The Steel Stone

Chapter 1

"Oh Damn I'm going to be late for school." I quickly climbed out of my bed and ran to my closet. I open the door and looked through my clothes, I found my old combat pants with its padded joints underneath the fabric to protect me from cuts and bruises. I remembered how it had long strapped on belt on the right side to make a hoop that I put on it just to make it look cooler.

"Man I was such a dweeb last year, honestly what was I thinking." I chuckled just imaging me wearing this ridiculous outfit. "It obviously needs another belt on the other side how could I forget about something so simple, I really had no sense in fashion." I grabbed a spare belt and strapped it onto the other side of the pants, I could hear a loud click as I clipped on the belt. I loved how the golden clips on the red belts just flowed so well with the crisp black details and golden bolts I personally self-stitched onto the pants. I grabbed my cleanest white undershirt and made sure there wasn't any stains on it, then I went to grab my favorite jacket. I remember when my uncle gave it to me because he loved to engineer the most amazing of gadgets and he personally custom made a jacket for me to help be resistant to heat. Just putting it on reminded me of all those fond memories and filled my heart with the greatest warmth, plus it looked so freaking cool with sharp black and red having a beautiful image of a phoenix. He always told me that it represented our family's determination that no matter how hard a situation knocks us down we will comeback 10 times stronger. I walked over to my mirror and noticed I was missing the most important part of my entire outfit. I looked at the corner of the mirror and saw my scarf hanging on it with the picture of my father. I grabbed the scarf and just stared at the picture.

"Hey dad, I really do miss you." I touched the picture as my eyes started to water up. I wiped my face and put the scarf on, it kept my neck from the harsh winds around valley and it was a bright contrast to everything else because of it being as white as snow. I looked one more time back at the mirror and smiled. I opened my door and ran down the hall past my sister room and rushed down to the hall to the staircase and headed downstairs. I could hear my mother calling me from the kitchen so I took a quick look behind me from the base of the steps. I saw my mother by the kitchen making a meal for my sister since school starts an hour later for her. My mother always had a warm smile to brighten up everyone she knew. Though I know that deep down inside she is still just as hurt as I am whenever we bring up my father. She always claims to have moved on and while my little sister hasn't noticed I can tell that my mom still breaks down into tears just thinking about him. I wish there were someway that I could help her but she always denies it and put on that smile that becomes more and more painful to see the more and more I realize how much pain it must be for my other to keep up that appearance for me and my little sister Reimei.

"Bye Alto, be safe." I looked at her and saw her wave at me as she had that smile on her face. I felt like I should say something but I know how she would react and that I shouldn't waste the little time I have before school starts.

"I know mom I'll be fine, I'll even look both ways before I cross the street." I chuckled sarcastically. I walked to the door and opened it to catch a look out at the bustling city. I close the door behind me and headed down the stairs of the apartment complex and made my way to the bike rack to see my beast of a bike with its awesome flame stickers that I hand-made. I unhinged it from the lock and got onto it. As I was about to head out I hear a familiar voice call my name, the sound came from the apartments as I quickly looked up and saw someone.

"HEY ALTO COULD YOU GIVE ME A RIDE!!!" I noticed it was my best friend Tori. She was waving her hand trying to make sure she kept my attention. She was always such a proper girl wearing the official school uniform even though nobody else even bothered. I never liked our school's colors they were so bland with black skirts/pants and dark green shirts. I always felt that they needed more flash to them to really make them a school uniform to be proud of. As I finally stopped thinking about the school uniform I realized that she had already made her way down and actually managed to trip on the way down.

"Hey are you okay Tori?"I got off my bike and went to the stairs, all I see is her fumbled on the floor. I extended my hand towards her and she just stared straight into my eyes. She quickly thought that I was looking down her skirt and pulled her skirt down to cover herself more. She looked away from me with her face being as red as a tomato. She quickly grabbed my hand and pulled herself up then she patted down her skirt and made sure that her hair was still good. I honestly loved how her hair looked because of the bright cyan highlights on her long black hair had a nice pop to show that she isn't some typical pretty girl. Though I'd never tell her this because I know she'd probably think that I'm some creep that's obsessed with everything she does, and trust me when i say this the last thing anybody wants is to be on her bad side because if you piss her off she'll send you flying into next week but on the other hand she can be the nicest person you ever meet when you're on her good side.

"Ugh, ignore that anyways I was going to ask if you could give me a ride to school because I'm running late too." She walked past me and was getting on the bike. She looked at me surprised that I didn't just follow her like usual.

"What's up with you Alto?" I could feel a heavy pulsing in my chest as it felt like my heart was about to burst. My legs were getting numb as I collapsed to floor. It was hard to breathe as my vision started to blur. I could see Tori face of horror as she got off the bike and dropped to her knees and was shaking me. I couldn't feel it though as if i was was seeing this from within my very own body like some sort of TV show. Her voice felt like an echo as it started to become a haze of letters and noises.