The Rising ~ Book 1

A strange encounter

The day I came home from school was the weirdest day I've ever experienced, apart from that time when I was 5 years old and some random guy came up to me and tagged me. That was definitely weird. No, this was weirder. My name is Celeste Brandon, and I'm 14 years old. Most people tell me I look older, though. 

I walked down the sidewalk that ran through my street, my house coming into view. A soft wind blew the leaves down the road. I passed by an empty bus stop, but when the sun shone brightly on it and faded away, a man had appeared. My heart almost leaped out of my chest. I thought I was seeing things, mostly because I had taken a blow to the head by a dodge ball earlier that day.

He was a withered old man, with clunks of greasy gray hair running down his partially bald head. His clothes were a bunch of rags. His back was slightly hunched, and he was wearing old dirty torn socks. One of his socks was missing the top, so his crumpled toes were sticking out. The only unusual thing about him was his stunningly bright blue eyes, which was noticed by me because he was staring at me.

Either I was really interesting to him, or he was just being creepy. I turned and kept walking without looking back. Homeless people always freaked me out, but that guy had just given me a different vibe. A strange feeling. I passed by a bench as I walked, and suddenly, the old man appeared there too. It was like he was just appearing and disappearing in different places.

I had to stop my mouth from dropping open. There he was, sitting on the bench, watching me. Who is this guy, some sort of magician? I thought to myself. I wasn't going to stick around to find out if he wanted to interview me or not. I gripped my backpack and took off, walking fast. I was hoping to reach my house soon, assuming he wouldn't just appear there too. 

I looked back to see if he was still there, but he was gone. He had just vanished. Now I was really freaked out. I was really starting to wonder how hard that dodge ball had hit me. When I got home, I didn't see my mom's car. She had not yet come home from work. I opened the door to the house and walked inside. The house was a big mess, as always, and my lazy cat Sonia sat on the shelf, napping.

I ran upstairs to my room and dropped my backpack down, alongside with my huge pile of clothes in one corner of the room. I ran to the window and looked to see if the old man was anywhere to be seen, but he wasn't in sight. Even though he had just been a minor part of my extremely long and boring day, there was something about him that piqued my interest.

He must've been some sort of magician practicing his lame tricks, or he was just a really fast runner and could get from place to place unnoticed. Either way, I felt like I'd be seeing him again. I fell back and my head sunk into my pillow, hitting something hard. I pulled my geography book out from underneath the pillow. I completely forgot about it since the past night, when I was doing my homework.

I groaned. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed my mom's phone number. A few beeps. Then she picked up. 

There was the muffled sound of people chatting, then she spoke. "Hey, Celeste. How was school?"

"The usual. Boring. It's my first year. I thought I'm supposed to have fun," I replied. I held the phone to my ear with my shoulder as I removed my converse and threw them to the other side of the room.

"Oh come on, I'm sure it wasn't too bad. Why'd you call?" Mom asked. 

I felt my stomach grumble. "Can I order pizza? I'm starved."

My mom sighed. "Another unhealthy lunch? Seriously, Cel, you got to start eating healthy."

"I'm on cross country, mom. I think I deserve this one," I said.

Another sigh. "Alright, fine. But there are some peas in the refrigerator. Promise me you'll heat them up and eat them. BEFORE your pizza."

"Okay, okay, got it!" I said. "Bye mom, love ya." 

"Love you," she answered, then I hung up. I dialed another phone number. That of the nearby pizza shop that was on the next street.

"Hello Celeste. The usual, I presume?" The voice spoke over the phone. The pizza guy knew me so well. My usual order, the drink that came along with it, and so and so. 

"How did you know?" I asked sarcastically, cocking my head.

"Small-sized cheese pizza, large soda drink, and crazy bread?" The man asked.

"You know me so well!" I said. "Deliver it to my house. You know the address."

The man scoffed. "How could I not?" I hung up and looked out the window. I don't know why I was so worried, but I was. There was something about that old man that ticked me. I didn't know what, but there was definitely something. 

* * * 

I heard the doorbell ring, and I rolled off my bed. I went downstairs and opened the front door. What I saw almost made me scream so loud I would've alerted the whole neighborhood, but I stopped myself. I tried not to act surprised or scared, but I wasn't doing very well. It was the same old guy who had appeared at the bus stop and the bench, who had been watching me.

And there he was standing at my door now, holding the box with the pizza I had ordered. I backed off so suddenly that I tripped on a chair and fell back, tipping over a small table of books that fell down hard. All the books spilled over me. I kept backing off as a chemistry book slid off my head. "Who are you? What do you want with me?" I demanded.

The man stared at me for a while with a blank expression on his face. Then, suddenly, his wrinkled colorless lips began to stretch into a smile and he started laughing loudly. It was freaking me out. The last thing I needed was some creepy homeless guy laughing at me while I crawled away like a frightened mouse. 

I scrambled to the phone and tried to dial a number, but with one swift and skilled move, the old man kicked the phone off the table and it landed on the ground, disconnecting the cord. I fished through my pocket in a desperate attempt to find my own phone, but it was gone. 

"What the—" I looked up and saw the old man holding my phone, swinging it around. "Give me my phone back, you crazy old maniac!" I shouted, I charged for him. He didn't seem to be moving, and just as I was an inch away from tackling him to the ground, he moved out of the way and I tumbled down, crashing into the wall head first.

There was a throbbing pain in my head. My vision became fuzzy and I began to lose my consciousness as a long ringing noise rang in my ears. I fell to the ground, and the last thing I saw was the old man. His piercing blue eyes watching me as I closed my eyes and blacked out.

I'm sorry I haven't been updating my other stories lately. I don't see many views, but I hope to earn some soon! Also, I won't be able to update as soon as I hoped with my stories because I've been very busy. I hope those who read my stories understand! :)