"John," called his mother cheerily. John woke with a slight headache from studying the day before. His family were moving soon, and he was to enrol in a high-class school.
John reflected on the day before. He had gone to look at the house they were moving into. It was a nice house, if not a little old. There was some sort of plant growing on the side and the paint was peeling a little. It looked spacious, however, and overall he was quite content with it. He heard a noise from within- far too big for a rodent of any kind. Plus, it sounded like they were pulling at the curtains. He was pretty sure mice couldn't do that. He hid behind a nearby shrub and soon a litter of glass objects rained down from the second storey window. Confused, he stood to investigate when suddenly a figure clad in a dark coat appeared on the windowsill. He saw the person try to grab hold of the roof and suddenly fall off. John rushed to him to help him up. He was a little shorter than John, and for some reason, he refused to look at John. The whole ordeal was confusing to John. The boy obviously lived in the manor across the road. It was a fancy home, so he must be rich. But then, why was he taking things from John's future home?
John hurried down the stairs at the call of his mother. He sat at the table next to his father.
"Studying hard?" inquired his father from behind his newspaper.
"Yeah. A little too hard, actually," he smiled.
"Well, you have to get into the new school. By the way, did you meet any new people when you checked the house out?"
"Oh, um," John wondered if he should tell his father about the strange boy from the house, "…no. No-one was out yesterday," his father nodded and turned back to his paper.
John waited anxiously for the mail for the next week. The exams were difficult, and he wasn't certain he'd be accepted into the school. His parents reassured him that it would be fine, but he was still clinging to the underlying feeling that he wasn't good enough. The week after he finished the exam, the results arrived. He put the envelope on the table and sat down. He stared at the envelope for at least an hour before he had the courage to call for one of his parents to open it. His father came down and his mother followed a short time later. He and his mother stood next to the table as his father carefully opened it. They looked as if they were disarming a bomb, not opening a letter. The letter was unfolded and his father gave John a stern look before sighing. John's mother clutched at his hand. His father flipped the letter and showed them the results.
"I… I passed?" John stammered. His father nodded and embraced him and his mother.
"I'm proud of you, son," he whispered.
It was a couple of days before Christmas and John was still ecstatic that he managed to get into the school. On Christmas day they would be moving into their new house and John would prepare for his new life in his new neighbourhood. John was filled with joy. He loved Christmas.
Mmm, yes, it's a short one. I needed to start/finish John's background story. Trust me, it'll get longer from here. I have been a little busy of late and I still don't have unlimited access to a computer. I'm going to my other house this weekend so I'll see how much I can get done on that computer.
I've started the next chapter already, so I'll try and be quicker with it. It's a bit dark so be careful.
~Take a Shock Blanket with you~
SH