The Last Light

Chapter 1: Expect the Unexpected

As I stand by the only thing I felt comfort near, I reflect on the day I went through, one day after another I feel like I'm going to explode from the feeling I ponder about so often...being free. I still hold on to the feeling that I'm loved, that I belong. However I know I don't and I know I never will. 

My feelings are getting to me, I thought.

I walked back to my house through the lonely streets that line up the old run down town I lived in; the water from the last rain storm being drained into the sewer through sewer grates like a river of dreams being washed away by the big world made up of sorrow and hatred.

On my way back I see the school's biggest bully's little brother jump out of a tree right in front of me, making me step back slightly.

"Hey Alice, how are you?" He asked. 

"I'm fine as I ever will be, I guess" I sighed.

"What's wrong?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"I just don't want to live like this anymore," I responded, a sad tone in my voice.

"Don't say that!"

"Why not?" I asked.

"Just... never mind, I gotta go, bye!" He ran off, leaving me alone with only my thoughts.

But, before I could continue on my way, I heard a voice calling to me. It was a soothing, low voice that didn't remind me of anyone I knew. 

"There's a place where you can be free...somewhere where you matter to others." 

I looked behind me and saw a black shadow of a fox with eyes that were as blue as the sky.

"I am Bovie... I can help you," It said.

 "W-what are you?" I asked, slowly walking away from it.

"I am what they call a walking, uncorrupted nightmare."

"A nightmare?" I was taken aback.

"Yes, that's what I said." It  responded, jumping onto my shoulder.

 "I can't have pets." I said, looking at it.

Its eyes turned yellow and its face grew angry.

"I'M NO PET!!" It yelled in my ear, making my ears ring. "Besides, no one can see me but you."

"Well I guess you can stick around..." I said, still unsure. 

And then I continued on my way, walking back to my house on 'Rome Street'. When I finally reached my home, I stared at it for a second. The old paint that was slowly peeling off the walls and the broken down state of it made it look as if it were haunted.

"So... you live here? It's... nice." Bovie said, staring at the house.

"You don't need to lie you know." I told Bovie, walking inside.

Not to my surprise, I saw my step father unconscious on the worn down couch with a bottle of alcohol in his hand, the basketball game playing on the TV. He snored loudly, like a engine roaring as you turn on a car. I sneaked past him, trying my hardest not to wake him up. I snuck all the way upstairs to room, where I went inside as quietly as I could, closing the door ever so gently.

"So...what do you mean 'A place where I can be free?'" I asked Bovie, sitting on my bed.

"There's always hope in 'The Land of The Lost City'."

"What lost city?" I questioned. "I don't understand." 

"Why should you question it?" Bovie responded calmly.

"Where is this 'Lost City?'"

And so, Bovie explained to me what this 'Lost City' was, and how it was in a completely different world than the one I knew.

"Do you want to live here, in this place, much longer? Your gift is way too much to waste!" Bovie exclaimed.

"My gift? What gift? What is this gift?"

Bovie turned around. 

"There's no time to explain, just answer the question."

"I'll...I'll go, but do you promise it will be everything you said it would?"

"It will be even better than what I told it would be, but we need to go outside." 

I nodded, lifting up the window and jumping down onto my old trampoline, then walking to the front of the house.

"Stand back! I need to make a rift to the lost city."

"What do you mean?" I asked, stepping back from Bovie.

Bovie started to glow and its inky, black body turned to white, its eyes glowing a bright green. A blue ball started to form only about 10 feet in front of us. The ball exploded and turned into a magnificent portal. 

"Now we jump in it. LET'S GO!" Bovie yelled, jumping through it with no hesitation. 

But, before I followed, I had to do something before I would never saw my step dad again. So i wrote him a little note telling him all my feelings before I went and how I would, probably, never return back home. I put it in the mailbox and then I jumped into the rift, chasing Bovie into this strange land.