I wake up in my room, the black and white checkered walls greeting me with the monotonous colors, the warm sunlight pouring through the curtains, illuminating my dark room.

Lazily getting out of bed, getting a revitalizing shower, I dress in my school uniform while singing, "A Friend Like Me." With a black hoodie over my uniform, I get on my bicycle and head towards the school.

I notice a girl with silver hair glistening in the sun as if it were like silk. I see that she is wearing the school uniform. Upon further notice, she was also in my class. On top of it, she also missed the bus, and I decide to stop next to her and ask, "Hey, you need a lift?"

Catching her breath, she replies, "Yeah!"She sounds ragged from rushing.

Sighing, I say, "Sit behind me and hold on tight." As I glanced behind me, I see that she is holding onto the seat, I say, "You can hold onto me."

Once I felt her arms around me, I pedal quickly, reaching the school a few minutes later. "You can get off now," I say as I get off my bike and stretch for a bit.

"Thank you!" she says, her voice a little high-pitched.

"You're welcome. Anyways, if I see you miss the bus again I'll help you out. I'm Wolfe Von Reinhardt, by the way," I say as I stretch my arm out.

"I'm Alicia Felicié. Nice to meet you, Wolfe!" she replies, shaking my hand, "Can we stay together? I'd like to know you better," she said, a twinkle in her eyes.

"Eye guess," I say jokingly.

"Eye sea you're a very punny fungi," she says in response.

"Whale then, you certainly didn't do that on porpoise. But toucan play at that game."

"Beware, my chemistry jokes will surely get you to react."

"I can juggle very well, but I don't have the balls."

"Butt eye am quite shore yew can't."

"Are you kitten me right meow? Of coarse I can."

While walking to the school's rooftop atrium, we began speaking only in puns. Whether they were good or bad, I don't know.

"To be honest, I'm more than grateful that you picked me up," she says, her voice similar to like an ominous omen.

"I'm just glad I could help, but I can help even more if you tell me if anything is wrong," I reply confidently and calmly.

"Well... I haven't been feeling safe since... an attempted assault," she says, her voice slowly breaking as she spoke.

"You don't have to say anymore. I understand what it was," I reply, looking at the troubled, fearful look in her eyes.

The door opens in the distance, and I see from the corner of my eye that someone was pointing... something. My body took over and tackled Alicia to bring us into cover.

Gunshots break the quiet and peaceful atmosphere.

"Hey Alicia, I'll need you to stay right where you are," I whisper before the gunshots cut me off.

"Hey, there's no need for violence, I mean you no harm," I calmly say as I get up with my hands up in the air, careful of being overconfident.

"What are you doing? He's going to kill you," Alicia whispers and very careful not to be heard.

Unfortunately, she didn't know I had a plan. The attacker points the gun at my back after I stood in front of him.

"Don't try anything funny. Where is the girl?" the attacker says in a gruff, gravel-like voice.

"Why do you assume that I was up here with someone? Besides, how would you know?" I ask in response with the facade of ignorance.

"Don't mess with me, I know she was with you. I saw you two go up to here," the attacker says as he presses the gun's muzzle to my spine.

"How interesting- just this way," I reply calmly, walking in Alicia's direction.

Just before getting close to Alicia, I move my left hand to the side of the attacker's gun, following up by swiftly taking a circular step in between the attacker's feet while twisting the gun out of the attacker's hand successfully and pointing it at the criminal, I call out to Alicia to have her handcuff the attacker using a belt. Calling the police, the criminal was then detained. As the days gone by, the criminal had been stalking Alicia until one day attempting to sexually assault her, then trying to attempting to murder her to keep quiet. The sentence was life in prison without possibility of parole.

"Thankfully my parents found enrolling me in self-defense classes paid off," I say in a low, modulated voice.

"It's the second time you helped me, right?" she says in relaxed manner.

"I guess so. I am a hero in the making, after all," I reply with a smile.

"A knight in shining armor?"

"Far from it. More like a knight in broken armor - after all, a knight in shining armor was never truly tested," I reply as I open my pocketwatch.

"But even so, you may be knight in broken armor, but it still shines," she says while gently poking my cheek.

"It's going to be late, want me to walk you home?" I ask as I turn to face her after seeing the time.

"Sure, I could use the company," she replies with a warm smile.

We later walk down the sidewalk. Parting ways, we say our farewells. I don't know if I will meet her again, if we cross paths again, but as inscribed in my pocket watch is the poem "Invictus". Heading into my house, the symphony of sounds ranging from the clicking of the locks to the cascade of soda into a glass. Seeing through my window, raindrops fall from the heavens and form puddles on the ground, small lakes on the asphalt trail. The great roar of the beast in the sky resonates throughout the neighborhood, Zeus' bolts hitting the ground below, the sound like a blast of dynamite. Finishing my dinner, I head into my room and lay upon my bed.

The normal black and white checked wall greets me as usual. The mesmerizing pattern yelling out loud the color. Letting my eyes close, I begin to imagine. The grand sky with its same old color with the snowy clouds floating like lily pads, slowly moving in a single direction.

I stand above the water dotted with sakura petals. The scenery looking like it was frozen in time, not a single ripple expanding as quickly as the universe.

"You did well," says a honey sweet voice.

"And what do you want?" I ask as I turn around to see a girl with silky golden hair stand on top of a crystal blade.

"Oh nothing, just wanted to see how you were doing," she replies as her hair flows in the wind, the oceanic blue of her eyes twinkling in the light.

"Tell me. I know you just as well as you know me that you'd never just 'drop in'."

"Things will escalate more than you may never handle. It won't be just the girl, but others you'll meet. Just a little word of caution for you," she says and disappears.

"For once I'll listen to you, insanity," I say while slowly drifting to sleep.

The next day, it is once again with the same routine: wake up, take a shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, brush teeth, and ride my bike to school. The extreme monotony of the day forcing me to skip everything all the way to after school. I sit alone in the school's marble gazebo and gaze into the sky, my mind being devoid of any thoughts.

Like a stone breaking the stagnant surface of the water, someone lays next to me and asks, "so this is what you do when you're alone?" Looking to my right, I see Alicia, the sunlight radiating on her and the light almost looking like she wore a translucent golden tunic as her snowy hair glitters beautifully as a sunny winter day. For a second, I had nearly asked, "are you a goddess?". Thankfully, I asked as casually as I could, "what brings you here?"

"I was wondering where you were, so I looked around," she replies along with a smile as radiant as the sun like Amaterasu emerging from the cave.

"Sometimes, I just feel like laying down and not feel like doing anything," I reply while I stretch to ease my body.

"I wanted to ask you something," she says out of the blue.

"Go ahead."

"Why did you help someone like me?"

"You're like me, in a way," I reply as I look out into the distant sky, seeing the pale moon move slower than a snail.

"Like you?"

"Yeah. Running away from something only to eventually confront it in the end."

"You run away from things?" she asks me - incredulous at that fact that I did such a thing, after all, who wouldn't after I stared down danger and won?

"I used to, but now I live by the words of a certain man. He said in a speech once, 'Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty-never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.'* wise words indeed."

"You definitely have the makings of a hero."

"I'm just some guy you would meet along the sidewalk. I am no hero at all, but if you want, I could be your hero," I say while getting up and stretching my hand out.

"Of course," she replies, taking my hand.

The world, by some miracle, became so wonderfully colorful. The colors instantly shine brighter than jewels, more pronounced than a neon red streak on black paper. Then, she says,
"For a moment, I saw a twinkle in your eye."

"Of course, the world became so much more wonderful now. Shall we be off, my princess?" I ask in response.

Hand in hand, we walk home as the sun illuminates our path. If the world could be described as a color, it would be as blue as her sapphire eyes.

The End - After the Epilogue

The Autumn leaves fall, in such splendor and in such great masses - like snowflakes in Winter. Spiraling down to the ground, guided by the warm wind. Hearing footsteps, I sit up and see my father.

"Enjoy laying in the grass, Alexander?" he asks me.

"Of course, dad," I reply.

"Can't blame you for enjoying it."

My mother arrives, fretting a bit after my father and I had been relaxing for quite some time.

"I thought I told you to get Alexander changed, Wolfe," she says.

"It's so wonderful here, Alicia," my father responds.

"Alexander, you need to hurry up and change."

"Okay mom," I reply as I head into the house, quickly changing my clothes.
Walking to the car, I see my sister, Alice, reading a book.

"Reading about Quantum Physics?" I ask.

"Of course, I still want to discover the secrets to teleportation."

~Le Fini~

Author's note: There are more original stories on my website, [REDACTED]!

Site is no longer functional. Current site should be on linktree.