Chapter 1 The Man in the Work Shop

The main character comes across an odd man in the workshop of his college campus.

1

Man in the Workshop

 

 

Name.  My writing teacher always told me to write.  “Big deal coming from a writing teacher”, right?  Well, it was what she meant by it.  She would say that I should just write anything, just something.  Like a word. The difference about this time is that this word was thought out. It was planned, because this word holds everything.  It is the beginning, the journey, the climax, and the ending. It is my life.I have never really had much of a name, or so I thought. I was just average, always average. I wasn’t exactly in a place where “average” is generally accepted, so I joined the school paper my sophomore year of high school. With a recommendation from the head of the paper, I got into the college paper as well. I spent a good while in there doing the menial tasks like getting coffee, pizza, whatever the others needed. Basically I was the office peon. But after a while this girl gave me a break. Her name was Sarah, and she was the most wonderful person there. The rest of them teased and laughed at her for asking for me to help her with the story she was working on. That is, until we broke the biggest story the college had ever seen! That was a bit of a lie, sorry, I tend to make up stories when things get too boring. But I promise the reset of this is no lie or story, it is 100% true and I can’t express how honest I am going to be through it. But I was talking about the story Sarah and I were on. Well, in the beginning we thought that it was gonna be fun.  Suffice it to say that we were wrong, dead wrong. It was the most boring thing that could ever be. Except that it started the adventure. But first the story we were on was one about the building commission planning to put up a new section on the school. It was nothing grand, but it was something, more than something for my first story, even better since I was working with Sarah. Oh right, I forgot to tell you that the reason Sarah was helping me out is because we had started going out a month or so I got into the college. We went to the commission to interview the planners first, but we found that they ran a tight ship and we wouldn’t be able to get anything out of them for some time since they don’t exactly like reporters. That is actually not strong enough a word for it, now that I think about it. They made us wait for two hours and then kicked us out, saying that we were loitering. We were a tad miffed. So following this, we didn’t get much done that day, except that we got to set up an official date to interview the commissioner.

We walked to her apartment from there, since she was living off campus and we didn't want to waste the money on gas, and said our good-byes.  On the way I had to pass the construction site which was supposed to be closed since it was winter and they couldn't do anything at the time.  I noticed, however, that the gate was open and figured that someone must had left something or they were checking on something that was to be worked on when it got warmer.  For some reason, though, I just couldn't shake the feeling that I needed to go and check it out.  I went in and at first saw nothing, but then I noticed the man at the workbench just toiling away at some small object.

I walked over and asked him, "What are ya workin' on over there?" He turned to me.

"Something that will determine the future of all things."

 

He turned back.  By this time I was picking up a major creep vibe.  He had this scar on his cheek that was huge, like someone had just taken a knife and cut him from chin to his cheek bone.  The worst were his eyes; they just seemed so...familiar, I just couldn't place where I had seen them.  After meeting this guy, I just thought that I couldn't stay around and I began walking, quite quickly, out of that place and away from him.  

I reached the gate, when I heard him yell out, "Watch out for them, they don't always look that way!" 

 

When I got back to the dorm it was starting to get dark.  I stumbled into my room almost breathless from running so much, and found my roommate passed out in his bed.  Tom never was one for parties or getting noticed, so I didn't find this unusual.  However, I found a box with a letter addressed to me from somewhere in Arizona.  This was strange since I have no family in Arizona or any friends, to-be employers, or transfer offers.  This gave me an uneasy feeling about opening either box or letter, but my curiosity got the better of me.  I slowly opened the letter.  Inside was a note as written:

 

"In the box is an animal. Do not fear for it is not dangerous, not to you. It is very obedient and loyal. It will be your only friend in you upcoming adventure. Treat him with respect.

Signed,"

 

The signature was too damaged to read.  For some reason this comforted me a little, and I felt more at ease about opening the box.  As I reached down for it, the box jumped.  I started at this, I then worked up the courage and reached for the clamp keeping it closed and found the latch.  When I opened it, there was a small puppy looking right back up at me.

Reviews

[F.R. Eileen]

It's a bit confusing, but attention gripping. Just one thing: "He had this scar on his cheek that was huge, like someone had just taken a knife and cut him from chin to his cheek bone." I'd rewrite that as "He had this huge scar on his cheek, like someone had just taken a knife and cut him from chin to his cheek bone" Small change, I know, but it seems like it would flow a little better. 90/100.

[Ace Jaxon]

Now this wasn't what I was expecting from the title, but I think it's way better then what I was expecting.

[Shelina Shariff-Zia]

This is a good start and I liked the way the puppy shows up. But there seesm to a be a lot going on which makes it confusing.