The Beginning of the Unknown

the start of the whole story

No one knows how it all started but how the story ends will live on forever 

STOP THE BELLS FROM FALLING, COMPLETE THE CIRCLE, COME HOME come home!!!!!!, The husky voice carried across the wind to the sight of a lonely figure standing on top of a hill looking out into the distance, seemingly searching for something, lost in his own thoughts. The figure was of a tall man possibly a soldier of some kind, long dark hair tied up at the back, a long flowing cape behind him, the face was a blur of dark colours but his hunched stance seemed to tell a story of how this man seemed to be struggling to find what he was searching for. "My boy.......Come ho...." The unfinished sentence ended as the figure faded to black.

  With a start Daniel woke up and sat bolt upright in his bed, Daniel was a 12 year old boy with striking blond hair, beautiful blue eyes and a face that had a look which you know could get into trouble without even trying,
"Hmm that's weird" said Daniel to himself, "That's the same dream i've been having for the last week now, i wonder if it means anything??". 

  While Daniel was getting ready for school he decided to write down about this strange dream he had been having in his diary, which he had been furiously writing in since his mum bought it for him on his 10th birthday.
His diary was rather an odd looking type of book, it had a look of an old leather bound diary which smelt like a pair of old shoes and was locked by the tiniest of padlocks which Daniel was forever losing the key for.
The diary also had a strange symbol stamped into the back of it which you couldn't make out, and his poor diary was getting a bit ragged around the edges now as Daniel seemed to drop it on more than one occasion and use it as a football in his room.
His diary was full of what can only be described as a mixture of nonsence and drawings but it also contained many of his dreams which he had dreamt about in the last year or so.
  So Daniel sat down on his bed half ready for school with his trousers half on and began to write down in his diary what he could remember about his latest dream, about how he had heard the same words said in the same way over and over again and how he had seen this tall lonely figure standing alone on top of a hill, it got Daniels mind racing as to what this dream meant to him and why was it exactly the same one he has been having night after night.
 "Maybe its just nothing" Daniel sighed and closed his diary up.

All of a sudden the bedroom door burst open, which nearly took it clean off its hinges, and before Daniel had a chance to see who it was his face was met by what can only be described as a 'giant furball', the smell of damp dog filled Daniels nose and his face was being licked so clean that you could eat your dinner off it.
 "Bucksy!!!!!" groaned Daniel as he managed to push the giant furball off him so he could see his face,
Bucksy was Daniels most loyal friend, a labrador with a coat as black as space and eyes with colour that weren't like any normal dogs eyes but he was just as mad as any dog of his kind, chasing his tail, barking at the postman when the morning post arrived and lying upside down on the sofa when asleep and dreaming of running through the woods sniffing every tree in the park and chasing the other dogs.

  Bucksy was never more than a few feet away from Daniel and followed him everywhere until he knew he was safe, it was like a king having a guard by his side as his protector and this showed just how much Bucksy thought of Daniel, they were inseparable and were often getting into mischief whether it was play fighting in the house and knocking things over or Daniel hiding in neighbours gardens and Bucksy sniffing him out and causing the local cats to scarper and cause a lot of commotion which meant that Daniel's mum was always waiting for them when they came back, ready to give him a lecture about what had caused the neighbours to complain.
  So that morning had seemed as normal as any other morning really, Bucksy was his usual clumsy self and doing his best to annoy Daniel which Daniel kind of enjoyed apart from when he was in the shower and Bucksy would try and get in and join him.
  "Bucks!!!, get off me please!!!" pleaded Daniel as he struggled with his trousers which were stuck under Bucksy's bottom.
"I need to get ready for school and you're really not helping!!, can't you see your being a big unhelpful lump today".
Bucksy just looked at Daniel tilted his head to the side and let his big slobbery tongue fall out the side of his mouth and Bucksy started staring deep into Daniels eyes, there seemed, for a moment, that Daniel and Bucksy had some sort of deep connection which had never been there before, Daniel's eyes were drawn further into the darkness of Bucksy's hypnotic stare where Daniel thought he saw and felt something that made his body lurch back on the bed.
 "Woah, what the blooming heck was that about?" Daniel said as he sat back on his bed, not knowing what to make of what had just happened between him and his loyal dog.
  "That was really strange, i've never felt anything like that before" commented Daniel as he moved round to sit on the edge of the bed looking down at Bucksy who was now lying upside down on the floor with one of Daniels socks hanging out of his mouth playfully chewing it.
"Maybe im just imagining that, surely it was just a daydream" Daniel remarked, searching his mind for any trace of what he had just been through,
" I mean how could there be anything strange going on with the dog, just look at him" laughed Daniel as Bucksy now had his head stuck in a pair of Daniel's pyjama bottoms with only his big wet nose sticking out of the end, sniffing for the next thing of Daniels to investigate.

  So Daniel finally finished getting ready and left his room with Bucksy still stuck in Daniel's pyjama bottoms frantically trying to paw them off his head without any luck,
Daniel looked back and laughed to himself as he watched Bucksy run head first into his bed still stuck in the pyjama bottoms "what a stupid dog" he said with a smile.
  Over the sound of growling and yelping from Daniel's room came the sound of someone singing quite loudly to music in their bedroom, Daniel always cringed as he got nearer to the source of the singing.
"LILLIE, PLEASE STOP THAT SCREECHING!!! I CAN'T STAND IT ANY MORE!!" shouted Daniel as the music got louder and the singing more vocal.
"WHY DO YOU HAVE TO DO THIS EVERY MORNING,YOUR SO ANNOYING".
Daniel moaned as he made his way to the bathroom to finish his daily ritual of getting ready for school, the one place he really didn't like going, only for him to stop off at Lillie's bedroom where he barged his way through her door.
  Lillie was Daniels older sister, she was 13 years old and tall and very athletic looking for her age, she had long brown hair and beautiful green eyes and was extremely outgoing especially at school, she was never without any friends and was seen as the centre of attention.  Her relationship with Daniel was your typical love/hate relationship (she loved winding him up and Daniel hated it) but she would always fiercely defend her little brother in any way she could and she always felt that it was her sense of duty to keep him safe just as Bucksy seemed to do whenever Daniel was near.
  So Daniel went on to tell Lillie about what had happened between him and Bucksy in the bedroom and how it was the weirdest thing he had ever felt,
"Wow Daniel...." remarked Lillie " Just when i thought you couldn't get any weirder then you come out with some stupid story like that!".
"Now please get out of my room so i can get ready too" barked Lillie at Daniel.

  " I knew you wouldn't believe me" said Daniel. "God, your so annoying, i'm going downstairs"
And with that Daniel went to storm out of his sisters room but instead he ended up in a heap on the floor as he tripped over a big pile of clothes which Lillie had left on the floor, Lillie fell about laughing as she watched Daniel struggle to get up and leave the room before he got any more embarrassed.
"Shut the door carefully on you way out" laughed Lillie as she struggled to breathe after what had just happened and with that Daniel ran out of her room slamming the door so hard that her shelf fell off the wall sending her collection of books and perfumes sprawling all over the floor.
"Oh thats just great, well done Daniel thank you very much!!!, Just you wait till i get hold of you" shouted Lillie as she raced off out of her room to chase Daniel down the stairs.
 
As Daniel ran into the kitchen to keep away from his sister who was chasing after him he was greeted by a soft and sweet sounding voice which called out to him.
"Good morning my baby boy, how are you doing today?. "
Daniel stopped dead in his tracks and answered back to the lady standing in front of him who was hurridly wiping her face with her sleeve. " Mum, I......", he stopped what he was going to say and looked at his Mum, "Whats the matter mum?, it looks like you've been crying again, please tell me whats the matter, it's not the first time ive seen you crying, I wish you'd tell me".
Daniels Mum's eyes looked heavy and red as she answered back in the soft way in which she spoke "i'm fine my boy, i'm just having one of those mornings, but i'll be fine i promise you. So...." 
Daniels mum's face broke out into a smile as she tried to hide whatever pain she was feeling "What is going on with you two then??. It sounded like a herd of elephants coming down the stairs, i hope you're both behaving!!." 
Lillie stormed in to the kitchen like a whirlwind and moaned to her mum about what had happened in her room and how it's not fair if she has to sort it out as Daniel had made the mess."
Well..." said Stephanie, the children's mum, "Don't worry about that now, i will sort it out when you two get your bums off to school but first breakfast!..so sit down and i'll get your breakfast ready".
  So down they sat together at the table when in bumbled Bucksy,  who was still wrapped in Daniel's pyjama bottoms, clattered into the chair that Daniel was sitting on and let out a yelp
"Bucksy!!...." scowled Daniel "what are you doing now??, there's no food for you so go lie down and stop being stupid!."
Bucksy skulked off into his bed in the corner of the room still whining from where he ran into the chair.
 Lillie answered back to Daniel with a sarcastic tone "Sometimes i wonder about that dog!!...you two seem to have the same amount of brain cells i think".
" Shut up Lillie.." said Daniel as he scowled at his sister.
" Your just jealous that he actually like me and not just pretends to be my friend like your stupid friends at school!!".

Stephanie threw them both a look that would stop a rampaging bull in its tracks and warned them both,
"If you both dont stop arguing i'll bang your heads together so please just eat your breakfast and stop all this bickering, this isn't what i need at the min......" Stephanie stopped what she was going to say before she went too far but Daniel picked up on what she was trying to say.
" I knew something was the matter mum, why are you so upset lately" asked Daniel in a quizzical way.
" I hear you in your room sometimes and i can hear you crying and i want to come in but i daren't, if we can help then please tell us what we can do, we don't want to see you upset anymore". Stephanie looked up at Daniel and said " I wish i could tell you my boy but i just cant tell you, even i dont know whats going on at the minute, i just need some time to think" and with that she walked out of the room leaving Daniel and Lillie looking at each other both with puzzled expressions on their faces. Daniel decided he would break the silence first, he turned to Lillie and muttered "Now look what you've done!!, shes upset and it's all your fault", "MY FAULT???..." replied Lillie " YOU were the one who started all this, you just kept asking her all those questions, no wonder she walked off you blooming idiot!!!!, I'm going to finish getting ready for school so hurry up or we will both be late, and get that stupid mutt out of kitchen before he hurts someone!!".

  Daniel bent down to help get his pyjama bottoms off Bucksy's head and muttered to himself,
 " I'll give her stupid mutt...... "as he led Bucksy out of the kitchen and let him go out into the garden.
Daniel stood by the back door thinking about his mum and what she had said to him, all the while watching as Bucksy chased a lonesome crisp packet around which had blown in to the back yard,
Daniel then decided he would get to the bottom of why his mum was so upset lately but first he would have to make the long lonely walk to school which was made easier as he always took Bucksy with him for company ( The dog always seemed to know the way back home and somehow greet him at the same place at the end of the day.....strange how he knows where to be!!!.).
 So Daniel wandered back up the stairs towards his room so he could grab his school bag which had been decorated with his favourite super heroes and searched for his diary, he knew he had left it on his bed before he came down.
 Next thing he heard what sounded like bits of his diary being read out down the hall, Lillie had gotten hold of it and was reading bits out loud in a babyish voice so Daniel could hear her
  "I wish i could fit in but i don't really feel i want to..... Oh im so lonely.....blah blah blah....." Lillie shrieked loudly with laughter as Daniel burst in with a look that could slay a wild bear
  "What are you doing with my diary??" Shouted Daniel as he hurridly snatched it back off his sister before she could read any more of it, "that's private stuff and you have no right to go through it, how would you like it if I read your diary, I know where you keep it so watch out".
 " oooooh I'm so scared" chuckled Lillie as she motioned Daniel to leave her room now she had had her fun.
 And with that Daniel stormed out of his sisters room and grabbed his bag before flying down the stairs still angry with what had just happened.
 His mum barely got the word 'bye' out as Daniel stomped out of the door without even a glance toward his mum, him seemingly forgetting the state his mum had been in that morning, and made his way down the driveway and as usual Bucksy had come to join him on his walk into school.
Bucksy seemed to know something wasn't right with Daniel as the walked along the tree lined road where he lived, their house was the last one at the end of Haymans Avenue which was surrounded by what seemed like a never ending forest of trees and bushes.
 Bucksy nudged Daniels hand as they were walking letting him know he was there for him, Daniel looked down at his dog and smiled
"Good boy bucks, I can always rely on you, I just wish Lillie would leave me alone sometimes!".
Bucksy let out a deep bark as they neared Harvey's house as he done every day at the same place like a sergeant major would do to bring his troops into line, and the door flung open and out bumbled Harvey, a piece of toast hanging out of his mouth and his bag and coat flung over his shoulder, he was late as always so this was a usual sight for Daniel,
 "MMmmmpppphh" muttered Harvey to his mum who had come to shut the door as Harvey was in too much of a hurry to shut it over.
 "Bye Harvey, have a good day and please for heavens sake don't rip those trousers, they are brand new" said Mrs Jones, 
"And please don't get into too much trouble today, keep and eye on him please Daniel" she half begged.
 "I'll do my best Mrs J" replied Daniel with a little chuckle.
And with that the two boys and Bucksy made the long walk to Longmeads High School which included their normal short cut through the woods where they would chat about how much they couldn't wait to leave school for good and just generally lark around on the way in, boys will be boys as they say.

But nothing could prepare them for what path lay ahead for the family and Harvey included, a path that would turn their whole world upside down.