(Christopher Jenkins' POV:)

When I woke up that day, I immediately tried to go back to sleep, but it was no use. My mind was too set on the day ahead of me. My birthday. I couldn't stop thinking about the trip to the movies that was supposed to happen later. Truthfully, I didn't want to go. I would rather do nothing. Stay at home. Sleep. But my friends had bought movie tickets for us, so it wasn't like I could just say no.

I didn't even know what movie we were going to watch. But it didn't really matter. As long as my friends enjoyed it, since they bought the tickets...

The moment I stood up, I was hit with the worst headache I had felt in ages, making me almost fall over from dizziness. Once I had regained my balance, I walked over to the kitchen, holding my head. After eating breakfast, I returned to my room, wondering what I should wear.

I heard a knock on my door, and when I opened it, there was Uncle Seth, holding out a box wrapped in blue wrapping paper.

Uncle Seth was a stocky man with a bushy moustache, and eyebrows so thick he could barely see through them. He was usually a grumpy and awkward guy, but I would occasionally see (rare) wholesome moments like these.

"Is this...?"

"It's your present. From your aunt and I... Enjoy." I could see Aunt Carol close behind him.

I smiled. "Really? Thanks..." I sat down and took off the wrapping paper, revealing a box containing a pair of black headphones with patterns in the sides that, on the cover photo, lit up red.

"Cool," I said, checking out the rest of the box. Then, I stood up and hugged them both. My Uncle, surprised, peeled away and patted me on the shoulder instead.

"Happy birthday," he grumbled.

As emotionless as he sounded, I could tell he cared. I sat in the living room for a while after making coffee for myself and my aunt.

"You don't really seem to be interested in anything," my Aunt told me. "How are we supposed to know what to get you if even you don't know what you like?"

I glanced back at the headphone box which I had left on the table. "Hm? I'm not complaining..."

"You don't have any hobbies, do you? You should really start doing something - go play a sport, go meet up with your friends... I'm sure it'd make you feel better than doing nothing the entire day."

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She knew I was going to the movies later, and she knew it was on my mind. "Maybe."

"Do you know what you wanna do with your life yet? Who you're gonna become?"

"No," I groaned. "I'll figure it out."

My aunt stopped talking about it after that. When I went to take a shower, I threw the towel over the shower door and turned on the water.

As I washed my hair, I thought about what my aunt had asked me. What did I have planned for the future? What skills did I have? Nothing, and none.

What am I doing with my life? I thought. What purpose... do I serve?

When I brought my mind back to reality, I was coughing and spluttering from the water that had gathered in my nostrils while I was spaced out.

I dried myself off, got dressed, continuing to think about this.

"Christopher!" my aunt called from the kitchen. I trudged tiredly to the other end of the house, and she handed me a leash. "Why don't you take Princess for a walk?"

Princess was my aunt's chihuahua, and was a complete rat. My uncle and I both hated Princess equally.

It took a lot of effort just for me to get the dog out of the door. Princess sat still and barked at me for a few minutes until my aunt left the room and I gave it a (gentle) kick in the side, silencing it.

For the next while, maybe an hour, I walked around the town, and stopped by the park. The sunlight against my skin and the gentle breeze around me was calming, and as I lay on the grass, staring into the sky with my aunt's dog tied to a tree nearby, I started drifting in and out of sleep. Forcing myself to stay awake, I stretched my arms out behind me. It only occurred to me then that I had gotten barely any sleep in the last few days.

As I walked home, I got back to thinking.

I couldn't just stay an average kid anymore. If I wanted to go anywhere in the future, I had to start putting effort into my life. There were a number of things I could fix, like getting more sleep, finding a hobby...

I should probably start working out... Tomorrow. I'll start tomorrow.

My uncle was watching a news report on TV, and I decided I would join him. It was about VEX's most recent attack on a cult-like group of Anomalies that was in hiding in Moscow.

VEX was the Anomaly-hunter organization that was practically in control of all of North America, and had branches all over the world. To say they were the most well-known Anomaly-hunter group would be an understatement. VEX had agents who guarded towns at night. VEX had scanners in every school, shopping mall and office. VEX was everywhere, always watching. It wasn't safe for Anomalies anywhere as long as VEX existed.

I thought back then that it was better that way. That the world was a safer place. But this was when I knew nothing more of the world than my own home. To a teenage boy who knew nothing more of the wide world than his own home, VEX of course looked like the heroes this dying world needed.

If I'm doing nothing useful with my life, I might as well make my contribution to this world by protecting it.

I wasn't a noble person. I wouldn't risk my life to save strangers. But, a useless bag of bones like me... How else could I do something with my life?

I glanced at my uncle, whose eyes were rapidly switching between the TV and a newspaper. "Uncle Seth... what would you think if... hypothetically... I joined VEX?"