Puppet {ManxMan}

PROLOGUE

I didn't ask for this.

I didn't want this.

I didn't wake up that morning hoping this would happen.

Who in their right mind would want this?

I was just a kid, thirteen years old in fact. It was my birthday, that's why my parents let my friends come over. There were four of us that night, I didn't have many friends, and wasn't really well liked despite my parent's wealth, so it was usually just the four of us. We were all down in the basement of my house, which had been turned into a plush play and game room for me and whoever I brought over. There were several bean bag chairs, couches, lazy boy arm chairs, a huge seventy inch flat screen television, dozens of different game consoles and video games scattered around, and a glass coffee table covered in snacks and drinks.

The floor was either cold stone or carpet, there was a foosball table at the far corner of the room, and a little basket bolted to the wall where we could throw dirty socks. There was quite a bit down there, including my cat and one of our two dogs. He was a Sheppard, curled up in the recliner with his head on one of the arm rests, and our pretty tortoiseshell was curled up beside him, fast asleep

Sitting to my left was my best friend, Kailas, and to my right were my other two friends, Arthur and Worm, and we were in a heated fight. Adrenaline was high, my blood rushed in my ears, all of us were deadly zoned in on the television in front of us. I finished first, slowly leaning back and a smile pulling up one corner of my lips as I snatched a Pringles cylinder from the coffee table and sat back as the war in front of us continued. Everything came undone with two words, two horrible words that would be able to ruin any friendship.

"Blue shell!"

There was a desperate cry of disbelief from the recipient of the heartless move, and immediately the boy directly to my right started to complain profoundly, his chubby hands squeezing the controller as he yelled at the boy beside him, sitting on the other end of the couch.

"That's not fair!" he decided, "That's not fair, Arthur, we decided to be nice, we said no blue shells, you broke the rule!" he turned his head to me, "Demi tell him it's not fair!"

I just rolled my eyes as I stuffed a stack of Pringles into my mouth, acting like I couldn't talk and shrugging. I already won first place in the race, so I didn't really care. Arthur just laughed, fake and mocking, as he leaned away from Worm who was trying to trip him up by leaning against his side.

Kailas tensed up beside me, a little noise of determination leaving his lips as he leaned forward, concentration etched into his lightly tanned features, the tip of his tongue sticking from the corner of his lips as his brilliant green eyes flashed to Worm before locking on the screen of the television set in front of us, quickly gaining ground and tossing his own shell towards the other two carts before bypassing them and getting second place.

Worm yelled out and dropped his controller before throwing his hands up, and Arthur pouted as he slumped over and whined. Kailas just sat back and folded his arms behind his head, grinning like an idiot while his molasses brown bangs fell over his forehead and in front of the electrifying green eyes.

"Can't beat the king."

"As if," I disagreed through a mouthful of Pringles, handing the tube to Worm and choking on laughter when he tried to fit his big hand into it to get his own treat, "I beat you all by three full minutes."

"I want a rematch!" Worm said, tugging at his hand, which was now stuck in the Pringles tube, "None of you play fair at all!"

"There's no such thing as fair play when you're in the middle of a war," Kailas said, staring up at the ceiling, and though it was probably meant as a joke, it made my skin crawl.