Chapter 1: Reckoner

An 8-year-old boy named Shaun was playing in the backyard on a swing his neighbor put up for him while his mother, Amy sat on the back porch, watching him and reading a book she was invested in. Shaun got off the swing and walked up to his mother.

"Hey Mom, Can I go over to my friend's house?" He didn't have many friends and was a bit of an introvert, but he did enjoy hanging out with the ones he did have.

"Sorry, sweetie. Did you forget we have to go to the store soon, and your uncle Rad is going to take you to the movies tonight?" Amy replied.

"Oh yeah, I guess I did. Well, can you play with me?"

"Of course I will, sweetie!" Amy said as he placed a bookmark in her book and set it down on the table next to her.

Shaun ran inside to grab his Frisbee from his room. The house they lived in was from the 50s-60s with a few modern upgrades added over the years from the previous owners. The first floor had a living room with a couch and a slightly outdated flat-screen TV and next to the living room was the kitchen. The floor was tiled with wavy green squares and lastly a small bathroom and a storage closet both near the living room. The second floor had a larger bathroom with a shower/tub combo, Amy's room, and Shaun's room at the end of the hall. Shaun entered his room, careful not to step on any of his action figures he left on the ground, and grabbed his Frisbee off his dresser. Shaun went back outside, and they threw the disc back and forth to each other seeing who could catch it the most without letting it hit the ground and Shaun won, with his mother purposely missing a few. After playing for a while the two now just entered inside the grocery store called 'Food-Smart'

"What do we need to get mum?"

"Just a few things, do you want a ride in the cart?"

"Yes please!"

Amy helped her son into the shopping cart and pretended he was driving a car while they went down the aisles. Amy walked faster and did some wheelies with the cart when there was nobody else around which made Shaun smile. After getting everything they needed, Shaun got out of the cart and helped his mom put the things onto the belt at checkout.

"Hello, Amy. Hi Shaun."

They turned around and saw their other neighbor, an elderly woman, who was also doing some shopping of her own.

"Hey Ann, how are you doing?"

"I'm doing fine dear; I heard you are going to see a movie later Shaun."

"Yeah, I am! Uncle Rad is taking me."

"Oh, that's good! What are you two going to see?"

"Um… I forgot."

"Well, I hope you have a good time, I better be going now. Have a good day you two."

"Thanks, you too!"

"Bye Ann!"

They said goodbye to their neighbor and headed back home after paying for the groceries. Shaun grabbed a few of them and carried them up to the front door.

"My, aren't you a little helper today."

"Yeah, I like helping you mom!"

"Well thank you Shaun, I'm proud of you."

When Amy got up to the door she leaned down and gave Shaun a hug, which he returned. A few more hours passed until a gray car pulled into the driveway. Shaun watched it through the window and knew who it was.

"Uncle Rad is here!" he yelled as he ran outside.

"Slow down! You might trip!" Amy yelled out but Shaun didn't hear her.

Rad got out of his car and was thrown into a hug by his nephew. "Hey kiddo, how have you been?"

"I'm doing great Uncle Rad!" Shaun replied.

Amy walked out and hugged her stepbrother too. "Hey big bro, I'm glad you could come out today."

Rad broke away from the hug. "Yeah me too, I'm usually super busy at my job but I figured I'd cash in a few of my vacation days."

Shaun looked up to his uncle. "Does that mean?…"

"Yep! I got the next two days off, and I'll be spending them with you guys."

Shaun gave his uncle another hug, "Thank you!"

Rad patted the top of his head, "It's no problem, mate."

They all talked for a while until it was time for him and Shaun to head to the movie theater. They got into the car and started driving away.

"Bye Mom! Love you!" Shaun yelled out of the car.

"Love you too! Have fun!" Amy replied as she watched them leave.

The uncle and nephew duo arrived and bought tickets to the movie, along with some popcorn and drinks. The movie they saw was about a group of six colorful ponies traveling across their world and meeting new creatures to save everyone from a villain called the Storm King. After the movie, Rad drove Shaun back home. While on the road, Rad looked over to his nephew and saw him staring out the window, he decided to make the drive a little more lively by talking to him.

"Hey mate, did you enjoy the movie?"

"Yeah, it was awesome!"

"I'm glad you enjoyed it; I also thought it was pretty good. And I like that one pony, Songbird Serenade, she has a nice voice." Rad replied.

He looked at Shaun and still saw him staring out the window, so he asked him another question. "Hey… how are you holding up? You know, since-"

"Since my parents divorced?" Shaun finished his uncle's sentence and turned to look at him. "I'm… okay, I guess. I'm glad I live with Mom, She really cares about me, even if she is a little strict with me sometimes."

"Yep, that sounds like my stepsister." Rad said with a smile. Radley, or Rad as he likes to be called, was born in Australia and lived there until he was 12. When his father died from lung cancer he and his mother moved to America and fell in love with another guy. Soon after that, Amy was born and several years later, had Shaun.

Rad turned onto the street of his sister's house and parked in the driveway, but he had a strange feeling in his stomach. He noticed that none of the lights inside the house were on, not even the porch light.

"Wait here for a second Shaun." He said with a worried look on his face.

He got out of the car and walked up to the front door, and noticed it was pushed slightly open. He walked inside and pulled out his phone to see where he was going. He found a light switch and flipped it on and off several times, but the lights weren't turning on.

"Did the power go out or something?" He said to himself. Rad continued using his phone as a flashlight and headed upstairs.

Back in the car, Shaun was confused about why he had to wait and got out of the car, against what his uncle told him, and walked inside his house. He put his hands on the wall to feel for the light switch, he found it and tried turning on the lights, but they wouldn't come on. When his eyes got a little adjusted to the darkness, he carefully walked upstairs to find his uncle and mother. He made it to the end of the hall and looked into his mother's room, where he saw his uncle standing in front of his mother's bed.

"Uncle Rad? What are you looking-" Before he finished his sentence, Shaun looked over to the bed and saw his mother's body covered in stab wounds, blood staining the sheets and dripping off the side, onto the carpet.

"H-Hey kiddo, I thought I told y-you to wait in the car." Rad spoke, his voice cracking and tears threatening to come out.

Shaun began to cry and ran out of the room.

"Wait!" Rad yelled out and tried to grab his nephew, but he was too slow.

Shaun ran out the backdoor and into the forest behind the house. He and Amy would always play hide and seek in these trees when she had time, and now all those memories were flooding back into his mind, along with questions; Why did this happen? What did she do to deserve this?

He wiped the tears from his eyes and looked back in the direction of the house. While running he wasn't paying attention to what was in front of him and tripped over a recently fallen branch. He closed his eyes and prepared to make contact with the ground… But it never happened, it still felt like he was falling. He slowly opened his eyes and let out a gasp, He was falling through some kind of void, bright white sparkles that reminded him of stars flashed all around him as he continued to fall. Suddenly, a large light appeared in front of him and was getting larger and larger. He knew this time he was about to hit something, so he braced himself and closed his eyes. Shaun hit the ground hard and let out a groan. He rolled over onto his back and opened his eyes. He was met with a view of large trees and the sounds of owls hooting. Shaun was still in a forest, but he didn't recognize anything he saw. He noticed something in front of his face and put his hands on whatever was on him, but when he noticed his hands, he saw something different with them. He held them in front of his eyes and blinked a few times to make sure what he was seeing was real, he had fur on his hands and arms! He felt his face again and realized that it was his snout, he quickly sat up and let out a scream, or more of a yelp in this case. He found a small stream of water going into a pond and tried to look at his reflection with the little bit of moonlight he had. He had ears that pointed up and a tail. His body was covered in gray fur beside the ends of his arms and feet which had white fur. Shaun couldn't believe it.

"I'm a dog?!" He yelled out.

Shaun was in disbelief; he tried to remember what happened to him. He remembers seeing a bunch of lights and falling for a while but that was all coming back to him, he began to get scared and called out for his family.

"Uncle Rad?"

….

"Mom?"

….

Anyone?"

….

But nobody came.

Shaun's ears drooped down. He was lost and no one was there to help him. He didn't want to be in the woods anymore, so he wiped the dirt off his face and body and began to walk. He didn't know where he was going, just that he had to go somewhere. Shaun wandered aimlessly, he tripped and scrapped against trees, giving him small cuts and bruises, but he started to see something that looked like lights. He approached them and found he was now staring at a park, streetlights illuminating the area. Shaun smiled; he was happy to finally get out but that was when the exhaustion caught up to him. He couldn't stand anymore and ended up falling over and passing out.

(Shaun's dream)

He stood inside a room, with two other figures. One was standing next to him and the other was lying down on something Darkness and fog covered them and the room. He knew everything was familiar to him somehow, but everything was so distorted he couldn't make it out. The figure that was lying down stood up and looked right at Shaun and it spoke.

"It's your fault."

Shaun didn't know why, but something about the way it spoke shot fear into his heart. He was able to reply but everything around him faded away into nothing. He was confused now but then he woke up.

Shaun heard birds chirping and children playing. "Did I sleep through the night?" He thought everything was just a dream and smiled, until he sat up and looked at the playground. More strange dogs of different colors and sizes were standing around and playing. The smile on his face faded, he lay on his side and held onto his legs, and began to silently weep. A few minutes passed, and his ears twitched, hearing the sound of footsteps approaching him.