Time

Chapter 1

Travis ran through the big buildings, feeling the cool air against his body. He was enjoying the day so far. He had just taken the Shafirna at school and wanted to open the results with his guardians. The Shafirna was one of the most important events in somebody's life. It would show what kind of careers would be open to him and this was especially important for him. He had his results crystal clutched in his hand tightly, for losing it would be terrible. The crystal, when dipped in a special liquid, would reveal a gem of a certain color, trapped within the opaque, white crystal. The color would range from a brown, to red, to orange, to yellow, to green, to turquoise, to blue, and finally to white. He rushed through the people and animals in the street and came to the gate. It wasn't magnificent like the other three gates, just a larger than average doorway leading into the Wyrde forest. He paused for a second to look at the gate, and then passed through into the forest. The forest was bright green at this time of year and he yearned to run into the wilderness. But it was dangerous to get lost out in the endless woods. He needed to stay concentrated on the path forward.

It took little time to get through the forest to his home, he had memorized the path and had ran the whole way, so he got to the clearing before the sun even showed signs of setting. Damn, he wished he could get a grade like blue, but with his brains, he was lucky if he got a yellow. The familiar settings gave him a pick-me-up; it gave Travis a warm feeling to be someplace he had been for years. Unlike other boys, he didn't long to adventure through the terrain of the world and explore the treacherous oceans. He just wanted to be happy, though he did adventure a lot in the forest to achieve this. He sometimes would sprint through the trees for hours when there was free time to be had. It gave him a feeling like he was the only person alive. He ran around the fence surrounding the house and stopped at the gate. It looked like a normal gate, but it had a secret. You had to move the lock in a certain way, so you could swing it open. It was pretty complicated, and Travis had to fiddle with it for a minute to get it open. He walked in, and shut the gate behind him. He lived with his friend, Neter, who would be waiting inside to surprise Travis. He snuck up to the door, making barely any sound. But today, it would be Neter getting surprised. Not Travis Bane. He then knocked on the door and quickly ran around to the back. He heard the shuffle of feet inside as the occupants of the building went to the front of the house and got ready to open the door. He then opened the door and ran in, yelling, "Surprise!"

There was no one in the house. He walked in, puzzled, and couldn't react until the people who had been hiding beside the door jumped out and scared him. "You fail to surprise us another day."

Travis, who had fallen to the floor in shock, rose up quickly with a hurt look. "Hey, It's not so easy to surprise someone who's been sneaking around since birth, Neter. Especially when the person trying to do the surprising's only done it for a year."

"You're just as good as sneaking as I am," Neter answered, "besides, I have to say, you did a good job today. Just make sure the sounds you hear inside the house are the same sounds you hear going around the house everyday."

"You know what?" Travis sighed as he sat down and plopped his bag at the foot of the chair, "I give up. You're just too good for me to even ever dream of surprising or startling. It's better I just give up instead of wasting brainpower, devising ways to scare you. I give up."

"You know you won't give up, why bother pretending?" Neter said as he closed the door and gave Travis some bread from the table, "Want some Neglaki? It's fresh from the oven and I even added some blesi."

Travis took the soft, ever-warm bread and stuffed it greedily and hungrily into his mouth, chewing. Neter was a great baker. "Ih ghot nie frades frack, ooday," he said while eating the bread. He finished swallowing and said, "Want to see?"