CHAPTER 1: My Life

“All she wants is to have a home.”

That is how everyone knows me, I thought. I was walking home after trying to find some type of family. No success; again. I do have a home, I thought to myself, those people are all wrong about me. Once I got to the park, I think about my day. I had been near the preschool, hoping someone would want another child. Seems everyone has enough children. The park is my home, but I don’t really spend a lot of time there. Most of my time is spent walking around the streets. I have been doing this for four years, ever since my parents died in a big fire at their office.

They were both scientists. Someone else at the office made a “mistake” on a potion. It burnt the whole lab building down. When I heard, I went home, and used all the money around the house to pay for food, bills and the rent. Eventually, I ran out of it. Now, I am 11 years old. By the time I got to the park, it was about 6 o’clock. I have no clue of the time though, since my watch ran out of battery about a year ago. I basically live in the woods. The park connects to the woods.

I always wonder why no one ever came to save me. NOT ANYONE. Not even the landlord in the building cared that I was a child. He knew that my parents were both dead. He was a mean man, he was NEVER nice to me. So, he made sure that I was out on the streets, instead of safe, inside an orphanage  or foster home. I still hate him. I will never like him. NEVER.

To this day, I hate orphanage and foster homes. I am glad that the landlord didn’t send me to one, but he could’ve made sure that I was safe with a relative, or something. He always made sure that I was unhappy. One time, when I was 4, a little girl walked into the building with ice cream. The landlord was standing in the lobby and all he said was, “Enjoy your ice cream, kiddo!” Then, I followed the little girl into the lobby. I had ice cream, too. He said to me, “No ice cream in this building. Get that ice cream out of here!” Those last words stuck in my head LIKE GLUE.  I could never forget all the times that he was mean to me.

The next day, I went near the preschool again. As usual, all of the parents ignored me. Then, it was getting late. I was about to go back to the park for the next few hours, until preschool ended. Then, one last preschooler came out, I said hello, and for the first time ever, I heard a voice answer back. I was surprised.

“Did you just respond to me?” I asked.

“Yeah, you said hello, and I said hello back–is that okay?” she asked me back.

“That is fine, I’m just not used to someone responding. You see, no one has answered me for three years,” I said, uncomfortable.

“How do you live like that?” she asked

“Practice,” I said, “And where are your parents, and why are you so late?”

“You ask so many questions,” she said, “but I can tell you one thing about myself.”

“What?” I asked.

“I am not going into that school right now,” She said.

“Huh?” I started to say before I blacked out.

CHAPTER 2: The Day My Life Got Even Worse

I opened my eyes after a while and I could barely see. Everything was blurry. I looked down and the marks of a needle were on my arm. The shot was blurring my eyes. The preschooler walked into the room. My vision unblurred slowly as she stood next to my bed. I was in a bed. Had I been sleeping?

“Can you see?” the preschooler asked.

“Yes.” I answered to the short skinny blonde haired girl. Her hair was down to her elbows. She was wearing a purple sweaterdress and pink leggings

“Good. Now something you should know about me is that i am like you. You will never see me with parents. Oh, and you think your life is awful? Well, it’s about to get even worse.”

“Huh? I don’t get it! How can this life get even worse? I am kidnapped, with no family or friends left!”

“You don’t know how bad a person’s life can get,” she said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I told you it’s about to get even worse,  now relax,” she said.

I blacked out again. I don’t even know what happened. I couldn’t remember anything that happened before. The preschooler’s life was played in  front of me. Just important parts. The only thing I learned is that the preschooler’s fake name was Lily, and she was a spoiled brat.

I woke up. I couldn’t see, just like last time, “How did you do that? How–.”

“Shut up. And call me Lily.”

“You are nothing like me. You are a spoiled brat with parents, friends, and a family. You get everything you want.”

“True. I agree. Your life is awful, mine is great. And that black-out thing is none of your business. And I am completely like you. There are some things you don’t know yet!”

“But–”

“There are a couple of things you should know: you are being put to the test, and I am learning all about you. I am learning your life. Every time you black out, I see a new year of your life. What I mean by that is that I experience your life in fast-forward, as you are blacked out. I have access to your thoughts. From what I have seen, we could be twins.”

“Not!” I screamed. “We are nothing alike.”

I blacked out again.

CHAPTER 3: I’m Not Going to Estimate How Bad My Life Can Get Any More.

It seems that every time I black out I see something. This time, I saw my life flash before my eyes. One thing that I just remembered was that the park guard was mean to me. He always took my stuff while I wasn’t at the park, and he told me that I couldn’t live there anymore. I told him that I wasn’t even in the park, I was in the woods. I thought my life was awful. I thought it couldn’t get worse. Now, it’s getting worse by the day. I woke to what seemed like a hospital room, but I was the only one there. There were tons of beds, but the only bed that was not empty was the one I was in. I started to think about my life. My parents died, the landlord kicked me out of my own house onto the streets, and then I was living in the woods. I could barely get food. But of course it could get worse. I went from in the woods, and little food, to being kidnapped around to different mystery places every day. When I was by myself there was no one to talk to, no place to sleep. Wild animals outside around me. It was scary, I have to admit. But now, instead of knowing where I was, or what to do, I am in places that I have never even heard of. I used to have a daily routine that I followed every day. Now, I have no idea what to do. Then, my eyes started to unblur.  For the first time in 4 years, I saw a working clock, so I decided to fix my watch to the date and time. January 18, 2012, 2:56pm. That’s when I realized it. No wonder Lily thought we were alike. I used to have good caring parents, too. That’s when a man walked into the room. I recognised him in a weird way. He had short black hair, rimmed glasses, and a small goatee. He was kind of heavy. He was wearing a science lab coat, and he looked kind of nervous. He came to my bed, and held out his hand for me to shake.

“Jamie, I have learned so much about you! It is so nice to finally meet you! Can I tell you where you are?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “You are in the building that your parents used to work in. Well…it got re-modeled a little bit…after the fire.” He seemed uncomfortable to talk about the fire. “But I am Herald Waltzchiz, and I am here and proud of it! I used to work with your parents. They were very good people. I just want you to know that I feel your pain, and that I am here for you,” he said.

Just then I realized why I recognized the man. He was my LANDLORD. HE was the one who kicked me out onto the streets. I hate that man. I had no idea what to do. Should I tell him that I know who he is? No, I finally decided. “Hi, it’s so nice to know that there is someone there for me. Thanks Dr. Waltzchiz!”

“Anytime, Jamie!”

“Wait,” I said as he started to leave “Do you know who or where Lily is?”

“Oh, uh, um, uh Lily? What do you mean?” He asked nervously.

I then knew that he knew who Lily was, and where she was. I didn’t bother him anymore about it. I knew that he wasn’t ever going to be there for me, and that he was a bad man. Once again, I blacked out.

CHAPTER 4: This Is Not What I Thought.

I woke up to a big room. I guess I had been asleep this whole time. I was sitting in a chair. Next to me was Lily. She was sitting down, too. The first thing I did was look at my watch. I had been being kidnapped for the past six weeks.

“I have all the information about you. I know your whole life. You will not be blacking out any more. Since I know about you, I think you have the right to know something.” I didn’t respond. I was mad at Lily. She had been sending me around to different places with Dr.Waltzchiz for the past six weeks. I had no idea what was happening. I didn’t even know for sure that it was Lily. But, it could be Dr. Waltzchiz. I liked my life better when nobody bothered to torture me. Sure, I was alone, but at least I was free to do what I wanted. But, at the same time, I wanted to learn about Lily. I had no idea how she could possibly have the power to do this to me.

“Go on,” I said.

“Well, for starters, you have no parents. I have no parents. I know that I came across to you as spoiled, but I am being tortured as well as you. You don’t know how yet, but you will see. I have a plan to save you. We have completely different lives, but we have a lot in common. We both have unhappy lives,” said Lily.

Dr. Waltzchiz walked into the room. “Come on Lily, we have to go.” Then he saw me. “Jamie, what a surprise to see you here. It’s too bad that me and Lily have to go now. Bye! I guess I’ll see you later!” He said.

“But, Daddy–” She put her hand over her mouth. “Did I just say what I think I said?” Lily asked.

“Yes, and it really is time to go now,” Said Dr. Waltzchiz.

“I’m not going! I don’t want to!” Lily screamed and stomped her foot.

“Wait–” I said, “ Lily, this is your dad?”

“Uh…no um yes uh maybe?” Lily said. She immediately covered her mouth.

“We are going RIGHT NOW!” Dr. Waltzchiz yelled as he pulled Lily out of the room. Lily screamed for help, and I ran to help her, but by the time I got to the doorway, I looked down, and there was no floor. I did not want to go down, but I heard Lily’s distant screams, and I knew that I could not abandon her. I jumped down, slowly starting to hear Lily more clearly.

As I jumped, I had a memory. It was about when my parents died. The manager of the science office had run to my house to tell me. The first thing he said was, “Your parents are dead.”

I cried for hours. He stayed with me for a couple of days, although I never saw his face once. I knew him from before, so I was comfortable with him. He came to check on me every once and a while, but he slowly stopped coming, and I lost contact of him. After I lost my house, I lived on trash that was not completely inedible. My life sucked. I barely slept at night. Now– I don’t even know how I sleep.

I hit the floor. The neverending fall was over.

CHAPTER 5: Who (REALLY) Is Dr. Waltzchiz?

I stood up. I looked all around. I was in a big room. The middle was empty, but there were tables spread out on the sides. In the middle were Lily and Dr. Waltzchiz. They were fighting over something. It seemed unreasonable, but I couldn’t really tell. Finally, Lily screamed out, “BUT YOU’RE NOT MY DAD!!!!!”

“What do you mean he’s not your dad?” Now it was my turn to cover my mouth. Both Lily and Dr. Waltzchiz looked at the little shoot I had come out of.

“How did you get here?” He asked.

“I’m skinny,” I said, “I haven’t eaten much in the last four years.”

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“Ok. You can stop joking. I know that you know me inside and out. You have been almost reading my entire life the second it happened,” I said.

“You’re missing a chunk of the information, Jamie,” He snickered.

“Any help, Lily?” I asked, sounding like a beggar.

“Oh, she’s not helping you any time soon, Jamie. She works for me,” he said, Lily still staying quiet.

“She works for you? YOU WORK FOR HIM!?!?” I was about to go crazy!

“So smart now, huh dad?” Lily said.

“So he is your dad?” I asked.

“No, dumbo. Ever heard of sarcasm?” she asked.

“Lily, why do keep talking to this girl? We have work to do to destroy her,” he said.

“Destroy me?” I asked nervously, “You’re going to destroy me?”

“There is no use in hiding anything from you anymore,” he said calmly. “Lily said that you were being put to the test, and well, you were. The test was your life. If you were what you thought you were, you would have to die. You are nothing like we thought you would be. We thought you would be hopeless. Turns out, you are always hoping for life to get better.” I started to feel happy. “But, we still have to kill you.”

“I know all about you by the way. You have been four people in my life, trying to watch me wherever I go. You have been ‘the only survivor that used to work with my parents.’ That was when you lived with me for a while. You have been my ‘Landlord.’ You have been ‘the park guard.’ And you have been Dr. Waltzchiz. Not to mention the fact that you probably have been following me around everywhere I go using other disguises I don’t even know about.” I said, starting to get annoyed with him.

“I QUIT,” said Lily in the strongest voice she had ever used. She sounded tough.

“What? EXCUSE ME? You can’t quit!” said Dr. Waltzchiz, amazed with Lily’s choice.

She was standing across from me, next to Dr. Waltzchiz. She moved over next to me. She whispered to me, “I’m on your side now.”

“And you weren’t before?”

“Well, I wanted to be, but I was being controlled. You see, when someone likes him for a minute, he controls them. Kind of how he blacked you out.”

“I thought you did that,” I said.

“I did,” Lily said “but I was under his control. I just made myself realize that I hated him, and now, I have power over him.”

“How does he do it?” I asked Lily. Dr. Waltzchiz was still in the room.

“At birth, he wasn’t born right. Right before he was born, he died. The doctor put some type of a spatial light over him. Since his parents were both very weak, he grew up with the doctor. He taught him how to use his powers, but he motivated him to use his powers for bad. Then, he moved away, but the only way he knew to use his powers was to do bad things with them,” Lily said.

“How could you betray me?” He screamed at Lily.

Lily pulled my hand. “Let’s go,” she said to me.

“You’re not going anywhere.” he said.

“Oh yes we are! Come on, we have to go,” she said.

Dr. Waltzchiz tried to come after us, but Lily turned him into a toy, and put him in a jar. She picked up the jar. I was amazed.

“Close your eyes” she said. She brought me into a room.

“Finally,” she said. “It’s all over.”

She opened the door.

CHAPTER 6: Finally Happy

“He didn’t really kill your parents. He locked them up. This room was locked so that it couldn’t be opened unless he was destroyed. He thought he would live forever. You can open your eyes,” Lily paused.  “All that evil old Waltzchiz ever wanted was to make everybody’s life miserable. So, he figured out some way to get powers. Since he thought he would never die, he promised me his powers when he did die. The only power I got for being his assistant locking people in jars. I don’t know why, but for some reason, he had something against us, so he tortured us, and our families.”

I saw about a dozen people. Two of them were my parents. They were all frozen. “They were fed,” Lily said.

I ran to my parents. Lily unfolded a piece of paper.

It said: “My destroyer shall bring these people back to life.” Lily knew exactly what to do. She ran around, tapping all of them. They all came to life, and I hugged my parents. Finally, I was happy. At last.

“MOM, DAD!” Lily and I both shouted at the same time. We laughed.

“We knew that you would get us out,” my mom told me.

“Actually, Lily got you out.”

All of the thank you’s, and kisses, and hugs took hours. I missed my parents more than words could say.

Lily and I were friends for the rest of our lives.

“By the way,” Lily said to me, right after we found our parents, “I’m not in preschool.”

Chapter 7: Waltzchiz’s Story

by: Waltzchiz

I am not a crazy man!!! This is my story:

I went to college with the parents of Lily and Jamie. The dads of both families said that I was Harry, my first name, instead of Martin, my middle name. Ever since, I have wanted revenge. I am not crazy!!!