HUNTER

The street was strangely empty as I walked home from Zak's house. *Dad should be
home in an hour's time*, I thought to myself. I walked on, lost in thought, until I
registered how weird it was having no one else walking on the road with me. The
street should have been busy. This was just early evening, so what was going on?
Feeling uneasy, I decided to hum to myself, quietly, for company, until I heard the
first voice. I stopped. It sounded almost like someone was yelling angrily in my
head.
"What...who was that?" I asked out loud.
"I am Earth, you simpleton!" The voice bellowed at me. Somehow, the voice sounded
angry, but not threatening. Almost like it only knew to be angry but did not have
any actual reasons to be angry. So I was not afraid.
"Earth." I repeated, raising my eyebrows. "Like, big, blue ball in space." The
ground rumbled beneath me.
"Earth, as in your life source." The voice responded, in what was clearly supposed
to be a long-suffering tone.
"Oh? That doesn't exactly make sense, but..." I mumbled.
"SILENCE!" snapped another voice in my head. I felt sudden wind.
"And, you are?" I asked.
"Air!" spat the reedy voice.
"Oh. Of course. That explains everything." I commented, then heard yet another
voice.
"What's boiling, people?" The new voice taunted.
I nodded. "Seeing, clearly, as we have Earth and Air already, and seeing how
suddenly hot it's become and also, remembering your lame 'boiling joke', I'm
guessing you are..."
"FIRE!" The voice cackled.
"Ah ha." I nodded. "Someone's missing then." I had barely gotten the words out when
I felt a sudden slight drizzle. "Ah, yes. My man, Water."
"That's right, dummy!" A newer voice rippled.
"So, what's this then? Earth, Fire, Water, Air? A meeting of the Elements?" I
questioned.
"SILENCE!!!" The booming voice of the one I presumed was Earth, rumbled at me. Then
it paused. "Well, I suppose it is a meeting of The Elements. I mean, we four happen
to be The Elements."
I rolled my eyes. "Oh, who knew that?"
Thunder clapped, suddenly, and I raised my brows.
"Were my calculations wrong?" I asked. "I thought there were only four elements.
Who is that?" There was silence, then another clap of thunder.
"Water, is that...you?" The one called Air, tentatively asked.
"I've told you, Air. I can brew storms, I can flood cities, I can do a whole lot of
amazing and destructive stuff, but I. Cannot. Make. Thunder!" snapped Water.
"So, then that's..."
"Zeus? Oh no!" Fire lamented.
"What could he possibly want this time?" mumbled Earth in a worried tone I never
thought I would live to hear from him. I cleared my throat.
"Err...far be it from me to interrupt an obviously grave moment, but...you mean,
Zeus? As in Zeus, god of thunder?"
"YES! NOW STAY OUT OF THIS, HUMAN BOY!" snapped Earth. I shrugged and moved to
continue my walk home, but stopped when Water exclaimed.
"NO! Don't leave, boy!"
"Now, now, Earth." He chided. "Why d'you have to be so mean to the boy? He happens
to be our saviour, remember?"
"BAH! RUBBISH!" snapped Earth. Apparently, he could hardly speak without bellowing.
I paused.
"Err...did you say, saviour?"
"Yes, dear one." replied Air, suddenly all disgustingly nice.
"We..." He was cut short, however, with yet another thunder clap. "Oh, rats! Excuse
us a minute, will you, Son of Adam? We have to take this call." He announced and
all became silent.

I blinked in surprise, at what just happened. I knew I could be very imaginative,

but this seemed entirely different and so real.
I suddenly realized the street was filled again, which compounded the weirdness of
it all. It took a while for me to stir myself to keep moving. People were starting
to give me questioning glances which was probably warranted.
I must have looked mental just standing there, staring into space.
I got home, finally, with what just happened still on my mind. The key was in its
usual space, hidden beneath the flowers in the flower pot. Not a great hiding place
anymore, I thought to myself, making a mental note to mention it to dad.
I unlocked the door and walked in. Our house was a humble space, clearly meant for
just us two. We moved here, shortly after mom died, three years ago, when it was
clear we could not cope with that space any longer.
I dumped my backpack on the blue couch and headed for the kitchen, to get a glass
of orange juice. I was not hungry yet. I figured I'd just wait for dad to get home,
with take-out, obviously. Yup, that was one major thing I missed mum for. She had
always been the better cook.
I went to my room, shortly afterwards and had a short nap. By 6:26, I heard the key
turn in the lock and dad's voice.
"Hunter! You're home?"
I jumped out of bed and ran out to the parlor. "Hey dad. How was work today?"
He dumped his work bag beside mine on the couch and yawned loudly. Nope, being
orderly and putting things in the right places was not our strong suit.
"Was all good. Tasking and all, but good." He replied, then asked, "How did school
go?"
I shrugged. "Just okay."
Dad hesitated, but did not push. "How's Zak?"
"He's great. We hung out for a bit after school."
Dad nodded. "Eaten yet?" He asked. I grinned and he grinned back. We knew what was
coming.

We watched a little sport together after take out dinner, the one thing that bonded
us. An hour of laughs and back thumps later, I decided to ask my father a question.
"Uh...dad?"
"H?" He called back, characteristically. I realized what I was about to ask would
probably sound weird, but I was curious, and so I went ahead anyway.
"You ever hear voices, like in your head? Talking to you?"
He glanced at me, then back at the television. "Yeah, sure. Totally."
"Really? Like you have actual conversations with other people in your head?" I
pressed. He said another yes and laughed at my unease.
"Totally normal, son. You're not crazy or anything." He assured me. I was quiet for
a while, then,
"Something totally weird happened as I walked home from Zak's today." I paused. Dad
turned to study me.
"What was it?" He finally asked.
"I was on the road leading to that new, fancy supermarket when I heard these clear
voices in my head."
"What did they say?" Dad was curious now.
"Just a lot of ramblings and stuff. They sort of introduced themselves as,
err...the elements."
Dad looked surprised. "The Elements? As in Fire, Air..." He stopped when he saw me
nodding.
"Yes, dad. And they were possibly getting round to telling me why they had come to
talk to me, when Zeus started thundering, and..."
"Whoa, Hunter. Hold up just a second there. Did you just say Zeus?" I nodded, a
little bit irritated he'd cut me off.
"Son, you mean, Zeus? The god of..."
"Thunder, yes dad. He didn't actually say words, he just kept thundering all over
the place, but they said it was Zeus, so I guess it was him."
Now, my dad was looking at me like I was crazy and he probably would be asking me
if I did drugs next. I sighed.
"Never mind, dad. It was probably just my imagination, anyway." I looked away, but
I could still feel his eyes on me. "I...I should go sleep. Um...homework."
I got up and moved towards my room.
"H." Dad called and I turned to him. "It's perfectly normal to have
conversations...in your head. Even about...ancient pagan gods and...stuff." He
smiled, uncertainly. I smiled back, nodded and went on to my room.
Soon after, I was fast asleep.

At 1:18am, exactly, my eyes flew open. I knew that was the time because I had a
tiny clock on my study table right beside my bed. I sat up, feeling weird.
Something had made me wake the way I did. I felt a sensation on my skin and when I
rubbed my palms against it, I felt goosebumps. I needed light in the room, so I
felt under my pillow for my phone, which was naturally where I always kept it.
But...it was not there. I stretched my hand out to blindly search the table, but it
was not there either. That was weird. I knew something was wrong. I felt very
weird, almost like I was not alone in the room, almost like I was being...
"Looking for something, Hunter?" said a deeply accented voice from the dark. My
heart literally jumped into my throat. Who was in my room?
I started when the light suddenly flicked on but I calmed a bit when I realized my
hand had involuntarily sped to the light switch. It took a little while for my eyes
to get used to the light, and when I saw what was before me, I almost wished they
did not.
The thing was a woman; a regular looking dark-brown woman with long black braids,
and that was were it started getting weird. First off, she had on this long, black
fancy dress. Like, who wears a fancy dress at past 1 in the morning and with a
cape? Then, even weirder, where her eyes were supposed to be, there were two little
blue buttons sewn there. Like, serious Coraline vibes, or what? I wondered how she
could see. Then, weirdest of all were the horns on her head. Long, sharp, deadly
looking things. I do not know how or why I did not scream.
"Hello, Hunter." She smirked. "Surprised I see."
All I could think to say was, "You must be Maleficient."
She threw back her head and laughed.
"I was not warned about thy sense of humour."
"*Thy*?" I repeated. I could not help it.
She laughed some more.
I got angry then, because *what was funny about a creepy woman standing in my room
in the middle of the night!*
"Who are you?" I meant for it to be a fierce bark, but I must have sounded,
instead, like a feeble mouse because she snorted.
"I am Jupat." She said, moving closer. "Nice to meet thee, Hunter!" *Thee again.
Who says thee?*, I thought to myself.
"B...how do you know my name?" Then a question I should have asked earlier, "How
did you get in here?"
"Sheesh, boy. Inquisitive, aren't thou?" She laughed, coldly. "I know all about
thee. But that is of no consequence, my dear boy!" She inched even closer. "I'm
here to make a deal with thee." She said.
I stared at her, waiting, but she did not say anything.
"Oh! You want me to ask? Okay, what...deal?"
She smiled and scooted even closer to the foot of my bed. I inched away from her.
"I happen to know that the Elements," and her voice slightly constricted as she
said that name, "have had a meeting with thee."
I blinked. "How do you...Did they tell you?"
She laughed. "Oh, nooo! We are not exactly on speaking terms."
"Oh. Then, how do you..."
"NEVER MIND HOW I KNOW, BOY!" She snapped, suddenly, losing her sugary disposition
for some seconds. I recoiled.
She saw my reaction, and I saw her struggle to rearrange her features into
something less unpleasant.
She smiled, forcedly and batted her eyelids at me.
"The point is, I *know* they have talked to thee. And I am here to ensure that thou
does not make the bad decision of paying them any heed."
"Why not?" I asked. She paused to think.
"I am looking out for thee, Hunter. You could say I'm thy...fairy god mother." She
smiled, coldly.
"So you *are* Maleficient." I stated, stupidly. That same look of barely contained
anger passed over her face, again, but she struggled better to rein it in this
time.
"Thou art very funny, boy." She said, through clenched teeth and a strained smile.
"But, this happens to be no joking matter."

Jupat had given up on the pretense and she stood before me, regarding me coldly.
Her lips curled in a sneer.
"Look at thou, sad, little puppet of a boy! Always stuck in the center. Always
ending up having smarter friends than thou. Always overshadowed by everyone around
thee." She paused and stared at me. I could feel her thinking up more venom filled
words. "Thou will always be thy father's greatest regret!" I drew in a sharp
breath. She simpered, knowing she had drawn blood.
"This is thy only chance, fool, that thou are, to finally be on top. Work with me,
here. I am thine only chance."
We stared at each other for so long that my eyes began to water. I finally broke
the silence.
"Leave it to me to decide the chances I have and don't have, *wilt thou, fairy
godmother*?" I shot back.
She drew back, physically, in surprise. The shade of her little button-eyes
darkened by several fractions. I thought, for sure, she would smite me, but she
just sighed.
"Of course, I thought this would be a waste of time and I was right. Thou art a
fool till the end." She stretched out her hand and pointed straight at me. "Thou
hast made an enemy out of me, Hunter."
I felt a definite blast to smithereens coming this time, but she deftly withdrew
the long-nailed hand, sneered at me, then muttered, "Thou will live to regret this
day, boy." Then, she vanished, quite into thin air.
Immediately, I felt something fall on the bed beside me and looked down to see my
phone. I picked it up, gingerly and the screen came on, showing the time as 1:51am.
I confirmed with my tiny clock on my study table.
With what I had just encountered, I was sure there would be no sleep any longer for
me, but I got suddenly drowsy immediately and I slumbered off, into the most
terrible dreams I had ever had...yet. Eventually, I would come to see that having
terrible dreams was the status quo.

Chapter 2.