Distant Stars: Frequency (Book 1)

Chapter 1

The dream always ended there. He could not remember much past that point, other than his mother and a few policemen finding him and trying to ask about what happened. He had told them it was an alien..he saw it. They wouldn't let either of them near after that,especially once some government men had arrived a day later. They tried asking him questions again, and later attempted to convince him that he had only been seeing things after hearing his story.

At the time, he hadn't known why he was not allowed to speak of it.Now that he was older he understood. They did not want him speakingof what he had seen, revealing what was the truth. It was the hardestthing he had ever done. In everyone else's minds, he had mistook therock for something else, and the smoke made it appear as if someonewas moving. His bruised body was caused by falling into he creviceand hitting his head.

His eyes opened to the sound of his mom's voice, completely awakenow. He sighed and stared at the ceiling, letting his surroundingscome into focus. The sunlight filtering through the blinds, his softblankets around him, the plain gray walls of his room. It was thesame as always. He longed for something else... anything that couldmake his life more interesting again.

He stood up and blinked away his exhaustion, grabbing a shirt to put on. With a touch to his forehead, he realized he was sweating. That dream was always enough to put him in a cold sweat. Laying on his desk were multiple drawings scattered about- ones he had done long ago to try and show his mom exactly what he had seen. Her reaction was always to push it away and tell him to throw the drawings in the trash. Instead he had kept them, feeling too attached to the depictions. They were the closest thing he had to an actual photo of it.

Next to the drawings was the one precious thing he had. It was the trophy he had won in a science competition in 6th grade, the gold plague at the bottom reading "Keaton Augustus- 1st Place." His obsession with science had truly come in handy that day.

Keaton blandly looked into his mirror, seeing his auburn hair as messy as ever. His hazel-brown eyes stared back at him, before briefly glancing over his features- the hair framing his face, the stubble on his chin, and the few freckles that dotted his face. He supposed he was fairly average-looking. His body was only average as well, for a 17 year-old. He was thin-looking, though his stomach wasn't exactly so, and he was just fine with that.

As another call from his mom sounded up the stairs, he fixed his hair and walked out briskly. They lived in an old country house, just him and his mom, and it seemed as if every step he took caused the floors to groan.

"I've got your breakfast done. You need to hurry, or you'll be late." His mom said, just as he was coming down the steps.

He simply nodded and walked past her, heading into the kitchen. A plate of eggs and bacon awaited him, and upon sitting down, he immediately began to dig in. The house had always felt so strangely empty. He had no siblings to eat his meals with, or to talk to and relate to. They had lost his dad when he was still young, so there had been no time for little sisters or brothers.

Keaton felt even lonelier when his school life was added on top of that. He was like an outcast. People thought he was strange, save for his few friends, for reasons unknown to him. He talked about his love of astronomy very passionately, of course, but that was no reason for people to avoid him. According to one boy who had spoken out against Keaton, especially in elementary school, he was just... strange. He had a weird vibe, as if something was wrong with him or simply different. He tried not to let it bother him too much. He could not be bothered with awful people.

Despite his desire to ignore their remarks, he knew it was true. He was different- and it was because of that event when he was young. He had been hit with something, and he had no idea what it was or what it had done to him. He only knew that it made him feel very strange,as if he were missing a piece of himself, or he was in the wrong place.