Chapter 1
The sun rose up over the horizon for the start of a new day. A gently breeze blew outside as clouds started to roll in. It looked as if rain was coming, because the clouds darkened in color as the wafted across the sky. Leaves began to detach from the branches they were connected to, falling, and as they fell towards the ground, they began to age rapidly. Like the descent represented life itself, because by the time one of the leaves had hit the ground, the aging process had stopped and they had transitioned from a forest green to a decaying brown.
A man had been standing there, like he was the cause of the leaves dying. Walking over to one, he crouched down, and ever-so-gently tried to pick up one of the decaying leaves. But as soon as his ghostly white fingers touched it, it began to crumble like a sand castle that had been trampled. Breaking in to fragments, the small bits flew off as the wind started to pick up. Like every small fragment had grown wings and left on its own accord, but it again it was only the wind. As the fragments blew away, the man stood up and sped away down the seemingly abandoned street.
Once the man had left, the clouds lightened up and disappeared, the wind had ceased, but the leaves regained none of their original luster or zeal. As the clouds pulled back, a light shone back down on a neighborhood that was initially blocked by cloud cover.
A curtain was pulled back from a window, which belonged to a house that the tree was rooted in front of. Daniel Hellings stood and gazed out the window, with a perplexed expression plastered on his face. Could’ve sworn I saw someone standing out there, he thought to him self. He shrugged the feeling off and continued to get ready for the end of summer open house, which every student, up and coming and returning, was welcomed to.
Daniel Hellings was 16 years old and attending Bluestone High. He was going in to his sophomore year, but he was less than excited. Nothing exciting ever happened in Bluestone, Virginia. The most exciting thing to happen, within the past two years, was a small fire that was started from a rag that was left on the stove. Other than that, life was normally dull.
Daniel took a deep breath, yawning afterwards and ruffling his brown hair. The light shone in through the window and brightened up his dark room. His room was clean, and everything was neatly arranged. He walked over to his dresser drawers, opened it, and pulled out the clothes he was going to wear for the day.
Leaving his room, he walked to the bathroom. Once his shower was done, he wiped the condensation off of the mirror, and looked at him self.
“Ugh, back to school.” Daniel complained. “Hopefully something excited will happen this year, but I’m not counting on it. I mean, come on, it’s Bluestone. Nothing exciting ever happens here.”
“Daniel,” his mother called up to him. “If you don’t hurry up and get down here, you’re going to miss the open house and all that good food they normally have.”
His mothers attempt to get him excited only made Daniels movements more sluggish. Turning and looking at the door, he scowled a look at would offend anyone. He then, cut on the water, brushed his teeth, taking as long as possible to prolong the events of the day.
Finally ready to leave, he heard the door bell ring. Running to the window, Daniel look out it and saw that is was Will Rhymeless, he could tell by the old, beat-up Chevy that was parked out on the curb. Gliding down the stairs, like he wore the boots of Hermes, Daniel opened the front door to greet his friend.
Daniels mother, Anne stood behind him, while his father, Mitch, was in the kitchen reading the morning paper.
Will and Daniel were two friends who rarely separated. Whenever there was an event anywhere, those two were normally there. And the only reason Daniel had ever considered going to the open house was because he knew that Will was going.
“Hey, what’s up, man?” Will said, entering the house and slapping Daniels hand as he came down.
“It’s nice to see you again, Will.” Anne said. “Are you excited to go the open house?”
“Very much so, Mrs. Hellings,” Daniel stood there, smirking because he knew that Will hadn’t meant anything he had said. He knew that Will probably loathed the idea, if not more than Daniel him self. The main reason Will had ever went to any event was to talk to the co-eds.
To Will, Daniel was his wingman. Whenever there was a girl he wanted to talk to, Daniel would talk boldly about his friend, talking his name up to which ever girl he was infatuated with. That was the relationship those two had had.
Daniel was more of a turtle stuck in its shell, never wanting to come out and see what is really out there. He was more cautious than Will was, but, unfortunately, that made him less appealing to some of the girls he had a crush on, too.
“Alright, mom, we’re going to get going now, bye.” Daniel said, rushing out the door to avoid anymore questions.
The sun was bright, brighter than it was earlier. What a perfect day, Daniel thought, as he took in the morning air, strolling down his walk way to Will’s car. These were days that Daniel lived for, perfect. The day wasn’t too hot or too cold, there was a gentle breeze to compliment the weather, but as he walked towards the car, he noticed something that broke him out of his euphoric trace. The dead leaves lying on the ground.
When did that tree die, he thought to him self. Thought the rain would’ve kept it hydrated. And the other trees are doing just fine. He broke off his initial path towards the car and walked to where the leaves laid. Picking one up had the same affect as the leaf earlier that broke.
“What’s wrong, Daniel? It just a tree, getting a little overly sad, don’t you think?” Will said, questioning his friend as he opened up the front door of his car.
“Nothing, it’s just – I could’ve sworn these leaves were perfectly fine yesterday.”
“Forget it. It’s probably global warming. You already know what kind of effects it’s having on the earth. Get over it, man. We got hunnies to cruise for. Besides, what’s more important: getting the numbers of younger girls, or trying to figure why leaves are dead? That sounds like something a plant nut would do.”
“Whatever.”
Daniel crushed the leaf in his hand and let it fall back to the ground. The thought had passed, and he joined Will in the car.
As the car pulled off, there was a man standing down the street, looking at the car as it drove away from him. From the position he was standing at, a second later he was at tree in front of the Hellings’ residence. His expression was ghastly as he looked down at the dead leaves. But his facial composure was stern, serious as he crouched down to grab a leaf. It was a familiar scene to him, as the leaf crumbled away.
“Still can’t do it, can I?” he asked himself aloud. “I’m going to have to be a little more careful from now on.”
Rising to his feet again, he sped off down the street.
At the school, Will and had pulled in to the assigned parking spot they had given him in the parking lot of Bluestone High. There were a lot of tents set up around the campus, like the circus had come to town. A lot of the students were already mingling and eating and greeting one another. Since Will had been lucky in the drawing of parking spot lots, he was able to park near the front of the school.
The two boys got out and stretched their limbs. The car sputtered and hissed, from being such an old and worn model, that left the boys feeling a little embarrassed as a group of girls passed by, giggling at what they saw. Will turned around and kicked the bumper of it, causing it to unhinge and fall off.
