Constructors: New Beginning

Chapter 1 The Boy from Rocksteady Pt. 2

"When he's satisfied that I actually fight him. This time he tried to get to me by threatening the orphanage and Father Alric, and I wasn't having it, so I threaten him back, and I think he got the message. I don't know why he wants to fight me, he says I have a 'strong magical aura' around me, but we can't do any magic spells so I don't know what the academy taught him about sensing others' magical auras, but I think they taught him wrong." 

"I despise that boy so much. Let's head to the mess hall. I want to forget about him and what he did to you." Julia turned her wheelchair around and went into the mess hall. As much as she tries to hide it, she does worry about me when it comes to the hatred between Simon and I because he wasn't always such a dick to me. When we were younger, we were great friends, up until he discovered his magical gifts and was sent to one of the academies to study. When he came back after a couple of years, he was a different person. The sweet, joyful boy I once knew changed into egotistical, controlling snob that only cared for himself and those he thought were useful to him. I don't know what the academy did to him, but if I somehow have magic like he says I do, then I don't want to attend the academy that he went to. 

I didn't want to think about Simon anymore either, so I walked into the kitchen and started dinner. A half-hour later, I had it ready and passed out plates of food to all the kids first. And just like at work, I always liked to watch as the people enjoyed the food I made before I ate mine. It made me feel as if I had accomplished something great! As I watched the kids finish their food, I leaned back against the wall and crossed my arms, and suddenly I felt something in my back pocket as I was leaning. It was then that I remembered the note that I got earlier. I grabbed to look at what it said. Come see me where it happened, it said on the piece of paper. 

'Where it happened.' What does she mean by that? I scratched my head, digging deep into my memories to remember, but nothing was coming up. Just then, I heard the front door open, and I walked over to see Father Alric coming in. "Hey, Father." 

"Ah, James, it's good to see you! Are the children eating right now?" Father Alric waved hello. Father Alric was the priest that ran the orphanage and the church that was connected to it. Father has always been good to the kids that have come and gone from the orphanage, always making sure that they went to a happy family. But the only ones he couldn't find a home for was Julia and I, and it's not like we were bad kids or anything, it's just that no one wanted us. 

"Yep, they're eating as we speak! How was the house blessing?" I asked as I grabbed his coat for him. 

"It was a quick one. The only reason it took me so long to get back was that there was an accident. If I'd had made it back earlier, I would have cooked for the kids myself. But as I was driving back home, I saw a peculiar sight on the side of the road. Mind me asking this, but did you fight with the mayor's son today?" 

"I wouldn't say 'fight' per se, but he tried to re-challenge me while I was on my lunch break. It was so annoying." 

"Ah, I see because I saw him leaning against a light post surrounded by his friend, and I saw that he had hand marks around his neck. I know the only person who is brave enough to do that to him is you, James." Father Alric looked at me with a disappointed look. 

"He had it coming to him when he threatened to send you to jail and demolish the orphanage. Ever since he came back, he has challenged me to fight him as if I knew magic. He tells me that I have a 'strong magical aura' around me, but I know no magic. You would tell me if I had a magical aura, right, Father?" I asked him. 

He changed his expression to a more comforting smile and put his hand on my shoulder. "Of course, and I promise you that I can't feel anything, but I do feel that strong sense of caring for the children here, and I'm grateful for that." He patted my shoulder and walked away to the mess hall. 

"Well, since you're here now, Father, I'm gonna head out for a little bit. Someone wants to see me, and I'm gonna find them. Save me a plate of food. 

"Will do James, be back soon, and remember to behave yourself." Father Alric warned me, but I was long gone by the time he finished his sentence. Hopping off the steps, I took out the note again and looked over it, trying to figure out what the message meant. There's a lot of places where something could've happened to me, but there's one place. In particular, I know where something significant happened that might explain why I can't remember them. 

I went over to that place right away, and in a couple of minutes, I was standing in front of the pier's sign. For some reason, the dock was a place that I remembered going to as a kid a lot. This was also the place where I got into an accident and lost a lot of earlier memories. It all happened under the pier. I walked over the embankment and went to the spot I remember that was under the dock. I looked around to find no one here, and just as I was about to give up on the search, I heard some rocks being moved to my right. I quickly looked, and I saw the girl in the cloak that I saw at the dinner and in the alleyway from earlier. 

"So, you came, James." The girl said almost sad about it. 

"Yeah, but how do you know my name?" I couldn't help but ask. 

"You don't remember? I was afraid that that was the case when you first saw me at the diner. Maybe this'll help you remember me, James." The girl said as she walked over and pointed to one of the posts. I followed her finger up, and it led to a curving of two names, the first one was my name, but the other one was someone named Cherry. The instant I saw that name, a flood of memories came back, and it was almost too much for me. In one of the memories, I could see myself on the dock with someone chasing behind me; it was a little girl with long auburn hair. On this day, the two of us ran down to our secret spot and just talked and played until it was getting close to sunset. It was at this time when we decided to carve out our names on the post and declare this was our pier in secret. I remember us laughing about it and soon after, we ran back to our homes, awaiting the next day to have fun. 

I slowly looked back at her and started to tear up because I now remember exactly who she was. She moved her hood away to show her face and it was just as I remembered: a round and gentle face. But there were a few things I noticed that she didn't have before, and that was a couple of scars on her face going down to her neck. "Cherry, I'm sorry, but I had forgotten all about you, and I don't know why or how I could." 

"It might be from the accident that happened to us when we were young. You remember that?" Cherry asked me. 

"Ironically, all I remember is that something fell on me and hit my head; everything else is still fuzzy to me." I rubbed my head, trying to remember, but it wasn't helping. Cherry put her hand on my cheek, but something felt off. It didn't have the same kind of warmth that I remembered, so I moved her hand to see it and saw that it wasn't organic, but mechanical instead. "Cherry...wh-what happened to you?" 

Cherry swiped her hand away and hid it back in her cloak. "James I—" 

"Well, well, well, look what we have here." We both heard and looked over towards the embankment and saw Simon walking down with his buddies. "I was wondering what was making that annoying sound."