The Light

Ch. 1

If someone told you that you would never make a difference in the world, you wouldn’t exactly be in a pleasant state on mind would you? As if being the “a*s” of everybody’s jokes wasn’t enough; try having hardly any friends to protect you. Now add in the fact that you’re about to be a freshman in high school and will once again be at the bottom of the social food chain. This is the story of my semi-normal life and I do emphasize “semi”. Grab a chair and listen. You just might learn something, but then again how can you believe something so unbelievable? Well I guess you’ll just have to find out for yourself, now won’t you.

            June 10^th 1998; 10:42 pm the two cars collided, 10:53 pm the three were pronounced dead at the scene. The paramedics stood talking among themselves while I stood alongside two officers. I stood silently staring at the wreckage that was an old truck and our old station wagon. I could feel that something wasn’t right in the air. Something was terribly wrong.

            “Chief, what are we going to do with the boy?” an officer asked his superior.

            “Dose he have any other family to stay with?” the chief replied.

            “I do believe he has an uncle but we aren’t sure yet, Sir.”

The chief sighed as he walked toward me. He removed his cap to stoke his balding hair then replaced it. He knelt down to my size then he placed his right hand on my left shoulder and spoke with a gentle depressed tone to his voice.

“Kid, there’s something you need to understand.”

As he tried to explain what was going to happen to me, I stared past him at the fire department attempting to put out the inferno. It looked as though they had just about extinguished the flames then suddenly it erupted like a ticking time bomb that had run its timer down to zero, the fire, light and debris engulfs the near by firefighters, paramedics, police officers. The fire reached the vehicles with a chain of fire and the finally swallowed the chief and I in a ball of flames.

My head rocketed off of my pillow with explosive speed. Looking to my right my alarm clock was buzzing annoyingly. I wipe the waterfall of sweat from my forehead and press the off button on the alarm clock.

You see I’m not exactly the smartest or the most popular.  In the 8th grade I only had four friends Benjamin Franklin Parrison, Joaquin Chavez-Peña Jr., and the Douglas twins Nichole and Natalie, the only girls I’ve ever talked to. I almost forgot to introduce myself; my name is William Isaac Nash. Not a very interesting name, unless you tally in the fact that my initials spell win. Even that’s not quite as fun as it might seem because I’ve never won a thing in my life.

The nightmare, well rather memory continued to return to me for the entire week before school. Every morning I awoke in a pool of my own sweat, exploding off of my pillow literately burning up. I went through the same routine every morning: wake up sweating lakes, sit at the foot of my bed playing catch up with my head, walk to the bathroom and shower, the eat breakfast while getting chewed out by my uncle who I’ve lived with for the past ten years, then leave for school but not with out one last confrontation with my uncle so he can once again blame me for the death of his brother and sister-in-law, my parents. Why was I the only one to survive that night? There was something unnatural about that night. Years since the accident I am force to continue my near empty life.

My friends and I all know each other by shortened names. I’m sure you can keep up. Frankie, JJ, Nick, Nate and I were supposed to all go to the same school, West River High, but Frankie lived on the other side of the district high school lines. He had to go to east High. I found JJ before I even stepped on campus. He was standing just out side of the main gate at the front of the school by the head office. He was glaring into the school. I could practically see the gears turning and grinding in his mind.

JJ was five feet five inches that but built like a tank, solid muscle but not enough brain to know how to use them. He had pitch black straight hair cut at a moderate length. He was dark even for a Mexican. JJ was very jumpy and quite superstitious. His eyes were deep brown with a piercing stare which was always analyzing something.

I was walking from behind him and before I even got into his view, somehow he saw me.

“What’s up, Billy.” He said in a flat, dry voice. His eyes scanning everything he could see and even things I couldn’t see.

“Hey.” I replied as I stood next to him. “You hear about Frankie?”

“Yeah, that freaking sucks. It won’t be the same with out him.”

“Yup.”

“Have you seen the twins?”

“Not yet.”

Just then as we stared into the school two bodies sandwich the two of us. I caught JJ’s elbow in my gut. I look to see who it was, of course it was Nick and Nate being total goof offs as usual. The twins both stood at five foot three inches, white-girls to the core, dirty blonde curly hair, small clusters of freckles on their cheeks, average female body build. The two of them were almost completely identical, except one thing; Nick has blue eyes and Nate has green eyes. They were the biggest tomboys on the face of the earth, no doubt. That’s why they choose to go by such boyish names. I myself am a whole five foot seven inches, 125 lbs., white as can be, plain brown eyes, and brown hair which was always in an absolute mess. My skin was slightly tanned with small scars here and there from the night of the accident. The largest of which was directly over my heart where a piece of metal debris impaled my chest but couldn’t reach my heart. The reason why it couldn’t penetrate my heart was because the metal shard had already gone though and stuck into the police chief who was standing between me and the explosion.

After some laughs we found ourselves silent staring into the large campus. The four of us looked at each other and then began walking into the craziest ride we never saw coming. With Nate to my right and JJ then Nick to my left we looked like a bunch of misfit wanna-be’s. Our clothes said it all. Nick and Nate looked like a pair of wanna-be skateboarders that have never skated a day in their lives. JJ looked liked like he was trying to hard to be more Mexican than he already was. And me, well I look like I wanted to be anything other then what I already was.

We continued walking together until we reached the lines of students getting their class schedules on the west side of the 600 building the twins and JJ walked quickly over to the A-E line. I found myself alone among a group of hundreds. I stood in the P-T line. I looked to my right at the U-Z line and my eyes caught sight of the most beautiful girl she had straight dark brown hair, brown eyes with a sparkle of gold, perfectly tanned skin. Not a single blemish was anywhere on her near glowing skin. She was maybe a few inches shorter than I am. Holding her binder in her arms she looked like an angel holding The Bible. I saw her look toward me so I quickly looked away. Hoping that she didn’t see me I looked back for a quick peek to see if she was still looking in my direction. She was, she had seen me and giggled a bit and then waved with the tips of her flawless fingers as she still held on to her binder.

After receiving my ID card and class schedule I quickly met back up with the guys. We circled up and began comparing each others schedules to see if we shared any classes. We did; freshman English, first period. I feel sorry for who ever this K. Harris is. Who ever put these schedules together obviously did know that we know each other. About thirty feet from where we were, was the girl I s in the next line over form me. She was with a group of friends laughing and pointing at the papers they held in their hands. Nate noticed that I was a bit distracted and nudges me.

“Dude, you okay?” she asked.

“Huh? Yeah I’m fine.”

She looks over in the direction I was looking, toward the group of girls.

“Which one ya looking at, man?”

“That one.” As I gesture my head at the girl in the bright green shirt.

JJ and Nick turn their heads “Which one?” they asked.

“That one. There, in the one in the green.” I nodded again.

JJ looked closer “Bro! Monica Vega?” he exclaimed.

“Who?” I asked with out a clue.

“Monica’s older brother, Roberto Vega, is a senior this year and plays every sport under the sun. Monica is like a music prodigy. She sings, she writes music, she plays practically every instrument to perfection.”

“Yeah and music isn’t the only thing she plays, if you know what I mean.” Nick interjected.

“What?” I asked slightly confused.

“She’s a heartbreaker.” Nate explained.

“Oh.” I sighed.

The bell rang and all of the students ventured to their first period classes. The four of us walked over to room 816. We were the fresh meat on campus and everyone saw.

 

We sat in the middle row on the left side of class. The four of us lined up JJ, Nick, Nate then me. There was an empty chair then my left. As I stared at the empty chair I couldn’t help but wish that Frankie was here. The teacher began calling role, and then got to the C’s.

“Joaquin Chaves-Peña Jr.?” She called.

“JJ, please, ma’am.” JJ answered

“Ok. Natalie Douglas?”

“Nate.” She called back.

“Got it. Nichole Douglas . . . Are you two related?”

Dumb question.

“Yes ma’am, we’re twins. And it’s Nick.” She replied as politely as possible.

“Oh. I see.” Ms. Harris said as she continued taking role and finally got to the N’s.

“William Nash?” she asked as she scanned the room.

“Here,” I said as I raised my hand,”Just Billy, please.”

Class was about half way through and someone’s phone went off with George Thorogood’s “Bad to the Bone” and on the forth riff the door opened as the music played and in walked boy; a tall, stick of a guy with blue eyes and bright blonde short hair, dressed like a country boy trying to be a city boy. It was Frankie, who slimed uncontrollably as he caught sight of the guys and me. What a dork.

“And you are?” Mr. Harris asked as he handed her a piece few sheets of papers. “Oh. Welcome to our class. Students this is Benjamin Franklin Parison. He’ll be in our class now. You have a wonderful name.”

“Thank you, um, but its just Frankie; if you don’t mind.” He said with an “I hate my name” kind of look.

“That’ll be fine. Have a seat wherever you like.”

He sat next to me as we exchanged fist bumps.

“Way to make an entrance, Frankie.” I laughed.

“Did I miss something?” he asked blankly.

We just laughed.

“Thought you were going to East High?” the twins asked simultaneously.

“I was but I got a transfer this morning. That’s why I’m late.”

“Better late then never.” said JJ.

“For sure.” I added.

“Well I couldn’t leave my guys behind; well and gals.” Frankie noted.

“Well they aren’t exactly girls.” JJ said bluntly pointing to Nick and Nate.

Nick punched him on his left shoulder. Then Nate reached over Nick and slapped him on the back of his head.

The bell finally rang and we exited the class into the hall. Overly excited from us all being together again, we looked completely like freshman. We walked and talk loudly over to the lunch line by the cafeteria.  We talked amongst ourselves and my eye caught Monica, two lines over from ours. JJ saw me glancing over at the other line and inserted me into his conversation with Frankie.

“Yeah Billy’s got a crush on Monica Vega.” He said loud enough for practically everyone to hear.

“What?” Frankie dragged on turning toward me.

“Yeah, he pretty much stared at her the entire time before school.” Nick added.

“Dude, chill out. It’s his first crush.” Nate said defending me.

“Is it true, man?” Frankie asked me.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“You guess? It’s Monica Vega. Either you do or you don’t. No in-between crap here. She’s the hottest freshman here. The only bad thing is that her brother could snap ya in half if he wanted to.”

“Thanks, man. That was really comforting.”

“It’s true, bro, right guys?”

They all nodded.

“Besides, you’ll just add on to her list of broken hearts.” Nick stated.

“Just go talk to her, Billy.” Nate suggested.

“Yeah go!” the others yelled as they tried to push me over to her.

Just then the bell rang.

“What do you know breaks over. Well I’ve got PE to go to and I heard Mr. Buchanan makes you run a mile if your late. So gotta go!” I exclaimed as I quickly took off to the gym.

At this point I didn’t mind being alone for a while. As I sat in the bleachers of the gym after Mr. Buchanan took role I began to search my mind for answers to the night of the accident. What caused the explosion? It looked as though the fire department had it under control. How could that small car chain off the other vehicles nowhere near it? There wasn’t enough gasoline in it to set a blaze to the other cars. Just then as I pondered away I hear someone call out a familiar name.

“Vega?”

“Here.” A young man in the stands next to me called back.

Could that be Monica’s brother the guys told me about?

“Hey, ‘sup Robby!” another guy on that side yelled as the first guy acknowledges.

The teacher called to the stands, “Roberto, I need your schedule.”

It was him. He doesn’t look to bad but then again you can’t judge a book by its cover. He looked about six foot, dark brown hair, and an “I’m popular” smile. He was built stronger than JJ and taller than Frankie. His varsity jacket had a patch for nearly every sport. The guys were right. Damn, they were right for once.

As I continued to stare over towards him, his attention somehow was drawn to me. His head slowly and eerily turned in my direction. He stared in to my eyes almost like he knew what I was thinking. His glared pierced my very soul; an old pain that I had not felt for quite some time. I avoided him for the rest of class.

I met back up with the guy during lunch, I told them about what had happened in the gym with Roberto. All they told me was to stay away from them both. JJ tried to lighten the mood by inviting us all to a party at his house that Friday. We were walking toward the cafeteria and I saw the last thing I wanted to see. Like a pact of wolves Roberto and his pack of jocks stood clear in our path. As we got closer Frankie told me to stay calm. Stay clam? Yeah right. They surrounded us, there were more of them then I thought. Roberto seemed so much taller than he really was. Maybe it was due to my shrinking where I stood.

“I saw you eye-ballin’ my sister this morning.” He said as he looked down at me.

I said nothing but the cold stare that he stabbed me with saw right through me.

“If I see you around or anywhere near her I’ll end your existence as you know it.”

He nodded his head and the pack of wolves dispersed. I nearly soiled myself for lack of a better word.

“Damn! That was crazy!” Nate noted. Nick punched her on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry about him, man. He’s probably got something stuck up his a*s.” JJ said to me trying to get me to relax. It didn’t really help because I was to afraid that he would’ve heard that and came back. When lunch ended the guys escorted me to my last class.

I sat though Algebra scared out of my mind: One, because I was alone. Two, Monica was in my class sitting just across the room from me. I didn’t acknowledge the fact that she was there so I wouldn’t be temped to talk to her or do anything that might get me killed. Class had ended and I waited until everyone had exited the room before I even got out of my seat. I saw Frankie down the hall and he had decided to help me calm down by taking me to the arcade. Yeah, that wasn’t too much fun considering the fact that I had to look over my shoulder every two seconds. I still felt his dagger-like stare impaling me in my mind and in my heart. I could still see the dead look in his eyes. I felt him looming over me, as though he was standing right behind me. A chill crawls down my spine as my body shakes in fear.

“You cool, man?” Frankie asked with concern.

“Yeah, just got some stuff on my mind.”

He continued his loud buzzing game; I told him that I was going to do get some water. At first he didn’t hear me but after a second time he nodded his head in acknowledgement. I left the main area of the arcade and walked out to hall. I leaned over the water fountain for support as the room stared to spin. I began having flashbacks the accident. Trying to pull myself back I ran my face through the water. The room was blurry and bright and the door to the outside was wide open. Standing in the doorway was a figure of a man. As my vision began to clear, I saw that this man was quite elderly and stood with a slight lean. In his left hand he had an old crooked wooden walking stick in his right he held a dusty old bamboo looking tube. He was dressed in some kind of old fashion Asian clothing. With his large hat on his back and his long snow white hair draped over his face staring down at the polished tile floor he seem more dazed than I did. The music from the arcade was muffed in the background a few more people walked the arcade room. He began to look up at me and his ancient eyes began to glow in bright neon blue. In his right hand the small wooden tube he held began to glow in a golden ray.

He raised his hand directly at me and spoke in a quiet raspy voice, “The light.”

I stumbled a few steps forward but before I could take a third step, he lifted his cane an inch off the floor then stamped it down. In that instant he was gone and in his place spun a coin that wouldn’t fall. Of the five other people in the room no one saw him, his disappearing trick, nor the gold coin that was spinning endlessly on the ground where he once stood. I walked up to it and examined it from above. I looked around, then knelt down and picked up the tiny object. It shimmered in the light. The custodian came by and closed to door to the outside. I looked back down at my hand where the golden icon lay. It continued to glow. I looked closer and noticed a single symbol, some form of Chinese or Japanese or something. To be honest it didn’t look like those either. It was just some type of ancient dialect. On the flipside it was blank. There was nothing, smooth, and reflective. As I looked at myself in this half dollar sized relic, letters began to engrave themselves into the smooth side of the coin. I watched these glowing letters appear. As the words began to form, they spelt out the name “William Isaac Nash” and the words “The Light” around the edge of the perfect coin.

I stroked the side of the coin vigorously and peered ever so closer into the reflective miniature article. As I lost myself in its mystery I felt another presents in the room. A hand slammed across my right shoulder.

“Hey, Billy!”

I spun around quickly and my elbow hit something hard.

“Jesus Christ, man!” Frankie yelled holding his jaw.

“Damn! Frankie! I’m sorry! Are you ok?” I shouted apologetically.

“Yeah, I’m fine. What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing I’m just, just a little jumpy.” I said sliding the coin into my pocket.

“I noticed. Ready to go?” he asked still holding his chin.

“Yeah, let’s head out.”

We headed out of the building and stepped into the sunlight. Frankie shielded his eyes from the brightness but I seemingly had no need. It was as though I became one with the light around me. I felt empowered but the power that I felt seemed so far off. The coin excited itself in the light. Frankie and I walked down the side of the street not knowing that our futures will soon change dramatically thanks to the tiny golden icon which lay innocently in my pocket. I had a feeling that wasn’t the last I’ve seen of that strange old man.