Shade

Chapter 1 strays away from Dr. Turner and Sebastian and looks into the life of Sherman Redmond also know as Shade.

Chapter 1 Shade

“Why did it fail?” Dr. Tomas yelled to his head scientist as the red flashing lights were shut off and the annoying siren went silent.

            “We’re not sure, we thought we did everything correctly,” replied the old scientist who had been working for Dr. Tomas for several years.

            “Well apparently not, that’s the eleventh subject that we’ve failed on,”

            “Well time travel isn’t an easy thing, and there is no real study on the concept.”

            “Don’t tell me that, the first two people who built the first time machine did it in several years with lesser technology then we have now.”

            “But all their research was confiscated, when we started we had nothing to go on, not a clue on how to prefect or even construct a functioning time machine.”

            “Well then, were just going to have to try again, whose next on the list of people compatible with our machine”

            “A seventeen year old male from Charleston South Carolina.” replied the scientist, “his name, Sherman Redmond, but more commonly known by the state as Shade.”

 

            Shade’s existence had never known a life of simplicity. His own parents were nowhere to be found in the world he knew. He had only laid his eyes once upon his mother, but he had just been brought into the world and couldn’t remember the interaction and the affection of his own mother.

He grew up in a massive old house that was appealing to the eye. The large house was a home for children without parents, a home for the lost and abandoned. There, children were brought from all walks of life, they were wards of the state and didn't belong anywhere else. 

Shade grew up as an orphan, and opportunity of a family had passed him by. He knew the world as a lonely place, filled with people who seemed to believe the same. His home was a dreary place Shade felt, the younger ones moped about, feeling sorry for them selves.

 Shade was somewhat lucky compared to the younger kids at the orphanage, he had never know a family, the other kids though had been stripped from their families, because of the parents failure to raise them properly or just because they passed on and went into the unknown.   

            Shade kept to himself mostly at the orphanage and at school. He studied hard and was overly smart. He was at the top of his class at Charleston High. He worked hard for what he wanted, but wasn’t sure what to do with his future.

            Shade had a few close friends, and wasn’t at the top of the popularity pole, though he could care less. Shade played for the school’s football team but was kicked off from fist fighting with the team’s best player Alexander Green, who was not kicked off the team, even when he did participate in the fight, and Alexander threw the first punch. 

            Shade when he was young was bullied by Alexander, Shade stood no chance against the kid who towered over him and could take on three kids his age, but that was never the case. Shade always found himself alone and defenseless.

            But one day after getting a black eye from Alexander in the sixth grade and his money that he had earned stripped from him, he knew that he needed to fight back and that he would no longer be pushed around. Shade at the time was a scrawny kid, but he knew if he worked hard, which he did, he could stand up for himself.

            In the middle of his seventh grade year, the two boys found themselves at the back of the school surrounded by a crowd of kids expecting a massacre.

            Alexander won the fight, but it was no massacre of any sort, even when Shade had been stricken down, he forced himself up and continued the fight. The fight lasted a long eight minutes, then Mr. N, an eighth grade math teacher brook up the quarrel. But not before he could watch a minute or two of the battle between the runt and the giant.

            Then in the eighth grade when Shade’s friend Max had gotten a brand new video camera they caught Alexander spitting into the food in the cafeteria. They blackmailed him for several days, saying they would tell if he didn’t do what they wanted, but Max had left the video camera unguarded and Alexander stool it and then smashed it. 

            Then finally in Shade’s junior year of high school, they fought over a pretty girl named Sydney Donovan, and the fight happened to take place at the biggest football game of the year. Again Alexander won, winning the football game, getting the girl who now wouldn't even speak a word to Shade, and Alexander received the privilege of staying on the team.

            Presently Shade was at the end of his junior year. It was his final day of school for the year, and he could almost taste the sweet victory of summer vacation. But on his final day of his junior year, there was work to be done. He had a test to take. His school had recommended him to take a certain test because he was at the top of his class. He was told that he would be given a reward from the state if he got a perfect score on it.   

            Shade wasn’t sure what to expect of it, all he knew was that if he did well, he would receive some sort of tremendous prize. He was told last minute about it, and so last minute that it would be on the last day of school, and because of this test and his high grades he could skip his years final exams. It seemed to good to be true.  

            Shade walked to school in the morning, he could take the bus, but the bus was old and smelt of twenty years’ worth of sweat, plus he thought he needed the exercise. He arrived at school early in the morning, glad that his backpack felt lighter than usual. He walked up to ancient school and opened the front doors “Time to go ace my test.” He mumbled to himself.

            Shade headed to his morning classes though there was not much to do being that every one else was taking their exams. He went to his honors calculus class, wood-shop, Advanced World History II, Government and Tech class, then lunch.

            Shade strolled to where he sat every day at lunch. He sat at the edge of the back table next to his friend Max and his other few friends. There they would pick a topic and debate about it, whether it was politics, teachers, video games, college football, why Shade was given his nicknamed, music, or just other fun debate topics.    

            “All right," waved Max sarcastically, "I got a new one, whose smarter, Shade or that weird kid with the orange hair in smite club." 

            Freddy, another one of Shades friends, though typically annoying to other people, took a bite of his sandwich and grinned with his mouth half full, “Shade obviously, that test he's taking definitely determines he's smarter. Oh that reminds me, do you know what the prize is yet?”

            “I'm not sure,” declined Shade, “though it must be good, because I have no idea what it's on.”

            “Maybe you’ll get a participation award for your effort,” laughed Max.

            But before Shade could respond to Max, Alexander walked up to the table and said, “So I heard Mr. No-it-all here is taking some sort of genius test, he ain't getting no prize though, like I says last year, nothing ain't ever gunna work out for this kid, he's a born loser.”

“Hey get lost,” said Freddy, “The self-centered jocks sit over there.”

“Oh shut up dead Fred, you just angry that yous don’t have no friends, Shade won’t even call you his friend,” Alexander said, as the whole cafeteria was now silent watching the drama happening at the corner of the small lunch room.

            Freddy look at Shade waiting for him to come to his rescue, but none came. Shade sat there nervously not wanting to get in trouble for another fight. One word out of himself and he knew that he would blow up on him. 

            “Shade…” said Freddy quietly.

            Shade stayed silent, Freddy with his eyes turning red looking extremely sadden, got up and left the cafeteria.

            Alexander laughed, “Well, I’ll catcha ya later, actually probably not, gunna go get some beer later for me an my buddies.” He then laughed and left the cafeteria. 

The room went back to as it was. Shade tightened his fist, he suddenly regretted not sticking up for his friend, instead he had cowered away. Alexander was right he thought. He was a born loser. The bell rang, he sighed and let his anger go. It was off to take a test he had no idea what to expect of.

            He entered the classroom, all alone, with only half the lights turned on, two men stood by the chalk board and waited for Shade to take a seat. One stood hunched over with a cane in his hand and his hair had seen better days. The other man stood on only one foot and was no older than thirty.

            Shade took a seat and waited for one of them to speak.  

            “Good afternoon,” began the older man, “I am Mr. Howell and this is my assistant Mr. Foret. We are a part of the organization that is sponsoring your test.” 

            Shade sat quietly not sure what to say or do.

            “I'm sure you have lots of questions about this test, but we assure you that you will do fine even when you do not know the content. You were chosen out of many people, and you seem perfect for being a nominee for the prize.”

            “What’s the prize?” asked Shade.

            The younger man, Mr. Foret, looked up and sneered loudly, “You’ll find out soon enough.”

            “Uh…What my assistant means is that only if you pass the test can you know the prize. But enough talk, here is your test.” The older man plopped down a massive stack of papers, “we’ll be back by the end of the day to collect your test.”

            The two men then left the room. Shade looked over the test and was upset because there were more than three hundred questions on the test, but he got to work strait away. 

            Shade laughed slightly when he came across more difficult questions, questions that were usually discussed at an advanced collage level, like hawking radiation, the definition of XNA, and the explanation of a negatively curved universe, but he was able to answer them in full.

            Then at the end of the test, they ask questions about him. The test asked for his weight, height, and blood type. He answered them not giving the questions to much thought.

He barley finished when Mr. Howell, followed by Mr. Foret came through the door. “How was the test?” asked Mr. Howel.

            “I'm surprised, that test asked for some pretty advanced stuff.”

            “We Know.” snapped Mr. Foret.

            Mr. Howell laughed uncertainly, “Yes, we were aware of the difficulty of the test, but we are confident that you were able to complete our test. You may leave and we will mail the results to you by the end of next week.”

            “Alright, have a good day,” waved Shade as he left through the door.

“And to you as well,” grinned Mr. Howell as he watched as Shade leave the room. When Shade was out of ear shot, he turned to his partner “Let’s find out if the test subject is qualified.” 

Author's Note

Please feel free to criticize my work, I want it to be the best it can be.