Doomed To Love

Intro.

Your name is John Egbert. Today marks your birthday, in which you have turned sixteen years old. You have just finished packing your last bag, and now sit upon your bed, looking around your room. Your posters remain on the walls, due to not having the space to take them, as well as a few other things that just won't make this journey with you. What journey you ask? Well, to fully answer that question, we need to pull back the curtains a bit, and start from the beginning.

John was born in the wonderful state of Washington. His mother though, was never in the picture. He was raised by his single father, who did his absolute best in that aspect. Though he was a heavy coddlebrand user, and kept John very sheltered from the time he first held the child in his arms. This resulted in John being a shut-in. His days were spent with his dad, and he never knew anyone else in his life. That was until his father had noticed John was falling into a depression, and his speech patterns were suffering from the lack of stimulation from peers. His father wasn't ready to let go of his son, and let him out into the world, so he did the next best thing.

John was now at the ripe age of eight, and he had a new contraption to figure out. A computer. His father helped him with it, and showed him how to type, and what have you. By the age of nine, John was showing his dad new tricks. His father would be lying if he said his chest didn't swell with pride for the smart man he was raising John to be.

A year later, John had started ranting madly to his father about the wonderful friends he had made online. A boy named Dave, who wore shades and made terrible remixes and raps. A girl, Rose, who seemed a bit too intelligent for her own good. She had a passion for psychologically analysing people. Lastly, another female, who John was certain knew the future. She was a cheerful lass, but something about her made John's father a bit unsettled. Not enough to warrant any action, but enough to cross his mind when he was in his study, pulling another late night on work.

By the age of eleven, John had started to get antsy. He wanted to go somewhere, see something new, meet new people. His father always replied to John's daydreams and thoughts with just a chuckle and a passing comment, but he could see John was starting to slip from his grasp. He wasn't ready to let go yet, and neither was John! The world is a terrifying place, not suited for a kid like him.

By twelve, it had gotten to the point that his father could not contain him anymore. The boy would scream and cry profusely, yelling about just wanting to see his friends. That he had known them since he was nine, and it wasn't fair. His father tried his best to calm the child, but it was no use.

It wasn't long until he cracked. He contacted Dave's guardian. The man was curt with his responses, at best, but they finally came to an agreement. John would visit Dave for his thirteenth birthday, with his father of course.

The date came, and John's father could hardly contain the boy. He was worried that if the kid got anymore excited, he would just burst into kibble right in front of him. They boarded the plane, and headed out together. Next stop? Texas.

The Strider apartment was.. Unconventional. The floor was littered with trash and weird puppets that made John's father very uncomfortable and the whole place seemed to harbor a certain stench that he couldn't quite put his finger on. If he were to be honest, it was more so a mix of scents, that were overpowering. Like stepping into a convention hall. The smell of body odor and what have you, all masked by a choking amount of Axe Body Spray. Somehow, that wasn't the worst of it.

Sharp weapons were strewn about haphazardly. Swords on the floor, in the kitchen, on the coffee table, different throwing knives either stuck in the wall or left on the floor, forgotten, and throwing stars, stuck in the wood of the cabinet doors. This was a parent's worse nightmare, in one small two-roomed apartment.

Though before John's father could grab his son and fishtail out of there, him and his friend had taken off, both excited to see Dave's bedroom. They left John's father in the middle of this nightmare, to suffer alone.

John's father had met with the elder Strider, and was not at all impressed. The man was in good shape, yes, but his maturity and sense of responsibility was like that of a child. His kid was more responsible than this man, for Christ sakes! They were expected to stay the night, but by the end of the festivities, John's father had John over one shoulder, screaming and kicking, as he made his way to the car he had rented. It was past time to leave this hellhole, before John got seriously hurt.

John had shunned his father for a very long time after that. He stopped paying attention to his homeschooling, stopped coming down for dinner, just spent his days in his room, in front of that computer, typing away. He hardly saw his son anymore, and more rare, was seeing the kid smiling like he use to when he was little. John's father had regretted getting his son that blasted thing. If it wasn't for that computer, John would still love him just as much.

Thirteen had come and past. Fourteen was even harder. John had started sneaking out of the house, causing trouble during the night. It was starting to become a common occurance that John's father would be woken up by a knock on the door from a cop, holding his son by his shirt. He always treated them to some cake and apologized, as a gentleman should, while John slithered back upstairs.

John's father had finally had enough of this behavior one night, and when he bid the cops farewell, he stormed upstairs, ready to give John a piece of his mind. This isn't how a young man like him should be acting! Oh no! But as he opened the door, he was greeted with a John, curled up in his closet sobbing profusely.

The talk they had was long. Strenous on both of them. John wanted to experience the outside world, not just from a computer screen. His father wasn't ready for this. But then. They made an agreement. If John worked with his father, when he was sixteen, he would permit John to live with the Strider family for a year. Go to public schooling, and have the full experience that a kid was suppose to have. John had agreed, overjoyed.

Now it was time for John's father to make good on that promise. And it was harder than ever.

==> Be John

You are once again, John. You sit idly on your bed, swinging your feet to and fro, looking around at the mostly empty room. You are excited for the adventure you are about to go on, but also very nervous, and a bit sad to say goodbye to your room for one whole year. You question if you are truly ready for this big of a leap. Leaving Washington behind, your father behind. Moving in with your online friend, and his brother. This was all just, jarring. You've had years to think about it, to hype yourself up for the freedom, but now that it is here, your stomach is flipping.

You'll have to give the man the airplane tickets your father ordered, have your bags checked, board the airplane, and ride all the way to Texas. All by yourself. Even the thought of handing over tickets to another person was terrifying. What if they were not the right tickets? Oh god! What if you board the wrong plane!

No. Now is not the time for this. You got this. This is your one chance at freedom. Don't let it pass you by. You take a deep inhale, and hop off the edge of your bed. Grabbing onto your last bag you stomp towards the door, with determination. As you swing it open, your dad meets you, with a smile.

"I'm so very, very proud of you son." He says, pulling you into a tight hug. You can't fight back the tears. You drop your bag and return the hug.

You know this will be the best year of your life, but you can't help but admit, you are terrified.