LIFESPRITES: Origins

Chapter 3: Target

May 16th, 2009
Truman "Tru" Matteo
Birthdate: July 4th, 1995
Birthplace: Montreal, Quebec

My name is Tru Matteo and I'm trying to figure out how to start this journal. I lived in an upper class family with my mother, and father in Montreal, Quebec. Despite this, they often sent me to go to school in Gatineau where they once resided, not to spoil me. At first, I didn't want to go there, but eventually began to treat it as a second home as I made genuine friends with Ray Dumont, Anaïs McNabb, and Ladonne and Ashley Bilodeau.

Ray would always encourage me to go hiking and camping with him every summer to get fresh air, and his adopted sister, Anaïs would show her architecture skills to me and would often listen to critiques and advice on improving her architecture. Ladonne, similar to Ray, was also a nature lover and would often blog about all the places and things she's seen outdoors, and aims to travel worldwide. And her twin sister, Ashley would impress me with her guitar skills.What I really like about Gatineau is the Jacques-Cartier Park for its amazing creativity in turning even a simple bush into a sculptural masterpiece, along with its exciting activities such as Winterlude, Canada Day, and yes, Jaques-Cartier . Although, this may change given everything that's happened.

Ever since the T.O.U enforced surveillance over Canada back in the 1970s, people are now mandated to take the sprite test to prove whether they're a sprite or not. The T.O.U also provides a home assessment option, for those working or schooling from home. The test is monitored by a drone sent by the T.O.U. that presents the participant a magnet in its upper compartment so that no one does anything sketchy to get out of it. Another thing to point out was that the sprite bloodline was nothing new in our family as my parents, uncle and aunt have been through it all.

The conversation began when I was 8. I was walking through our backyard garden one morning when I came across a stuffed toy frog sticking underneath the flowerbed, believing that our neighbors' kids might have accidentally left it there during a Summer Solstice Gala. When I went to pick it up, I felt the magnet stick to me, causing my body to go numb.

By the time I woke up, I found myself staring at the ceiling light. I immediately stood up from my bed, looking around the orange painted walls with sparkling gold splatter with awards hanging on the shelves from science fair awards trophies to debate trophies. It wasn't until I turned my face to my wooden vanity mirror where I saw a giant brown bird with mechanical parts sitting in the same bed that I was resting in. As I slowly stood up to approach the vanity mirror, so did the metallic figure. I raised my right arm, as it raised its right arm in a form of feathers. It was when I tried to touch my nose where both of us reached the beak. It was around that time that we were both in the same.

As I let out a scream stumbling from the vanity, my mother and father rushed into the room. "Oh, thank goodness, you recovered," smiled my mother as she hugged me. "Ah, right, son, how many fingers am I holding?" asked my father, raising an open hand, showing his fingers. "Five," I replied "That's a relief," chortled my father. "So can you fill us in on what happened?," asked my mother.

It was there that I told them everything that happened. Both let out a sigh, and sat me down.
"Tru, I think it's about time you learned of our heritage," said my mother. I sat at the vanity stool as I listened carefully.

"About 30 years ago, a man known as Professor Vern formed humanoid beings known as Sprites through a project known as Project Clay at the Sequoia lab," said my mother. "Your father, Aunt Victoria, Uncle Bernini, and I were formed from that project. When a Sprite gets their powers through magnetic contact, they're met with a login page with a host known as Cubie, giving them an option to login to their avatar, as if they're in a video game. Vern trained us on how login and logout from our avatar. "Sometimes, Cubie can activate the Sprite's avatar immediately after a Sprite first touches a magnet, like in your case," said my father. It was there I understood why my parents hung my childhood pictures in frames on the walls than that of the refrigerator. "To help us improve, Vern trained us on how use our powers and go through tests to resist magnetic interruption for a long period of time.Overtime, he and his team became family to us and he became confident that we would do good for the community.," resumed my father. I sat with astonishment as I listened to my parents.