(Hi guys! Long time, no see. Remember me? Cuz I remember you! No, really I do. I mean, it's not like it's been a month since I've last updated... *checks date* Holy crap! It's been a month since I last updated! But really, I'm so so so so sorry about that. I feel terrible. I'll try to make my excuse brief. So after my last update, I went to start writing this chapter. But then my good friend writer's block decided to come and visit. So that combined with the fact that I was really busy during August with various things = no chapter. So again, I'm really sorry about that. I promise that I'll try to be more consistent with updates from here on out. I'm trying for every week or every other week at least. No more month long waits. So do you forgive me 3:? Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter guys! See ya :) )
[Mitch's POV]
I climbed up Jerome's and my tree with my new haul of food I "found" by a fast food place. It turns out that before he knew me, Jerome only ate raw fish. He wouldn't even cook it because of 'bacca tradition' or whatever. Well, I told him that wasn't going to work out if we were going to live together. So I introduced him to human food. Now he demands that I go to different places and bring back food every week. I can't say I mind. I usually come back with a treat for myself too.
I pushed open the trapdoor and looked at Jerome sitting on a beanbag, playing "Super Mario Bros" on an old NES and TV I found one day while looking for food down in Pennsylvania. Don't ask me how I managed to haul an NES, three games, a slightly cracked ten inch TV, and a bunch of cheesesteaks from Pennsylvania back to the deep Canada woods. I guess that's just the power of a bored nine year old.
"Die Bowser! DIE!" Jerome screamed, pressing the buttons furiously.
I sat down on the beanbag next to him. "Having fun there Jerome?"
"I don't understand you humans and your video games," he said, not taking his eyes off the screen.
I shrugged. "Hey, you're the one playing them."
"Whatever," he said, pausing the game and turning to look at me. "So, what did you get for dinner?"
I zipped open the aquarium backpack I'd gotten a couple months back. My first and only time I ever got close to being caught. But I'd gotten a bunch of decent stuff out of it, so it was worth it. I used the backpack to carry the food and other things I find on my random treks. "I got some chicken nuggets, french fries, three burgers, and a cookie."
Jerome pulled one of the fried foods out of the bag and bit into it. Then immediately spit it back out as I laughed. "BLAGH! What is that?!"
"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I also grabbed some fish sticks. How are those anyways?" I replied with a smirk.
"You son of a…" Jerome growled. He reached into the bag again and threw one of the chicken nuggets at my head.
"Hey!" I pouted. "That's not nice!" I picked up a burger and threw it at his face.
Jerome smirked as he peeled the burger off his fur. "Oh, it's on now!"
So for the next twenty minutes or so, we ran around the small tree house, throwing various junk foods at each other until the backpack was empty. Except for the cookie. I looked around the room at all the crumbs, ketchup, mustard, and grease stains. It looked like a real war had just went down. Smelled like it too. I took out the cookie from the bag and headed over to the beanbag Jerome was hiding behind. I broke the cookie in half and handed it to him. "Peace cookie?"
He smiled and chomped the cookie down in one bite. "Ahh... that was fun."
I sat down next to him. "Yeah, but now we kinda don't have any food. I'm gonna have to go out tomorrow and grab some stuff."
"Can you get some pizza from New York?" he asked, his mouth watering. "I could really go for some of that."
"You know that'll take me like, six days, right? Six days for you without food."
He waved that thought away. "That's fine. I'll just live off my old raw fish diet again until you get back. No big deal."
I sighed. "If you insist Jerome. I might as well go to bed now then." I headed over to my bed/old couch cushions held together with duct tape and a giant stuffed bear for a pillow. Hey, we're a nine year old kid and a furry animal (I think Jerome is my age, but I never really asked) living in a Canadian forest. We make do with what we have. I covered myself with my hoodie and closed my eyes.
Just before I could fall asleep, I felt Jerome's paw poke my shoulder. "What Jerome?" I moaned. "Come to clarify what pizza toppings you want?"
He smirked for just a second, but then got serious. "I just want to ask what's going on at night," he said. "For the past week, you've been screaming in your sleep. Is everything okay?"
I slapped a fake smile on my face. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just some weird nightmares is all. Nothing too bad."
He didn't leave. "You're terrible at lying Mitch. I may be a bacca, but I'm not stupid. You've been screaming every night, you always wake up sweating, and then you seem on edge for the rest of the day. What's going on?"
I sat up and looked him in the eye. "It's nothing Jerome. Just nightmares. Really, I'm fine. Now I'm gonna go to sleep."
He stayed still for a second just staring at me, then he shrugged and headed for the door. "Whatever you say Mitch. But we are friends, so if you ever want to talk about something, I'm here for you. Okay?"
I smiled and laid back down on my bed. "Yeah. Same to you buddy."
"And Mitch?"
"What?"
"Raw anchovies, sausage, and pepperoni on the pizza."
"Got it. Good night."
"Night Mitch." Then he left the room and I finally fell asleep.
Okay, so maybe I have been waking up in the middle of the night screaming lately. And maybe those nightmares are a bigger deal then I made them seem.
After what happened a couple of years ago, with the crash and Herobrine and other stuff I don't like to think about, it haunted me as I ran. But once I met Jerome and we became friends, the nightmares stopped, my anxiety lessened, and I almost completely forgot about Herobrine. I was happy for a long time.
Then one day last week, the nightmares started up again from out of nowhere. The same nightmare as before, but it didn't make it any less terrifying. Tonight's nightmare seemed no different. I was in the hospital hallway, except it was so long I couldn't see the end and it was lined with beds. Each bed had a different person in it, sleeping peacefully.
The dream propelled me forward past everything else until I came to a bed with my mom in it. She looked just like she did when Herobrine showed her to me in the hospital all those years ago. Her face pale almost like a ghost's, a couple burn scars on her face, and when she looked at me her eyes were bloodshot. I stood next to her, trying hard not to cry. She smiled at me and put her hand on my cheek. "You're going to do great things Mitch. I know. Your dad knew, too." She gripped my dog tags and ran her finger across the front one, changing the name from Mitch to BajanBrine. "You'll do so much more in this world than anyone else. If you see an opportunity, take it. Make us proud Mitch," she whispered. Then she closed her eyes and Herobrine appeared behind me.
"You heard her," he said. "I'm giving you an opportunity to be great. To rule." He snapped his fingers and a blue sword appeared in my hands. "Take the opportunity Mitchell. Use the power I gave you. And if you don't do this for me, do it for your mother and father."
This would usually be the part of the dream where all the sick and wounded people in the hospital beds would get up like zombies and start screaming and clawing at me, asking why I was doing this to them, like I was the one who put them in the hospital. That would usually cause me to wake up with a scream and in a cold sweat immediately. Sometimes it would last for a couple minutes. But this time, nothing happened. The people in the beds remained still, and I was left staring at Herobrine.
"I said," Herobrine muttered, "Take the opportunity Mitchell. Do you even know what you're capable of? You could get whatever you want on a whim. You could be above every other power in this universe. Your parents will be so proud of you if you become more than what you are right now. Look at you. You're nothing but a orphan boy, running from his troubles so he doesn't have to face them. They would be disappointed. Come with me for them, Mitch. Take this amazing opportunity and make them proud."
I looked at the sword and saw my reflection in it. I looked like a little Herobrine with a hoodie. That's what he wanted. To make me like him. I never really realized it before. He was using me for something. I don't know what, but I do know that I don't want any part of it. I looked into his blank eyes and said, "No."
Herobrine looked at me with a confused look for a second, then laughed. "Do you not know what I'm offering you Mitchell? A whole world just for you, to do whatever you want with. The power to do anything you could imagine. If you wanted to, I'm sure there's a way to even bring your little furry friend into the picture. But don't you see how awesome this could be?" The hospital beds and hallway faded around me, then a glittering golden throne appeared in a giant room, filled with everything I could ever want. "This and much, much more could be yours Mitchell," Herobrine said. "Just realize what you're really meant to be."
I stared at the room. It was really tempting to go sit on that throne, and I started to walk towards it. I stopped when I got at the foot of it, though. What would I have to do to get to this place, though? If there was one thing that I learned from being on the run, it's that nothing came without consequence. I gripped my hand tighter around the hilt of the sword and grit my teeth. "I. Said. NO!" Then I sprinted towards Herobrine and tackled him to the ground and put the sword to his neck. "No. I said no and I'm gonna keep saying no, so stop trying to bribe me. Cause it's not gonna work."
Herobrine didn't seem remotely fazed by what I said. In fact, he even smiled. "Hm. So you're going to play by the prophecy rules, are you? Well, I expected it, but it never hurts to try to work around things a little bit earlier. You'll come around eventually Mitchell. Don't you worry about that. It will just take a little more time then I was hoping for. But you are already on your way."
"What prophecy?" I asked. "What are you talking about?"
He chuckled. "Ambitious little nine year old, aren't you? You'll find out eventually, Mitchell. Now, I believe that this will be the end of my little visits for a bit. Good bye Mitchell. I look forward to seeing you come to your senses." His eyes flashed, then the whole world faded into white.
I woke up in my bed, and sat straight up. The nightmare… what happened? Why was it different than the other times before? Did I do something to change it? I don't think I really did anything different up until Herobrine started talking. Maybe he really was out there somewhere, controlling my nightmares. But if he is, then why did it change this time? And what was that prophecy thing he was talking about?
"Too many questions, Mitch," I told myself. "Don't over complicate things. It'll just make it worse. Just be glad he said it'll be the last one for awhile."
I glanced out my little window at the horizon. Jerome refused to get a clock for some reason, so I eventually learned how to tell what time it was by looking at the sky. It looked like it was about six am, with the sun just starting to peak over the horizon. "Well, I'm up," I sighed, rubbing my eyes. "I might as well go." I put my hoodie on and grabbed my backpack, then headed down the tree. Back to New York, I guess.
It took me about two days to get to New York, but I finally made it. I was maybe about fifteen minutes outside of the city, and I was starving. As I walked down the sidewalk, my stomach growled for a solid minute. "Why do you have to be so far away, city?" I mumbled. "All I need is some food. Is that too much to ask?"
As I walked, I spotted a school with kids playing on the playground. It must've been around noon. I smirked. "Lunch time. Score." I climbed over the chain-link fence in an abandoned corner of the schoolyard, then hid and waited for the kids to head inside. When the teacher blew the whistle, all the kids started to run inside like a stampede of cows. I just simply slipped in with the rest of the herd and bam! I'm in.
While everyone else stood in line waiting for their food, I walked casually into the kitchen and hid under a table. Yeah, yeah, I know. Pretty obvious hiding spot. But really, no one ever looks under here. I've done this at at least seven different schools, and I've never been caught. I can't believe it either. But hey, I get free food. I'm not complaining.
I waited for the kids to all get their food and sit down. Then all the lunch ladies grabbed their own food and went to wherever lunch ladies go after they serve lunch. Then I made my move. I slid out from under the table and started eating the leftover food. Mmm… chicken nuggets, rice, fruit and a couple brownies. Not sure if it's all real, but I really don't care at this point. I started shoveling the food down.
I was just about to eat my first brownie when I heard someone go, "Hey!" I turned around and saw a kid in a white t-shirt, black pants, and a headset on top of his long brown hair standing by the door holding an empty lunch tray. "You're that kid from the aquarium!" The aquarium… from a couple months ago? This guy was there? Great. That means the other guy is here too. Of the millions of schools in New York, I just had to steal food from the one with the only two people who ever caught me.
I quickly glanced around for an escape. Headset kid was standing by the only exit. Crap. I'll just have to play dumb. Maybe he'll fall for it. I gave him a confused look. "Sorry? I've never been to the aquarium around here. I just moved here from Canada and I came in late today. The lunch ladies just told me to take my lunch from in here. So, don't mind me."
Headset guy raised an eyebrow. "Sorry. My family constantly lies to me. I'm good at figuring that stuff out. Besides, the backpack kinda gives it away. Mitch, right? What are you even doing here? How'd you get in?"
I sigh. I know when I've been defeated. "Look Headset-"
"Ty," he said.
"Ty, I have a bit of a problem. In case you haven't figured it out, I'm poor. I pretty much have nothing. My mom died in a plane crash when I was five and I never knew my dad. I'm desperate. Just please don't tell anyone I take things. It's all I can do if I really don't want to go to some orphanage."
His expression softened a little bit. "Wait, your mom died in a plane crash?" I nodded, even though I wondered what this had to do with anything. Ty smiled a bit. "Well, we have something in common then. My dad died in a plane crash too." He looked around the corner then tossed me his tray. "Fill it."
"Wait, what?"
"Fill it with food then follow me."
I looked at the tray then back at Ty. "Seriously, what?"
He rolled his eyes. "I'm getting you food. Duh. I can't let you steal, so I'll pay for it."
"Uh… okay. Thanks?" Well, that took a turn for the better. I expected him to call a teacher or something to deal with me.
I put some food on the tray then followed him to a woman standing by a computer. "Excuse me, Ms. Chace, can you scan my card again?"
The woman looked at us. "What for Ty?"
Ty pointed to me. "My friend, Mitch. He's an exchange student from… Where are you from again?"
"Uh...Canada."
"Yeah. Canada. Anyway, he just arrived and came a little bit late, so I'm getting his lunch."
Ms. Chase eyed me for a second, then smiled and me. "Well, nice to meet you, Mitch. I'm sure you'll like it here. Can I see your lunch card, Ty?" Ty handed her his little card thing then we walked over to a lunch table with another kid sitting alone. He had wavy brown hair, a NASA shirt, and looked very familiar… oh no. I stopped walking.
"What's wrong Mitch?" Ty asked.
I pointed at the wavy haired kid. "If I remember right, he hates me and will try to kill me."
Ty laughed. "Who, Jason? Nah. He just doesn't like rule breakers. Once you explain your situation, I'm sure he'll understand. C'mon."
So we walked over to the table and sat down. Jason immediately remembered our little encounter at the aquarium. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be robbing a comic store?"
"Shouldn't you be tackling random people?" I replied.
"I was trying to stop you from robbing the gift shop."
"Great job at doing that."
Ty rubbed his temples. "Seriously, you two just met and I already can feel a headache coming on. Jason, just hear Mitch out. Mitch, explain."
I explained my situation to Jason, who still didn't seem to like me by the end of my little story. "That doesn't give you an excuse to go around stealing things! You could ask for help from someone or something," he said, glaring.
"Jeez, Jason," Ty said shaking his head. "The guy lost his mom, never knew his dad, and was forced to at age five to fend for himself so he wouldn't go to an orphanage. Have some sympathy."
"He still shouldn't steal things!"
"Well, what would you do in my situation?" I asked him. "Seriously. I'm open to suggestions. If it doesn't land me in an orphanage, I'm all for it."
He slouched down in his seat and grunted, "Whatever." We spent the rest of the lunch time in silence.
So, apparently Ty took the whole 'I'm his exchange student' thing really seriously. After lunch, I was about to leave when Ty dragged me to their classroom, much to Jason's and my dismay. Ty told his teacher our fake story, including how we met (in a bus one day while I was on vacation), where I was from (Montreal), and why his mom didn't bother to tell him (she forgot). Funny thing; he bought all of it. He just needed some head nods from me to confirm it. I'll have to compliment Ty's lying skills later.
The teacher sandwiched me between Ty and Jason and gave me some paper to write on along with all the books to put in my desk. Ty lent me a pencil to write with. The teacher started rambling on and on about some science-y thing that I didn't understand. I tried to just doodle on my paper, but Jason kept poking and glaring at me. "Pay attention."
"Dood, I haven't been to school since kindergarten. I don't even know what half the words he's saying mean."
"You could at least put some effort into trying to understand!"
"Ahem," the teacher said from up front. "Jason, Mitch, do you two have something to say?"
Jason blushed and looked down at his notes, clearly embarrassed. Fine. I don't like him, but I'll cover for him. "Sorry sir. I was just a little confused on the notes, so I asked Jason to help me. So it was my fault we were talking."
The teacher sighed. "It's alright, Mitch. Just next time, ask me your questions. Got it?"
"Yes sir," I said. Jason gave me a thankful look then went back to taking notes. Then the class went on as normal, except when I doodled on my paper, Jason didn't say anything.
The next thing I know, a piece of paper was slammed on my desk. On it were different letters that made words that I didn't understand. I glanced over at Ty and Jason. They were both filling out the paper with ease. So was everyone else in the class. I tapped Jason on the shoulder. "Uh... what is this?" I asked.
"Homework," he replied nonchalantly.
"Like, school work that we do when we aren't at school?" I asked.
"Yeah. Why?"
"No reason." He went back to his homework and I stared at the paper, completely disgusted with the idea of it. Who gives extra work for kids to do in their free time? These people are cruel.
Focus, Mitch. You're gonna be here for awhile obviously, so you have to do this, "homework" no matter how stupid it is. I looked over the sheet and tried to make sense of the words on the page and write down what I thought was the answer. What happened next was a bunch of scribbles that I tried to make look like letters in the questions. I still didn't know what any of it meant.
Apparently I looked really frustrated, because Jason looked over at my paper and asked, "Do you need some help Mitch?"
I shook my head. "No. I'm fine."
"No, I'm pretty sure you need help," he said. "Your answers don't make any sense and I can barely read them. I'm pretty sure some of those aren't even letters."
I blushed and looked down at my pencil. "I...uh...can't read or write," I whispered.
Jason looked shocked. "What?!" He whisper shouted. "How can you not know how to read and write?"
"I've been on the run ever since my mom died, so I never really learned to read since I was just starting kindergarten. And I haven't written a letter since then either."
Jason looked like he had just heard about the most terrible tragedy ever. "You can't be serious!"
"Jason! Mitch!" The teacher yelled from his desk. "Other people are trying to work, so you two better be quiet or I'll have to move you two! Understand?" We both shut up. I looked back at the paper and glowered. I already hate school.
