Inner Demons 1: Chains Of Greed

The morning my life changed was the same as any other, I woke up to the blaring noise of my alarm. While still half asleep, I got up, and grabbed a dark blue shirt from the dresser beside my bed, preparing for school. As soon as I got dressed, I reached for my good luck charm on my bedside nightstand. It was a small metallic eagle pendant with a blue crystalline orb being held by the talons. The pendant had been gifted to me by my grandfather before his passing.The two of us were very close; we would always spend time together fishing out on the lake on the edge of town. Our closeness made it all the more tragic when my family got that call. He was found severely injured in the middle of the road and needed to be rushed to the hospital. As I stood there alone in my grandfather's hospital room, he called me over to his bed."Conner, my boy," he said, grabbing my hand, "You are destined for great things, I can see it in you." When he removed his hands, there sat the pendent in my palm. "Keep it with you always," he said before all the life drained from his eyes. Since that day I have never let it leave my sight. Walking down the upstairs hallway, I passed my older sister's room, which now only served as a sad reminder of the day she left.I made my way down the stairs to the kitchen and began to make myself a turkey and cheese sandwich with mayo for my school lunch today. I checked in on my mom before I left same as every morning, she had been struggling over the past few years. Everything started with my dad's death, then my sister running away intensified her depression.She hadn't left her room much in a month other than to go to work and even then I could tell that mentally she wasn't there. "Goodbye Mom" I yelled, receiving no reply from her. I walked out of her room and stared at the wall in front of me. On the wall was a portrait of my parents, my grandfather, my sister, and I all together, and all smiling.I wished that things could go back to the way they were, but I knew that it was an impossible dream. I scooped up my lunch from the counter and walked out the front door beginning my walk to school.Upon arrival at school, I made my way up to my first-period Math class. As I sat down in my seat, my teacher took attendance and then began droning on about a college trip in April, which I found kind of weird since we were only three months into school. I sat there doing essentially nothing for thirty minutes before the bell rang.I casually sauntered up the stairway, not in any hurry to get to my second-period English. As I trudged up the stairs, I spotted a guy who seemed pretty familiar to me. His jet-black hair seemed to be as dark as the night, while his blood-red eyes seemed to pierce through my soul. He was wearing a dark black leather jacket with a white undershirt and dark black jeans.I've seen him around the building before but never talked to him. Come to think of it, I've never seen anyone talk to him before. Shaking my head, I refocused my thoughts and started making my way down the third-floor hallway.I was halfway down the hallway when a scream pierced the air, seemingly coming from further down the hall. Following the sound, I found a guy about my age with black hair holding someone up by their throat. "Where is he?" the guy growled at the student, his hand still tightly wrapped around the student's throat.The student said nothing; he just pointed directly at me with one hand while the other grasped at the hand around his neck in an attempt to free himself. I could sense the fear in his eyes. "See, that wasn't so hard now," the boy grumbled before throwing the student with enough force to send him crashing through the nearby glass window. "Hello, Conner, I'm glad to be face to face with you finally." the guy scoffed, cracking his knuckles as he began to stride towards me. "I've been searching for you for quite some time."I could see his face stricken with a look of hatred and anger, his malicious intent radiating from him like a shining beacon of fury. In an instant, the boy grabbed a green orb-like necklace from around his neck, and it grew into a mighty sword in his hand. Before I was able to understand what was happening, he had already begun sprinting towards me, weapon in hand.My body froze, unable to move an inch. The piercing pain of my fear felt like a dagger striking straight into my heart. I was helpless, utterly unable to dodge his assault. "Get down!" a voice shouted behind me, snapping me back from my fearful trance. I got down to the ground, and in a flash, the boy from the stairway had moved between me and my attacker, with a sword at the ready. The long silver-colored blade shone in the bright light of the morning sun.The two swords clashed as I watched them attack each other relentlessly. "You're not going to kill him, Jackson!" my protector cried, knocking the sword from the boy's hand. "Fine then, if I can't win today, Draco, then I'm just going to have to do things another way." Jackson retorted with a sinister smile on his face. We both watched as he picked up his sword, pulling a vial of orange liquid from his pants pocket. "Watch your back, Conner Madison!" Jackson shouted with a sinister tone, throwing the vile to the ground. A cloud of orange smoke erupted from it, engulfing Jackson and filling the air around us.My vision was clouded to the point I couldn't see anything besides Draco standing before me. When the smoke cleared, Jackson was gone, vanishing into thin air. "What is going on?" I asked Draco. "I can explain all of this in time, but right now, you need to get home and prepare. Meet me at the abandoned warehouse just outside of town tonight." Draco said. I nodded and began running down the hallway stairs and out of the school, making it home before I knew it. I burst through the door, locking it behind me. "What the hell is going on?" I said to myself while pacing back and forth."I've got it; I'm just having a nightmare; that's got to be it!" I exclaimed to myself, trying to wake up but to no avail. As I surveyed the kitchen, trying to make sense of what was going on, I made a discovery that made my blood run cold. Staining the white tile floor was a pool of freshly spilled blood. If only I had known this morning, my goodbye to my mother before school would be the last thing I ever said to her.