Chapter 1-Painful Beginnings
It was a late night in the month of May. I had recently returned home and was sitting in my basement, like usual, surfing the web in a feeble attempt to ward off my boredom. But I was failing miserably, mostly because nothing was happening. CAA was quite, no Skype chats were happening to my knowledge, nothing was on TV, and I wasn’t in the mood to play one of my many games. This was the epitome of boredom and I could find nothing to cure it. I drew closer to my glowing laptop screen, clicking link after link in a search for something to entertain me. As the minutes dragged on, I could feel the weight of the situation splitting my head in two. A headache grew and grew until finally, I decided to do something about it. So, I walked up the stairs into a second story bathroom, and stared at the mirror that hid that oh so sweet medicine that would dull this pain: Advil. I opened the mirror and quickly took out the container for the pills. I then proceeded to plop one pill into my hand and then set the canister down as I dropped it into my mouth. I then turned on the water, cupped my hands and drank down the pill that was too free me of this ache in the head. I then put the Advil container back into the cabinet and closed it so the mirror was once again facing me. My heart sunk in terror. My reflection was not alone.
According to the mirror, an individual was standing behind me. An individual who looked very familiar and when I say “very familiar” I mean that he looked identical to me except for a few minor differences such as glasses. And his hair which was cut shorter than mine. And his clothing which wasn’t the standard denim jeans and t-shirt but an advanced suit of armor that looked like something from Ironman. Oh and it was black in color even though the color of it was probably the last thing anyone would pay attention to. And then there were the eyes. They were the same color as mine however he had more of them in the shape of a sash around his torso. Now, any other person would be freaked out by the sight of such a reflection sharing the mirror with them. However for me this was particularly disturbing because I recognized the individual. The truth is I had never met him however I probably knew him better than anyone else. The reflection of the individual within this mirror was none other than Peanut, the character I created for me to control within the confines of “Of Nations and States.”
My first reaction of terror was understandable. I was likely hallucinating, after all how else could I explain seeing a character of mine in a mirror in front of me. However this sense of terror was quickly replaced with a sort of excitement. If he was really there that could mean only one thing, adventure. Soon my mind began to wander and imagine all the adventures we could have. Fighting crime in the streets of Baltimore; playing pranks on my boss; warping around the world in an instance. All this and more was waiting at my finger tips, all I had to do was turn around and…find that he wasn’t there. There was no one behind me, figures. The late nights must have been getting to me or maybe it was something I ate. I turned around and checked the mirror to find that my reflection was indeed the only one in there. Then I turned the faucet on, took off my glasses and splashed some water on my face. I really need to stop staying up until three o’clock in the morning while eating junk food. Well there was nothing I could do about it now. I turned and opened the door to find Peanut standing there waiting for me. I froze for a few seconds as we stared at each other.
“Hi,” Peanut greeted me simply in an attempt to break the awkward silence that had arisen.
“Um…yeah…hi,” I responded, “What’s wrong with me? You’re nothing but a construct of my mind.”
“What?!” Peanut shot back clearly offended by what I was insinuating.
“Yes, you must be something I ate. Or just a misfiring of the neurons in my brain…actually that’s probably the more likely explanation.”
“Can a misfiring of the neurons in your brain do this?!” Peanut’s fist shot into my eye socket. Caught off guard, I feel back onto the ground and bumped my head, further adding to the pain.
“Ow! You hit me!”
“Believe me yet?”
“Why would you do that? I mean, you could have just stuck around and got someone else to see and recognize your existence.”
Peanut paused then went to speak only to stop again. He thought hard for a few seconds and then found the words to say.
“You know…you definitely have a point there,” he said, “Oh well, that’s in the past now, right?”
“As long as this eye is throbbing? No. But hey, you proved that you exist, congratulations. It’s not like you’ve just punched the eye of your creator or anything. Cause clearly that won’t have any horrible repercussions down the line now will it.”
“You know your kind of acting like a jerk.”
“What do you expect?! You punched me in the eye!”
“Acting like a jerk to someone who could kill you right now rather easily.”
I paused and thought about the prospect of my death to the hands of something I created for a few moments. I suddenly knew what Dr. Frankenstein had to feel like. Except for the whole having my wife killed before the end of our wedding night. So maybe I don’t really know what Dr. Frankenstein felt like, but I did know what my death would like result in.
“You realize that, if you killed me, it probably wouldn’t end well,” I responded confidently, “I mean…it’s not like I have any experience with these things, but I would imagine that killing your creator can’t be good for your health.”
“Yeah, in hindsight that was kind of an empty threat wasn’t it.”
“Yeah”
I walked past Peanut and headed to the kitchen to get some ice for my eye, thinking through this whole situation closely. On the bright side, my headache had appeared to have dissipated. Whether this was because of the pain in my eye socket or because it had somehow been relieved, I couldn’t tell. Peanut followed me into the kitchen and watched as I grabbed a plastic bag from a cupboard and scooped some ice into it from the freezer. Then I wrapped it in a washcloth and pressed it to my eye. At this point I realized what needed to be done.
“I need you to disappear,” I said to Peanut as I turned and faced him.
“I see. I wasn’t aware that you were such a bad host. But ok, I can see when I’m not appreciated.”
“I didn’t say leave, I said disappear.”
“Explain…”
“If my parents or anyone else saw you, as you are, we would have some problems. So, the best thing we can do is for you to stay out of sight and be quite.”
“Cloaking?”
Cloaking refers to an ability from the race I control within Of Nations and States. The Ninja Monkeys have an ability to mask their presence entirely from anyone they desire. It is called “Cloak,” and because of Peanut was once the ruler of an entire nation of Ninja Monkeys, I knew he would know this ability (even if he is human…).
“Illusions, cloaking I don’t care what you use. Just make sure you don’t alert anyone, except me obviously, to your presence.” I said making sure he didn’t disappear from my eyes. I figured keeping track of him would be a good idea, even if it would suggest that I had lost my mind.
“All right, no one will be able to see me.”
“Good,” I said removing the ice from my eye for a second then pressing it back on it. I suddenly thought of something that would ultimately bother me for the entire summer, “How did you get here?”
“No clue,” Peanut responded, “All that I know is that I was just sitting around, plotting, when suddenly I was outside your door.”
“So you were never in the bathroom…” I said wondering what that reflection was then.
“No, I definitely appeared outside your door first.”
“How did you know I was your creator then?”
“I didn’t, in fact I still don’t. However I had hunch when that door opened and well...you say my hunch is right. Oh and I have a question…”
“Yes?”
“You wouldn’t happen to have anything to eat would you?”
