Troy Brooks
Prologue

“What makes you think he’d join us?”
“What other choice do we have?”
“I think it’s a mistake. Bringing an outsider who knows nothing of our world to aid us is both stupid and naïve. What makes you think he could be ready for such a feat in such a short time?”
“Because, I knew his mother.”

Troy tossed in his bed. He was a young man, only seventeen years of age. Although he wasn’t the most popular kid in school, he was still quite the looker. He had medium-length, dark-brown hair that skirted just above his eyebrows.  His skin was tanned from summer activities and he was quite tall, standing at 6’ 1”, taller than most of his peers, although, as he was curled up and clenching the sheets tightly, he looked small. He felt small. His mind was full of black and all he could hear were voices. Although there was nothing to visually excite him, he was still anxious and could feel his heart beating in his ears, even though he was asleep.
“Because I knew his mother.”  One of the voices said.
His eyes opened slowly, revealing sparkling blue irises and dilated pupils. The voices stopped inside of his head, but that didn’t make him any more comfortable, or feel any sort of emotion other than curiosity and anxiety. He sat up and draped his legs over the bedside, placing his head into his palms and rubbing his eyes. There was nothing to be heard other than the hum of the ceiling fan that was circling above his bed.  He felt the soft currents as they carried cool air from the air-conditioning vent placed on the wall close by. As it slowly breathed against his bare back, he felt a spine tingling chill that made him shiver somewhat violently. He grabbed the comforter on the ground that he had kicked off in the middle of the night and wrapped it around himself as he stood and looked at the clock. 4:15.
It was still dark outside, although the street lamps that lined the street made it impossible for the true meaning of darkness. He strode over to the window without any thought about it. He was still sleepy and the voices he heard in his dream still kept tugging at his attention. He looked out of the window. The night was still, not a breeze as far as he could tell, and if there was one it was no doubt warm and humid.  Of course, the only tree he could see from there was one he had burned months ago when he was experimenting with matches. He looked it over and smiled at the irony of how much in common he had with the dead-looking, but extremely healthy plant.
Two weeks after the incident with the matches, he had decided that he was ready to expose his sexuality to the world. He decided to tell his closest friends that he was homosexual. He expected them to be accepting and understanding; but to the contrary, they made his life for the last weeks of school a living hell. They spread his secret around the school and made it clear that he was no longer welcome. He was constantly ridiculed and even had to be escorted out of the school by security when a student threatened his life in front of the whole school… at an assembly. He had lost everyone he had ever cared for; much like the tree had lost all of its leaves. All of it started by simply lighting a match.
He was about to leave the window when something caught his eye. A small, white bird was perched on one of the tree’s branches. He squinted his eyes to get a better look, but the second he began leaning in closer to the window, something moved beside it. A seemingly invisible, black bird was on the branch as well. He stared at the peculiar pair until he heard a small whistle of wind blow between the bare branches and the birds took flight. He looked over the tree again and, satisfied that nothing else was there, turned around and flopped onto his bed, holding the comforter tightly around him as he slowly lost himself to sleep.