The Boy Who Could See

Chapter 1

It is the end of August and the weather is warming up. The nice cool days of the Dry season is ending. The Wet is setting in. Most people refer to the seasons as; Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. But not here. This is the Northern Territory and most locals only know the seasons as the wet and the dry. The wet being hot, humid and sticky. The dry being cool and breezy.

Everyday starts off the same. Kayden gets up, has his breakfast, has a shower and gets ready for school. His cousin Josephine will arrive soon to pick him up for school. He sits on the couch next to his little cousin Carolyn to puts on his shoes while she watches her morning cartoons.

A beep outside notifies them that Josephine had already arrived. She is ten minutes earlier than usual. Kayden picks his bag off the kitchen counter and slowly wonders down the drive way. His mother, Melissa, runs out to give him a hug and ushers him quickly to the bus. His aunty Rose, Carolyn's mother, with a piece of toast in her mouth grabs his wrist and pulls him as she walks. The minibus already sits four of his cousins. Older cousin Wayne, same age cousin Shane, younger cousin Lane and their baby sister Kelly.

Their drive to school makes Kayden feel even more tired then he felt before. Josephine and Rose gossip in the front seat, the two little girls silently fight over a toy one of them found on the ground. Lane plays on his iPad, Wayne listens to his music and Shane texting his girlfriend. All of them lost in their own worlds. But all Kayden could think of was the red eyes that stared at him in the dark. A shadow hunched over in corner of his room. Poisoning the air with it's presence.

First stop on the way is at the three younger one's school. Rose gets out and hurries them off to their classes then back in the bus minutes later. Second stop is Wayne to senior college and finally Shane and himself to middle school.

"You ok?" Josephine asks him

"Just tired" Kayden replied "There was something in my room last night but I don't know what it wanted".

This kind of news do not come as a shock to her. His family know of the rare gift he possesses. The gift of sight, to see the world that is invisible to the eyes of man. The world of spirits.

"Do you wanna go home?" She asks him "I can tell the school you're sick and you can come hang out at the cake shop. We got the spare room cleaned out".

He thought about it for a moment before answering "nah, it's ok. I'll just go to school"

"Ok. But call if you change your mind and I'll come get you" said says.

He nod his head, jumped out of the bus and heads up the hill.

Dripstone Middle School the sign proudly advertised. Kayden rolls his eyes as he makes his way through the doors. The corridor is bustling. Girls talking and giggling rather loudly. Rugby enthusiasts debating about which is the superior team out of Queensland and New South Wales. Young romantics holding hands and walking by dreamily. Various groups of friends congregating in their usual spots. Teachers rushing around. Kids that don't look like they want to be there. Kids that are excited about being there. Even kids that don't even attend the school are walking through the halls.

He searches the crowd until he locates Shane sitting on a row of chairs just out side the English Second Language classroom. He makes his way over to him only to find Shane sitting next to his girlfriend, Jada. Everything about her annoyed Kayden. Especially the way she thinks she has the right to joke with him about the colour of his skin.

"Hey loser" she said with a cheeky grin "How's it going snowflake?"

"Get lost Jada" he said, anger rising up inside him.

"I can't. I'm a native" she said with a sarcastic smile.

He knew she does it only to provoke him. Always giving him a hard time because his skin is fair.
There are only two light skinned people in his family and he is the second. The rest of his are family, being indigenous, ranged from being a dark brown to light brown to a tanned colour. And they all had dark coloured hair. His hair is sandy blonde and he has bright blue eye making him the odd one out. Though his family never made him feel that way. It infuriated him when people would ask how he was related to Shane or Wayne. He hopes that one day questions like those won't bother him. It'll be like water off a ducks back.

"Don't start babe" Shane warns.

"Ok my love" she said to him kissing him on the cheek then she gets up and pokes her tongue at Kayden and skips away.

"You ok cus?" Shane asked him

"Oh yeah" he replied "Just the usual. Ghosts hanging out in my room again"

"Ok, well I'm gonna take off dude. Gotta go see Mrs Hunter for an extension on my home work"

"Ok" Kayden said

He leaned back on the chair, placing his head on the wall behind him looking up at a flickering light.
Maybe I should have gone to the cake shop today he thought to himself . The offer was tempting but he couldn't afford to miss out on his presentation assignment today. If he did he would probably fail in business class and never hear the end of it from his mother.
Then as the bell rang, everybody hurried off to their home rooms leaving Kayden sitting in an empty corridor alone.