Reaper

Reaper: Chapter 1

Chapter One: The Beginning

     It began as any other day Monday for 16 year old, Alex Reaper. The normal morning routine, same old shoes, textbooks, and a hairstyle he's had since 4th grade. As usual he gets out of bed, groggy from a late night of video games, books, junk food, and a rather taboo chain of texts from his long time girlfriend, Brianna. He was collecting himself, trying to get out of bed, so he could get through his morning procedures. However there was something gnawing at his mind. A voice he heard muttering something to him. However, he quickly got over it and continued to get ready. After his showering and other hygiene related tasks, he gets dressed in his usual outfit. A graphic t-shirt, straight leg jeans, black socks, plain-solid colored shoes, and hoodie with a simple design or logo on the chest. He walked down the stairs next to the old attic where they stored old things from there family's past. Alex then feels an overwhelming urge that he needs to find something, something buried deep within that attic, like a precious jewel in a large cluttered mine.

     Then he realizes he's late for an early morning meet up with his significant other. So he rushes to school on his customized bike. Alex knows if he's late he wont hear the end of it. On his way down around the corner and up the street to school he can't stop but feeling like he needed to find something. Then just as he enters the school, he remembers he forgot his sketchpad and believes that's what he's been forgetting. Still he can't shake the feeling, so he thinks, I have the time.. and contemplates riding back to his house. Unfortunately, two of his friends see him and it would be a battle for him to leave before they exchange several crude jokes and their opinions on current media. So he drops it.

"Hey, Grimm", His old pal Trent shouted across the parking lot. He got the nickname 'grimm' from his extremely odd last name. He, to this day, doesn't know how his family far down his bloodline would come up with a  name so peculiar.  " You look like crap, did BRIANNA keep you up all night", Trent shouted jokingly.Trent was an average height 16 year old, with slight muscle tone and a rather large nose, his dirty blonde hair covered the majority of his bright green eyes. His face was splotched here and there with patches of acne.

"Yeah, were you guys sending each other kissy faces all night?" Jordan added. Jordan was the shortest of the three, he had black hair and dark blue eyes, and had braces on his teeth for as long as they'd known each other. Jordan was the smarter more refined of the three, but he had his moments where he couldn't help but say something ridiculous.

Just as they shared a laugh, Alex's face turned pale with an expression that signaled someone was behind them. With faces so nervous they say in unity, fumbling over each others words in perfect unison. "Well, she's uh... a great one. Your real lucky. isn't she just...beautiful." To spare them some dignity Brianna walked between them and wrapped her arms around Alex, and gave the two boys a glare so terrifying, everyone within her sight got a cold tingle up their spines.

Then the two came up with random excuses to leave, fooling themselves into thinking they had a choice in staying or leaving.The couple then began walking toward Brianna's class. They were discussing their anniversary plans that were coming up in a couple weeks. They thought that it would be too snowy and cold in the freezing Minnesota weather. So they agreed to a formal dinner then a movie.

"So Alex. How long do you think we are going to last?" she said with serious yet concerned Blue-green eyes. Her skin was pale from the weather, which had been showing no sun for a while. Her hair was long, black,  and curly. Her lips stained red from an expensive lip-stick Alex had bought her recently. Alex was unsure how to answer the question. They'd been together since late 8th grade, and they'd had a 'give or take' perfect relationship.

"I...I think we'll last a while longer. We've been at it for 4 years. We've got a lot of time to think about this stuff." he said reassuringly with sincere brown eyes. His voice slightly deepened with age was also soothing. His perfect smile made her want to kiss him, but the bell spoiled the moment. They embraced each other quickly and then Alex ran to the other side of campus to get to first period, AP Calculus. Alex had always had a rather advanced thought process. He is very good at problem-solving, patterns, drawing, writing, math. He'd been in advanced classes since 2nd grade, an never really thought much of it.

     In class many things weighed on his brain. His parents were away on vacation, he thought Brianna was beginning to get bored of him, and his friends Trent and Jordan were acting like clowns for the substitute, his cousin hadn't been to school in several days, and no matter what he thought about, the attic was branded in the back of his mind. Like the bad aftertaste of a bitter fruit on your tongue.Then suddenly the substitute called his name.

"Alex Rapper?", he said struggling to read the fine print. The class then began laughing. Alex tried to correct him saying "Its Reaper, it happens a lot I know I have a weird last name", but instead he said something in a long forgotten language. A mixture of Latin and Greek. Soon after that the class room seemed to throw itself forward away from him.

"Hey. Alex are you ok, you.." then at that moment Trent's words were all mixed together.

Alex was so dizzy the entire room was in a red-tint and he fell to his side onto the floor. Suddenly, an extremely eerie person walked into the room. The strange person was easily over eight feet tall wearing a large cloak with extremely long and narrow arms. No one else seemed to see it. It was holding some kind of strange book. Alex  felt a sense of completion like he'd found something he'd been looking for, all his life. But then everything flashed red and he was back in reality. The strange figure seemed to vanish in thin air. Trent was soon by Alex's side, helping him to his feet.

"Here! and its Reaper not Rapper", Alex shouted as if nothing had happened.

Alex was sent to the nurse, and for the rest of the day he'd been asked "Are you on drugs?" and mocked by people making movements resembling someone having a seizure.. He wasn't focused on his school work or his friends, all he was focused on was the attic, and whatever might be in it. He was in a constant state of alert looking around every where for the strange figure that he saw when he had collapsed in class. Alex anticipated the bell that signaled the end of the day, and as soon as it rang he'd be rummaging through the attic.