random people…right?
My favorite radio commercial begins, stirring me from my deep thoughts. I can't help but grin—this is the perfect chance to annoy the seventeen-year-old next to me who thinks he's all that because he's a day older. I'm lucky that there isn't a larger gap between our birthdays; he'd have to walk sideways in order to fit through a door with his ego as large as it would be. Anyways, my plan is to mouth along with the announcer. Hey, it'll work; trust me.
"It's hard to shoot the ball in the net from half-court. It's even harder when you shoot like an eighty-year-old grandmother…Listen to the sound of people cheering for your failure."
Link shakes his head, blonde hair flowing wildly, but I can see that he's secretly amused. His blue eyes are twinkling; they always do so when he is grinning or trying to suppress a grin. I smirk playfully and hit him on the arm. Unsurprisingly, he returns the favor. I raise my arm, blocking his attack, and readying myself in order to—
"Boys, no wrestling in the car! Do you two want to get in a car accident and be killed? Nayru, Din, and Farore; you two sometimes act like little babies!"
I cringe when Mom yells—she can get pretty damn scary when she wants to be. I'd know. Come on; don't give me that look. I'm a young man, what the hell did you expect? Mr. Perfect-Mama's-Boy? No way, José. I've made plenty of mistakes in my lifetime, and have been yelled at so many times that I'm probably losing my ability to hear.
You're probably wondering something along the lines of whom the hell Nayru, Din, and Farore are. You see, we (meaning myself; my mom; Link; his sister, Aryll; and his foster parents) are members of the Hylian church. They believe that Nayru, Din, and Farore are three goddesses whom aided in the creation of the world. Each one of us has a patron goddess. Nayru is the patron goddess of both Impa and me, while Farore is Link and Aryll's patron goddess. Strange, I know, but that's how our religion goes.
As I snap back to reality, I realize that I have been subconsciously fiddling with my fingerless gloves. I do that from time to time when I'm nervous or bored; it's nothing unusual. I've had the gloves for as long as I can remember. Well, okay, obviously I haven't kept one pair for all those years, but still. My mom says they're for protection. I can't help but wonder what a pair of gloves could do to protect me. What's she afraid of, rope burn?
Despite my nagging doubts, I know better than to go against Mom's orders. She happens to be the one who taught me how to defend myself if I ever get into big trouble. Odds are, I'm going to be thankful for that someday. Because of this, however, I'm not stupid enough to cross her after that. She was holding back the whole time; that much I know.
We're home now. The garage flies open, so we drive in. Link lugs his stuff up to my room. I don't need to remind him of its location; he can walk there backwards with his eyes closed. It was a stupid dare he did, but we found out that, ignoring some minor bruises, he knew the basic layout of my house—or atleast the pathwayto my room.
Mom yells at us to get to sleep. Now that she mentions it, I am feeling uncharacteristically tired. Usually I am a night owl; it takes me ages to fall asleep. Today, however, I might actually fall asleep on time. I change into my pajamas and climb into my sleeping bag, and glance at my clock to see what time it is. With the clock's green display of 11:58 fading into oblivion, my last conscious thought was that it was two minutes away from being my seventeenth birthday.
Author's Note: Yay! I've updated within the allotted time span again! The title for this chapter is from "Devil in the Wishing Well" by Five For Fighting. This song reminds me somewhat of when the malignant spirit from the well tossed Shiek and Link around, so that's why I titled Shiek's chapter as such. Umm…I'd love feedback on how the story is going. Hopefully, the real action will start next chapter! Stay tuned!
-Doggiegal