Wonder

Chapter 1

A teenage boy ran down the sidewalk before halting, his shoes skidding on the pavement as he dashed into the alleyway. He was hopping and dodging any obstacle that was in his path, throwing objects down as he ran and glancing back every few seconds to see numerous figures following him. For every two steps he made, they followed with four. The boy panted as he ran, his chest burning with every breath he took and his eyes grew watery from the wind blowing in his face. Fear motivated his every step. He turned the corner only to have something crash into his side, his breath knocked from his lungs upon hitting the ground. His head smacked into the pavement making stars dance across his vision while pain shot through his body.

He groaned as hands harshly moved him to where he lay on his back, a hand grabbing his hair and pulling it back. The boy let out a pitiful moan, his hands coming up to soothe the pain only for them to be pinned down. He struggled against the hands holding him down, before he opened his eyes to see a professionally dressed woman staring down at his withering form with a grimace, her blue eyes crinkled in disdain. She took a tablet that was handed to her, her gaze shifting from the tablet to the boy and nodding to her colleagues. "This is the one." She said matter-of-factly, "This is the Horror we're looking for. Bring him in." She commanded, bring a hand up to push a tuff of her blonde hair behind her ear.

The boy's eyes widened as his breathing picked up, "No..." He muttered, his throat going dry, "No! No, no, no, no, no!" He began to thrash as he was picked up from the ground. "No! Let me go! Let! Me! Go!" He screamed as his arms were held behind his back, a pair of cuffs slapped onto his wrists. He kicked and thrashed violently as he was being led out of the alleyway to an awaiting black van. As he was brought out into the open sidewalk, people had gathered to see the commotion. The boy began to scream louder, "Help me! Please, help me!" His cries fell on deaf ears as people watched with blank stares, a man opened the door to the van, prompting the boy to scream louder, "I don't want to go! I don't want to go! Please, someone, please! Help me!" Tears streamed down his face and he planted his feet onto the pavement, hoping to stop his captors. He was now in front of the door which held nothing but pitch-black darkness inside. He struggled harder before he was pushed inside but instead of hitting a hard floor, he freely fell into the darkness. His body whirled around as he fell, reaching up a hand at the open doorway which was now becoming a small dot. He let out one final scream before the light disappeared.

Sam Riviera shot up in his bed, gasping for air while restlessly glancing around his room. His room was bathed in a yellow glow, fear filling him as he looked down at his hands.

A yellow energy was pulsing around his hands. "Oh no, no, no, no..." He closed his eyes, and focused on his breathing. It quickened as a loud creak reached his ears drawing his attention to the doorway when light shone underneath it.

"Oh s***," He hissed, tightly shutting his eyes as he focused on suppressing the glow, "Please go away, please go away, please, please, please!"

The glow faded right as more light filled the room, Sam's father, Hector standing in the doorway. The man's aging face was pulled into a confused frown, concerned eyes blinking blearily at the boy, "Sammy? What's wrong?"

Sam stared at his father, brown eyes wide in fear before falling in shame, "Just a nightmare dad, sorry I woke you..."

His father hummed, his own eyes roaming around the room before sighing, "Want to have some coffee?" Sam chuckled wryly, nodding.

________________________________________________________________________________

"Y'know your brother will be coming home soon." Hector remarked, taking a sip of his coffee. Sam, who had been focused on his homework, stilled for a moment. Blinking rapidly, he too sipped his coffee, "Yeah, he'll come home, sleep for a few hours, and then it's back to working for the Ministry."