Lux : The Protector

Chapter One

Chapter One

Lenny looked grumpily out through the window as their car sped down the slippery highway. Droplets of rain dripped across the windshield and the rain continuously poured down from the sky. Everything was all foggy and gray. He could vaguely make out a thing outside. He sighed heavily, fiddling with the sleeve of his leather jacket and then reached out to draw on the condensation.

His wristbands and bracelets jiggled as he drew with his finger on the glass.

"Oh, come on," Linda watched him through the mirror as she drove through the rain. "Stop moping around. It isn't going to be so bad."

Lenny heaved out another sigh, this time more overly exaggerated.

"You're going to love it," she says, trying to cheer him up.

But Lenny wasn't having any of it. Ignoring her and pretending to be hearing nothing, he silently put on his battered and worn head phones over his ears to drown out his mother's noise.

Everything was going to change.

He didn't want any of these. He didn't want to leave town and move into a new school and then try to cope around all over again. Plus, he certainly didn't want to move into a weird new town he's never even heard of before. Everything was just perfectly fine until Linda switched jobs and decided to move into a new place.

"Are you really going to ignore me for the rest of the drive?" Linda sighed. "It's just a new place, Lenny. Not the end of the world. Just a new chapter, a new beginning – "

Rolling his eyes, Lenny leans forward towards her with a deck of cards splayed across his fingers.

"Pick a card."

Linda glanced down at Lenny's cards and sighed.

Lenny's a self-proclaimed magician. He's been practicing tricks ever since he was six. She had no idea why her son suddenly picked interest with magic.

She knew Lenny was trying to change the topic when he puts out his cards. That's what he always does; he pulls out tricks to get away from troubles. Or maybe he just wants her to shut up. Either way, she gave in to Lenny's antics and picked a card randomly to satisfy him.

"Hmm," Lenny said, reading her card as he slumped back into his seat. "Let's see. Oh, the card of misfortune. It foresees your future, it's telling you to stop and turn back seeing what lies ahead is bad luck."

Linda rolled her eyes.

Lenny planted his feet above the car's seat and flicked away the card. "Oh, bummer, and you thought everything's going to be fine in this new town. Well, just trust my cards and let's drive back home."

"You just made that up. You're not fooling anybody, Lenny," Linda says. "Since when did you become a fortune teller?"

Lenny frowned and picked up his card from the floor of the car.

"Hey, do you want to see another trick?"

"I've had enough with all your tricks, Lenny," Linda groaned, remembering how Lenny tried to turn a handkerchief into a pigeon an hour ago. The trick got out of hand and the treacherous bird escaped from one of Lenny's sleeves and flapped around inside the car like mad, almost making their car crash.

Lenny gave up. Whatever he does, he's not going to convince Linda to turn back around. He missed all his friends back home already, except that home isn't going to be home anymore. They're moving into a new town and to hell with that.