Chapter One

The Bane Of Existence

School. The bane of my existence. Teachers, my enemy. Horace High really destroys my 'happy, go lucky' attitude.

"Dude come on!" My best friend James says "were gonna be late for gym! And you know how Mrs. Morave gets when your late!"

Ah, Mrs.Morave otherwise known as Mrs.Tardy. The most uptight teacher when it comes to Tardiness. I shudder to think on what she would do if we were late.

James and I, jog to class; because running isn't allowed.

"Cmon man we gotta go!" I holler back at James as I speed towards the Northwest stairwell. Descending the stairs I skip the last 4 stairs and land as graceful as falling falling flat on my face can be, James repeating my move but more professionally with a smooth P.K. Roll as I open the door to let James through.

Emerging from the door I look down the hall and see the door closing to the gym. I make a mad break for the door, my heels not touching the ground as I take humongous strides.

I'm about a metre from the door, now and I have about five inches till the door is closed and locked from the inside.

I jump,

And fall flat on my face a few inches from the door, the door clicking shut snaps me out of my stupor.

"Dammit!" James says coming up behind me, breathing heavily. "so close yet so far hmm?"

"Yea" I reply, huffing and puffing just as much as my winded comrade. "Do you wanna head to the fortress? Y'know since we can't get in?"

"Sure why not?" James replies shrugging. We walk to the backdoors of the school. Opening the first door, I let James through before me to which he returns the favour by opening the second.

When we've exited the building we dash through the chain link fence and down the hill to the soccer/rugby pitch. Crossing the field we head into the trees that perimeter the edges of the field.

There nestled in the trees lined with a green tarp and pine branches lay a large wall about 6'11, with a hole big enough for a non-obese person to crawl through.

"Still can't get over how good this looks!" James comments.

"So true" I chuckle as I get on my hands and knees and entering the hole.

Inside the fortress lay; a makeshift mattress of sticks, a sleeping bag and blankets, a large construction light with a cord that leads to the small generator we bought from HomeDepot. A 'Home Sweet Home' sign hung above the door inside. The sheets of plywood barely covering our insulated and messy structure work. Other than that the square building was as strong as a regular house and slightly rain resistant, a home away from home.

James crawled in after me and flicked the light switch. The small construction light lit and bathed the dark, cold area in light.

"It's good to be back." I commented walking to the cot, motioning for James to follow.

"Sure is" James agreed, grabbing the cot edge with me. "1, 2, 3!"

We lifted the heavy edge of the cot and shuffled the small table and folding chairs out of the inside compartment. We set the bed down and I grabbed some of the table supplies, [BffN] following suit. We dragged them over to the empty corner to begin setting them up.

"Hey set up my chair imma go get the fire wood" James said bending down to crawl out.

"Will do capitano!" I joked, grabbing his chair and stretching it out. Standing up I walked to the 'Home Sweet Home' sign and lifted it off. In behind sat two pocket knives, a barbecue lighter and a hatchet. I grabbed the lighter and hung the sign back up, concealing the items once again.

Heading to the small fire pit in the middle of the room I cleaned all the old ash and left the lighter beside the fire.

Suddenly wood came flying through the small entryway. Followed by a crazy brown haired person.

"Honey I'm home!" James hollered jokingly. "You wanna start the fire?"

I nodded and grabbed the small pieces of wood,

"Grab the hatchet will you?" I asked.

I outstretched my hand upon hearing the sign move and grabbed the hatchet which had been thrown to me. I began hacking away at the wood that James had gathered creating kindling for our fire.

Grabbing a piece of birch wood from the pile, I began peeling back the bark. Peeling the bark into tiny strips I tossed it onto the pile of wood and underneath.

Putting the lighter to my birch bark I pulled the trigger and lit the lighter. The birch peelings caught fire fast and began sizzling away licking the larger pieces of wood.

I scooted back and stood up, throwing the lighter on the table I flicked the light off and sat down in my seat to watch as the rest of the wood caught and tiny embers exploded upwards. Too beautiful a night to be wasted, to beautiful to be destroyed by them.