The Gold in the Dark Ch.01

The blue ocean-like sky made way for the beautiful sun as it began to raise high and mighty. The birds chirped and the nearby forest’s deep billowed leaving young Will Wells to wake up from his long nap. Though he hoped for it to be only a short rest, the drool pooled over his tall pile of papers said otherwise. With his eyes swelled and his arms beginning to regain consciousness, his arms began to creep toward his head as it began its rhythmic drumming. As he turned his face over on his small brown desk, that may have well been from an elementary school, the tiny lamp that he had used before his long slumber, shown at his face, lighting it up like the sun who was blocked off by his white blinds in front of his small window. It wasn’t unnatural for him to sleep while working. It wasn’t as if his work was interesting anyway. He was a grade 12 at Newance H.S. after all. Will looked at the small round clock above his desk as its hand moved and sounded to the rhythm inside of his head. His eyes wearily widened and his swivel chair squeaked as he looked down and up again to get a second look. Squeezing his eyes and thinking hard, he pushed his hand into the tiny cubby under his desk. Quickly looking through all the months on his calendar, finally reaching June. Looking past all the large x’s he had marked the days before, he looked to see what day it was.

Wells sighed as he placed his hand on his head and his elbow on the desk with a thud on the tiny section his papers didn’t cover. He sighed and let out a big breath before rising from his chair. He quickly looked around his room. It was small, nice, but wasn’t every student’s dream. It had his desk in the far corner of the room, and a nice small bed on the other. The wall’s blue paint was pretty much was ripped off by now and his cupboard was more or less a storage compartment, filled with boxes of clothes and his very few belongings. His legs slowly crept toward the ugly mess and he began throwing his clothes to the ground. The sound of cardboard boxes shuffling filled the room as he pulled black, blue-grey, and many other solid coloured shirts as they were the only kind of shirts he had. He had previously thought to himself to buy new clothes but had let go of that idea. He didn’t have much to live off of anyway and had plenty of plain shirts to wear. Plain colours in and out. In the end, he decided to wear what he wore yesterday, a blue t-shirt and black jeans. He opened his door and trotted toward his bathroom. The bathroom was actually not as bad as Will’s bedroom. Some have said it was better. It was well mopped and smelled of a fresh aroma of roses. He never cared for how his room looked. He was always in there so he knew it would get messy again if he cleaned it. Instead, in times where he felt he had to divert his mind, he cleaned his bathroom. It wasn’t much of a hobby or something he enjoyed, but it was something he did and was proud of. Even if he wanted to try other hobbies he didn’t have much technology to learn anything nor did he even want to do anything else. He was happy with what he was doing. Eventually leaving the bathroom, he looked for his bag, which he found hidden under all the clothes he threw. After taking out a sandwich from his fridge to eat later along with a can of sardines he silently left his apartment.

Will lived alone and had been alone ever since he left the orphanage, so he never really had the chance to say bye or say that he loved someone before leaving. He didn’t mind this, and never really thought about it. He would always just lock himself in his room anyway, so he thought that even if there was someone there for him it wouldn’t make a difference. He stepped outside and the sun hit him hard. He had to squeeze his eyes shut as his eyes felt as though the light had turned into needles and were attacking him. Once his eyes adjusted to his surroundings, he looked up into the sky. It’s beautiful he thought to himself as the little cotton-candy-like clouds flew above him. Even though he had already gotten ready, his body began to become limp and fragile causing his hands to droop from the little sleep he was able to get. Unwillingly, he forced his body toward the small, short black gate surrounding his building. Wells never really understood the reason for the fence. It seemed as if it was built to make sure crawling babies didn’t escape, not keep any strangers out. He crouched a little and bent to open the small latch on the gate. The loose gate easily swung open and the cat that slept near the entrance woke up and began to stare at Wells intently. Wells, who knew the drill reached into his bag and pulled out the can of sardines he had taken earlier. Opening it with a clack, the emanating smells filled his nostrils with a putrid smell as if he had just pulled out a bag of rotting fish, something he had gotten used to at his orphanage. Waving it around the white and black spotted cat, it pounced and meowed as if it desperately needed the fish. Trying not to be too mean, Wells eventually threw the cat its treat. The cat quickly caught it and walked away with the fish in its mouth. The cat has always been there for as long as he can remember. It didn’t have a collar or a name. He didn’t even want to name it either as he didn’t want to get attached to it, there were no animals allowed in the apartment after all. The last thing he wanted was to be left on the street, just as he was a year ago. After seeing the cat turn the corner to the other side of the apartment Wells began the tedious walk he had to do almost every morning to get to his school.

Wells lived in a very bustling place. Even though he lived in an apartment, nearby, there was a neighbourhood full of three-story semi houses and middle-class homes. Only after walking through the winding cracked sidewalks of these neighbourhoods, can he make it to high school every day. On the way, he greeted Mr.Walker and Mr. Parker who petted the dog that walked with its owner, a tall toned woman, and many others whom would see Wells walk by quite often around this time. They were always nice to him and always had friendly smiles. He got to know these people by either helping them move in when they needed an extra hand or really just did anything the people asked occasionally as he walked by. This time it was Ms. Parkinson. She was a tall lady, fit and was always out and about building something out of scraps of wood in her messy, scrap filled double garage. It seemed as if she was working there all day every day but she had a job and from time to time has asked for various things like cleaning her garage, something Wells found very tedious, even for someone who liked cleaning. She called to Wells as he passed by her home saying, “Wells, Wells, could you wait one moment! One second!”. She smiled as she jogged toward him with her raised hand waving at him. “How are you doing Ms. Parkinson, need anything?”. “Yes actually. My husband and I need to go out tonight and I was wondering if you could babysit my kids for a few hours. I was looking for babysitters but nowadays it’s hard to find someone who is available. Right now, you’re the only person I can trust and leave my kids with.” With a smile on his face Wells agreed to. “Yeah sure that’s fine, what time do you need me?” “You have work after school right? Maybe around 6.” “Sure thing. I’ll be there. See you then!” Wells, after looking around to see if someone else was waiting for him to come by, began to quickly walk toward the school. The last thing he needed was someone else asking him for a favour. He can only do so much. He groaned as he walked and thought about what he had just agreed to do. He thought about how stupid he was for a while but decided it was too late anyway. He had a policy where if he accepted something he would follow through on it no matter what. Whether it would be a deal or a promise. He shook his head to clear his mind. He looked at his watch, still short on time he began to run. Lunchtime was just ending at his school, 12:30, and he wanted to make it there on time.

As he ran the breeze pushed his shirt around his body and he could feel the cool embrace of the invisible swirling winds around him. He expanded his arms. The sound of his shoes loudly thumping on the sidewalk or the notebooks inside his bag rattling didn’t bother him. Wells began to smile, something he had only rarely been able to do. As his consciousness began to flow into the wind his leg grabbed something dense, something like concrete. Acting fast, he used his hands and stopped his fall, preventing his face from becoming the shape of the sidewalk. Him falling wasn’t that surprising to Wells, as he always knew there were cracks in the sidewalk, but he had never really fallen in them though. It was really his first time having done so. He looked back, expecting to see a big hole, instead, he saw a letter stuck in between the small divot between two sidewalk slabs. It wasn’t much, it was a milky white envelope, surrounded by a red border. Wells got up and stared at the letter. Curiously, he picked it up and the letter curved in his hands. He looked at the back of the letter not knowing who it was for. In cursive, written in thick black ink, “For Wells” was written. There are many people named Wells, he thought. It could be anyone, but he saw what was written underneath, “15 WiddlePecker Blvd, Apt. 101”. He couldn’t believe his eyes. “A letter for me, in the middle of nowhere? How did they know I was going to be here?” he thought. He couldn’t delve too deep into it however as in the distance, he heard the loud, echoing school bells calling him saying that lunch had just ended. He put the letter into his bag and ran the rest of the short way to school.

Author