Enlightenment

Chapter One

“Alphonse, stay behind after class please!” his grumpy old teacher called out one gloomy afternoon, once again Al had been doodling in his books. “So tell me, what masterpiece have you decided to create in my mathematics class this time?”

Despite the obvious sarcasm in his statement, Al decided to be patronising, he was in a mood considering that he had plans for the evening; and anyway he needed payback for that one time his teacher decided to show his work to the class, of course Alphonse wanted the publicity, and everyone knew him... as the weirdo-doodle-kid;

It was a lazy summer afternoon, the relentless heat pounded on Al's head, it made him drowsy, so instead of carefully mapping out each characters in their poses, he just scribbled them down in squiggly lines. The little stick men amused him but the teacher was doing his rounds and Al forgot to cover up his art! The teacher snatched up his book and before you know it the entire class was laughing at the crummy jokes he was making about Al's work, mind you they'll do anything to avoid doing maths! Either way that meant war between them! And Al would never back down until he gain the respect he deserved!

“Well sir, here I have depicted Poseidon washing away his enemies, creating a new ocean for his fishy followers.” His teacher clearly had a bad day as well, as his expression didn't even change as he demanded lines on the board and buried himself in his marking muttering crude phrases under his breath. For the next few hours Al was locked down by his teacher, who kept glaring and tutting, until eventually he was released back into the outside world, but it was getting dark as gloomy thunderclouds had rolled in across the sky, despite being mid-afternoon, It was almost as black as night, and the horizon as cloaked in a opaque veil.

Feeling unsettled at how quickly it darkened, Al was hastily making his way back home, using the overgrown pathways behind the houses as a short cut, a way which would be second-nature to him, unless he was trying to navigate what felt like a maze in the dark. The wild grass and old rubbish gave the paths a very forgotten feel, despite being so near the busy roads, it was a haven for all sorts of creatures, all of which eyed Al suspiciously as he padded nervously. A tiny pitter-patter swarmed his ears as the Heavens opened, quickly soaking Al to the skin, forcing him to (sadly) sacrifice his doodles and hide underneath his books to preserve his silky smooth hair. Now jogging, Alphonse wondered why he decided to walk home instead of getting the bus, maybe it was just a twist of fate.

Flashes started to illuminate the sky, followed by dreadful rumbles of thunder, and Al got half-second glimpses of what lied ahead of him, trees forming grotesque shadows sprawled across the paths, his heart was racing, his mind was blurring, suddenly every trail looked the same, the wild plant life was closing in on him. He ran. A left turn, a right turn, onwards and onwards he fled from the omniscient presence, unbeknownst to him, all remnants of his past life disappearing into the undergrowth behind him and his imagination would become his bible...