Prologue

The Prologue to the Adventure of Snow Harrison's Life.

“Hey Snow?” A brash young boy with ruffled blonde hair taps me on the shoulder.

“What?” I reply with a look of boredom and disdain plaguing my face.

Upon examining my face he stiffens up a bit. Clenching his fists he takes a gulp of air into his lungs. Puffing his chest up, he spits out-

   “What do you think happens after we die?” I was taken aback by the sudden outburst. What did I think of the afterlife? Is It Just a concept; or an actual plane of existence? A great number of supernatural phenomena have happened over the course of history, though it’s the lack of proof that surprises me on these many occasions where I am placed in the spotlight with little information.

I ponder the question for a moment.

Everything starts off somewhere. Even the simplest of rumors. If two people are seen together for an extensive period of time then others would consider the two dating. Though in this situation, it’s not a question about Susan and Jack and how they're not dating; it’s a question of death.Myths and legends starts off as truths but are altered through time, perhaps the same with people's concepts of death and the afterlife. Maybe there is a heaven, and perhaps a hell as well.

  “Why do you ask?” I brush his question aside and redirect a different question towards him, hoping to avoid answering something I have no interest in.

He ponders this question himself, taking an extensively long amount of time to think of something clever (which I’m sure it would not have been) .He opens his mouth.

“Well recently I’ve been wo-“he’s cut off short by the sound of a pitched voice.

   “Give it a rest Ken; you know Snow hates questions about life and death.” A girl wearing a maroon scarf strolls over to us, her shoes clicking across the concrete pavement.

She stops short in front of us, tucks a long lock of black hair behind her ear and greets us with a warm smile.

“Come on Scarlet, it’s the last time I’ll be able to ask him something like this!” he makes an exaggerated tone on the word “last”.( even though we have several plans over the summer.)

Though this may be the last time he can ask me at school.

  “It's graduation day Ken, quit it, you know snow isn't going to answer anything.” She punched me playfully on the arm.

“Youch.” I reply. “no need to be harsh!”

Rubbing my arm I pretend to act like it hurt, jokingly. She gives me a big toothy smile and I can’t help but smile back.

“Fine just ‘cause I want to prove you wrong Scar, I’ll answer one question from both of you honestly.” I smirk at them. Though in reality this would probably be the worst idea of my entire life. Normally I keep from answering personal questions, because I find them tedious and unneeded. Though I’ve known these two since we were kids, I’ve felt obligated to give them special treatment.

“For real man!?” Ken looked at me with bewilderment in his eyes. This really was out of the ordinary for me…Maybe it’s the summer heat getting to me, or I wanted to humor them.

  “Oh you’re going to regret giving us a freebie Snow.” Scarlet laughs. Even though Scarlet is the most observant towards me, there are some things even she doesn’t know.

And Ken? Well he’s as oblivious as a door knob.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just hurry up and ask” I wave them off. I wonder what could possibly be the questions they would ask me. I’m betting Scarlet is going to ask me who I like or something embarrassing like that, while Ken will pick something predictable like…”Where are you moving to again? Or Can I stay at your new place if I’m in town?”

“Can you call me when you get the chance after you move in?” it was Scarlet’s voice. Despite all the times she’s belittled me or picked on me, Scarlet has always worried about me. I guess kind of like a sister does for her younger brother. Most others would take this as a sign of attraction; though for us, she just doesn’t want to lose contact with me is all…

Scarlet always had trouble making friends. Aside from Ken and I, Winter (my younger sister) was the only person she was able to open up to and be able to berate us like she does, but still show care for.

“Will do.”  I smile at her.

  She returns it with her own slick smirk and says “Aww s**t, I wasted my only freebie to use as blackmail on you. What a waste.” She jokingly complains for a bit with “what if” questions she would have used on me. She loosens the scarf around her neck. One of her trademark accessories that she wears…which is also something she cherishes for sentimental reasons, which attributes to why she wears it in god awful heat.

It was Ken's turn now.

“Hey snow…I wanted to know earlier, do you believe in ghosts?” That was Ken’s question for me….

Ghosts…Supernatural and paranormal creatures of lingering souls after death, classified normally as spirits of vengeance, or haunted by some earthly wrongdoings or attachments left on this earth…Well in western cultures that is. Across the world Ghost are different. Some Japanese religions believe that ghosts or spirits are in everything. From people, to the wind. Trees to iron. Toys to weapons… what did I believe?

“There could be some in this world. So yeah I guess I do believe in ghost” I state.

The two of them stare at me, a bit shocked at my answer.  In the distance the school bell rings; indicating that it was time for our last assembly. It was time for us to graduate.

“Well? Let’s go.” I track forward towards the auditorium.

They both nod, and the 3 of us depart for our graduation ceremony. After today, We wouldn’t be seeing each other again for a long time. Ken earned a soccer scholarship and Scarlet is rich enough to buy her way into any school.

What bothers me though, isn't that we are going our separate ways, it’s  is why Ken would ask such a peculiar question out of the blue?

I open my mouth to say something but I feel something hold me back.

Maybe it's for the best I don’t know. After all it’s his life and not mine.

How I feel about ghosts and spirits aren't going to change, not today or anytime soon.

They probably won’t change even if I meet one. Hah Scarlet would get a kick out of that if I told her I met a ghost.

Oh well.

I look back at Scarlet and Ken. For the past 12 years these two have stuck beside me from the beginning. Both of them beam with confidence, each with a genuine grin.

I’m happy I got to know them and meet them.

But I guess I’m more disappointed that I’ll have to leave them.

I guess this is goodbye.

Author's Note

Please I am new to writing stories so constructive criticism would be nice :D!