No one knows where the light came from. A vibrant flash of yellow echoed across the blue sky as if the sun had rushed to setting. Then came the darkness and silence. I thought I had died. A painless, sudden death that took me away like a thief in the night. A sleep that I thought would never end until I heard a voice.
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The day of the mysterious light was the day of the schools carnival. I was hanging out with my best friends Locke and Sam listening to the distant thrum of laughter and carnival games.
Locke was fiddling with a lock picking kit he bought at Jerry’s Pawn shop over three years ago. He was never without his kit. Always holding a set of locks in his hands while he worked to unlock them. His name wasn’t actually Locke but instead Jeanne Lacroix. An old french name that he never liked. After he started his weird fascination with unlocking everything he came across, people started calling him Locke.
Locke was sitting on a bench under the lone tree of Woodstack High’s park. He had his gray hoodie pulled over his head with a pair of earbuds in. He wasn’t really a people person. In fact neither one of the three of us was really a people person. I was pretty sure the only reason he hung out with Sam and I was because he was my next door neighbor.
My other best friend Samantha Fog was sitting with her back against the trunk of the tree drawing in her sketch pad while occasionally looking up at the Ferris wheel. Her fingers were always covered in graphite residue from the constant sketching. I never got to see what she was drawing. Sam would always pull her notebooks close to her chest if I ever tried to take a peek. She promised that one day I would get to see what she was drawing but for now it would remain a mystery.
I was laying on the ground cataloging another caterpillar with my phone. I loved insects. I spent hours watching, collecting and researching everything I could find about bugs, spiders, basically anything creepy and crawly except for grasshoppers. I can’t stand grasshoppers. I never really knew why. Maybe it was something about their legs or the fact they seemed to always jump at me like they wanted to attack me.
Despite my apparent fear of the members of the Caelifera order — I loved bugs. They are so fascinating. Some can be beautiful, colorful and full of life while others could be deadly, dangerous and have the appearance of monsters. When it comes to the more uncomfortable looking insects I would much rather watch videos or go to the local museum to look at them. The ones I considered more approachable, I collected myself. I had my own anthill on my bedside table and a butterfly enclosure hosting seven Painted Ladies resting on my window sill.
“Hey Ben. Check this out.” Locke held up an old looking padlock, copper toned and made of heavy looking metal, that he carefully pulled then twisted to unlock.
“That’s great man. How long have you been working on it?” I asked.
“About ten minutes. It’s not my fasted time but this one was tough. A Mortice Lever lock. Almost a hundred years old,” Locke said.
“That’s cool man,” I muttered back as I let the caterpillar crawl across my fingers.
“How’s your drawing coming along Sam?” Locke asked with a smirk. “You finally gonna let us see it?” Locke hopped down from the bench and started towards her.
“Back off Locke,” Sam said as she held her sketchbook tight.
“C’mon Sam let’s see,” Locke reached for the book but Sam stood and stepped away quickly. She moved out from the shade of the tree and almost stepped on another caterpillar. I put my arm out to stop her.
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“Back off Locke, I’m not going to say it again,” Sam brushed her red hair behind her ear as she sat down next to me. “Sorry Ben.”
“It’s fine,” I sat up, switched the caterpillar in my hand for the one on the ground. The new one was yellow, white and black. I put a small pile of crumbled fries in my hand from my burger combo I bought for dinner and watched it eat. “It will grow into a monarch butterfly. Hopefully a really big one.”
“You gonna take this one prisoner too?” Locke asked sitting next to Sam.
“Nah. My mom won’t let me. Last time I brought home some bugs they infected my room… Not a good weekend,” I let out a chuckle thinking about how I got to sleep on the couch and watch my favorite cartoons late into the night while my room was being fumigated.
“Well what do we have here?” A shadow loomed over our little group. Jaxon Howell. The number one bully in Woodstack. Tall, broad like a two-by-four, with slicked back blonde hair. On either side of him were the Buffett twins. Jessica and James. The only other set of trailer trash chumps in all of Woodstack. Like two ragged dogs begging at their masters heels they followed him everywhere. Doing everything he would do. Pick pocketing, mailbox smashing to spray painting the town train and any other mischief you could think of. They never got in a fight however unless Jaxon started it. And if he ever got his butt kicked I knew these two would just run off. “If it isn’t Bugboy and his girlfriends. Who let you freaks out of your cages?”
Locke stood quicker than I could stop him and gave Jaxon a smile, “Your mom did. Said she didn’t have enough of the ol’ lockman.”
Jaxon’s face went red and he tightened his fists. Leave it up to Locke to make Jaxon mad. He was the only one out of the three of us who wasn’t afraid of Jaxon and his cronies and he had the bruises to prove it.
“Look whose wanting to eat more dirt. James,” Jaxon snapped his fingers and James with his long greasy hair and crooked smile came around and grabbed Locke by the arms. Before Locke could do anything Jaxon gave him a good punch to the gut. James let him go and Locke keeled over.
“Knock it off Jaxon,” Sam stood and I quickly followed.
“Ye… yeah… Jaxon,” I stuttered.
“What are you going to do about it? Huh?” Jaxon stepped up to me and stared down his crooked nose. His breath smelled of cigarettes and coffee.
“I… I…” I couldn’t say anything. My heart was pounding and I could feel my palms get sweaty. If only I could cocoon myself and hide from his eyes.
“Tell you what Bugboy. I’ll give you a free shot. Give me a good punch. If you’re man enough.”
Jessica and James both laughed. Sam looked over at me and shook her head mouthing the words, don’t do it.
I wanted to punch him more than anything. To finally show him what I could do but I just couldn’t. The anger in me was overshadowed by the fear. Even if I did manage to hit him he would pummel me right after. I didn’t have the strength to knock him out.
“I didn’t think so,” Jaxon said with a grim like a bulldog. “Not man enough Bugboy. Come on guys let’s get out of here.” The three of them left with Jessica and James telling Jaxon how funny he was or how awesome his punch was.
“Locke, you alright?” Sam asked helping Locke to his feet.
“Yeah I’ll be fine. I’ve had worse,” He gave us his best smile.
“Sorry Locke… I… I couldn’t…” I wanted to tell him how sorry I was but just like always I stuttered.
“It’s cool. Besides he’s not worth it. You guys want to get some more food? I always get hungry after a good beating,” Locke gave out an airy laugh.
Sam and I nodded in agreement and the three of us started walking towards the fair grounds. That’s when the light appeared.
At first I thought that maybe the fireworks had started but it was still too early. The sun hadn’t even touched the horizon yet. Then I thought that it was some weird aurora like the ones seen up at the north pole or some crazy hallucination but even Sam and Locke had stopped to look at it. Then without warning everything went dark. Then I heard the voice.
Bonding Initializing…
Bonder Sequence Started…
Null Essence Bonded…
Essemon Design Incomplete…
Bonder Sequence Complete…