Pride.

Chapter 2.

Chapter, Matt Miller

Was it pride? No, not from him. Maybe, it was from my mother. But never my father. And maybe it was pride of me. But I couldn’t tell. But I couldn’t stay with him anymore. My pathetic mess of a father would have to deal without me, from now on. So I slip on my backpack, which is packed with my clothes, and few belongings, while he stands awkwardly beside my door, watching, with a glazed look to his eye. Drunk again, no doubt. He tries to light a cigarette, with shaking hands. I snatch it from his grasp, firmly stomp to the apartment window, and drop it.

  “Stop the flipping smoking,” I growl, before slamming my old bedroom door behind me, I hear him collapse, and start to sob. I feel nothing for him.

  My name is Matt. Matt Miller. I’m fourteen, and currently, I live with my terrible achohalic of a father. My mother was murdered when I was young. I live in a tiny apartment, that stinks of smoke and liquor. I was terrified of what the smoke was doing to my lungs, but I wouldn’t have to deal with that too much longer.

Now, back up a bit. Over the past fifty years, the world fell apart. The sea levels rose, and land suddenly became packed. Humans ended up on the brink of extinction. Animals were disappearing, and food became scarce. Water ended up poisoned. People were all jammed together in tiny little patches of land. But then, the Red Death virus came along, humanly-engineered, mean to do the world good. But instead, it killed everything in it’s path. Human civilization was almost destroyed. Yet somehow, some survived.

  There was still the problem of the sea levels. But because half the population was wiped out, suddenly, there was enough room. It seemed like everything would be okay. Unfortunately, humans are not the smartest creatures ever.

  A war started.  People fought for the best pieces of land. They were greedy, selfish, and desperate. Fights raged everywhere.

  And after that, there was definitely no overpopulation. The war lasted five long, hard years. People were left with about seven billion, in the whole world.

   The sea levels never did go down. Places like New York are completely underwater. I’ve seen photos of it. It’s truly hard to believe something as bug as that with so many people existed.

    Then, the Reflection World came into the picture. The famous scientist made his discovery, connected the mirror, and was lost into the mirror. He never came back, and was presumed dead. And from that the governments teamed up, and decided that the other side of the world had to be explored. This couldn’t just be left alone. They sent their best young men and women to the Antarctic, where the mirror, now known as the Reflection Gate, was moved too. The explorers were called Selectors, and were highly trained in fighting, weapons, and survival skills. Obviously, there were some people who didn’t like the idea. But right now, that isn’t important.

  Of course, they then needed people to guard the Reflection Gate. Each continent sent over one boy and one girl to be trained to guard the mirror. Nobody really wanted to do this. But some people, for reasons of their own, would volunteer their own kids to become a guard or selector.

  For a while, everything seemed to go smoothly with this new programme. Almost. There was another agency, or programme started up, called Serpex. They had some way of assassinating people that was truly horrifying. They went after people who were in training to become a Selector. And then they killed them. They haven’t been caught. But everyone knows who they are. The odd thing is, they never went after the Guards.

  Which is what I was. My father signed me up to be a guard, and I was going to comply. I would go to the Antarctic, and never see him again, guarding the thing that may have taken lives. The Reflection Gate. And I was already on my way out the front door.