My name is Core, and if your looking for a story with action, adventure, comedy, surprises, and awesomeness, then you are reading the right book. It all started at my crappy job at the utilities store. My boss walked out of his office and said that due to cut backs he has to fire some people. My boss was a big man who probably had to many doughnuts, was bald, did not like me, and always had his zipper down (but nobody was man enough to tell him to his face or they would get fired). He then said "here are the people that are getting fired, Suzy, Dylan, and Core." I turned to him surprised, I wanted to say so many things about how I had been here longer and that I'm better than everyone... but I didn't. All I asked him was why he was he firing me, and he said "because I don't like you." I gathered my stuff, turned to face the door, then as I was walking out I said "by the way, your zipper is down." I could hear employees laughing as I walked out and for some reason saying that made me feel a little better about being fired.

As I was driving home, my car started to sputter and make some concerning sounds. Then it stopped, in the middle of the intersection. I tried to get it started up and get out if the road, but I could not. As I looked to my left I say a semi coming right at me, he hit his brakes but still slammed into the back of the car. I went spinning of the road and crashed into a broken down garage. I decided to walk home because when I called the tow truck service they said that all their trucks were busy an that they could get one out in about three or four hours.

While walking home I saw my girlfriends favorite coffee shop and decided that I should get her a coffee since I care for her. But it turns out that she doesn't care for me, because when I walked in I saw her kissing some guy. I asked her what she was doing and she responded "I thought you were at work." She said it as if I was the one who was doing the wrong thing. I looked at her, then the guy, then back at her, then I took a deep breath and broke up with her dropping the F-bomb a few times and walked out angrily.

I waddled home, sick of myself. As I approached the apartment building that I live in I saw the landlord waiting outside. I tried to convince myself that he was not waiting out there for me, but with the day I was having, I could not believe anything else the that he was waiting for me. my suspicions were confirmed when the landlord called out my name and ran to me. When he approached he said that my roommate brought nine dogs in the room and they tore up everything in it, including all my stuff. He also said that I was being evicted. I watched him walk inside and just stood there. So to sum things up I have no job, no car, no girlfriend, no stuff, no money, and now nowhere to live.

Then I heard a man yell out weakly "hey sonny, over here." I turned to see an aged man who seemed to have been through a lot, sitting in an alley looking over to me. I don't know if it was pity or curiosity, but I approached the old man. He smiled and said "if you ever find yourself in and pickle, and think that the world hates you, then just take this and remember... a better future is just a hop, skip, and a jump away." He then held out a beautiful necklace with two black and white dragons swirling around each other like Yin and Yang. I took it and began to thank him, then he died. He died right there in the ally, looking up at me with a smile. I leaned down and closed his eyes, because I knew it was the right thing.

I stared walking to the homeless center because that was the only place that I could think of to go to. As I was walking i thought to myself that it could not get any worse... Then it started raining. I made it to the homeless center and sat down in the large open space filled with dirty people who probably had been through worse than me. As I was sitting there I realized that I hated my life, and then thought about what the old man said, "a better life is just a hop, skip, and a jump away." Then, just to humor myself, I stood up... hopped, skipped, and when I jumped, I flew forward into a portal of rainbows and color. I hit face first into sand, then looked up to see a clear sky and around to see a desert as far as the eye can see, and in front of me... was a knife and a little book, titled Portal Jumping Manual.