Narrated by John
I woke up at 5 a.m. as usual. The others slept soundly, and I walked outside.
It was a foggy morning, and the sky was stil dark. I didn't feel cold, and went for a jog along the cliffside and coastline. As I jogged along the Green Coast, I looked at the sea. The water took on a dark color at this time of the day, and the fog made it impossible to see the waves coming.
A small vertical section of water cut through the fog, and crashed down on the sand in front of me. The water splashed and landed on my skin. My skin felt cold, but a breeze took the water away with it.
As the water retreated, my eyes caught sight of a dark cylindrical object lying where the water was a few moments ago. A pen. I bent down to pick it up.
It was a sleek model, purple in color. There was a design on it, which was probably bright white, but had faded to dark grey. Something was on written on the body, and I could make out the words "Writer's" and "Mark". It was a Writer's Mark pen, one of the best pen designer companies in the world.
Writer's Mark
A memory appeared in my mind. My mom had mentioned this.....
"It was our first wedding anniversary," she'd said,"I loved collecting pens at that time, and your dad tried his best to gift me the rarest pen models he could find. Around that time, Writer's Mark had designed a new pen. It was known as Model 338, or WM338. Only ten if these were produced, and each of them bore a great value. Everyone wanted one of those ten beauties. Naturally, I too, wanted one of them. I wanted to tell this to your father, but he already knew it. However, we couldn't afford it. It was too expensive. A few days later, a rich man held a competition, where if his fighter was defeated, the WM338 would be awarded to the winner," she began laughing,"Your dad went there, and got beaten up badly. But, your dad's determination to get that pen was unreal. After nearly dying, he managed to knock the other man out, and finally got the pen!"
A five year old me asked,"Wow! Can you show me the pen?"
My mother laughed again, and sighed,"Sadly, I don't have it."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, at the same evening, your dad planned to gift the pen to me at the cliff. However, when he searched his pockets, it was nowhere to be found. Turns out, he'd dropped it, and the pen was now somewhere in the waters of the Green Sea."
"For real?"
"Yes. He wanted to dive down and look for it, but I stopped him. I was amazed by his determination and love for me. I don't regret the loss of the pen, I just feel bad for your father. He'd worked so hard for me, but his hard work....."
I didn't remember what happened further. I turned the pen, and looked at its clip. Although slightly faded, the letters on the clip read,"WM338".
I dropped the pen in shock. It was the same pen, no doubt. For eighteen years, it had been looming around in the sea. And now, here it was! I picked it up again, and my hands were shaking, for some reason, when I held it. I slipped it into my pocket, and curled my fingers around it. There was no way I'd lose this again.
I didn't want to return it today. I knew when I had to. My birthday was exactly eight weeks away, and that was when I would return it to my parents.
I continued my jog, and reached back to the house. Alex leaned against the wall, arms folded.
"Morning," I said.
Alex nodded, and greeted me back.
"We're gonna go to the city, and hang out there for today. All of us. You're coming too."
"Sure. I'll join you once I meet my parents."
He nodded, and went inside.
Two hours passed, and we were ready to go to town.
Since we had to wear our weighted clothing at all times, I put on a t-shirt and denims over my gi, and wore a jacket on top. Anne and Gordon had chosen casual clothes for training, so they didn't need coverage. Lucky. I could change my clothing, of course, but I liked my gi...
Mr. Benji said,"Alright. Go to the city, and have fun! But be back by seven in the evening."
We nodded, and made our way to the city. It took an hour for us to reach the Bender Institution. The campus looked empty, guess it was a holiday for the others too. Fifteen minutes later, we were at the Bradlow Gates.
We took a bus to Stronghold Central Square, and stopped by Easton's Cafe to grab some breakfast.
The owner, Mr. Easton, was a very good friend of my dad, and was a nice man. He gave me and Alex huge discounts on food, and we ate only from his cafe. It was just so good.
We entered the cafe, and Alex reserved a table. Anne and Gordon went with him, and I went to order food.
Mr. Easton leaned on the counter. He was in his late forties, long, curly, black and grey hair on a wrinkled face. His eyes had a special lustre to them, and he was always in a good mood.
"Wel, well! If it isn't John Will! Haven't seen you in the city much this week."
"Hey, Mr. Easton! I'm training to be a Bender, so I'm out of the city for my training."
"Oh, is it? Where do you train?"
"Uh, the west cliffside along the Green Sea."
"Oh, good. I wish you the best of luck! Are you entering the tournament?"
"Yep."
He nodded,"My son Collin's entering too! He's training in Mira!"
"Oh. I hope I get to see him."
"You will. Anyways, I see that Alex is here too! And who's the girl and the boy with him?"
"They're my classmates, Anne and Gordon."
Mr. Easton waved to them, and they waved back.
We had breakfast, and then I went home. Met my parents, told them about my first week, and had a good chat.
Then, I joined the three again, and we went to an arcade. We stayed at the arcade for at least four hours, and came out at around four p.m.
We went to the market, and bought some supplies. Alex and Gordon went in a rush to a theatre, leaving me and Anne alone. Since we had nothing to do, we went back to Mr. Easton's Cafe, and simply talked about random things.
Soon, we were chatting as if we were old friends, and talked and laughed and ate and drank.
Alex and Gordon were back when it was almost six. It was time to leave, and we packed a few pizzas from the cafe.
I went home one more time, and joined the three again. We reached the house a few minutes before 7, and feasted on pizza and chatted there too.
Finally, I was in my bed, and thought, this week's been great!
I dozed off, and the training was gonna start again, at 6 a.m. tomorrow......