Disclaimer: This story continues off of another, for Part 2 click
Chapter 1 (Part 3): The Search
It was a bright and sunny day of year 2615, in the town of Carson City, Nevada. A family of four were walking through a meadow, the father had a little girl on his shoulders, zooming around the meadow as she happily screamed. The mother was carrying a picnic basket as she watched the father rush around. Traveling near the rear of the family was 7-year-old Hollow, in his hands he held a leather journal, upon it read The Journal of Hollow Edge.
“Dear, I think this would be a perfect spot to settle, could you please get the children cleaned up?” Hollow’s mother stated. The father spun around rushing back to the rest of the family as he put down the little girl, being 5-year-old Shashari Edge. The father then walks the kids to a nearby river, as they wash up, as they return, their mother is gone, as well as the picnic basket.
“Julia!” The father yells out; a few birds fly away as they caw. “Julia, this isn’t funny!” The father says as he becomes paranoid. The father then puts Shashari on his shoulders and grabs Hollow’s hand and starts racing back the way they came.
When they reach the car – a Volkswagen Beetle – the trunk was wide open, as well as the driver and front passenger door, all four tires seemed to have been slashed and several things were taken from within the car and trunk. The father once again puts down Shashari as he goes to investigate the wreck. When the father reaches the car, nothing is on the front of the car, but as soon as he looks to the back seat, he becomes horrified. “No, how could they, who’d do such a thing!” the father cries out as he backs away from the car. The father stumbles back, tripping once, then turning around and running in the opposite direction as fast as he could, leaving behind the children.
“Dad!?” Hollow called out, but the father kept running.
The sun was beginning to set, the father still had not returned, but the temperature dropped, becoming freezing. Hollow crawled into the trunk of the car, pulling up his sister behind him. They wrapped themselves in a blanket, being the only thing left within the tiny car. Shashari easily fell asleep, but Hollow could not, being too worried about protecting his sister, and to see if his father would ever return. By the next hour, both were sound asleep, though shivering, they managed to get some rest.
As Hollow awoke, he found his sister not in the trunk. He quickly was evoked and sat up. He saw his little sister standing next to a five-foot-nine police officer. Hollow quickly rubbed his eyes to get out the eye boogers, then left the safety of the trunk. Hollow walked over to the officer.
“Good morning young man,” the officer spoke to Hollow in a deep, seemingly-terrifying voice.
“Our daddy ran away and mommy is no where,” Shashari stated.
The officer walked over to the car and looked into the back seat, clicking on his radio, “Calling in a 10-54 and 2 counts of 271, ages of 5 and what appears to be between 7 and 8, Over,” the officer talked into his radio.
Hollow looked around, but could not spot a police car anywhere. As the officer looked within the Beetle, Hollow noticed that the officer’s pant legs were high up, and located on his right ankle was a sheathed dagger. Hollow then looked upon the back of the officer’s jacket, there he found some sort of biker gang logo of some sort, Hollow knew something was off. He began to slowly back up; he reached his sister and told her that man was not a real officer and that they needed to run. She looked at the officer, then back at Hollow, nodding. They both began to run, without looking back.
Must have been a few miles they’ve run, and the so-called officer seemed nowhere in sight. Both children were exhausted, they stumbled upon a seemingly newly built house. Hollow looked at a nearby mailbox, which was located next to a street sign, both reading, Headmark St., 14576, Carson City, NV, The Vex Household.
“We should go knock, no where else to go,” Hollow said as he grabbed his sister’s hand and crossed the street, Hollow knocked on the door, opening 3 seconds later to a man, in his late fifties to early sixties, with short white and grey hair. The man was dressed in a blue and red suit with gold accents.
“How may I be of service?” The man spoke, the kids didn’t speak, there was a long silence. The man then looked down to find the two children, “Oh my days, what could two children be doing here this late?” The man called into the house, “Sir, we have some guests that may be needing the warmth of your home!” The man then turned back to the children, “Come in, come in, sit, sit,” the man exclaimed. The two children sat on a comfortable couch as they waited.
A man walked into the room, having a serious look on his face. The man appeared to have white hair in the darkness, but once he walked into the light, his hair color seemed to have a hint of a light purple. The man also had a blank eye that was fully purple with no pupil and an orange eye in the other socket. “Who has entered my home?” The man asked as he sat in a chair across from the children.
Hollow spoke up, “My name is – ” he looked around, spotting a safe in the corner of the room – Cash – He looked around again and spotted a stove “- Cash Asburn,” Hollow said. The man waves over the other man to his chair, whispering some things.
“Cash Osborn, what a….strange name for a boy of your age, must have lovely parents, and as for the girl?” The man in the chair stated.
‘That’s not what I said, I said Asburn, it’ll work,’ Hollow thought. “Had,” Hollow stated.
“Come again?” the man asked.
“Had, we had lovely parents” Hollow stated. “and her name’s Krystal Osborn, with a K,” Hollow finished with.
“Oh my, have had none of the idea of such a subject,” The man said sarcastically. “As for the names, Cash and Krystal, I will give you a place to stay, but if you bother me, I’ll have you sent away,” The man said, seeming to speak in an old fashioned English style. The man then stood up, “Paris will show you to your room” The man stated.
“Wait,” Hollow shouted, “what’s your name?”
The man looked back, “Walker Vai Vex, you may refer to me as Mr. Vex only, now to your rooms,” The man said as he walked away.
‘He only said we’d have a single room, not each of our own,’ Hollow thought. The children followed Paris to their room.
Paris tucked in the kids, “You kids can call me Paris Paradox or Parry if you wish. Good Night you two, stay in here for the night as Master Vex wishes not to have children running around,” Paris stated. As he covered the two in a blanket, as he was walking out, Hollow noticed a tag on Paris’ neck reading ‘Project: The Paradox’ around it appeared to be electrical systems and electrical components. Hollow wondered what Mr. Vex was up to and why Parry called him Master Vex. Hollow decided to give his thoughts a rest and think about everything in the morning.
As Hollow awoke he found his sister missing again, ‘How does a 5 year old survive on this much sleep’ Hollow wondered. Hollow started to smell the crisp of bacon and sausage, as well as a sticky syrup smell. Hollow sat up and looked to an end table, spotting a fresh new pair of clothes, a toothbrush, a comb, a hat, and a hoodie. Below the end stand was a new pair of sneakers and a book bag full of supplies. Hollow quickly got dressed, slipped on his sneakers and hat and headed into the kitchen.
There he found Paris Paradox cooking up French toast and his little sister sitting up in a chair, her face covered with syrup. “Chop Chop, you have school to attend to,” Walker says as he enters the room.
“School? We just lost both of our parents and you feel it’s right for us to attend school like everything is normal?” Hollow says. Of course Hollow enjoyed school, he enjoyed it a lot, he was a very intelligent young man for only being 7 years old. Hollow began reading and writing at the age of two and by the time he entered second grade, he was able to speak almost the entire English dictionary, sew, cook some things, and even build puzzles as huge as 4500 pieces. Hollow was looking in his bag and found his Journal in it, he became really confused as he remembered forgetting it back at the meadow two days back. Outside, a dark blue bus pulled in front of the house.
“Hurry, ‘for you miss the bus!” exclaimed Walker, unusual to see him excited. Hollow quickly put his journal back into his bag, grabbed some pieces of bacon and headed out the door…
…to be continued…