Jack Hawkins and the Faery Prophecies

Jack Hawkins

- Jack Hawkins

In the modern world, being a teenager is rarely as satisfying, as it is utterly disappointing and depressing. While it is true that when you first hit thirteen, you do feel a certain sense of elation. No longer can anyone call you a child, for quite simply - you now are a teenager. And while that rightly so is a reason to celebrate, the celebrations are very much short lived indeed. For no sooner than when you finally become one, do you quickly begin to realize what being a teenager actually means! And it is not really at all what is imagined.

Most children, initially think freedom of some sort. Yes, more freedom to do the things that they want, and more respect. People would for once listen to them and they would finally be cool. Because surely, being a teenager automatically made you cooler! (Or at least so they say). And in school that is what seemingly mattered more than anything. To be cool. To be accepted. That is what Jack Hawkins wanted and that is not what Jack had.

Jack had just turned 13 in the summer. And now that school was back in term and classes almost about to start again, he was confidently, beaming with optimism that this school year, surely would be nothing like last year. He was now after all a teenager. And he even had grown almost an inch taller over the summer. So logically (and perhaps quite unheroically) he thought, that this year there would be other younger and smaller boys, who would pick up the dreadful torrent of abuse from the older ones, that he and his best friend (and very much his only friend) Daniel Raven did constantly suffer last year.

Jack and Daniel had been friends forever. Well from as far back as either could remember. They were neighbours after all and they had been friends right through from preschool, primary and now secondary. Which perhaps was down to fate. For they certainly, were nothing at all alike. Jack was small and skinny. Dark haired, with dark features. Daniel was a little taller, but then also a littler bigger. Not very fat but certainly a bit chubby. His hair was a gingery brown and his complexion more pale. And although Daniel was taller and very much the older of the two, Jack was easily the leader.

For as much as Daniel would protest, if he at all was made to do something that he did not like or that required a lot of his energy or effort, in the end and with just a little persuasion by his friend, he very much would follow Jack into whatever adventure or crazy idea that he could somehow manage to dream up next. Jack's newest idea always somehow managing to be more outrageous than the last.

Often they would have fun and often they would get in trouble. Which of course, was not so fun. But they shared the blame equally (even though, Jack came up with most of the ideas) - and they also jointly shared in the punishments. And this I suppose, is what made them the very best of friends. Loyalty. - And if it weren't for each other (for they both had no siblings), they most definitely, would certainly have been alone in this world.

Another distinction that separated the two boys, was that Daniel came from a much wealthier background than Jack did. Daniel's father was a rich businessman and his mother, a bank manager. He always got what he wanted for Christmas, his birthdays or any other day of the week really. Therefore he very much was spoilt and knew the value of nothing. However, his lack of friends besides Jack, made him uniquely humble in that regard and he almost felt indebted to him because of it. In fact deep down inside himself, he felt that perhaps Jack was mostly only bullied and unpopular at school because of his friendship with him. And that he was in a way holding Jack back. And that someday, Jack himself, finally would realise this and abandon him.

On the other hand, Jack's father was dead and his mother had brought him up mostly alone and without much help from anyone. Therefore, there wasn't a lot of money coming in and so Jack rarely got anything at all, never mind the things he wanted. And although this perhaps would make most children resentful, Jack for his age greatly understood the hardships, that his mother had to go through, just in order to survive. He rarely complained. In fact he almost, in a small way used it to his advantage. For in the gap in his life where he lacked, expensive toys, clothes and video games, he easily filled with his imagination. A vivid imagination, that he had developed greatly over time.