Angel Reviver

Chapter 1: Do shooting stars wish on you?

Like most grueling mornings a tired person wakes up. This tired person, though, hears not only his tia Milena’s cooking, but whispers coming from no one near him. This is Samuel Iglesias, he lives in La Dorada, New Mexico, and he’s a senior in Dorado high school.  Samuel is 5 '9, skinny, brown complexion, oh and he hears voices in his head. He’s not mentally ill per say, though most people would make that mistake, but he’s psychic, to much of his chagrin.
Samuel lets out a long grown, rolls out of bed and gets dressed for school then goes to the kitchen. “Hey Tia Milena, what are you cooking?” Samuel asks.
“Just some waffles,” she replies. Samuel sits down on the table as his tia serves him two waffles with a cold glass of milk. Samuel cuts off a piece, and puts it in his mouth. Bland, he thought, this is bland, I might as well be eating cardboard.
“Hey, does this taste weird to you?”  Samuel asked Milena.
She replies “No, taste, the same as always to me.”
“Maybe the ingredients expired.”
“Uh no I have already checked most of them don’t expire for another month.” She replies a bit confused and worried that the due date might have been a liar. Samuel thinks to himself, well damn, it seems waffles are ruined for me. Maybe I'm getting some waffles hating disease? What a medical freaking marvel.
“I can see if there’s something else”, said Milena, “want something else?”
Samuel looked at his tia and gave a forced smile. “No thank you”, he said.
Milena smiled back and looked at her food, “so…did you hear anything interesting on your little mental neighborhood radio?”, she asked.
“Ummm, no not really”, responded Samuel, “it was mostly just mumbles. Oh but Ms. Bates keeps complaining about her husband. She thinks he's cheating with his secretary. The one Mrs. Bates calls ‘real chesty’”
“Well, is he?”, asked his tia,
“not with his secretary”, said Samuel, “but with the barista from the coffee shop. Barry I think.”
“Damn”, exclaimed Milena in shock, “Mr. Bates gets around.”
“Yeah, I guess he does.”said Samuel, pretty monotone.
Milena laughed uncomfortably, realizing talking about affairs you overhear telepathically might not be enjoyable.
“Well poor Mrs. Bates”, said Milena.
“Yeah, poor her.”
Samuel continued eating until he checked the time and realized… “Oh damn it I'm late.” Samuel got his stuff, ran to the door but not before saying bye to his tia or else she’d kick his butt.
Samuel runs like crazy, probably faster than he ever ran. He crosses the street, a car passes by and Samuel narrowly avoids it, but sadly doesn’t avoid the driver flipping him off. He arrives at class catching his breath, actively heaving then sits in his seat right before the bell rings. “Alright class, open your textbooks to page 96.”, Ms. Martino, the Calculus teacher, told the class in an unenergetic voice. If you asked Samuel why Ms. Martino spoke like that, he would say, it's the same reason for all other government workers, they're simply dead inside. And thus another uninteresting day in El Dorado high school began.
After what seemed like an eternity, the first break bell rang and everyone was leaving the classroom. Samuel walks around until he runs into his 3rd period English teacher, Mr. Booth; his full name is Henry Booth, he is a pretty big guy, like 6 '4 big, along with a husky body type, Samuel always thought Booth would’ve been able to play some type of major league sports. Booth doesn't have too much color on him, being slightly but not too pale. He also has shaggy head and beard hair, making seem like a messy guy if you didn't know him, but he actually likes things pretty neat. Mr. Booth asked Samuel to talk with him for a minute. “Samuel, I have been looking at your works from the past 2 weeks and I see that your grades have been declining.” Mr. Booth said in a slightly concerned tone.
“Well y'know the subject is getting pretty hard. Writing is not my greatest strength.” Samuel said, but it was a lie.
“No it’s not that, you’re not even trying. You didn’t even put a single capitalized letter in your writing. No punctuation, the computer literally does that for you! There is no way you’ve been trying at all, heck it seems like you’ve been trying to fail on purpose.” He said. Samuel does not respond.
“Just try in this class ok? The next assignment will be worth a good portion of your grade. Now you may go.” Samuel leaves trying to be annoyed but realizes Mr. Booth was right, he didn’t try, he didn’t want to. Samuel felt constantly exhausted doing the work, doing most stuff really. Though he thought of actually trying since for the most part Booth was a teacher he actually didn’t hate. For most of Samuel’s high school career Mr. Booth has been there for him and other students; Booth was one of the favorites in the school.
Samuel continues walking around campus still a bit annoyed from talking with Booth then he bumps into someone, getting lost in his temper. He looks at who he bumped into. Just his luck it was the school’s jackass, Alexander Boulner though everyone just calls him Boulner. He is a 6 '3'' football player with ginger hair, big ass hell, but how much of his size was due to muscle or fat Samuel didn’t know and he had some small cuts and bruises on his face. “Hey! You squished the ketchup packets onto my shirt!.” He barked
“Why do you have ketchup packets in your sh-?”
“NOT THE POINT” Boulner interrupted.
He looks around to see if there’s any sort of authority around. Seeing no one, Boulner pushes Samuel into the lockers and starts to say the usual bully threats like, “I’m gonna kill you”, or, “or I’m gonna pulverize you”. While a hurle of insults were being thrown at Samuel, he thought of kicking Boulner’s ass, Samuel could try turning his brain to soup with his powers, or even just physically hit him. Though Samual looked quite skinny and frail, he could fight. Thanks to his tia forcing him to exercise and take fighting lessons from her, telling Samuel that ‘he should learn how to defend himself and kick ass.’ Samuel thought that was bull but turns out she was right.
Samuel was prepared to punch Boulner or mess with his head but as Samuel began to do so he started to see Boulner’s thoughts, and saw his life, his crappy living situation, crappy guardians, and anger issues he was apparently told he had by a guidance counselor. Not only did Samuel see the causes of their anger, but almost a manifestation of it inside Alexander, an angry, crying child inside him. This would happen to Samuel, seeing others' negative feelings, and if he tried what causes them. But Samuel knew that just because you feel horrible doesn’t give you the right to be a dick, maybe a little, but still. That ideal was especially clear as he got punched in the gut while he was distracted and just in general began to get pummeled by Boulner.
Samuel was able to block most of the hits, but that only got him so far with the steroided bull that was his aggressor. Samuel started to inflict pain on Boulner with his powers. He could feel it, that much was clear, it looked like Boulner was gonna be sick. Samuel got scared that he might hurt so he let him go. Samuel got thanked with a punch to the face and Alexander left saying somewhat nauseous and with slight embarrassment, “ let that be a warning.”
Samuel went to class with a few bruises which hurt but not as much as the classes themselves. After an hour of tortuous calculations it was lunch time. “Hey Sam!” A guy around Samuel’s age called out and began to walk towards him. The guy was 5’3, black, with a fade and a huge grin on his face. Oh no not him, Samuel thought.
“H-hey E-E-Eddie”
Eddie walked up to Sam all cheery, then saw a big bruise in his eyes face and said in shock “Bro what happened to your face."
“Umm Boulner, Boulner happened”
“Oof sorry bud, if he ever messes with you again I’ll kick his butt”, Eddie said punching the air and finishing it off with a kick presumably to the groin.
Looking up and down at Eddie’s short stature. Samuel doubted Eddie could even defend himself but Samuel said nothing and gave an awkward smile and responded with, “Yeah, sure.”
“Uh so, you walking to lunch?
“Yes”
“Cool, cool. Hey what do you think of going to the arcade after school? I got some cash ready to be spent on games!” Eddie said gleefully.
If you want to spend money on games then you can just buy some and play it in your own home, thought Samuel.
“Aren't arcades very outdated?”
“Yeah but that means no lines and no wait times since there aren’t gonna be many people there.”
“Sorry Imma have to pass on this, I have to help my tia with umm…some work around the house.”
“Ok dude, it’s cool dude hope you join next time.”
Eddie walks away humming Kickback by Kenshi Yonezu; it was the opening for Chainsawman. Samuel knew that because just like Eddie he was a huge weeb, though Samuel knew better than to show such a dorky outward display. But with Eddie gone Samuel could get on his way and get lunch.
Man that was a close one with Eddie, thought Samuel, I just don't have the strength to deal with going out right now, and that guy can be a lot.
But if Samuel was being completely honest with himself Eddie was pretty tolerable in his opinion. Though often quite giddy Eddie wasn't that bad. Especially compared to the rest of his peers. Samuel just needed to walk into the cafeteria and he could see the casual annoyance that plagued his school. Like Becky, one the cheerleaders, she fools around with her football player boyfriend, but fools around with her cheerleader best friend behind his back. Jason casually starts fires, surprisingly none burned down the school. Marques, she goes around stalking her new crush of the week online. Maria and Jose, they just steal snacks and sell them for cheaper prices, which might make them lamer Robin Hoods. Samuel didn't care much about that last one, because, cheap snacks.
But all this ‘gossip’, if you can call it that, shooting into his head was tortuous. No one tells Samuel this stuff, being a social pariah and all, their minds tell him. What makes it worse is that when Samuel ends up hearing someone's thoughts he is often left staring at them by accident. Like with this girl in front of him in lunch
Her name is Yanet, she is in Samuel's words, ‘if cancer took human form’, more accurately she is vain and has a bit of an attitude. Her vanity isn't helped by the fact that she is regarded as ‘pretty’, with her long dark hair, clear olive skin, thin 5’3  frame and symmetrical features. Yanet was just thinking: why hasn't he messaged me back. I guess he just got what he wanted from me and left . This thought came with feelings of self pity and inferiority; Samuel would've empathized with her if she didn't say, “why are ya staring at me, you freak. Don't start getting any weird ideas.”
Samuel, annoyed by her comment replies with, “yeah I'm not interested in getting chlamydia anytime soon, thanks.” Yanet snubbed him. Feeling bad immediately Samuel tried to apologize but Yanet just kept snubbing with a slight tear in her eyes. The both of them just stood there, in the loudest silence ever. Things usually went like this: hurt people hiding their insecurities with cruelty. Giving Samuel a hint of dread about the human condition, but he just keeps on going, being human, even if he isn't sure if he is.
The rest of the day went as one can imagine a school day going: miserable and boring. Samuel was glad to be able to leave the school and walk back home at a much calmer pace than he was in the morning. He went through the door and his tia asked what most guardians ask after school, “how was your day, Sammy?” Samuel gave the shallow lie most teenagers give, “ It was good.”
Samuel began to curse under his breath while thinking about all the reasons his day wasn't “good” until he got to his room. Samuel hoped that his tia didn’t hear him, or else she’d unleash hell upon the school.
Samuel goes to his room to do his homework on his desk. Which mostly involved him blanking out, getting back on track, blanking out and groaning. This cycle went on for a while, until the sun began to set; at that point he just gave up. Samuel just ends up laying down on his bed exhausted from what felt like a weight that wasn't there. He continues to lay down, gets all comfortable, and tries to relax his body. Samuel was officially at a state of ease but voices started to pop in his head, not just voices though. Samuel was hearing all sorts of things, people talking about their plans, laughing with friends, secrets, arguments, and 'sounds', damn horny bastards.
Samuel was often annoyed and bothered by this cluster of noise, but this time he found himself sinking into a sorta collection of positive thoughts and ideas. He could feel the general joyful emotions and dreams of others. Samuel would experience this-though rarely-when ever he centered himself and relaxed; Samuel would attempt to do this when he would feel particularly down. His consciousness would flow around, enchanted by the emotions of others, like whirlpools that mixed the world's ocean into a habitable haven for all. Though in the end, Samuel would often feel envious of others who got these positive feelings while for him it would be more difficult. Along with the fact Samuel would just eventually have to leave this pool of positivity, which he called the “collective ecstasy”, because pool of positivity sounds like a lame therapeutic technique or a corner a kindergarten teacher made in their classroom.
Why, Samuel thought, why do I have to go through other people's heads to feel…good. Samuel just laid back on, tired, and in need of some rest.
“Hey Sammy,” yelled his aunt, “come down here for dinner, I know damn well you're not texting a girlfriend or whatever you're into, so get out.”
Samuel, annoyed, yelled back,“COMING TIA MILENA.”
Samuel gets out of bed, about to head to the kitchen. But before he could, Samuel began to get a headache out of nowhere, he got a sharp ringing in his ears, piercing his brain. The ringing turned into a voice, no…voices, whispering yet screaming incoherent noises at him.
What are they trying to say, thought Samuel, who is this even and what are they trying to say?
The pain started to get so bad that Samuel fell to the ground on all fours. Milena, coming in to see what was taking so long, was horrified at the sight of Samuel convulsing on the grounds.
Going next to him, Milena asks,“Sammy what’s wrong!”
“Someone is calling me.”
“Calling you? What are you talking about?”
Samuel, trying to catch his breath, musters up to say, “In my head, they're calling me on my head. They're voice feels like it’s clawing in my brain”
Samuel started hyperventilating. Milena, worried, was about to call 911. Samuel stopped her, he went to properly sit on the floor, center himself and focus. Trying to get rid of this pain. Samuel tried to concentrate on the message, his eyes got gray and misty, and now not only did he have voices but images of …comets. He's there, Samuel, he's there with the Comets as they come, falling to Earth; they are shining brightly in the darkness of space. But they aren’t only stars, stars don’t talk but they do.  Samuel started focusing on one, this one seemed to be getting closer, not just to him but to his town.
The comet started saying “Help me, help us, someone…we're falling.”
A bright flash covered his mind, then a crater in the woods appeared, he knew where that was, he could feel it. It was the wooded area on the edge of his town, ‘Bloom Forest’. Samuel told his tia about what he saw and that they needed to help. Milena was in shock, but she knew to trust in Samuel and check out his vision.
“Okay”, Milena said, “but stay here I’ll take care of this.”
“No”, said Samuel to both of their shock, even with psychic powers Samuel never considered himself anything special, he is just him.
“I don’t know why and even though this is really weird ”, Samuel said, “I want to go so please let me. And you might need my help. I have abilities, so I can at least buy us some time to escape if it’s some lovecraftian horrorshow.”
After some tiresome arguing, Milena reluctantly agreed to take him and drove to the woods. As she drove Milena told Samuel this:
“Okay you remember what I taught you about driving, yes?”
“Is this really the time”, said Samuel, annoyed, “ but yes, be careful, follow the speed limit, watch out for cops, blah blah blah. I have a driver’s license for god’s sake.”
“ I’m asking you this because you barely use it and you’re gonna need it now. At the first sign of true serious danger, go for the car and drive. Doesn’t matter if I don’t make it to the car if I tell you to go. GO! Do you understand me?”
Samuel understood, she had a serious face, a face reserved for when a natural disaster is about to hit you and everyone that you care about. How tia feels makes sense,Samuel thought, but if something happens to her, the person that looked after me all these years, I don't know what I'll do. For now I'll just say what she wants to hear.
“Okay tia, I understand. ”
“And don’t worry about me”, Milena continued, “I have everything I need in my weapons chest.”

The weapons chest, however video gamey it sounds, refers to a chest that Milena keeps in her house under lock and key. When Samuel asks why she has a whole chest for weaponry. Milena responds by saying, “ You never know when you have to defend your home from creeps or ex-boyfriends or both.”

Samuel and Milena have arrived at Bloom Forest. They got out of the car along with the chest, ready to walk into the woods and investigate the crash landing comet. Good thing this heavy freakin’ chest has wheels and a handle, like a rolling backpack, Samuel thought, never has something so dangerous looked so ridiculous.
Samuel and Milena had found it difficult navigating the forest at night, with the moon being their only light source. The ground was bumpy with roots sticking out, making Samuel get the chest stuck in everything in the path, in turn getting Milena to laugh at him. 
Neither of the nephew-aunt duo were scared of the dark but that they weren't calm in it either. With the ruffling of leaves, the snapping of twigs, and sounds of the night time animals, there wasn't a moment they weren't on edge. Samuel and Milena were got closer to the crater from Samuel’s vision but something was different. There were footprints on the ground and the crater was glowing.
Wow, this is much more amonous up close huh”, Samuel whispered and chuckled slightly hiding his fright.
Milena shoved Samuel behind some bushes with her following behind him. “OW!”, exclaimed Samuel, “wait are you doing. ”
Milena shushed him, covering his mouth with her hand. She pulled out a gun from a hidden holster under her pant leg, keeping it ready. Samuel wide-eyed said shocked, “why do you have a gun out.”
“To protect us”, answered Milena
“I thought that's what the chest was for!”, said Samuel.
“ Well consider this an extra precaution”, hissed Milena, “besides there's footprints that point to a glowing crater, that's a recipe for disaster.”
They heard noises from inside the crater, didn't sound like an animal but like a man. There were murmurs down there, neither Samuel nor Milena could make it out, except for the final word uttered: “YES.”
A light brighter than before erupted from the crater, slowly dimming then disappeared. Samuel and Milena ran towards the crater. Milena gun in hand, pointing down below, but all they saw was a man who had only strength for one word, “Help.”