Kamryn fell out of bed at the crash of thunder. She just moved into Chicago and where she’s from there’s not a lot of rain storms. She rolled over and looked at her clock, it’s only 9:18 am on Monday, August 7, 2018. Crap she thought. She’s supposed to be at work in twelve minutes. With that, she jumped up and ran to her closet, tripping over her blankets on the way. She put on her nicest blouse and dress pants and ran to her kitchen to get together coffee and a bagel while brushing her wavy brown hair. Kamryn finally got out of her apartment fifteen minutes later and ran to her car, but as she was opening her car door her coffee spilled all over the front of her.

It was too late to go back to her apartment and change so she decided that she’s going to wear a jacket all day. Once she got in her car and tried to turn it on, it sputtered to life and died. With an exasperated yell Kamryn got out of the car and rushed to the bus station. She got onto the bus just in time and there was a seat open next to a pretty cute guy. He had brown hair and tan skin but he was looking out the window so she couldn’t see his face. He was wearing an off-white ragged jacket and black denim pants.

“Hey,” she says as she sits down. He slowly turned his head and his brown eyes looked at her like she had a third eye. “Look, I know I’m a mess but you don’t have to look at me like that.”

“No, sorry it’s not that it’s just,” he stumbled over his words, “you shouldn’t be able to see me.” Kamryn started laughing but slowly stopped.

“You’re not joking, are you? You’re serious about this.” The guy stared at Kamryn and shook his head. “Well, in that case, I’m Kamryn Parker.”

“Collin, Collin Wilson,” he replies as they shake hands.

“Well, Collin, this is my stop. It’s my first day here and I’m already late for work,” Kamryn stood to leave but looked over at Collin, “Do you wanna come with me? You know, since no one can see you?”

“Why not,” Collin responded and followed her off the bus.

The two walk into the office building and Kamryn apologizes to her boss for being so late and promises it won’t happen again. Her boss was upset, but let it pass this time. Kamryn goes into her office with Collin following closely behind her. As she shuts the door behind him she lets out a sigh of relief.

“So, tell me about yourself,” she asked Collin and gestured to the seat across from her desk. “Why can I see you but no one else can?”

“It’s kind of a long story and you wouldn’t believe me anyway,” he tried to explain.

“Well, now I need to know because there’s something weird going on. First I wake up late, then I spilled my coffee on me, my car dies, and to add the cherry on top, it’s raining and I don’t do rain,” To Kamryn’s surprise Collin was trying to stifle a laugh. “What now?”

“It’s nothing. It’s just nice to know I’m not the only one having a bad day.”

“Does your bad day have anything to do with why I can’t see you?” Collin noded.

He began to tell Kamryn about his awful day, “First things first, I’m not from here. I live in a different world, Trulivo. In my world there’s magic, good and evil. I have good magic and use it for good, but the evil sorceress, Raven, realized that if she killed me, she could use my powers for evil. Fortunately for me, I have my brother back at home, Joseph, who is very skilled at spells and put a protection around me so no one can harm me. Later, Joseph sent me away through a portal to find someone who could defeat the evil sorceress. He told me that I would know who is supposed to defeat Raven, and honestly, Kamryn, I think you are that person. You are the only one who can see me.”

“What are you saying?” she tried to comprehend everything that he had said, “That I am supposed to be a hero and save everyone from this ‘Raven’ person?”

“Yes. I know it’s lot to handle and wrap your mind around, but you need to do this Kamryn.” Collin rustled to find something in his inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a pen, “This is not just a pen, it’s a magical pen. When I write with it, it transports you to where you want to go, like a portal. I just have to write ‘Trulivo’ and it will take us there.” he put the pen away, “Please.”

Kamryn reluctantly agreed and let Collin write with the pen. The two held hands while Collin wrote. Suddenly, they weren’t sitting in Kamryn’s office anymore. They were in a forest. The ground was covered in green moss and the trees were tall and green.

“So what exactly am I supposed to do?” Kamryn asked dubiously.

“We are going to go over to Joseph’s house and he’ll help you learn all you need to know.”

Now that they are back in a world with magic, Collin flipped his hand and they disappeared in a swirl of white smoke. They appeared in a house again. The house was tiny, but in a cozy way, not the cramped claustrophobic way. There were two armchairs sitting adjacent to each other in front of a fireplace with a small coffee table in between. On the other side of the room was a bed with a small wooden nightstand next to it. In the center of the room was a tall man wearing a brown ragged jacket and denim pants. He had the same facial features as Collin, with the sharp jawline and pointed nose. His hair was a dirty blonde which made his bright green eyes pop out.

“Collin!” Joseph exclaimed, “You’re back already. That was fast,” The two brothers embraced and Collin introduced me to his brother.

“Joseph this is Kamryn, our hero,” Joseph looked at Kamryn with admiration in his eyes.

“Thank you,” he sighed, “so much.”

“Don’t thank me quite yet. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do,” Kamryn admitted.

“Don’t worry,” Joseph reassured, “I can teach you everything I know.”

A few hours into the studying Kamryn got so frustrated that she couldn’t remember any of her lessons.

“I can’t do this! I’m sorry. I’m never going to get this,” Kamryn complained. Suddenly, she felt a fire running through her veins and then a ball of fire appeared in her hand.

“You were saying?” Joseph smiled approvingly and Collin clapped. As time went by Kamryn got stronger with her powers and learned to control them. They did target practices with her fireballs and she got so good at potions that she didn’t even need the spellbook anymore.

The brothers and Kamryn went out to lunch at the local diner to celebrate Kamryn’s progress. While she was there she met the rest of the Wilson family. Everyone in their family seemed pretty cool, but there seemed to be a weird vibe about some of the topics. Kamryn was sitting in a booth with Collin and Joseph’s mother, Carla.

“So,” Kamryn asked, “are Collin and Joseph your only kids?”

“Oh, well, um, actually no. They aren’t.” she stuttered as Collin avoided her eye contact. Kamryn looked at her with confusion and curiosity. She wanted to know what Carla meant by that but she knew better than to pry about a sensitive topic. Carla would tell her when she was ready. Just as Kamryn was about to apologize for bringing it up, a big puff of black smoke appeared and in place of the smoke was a beautiful young lady. She had a natural tan glow and long dark brown hair. Her smile gave Kamryn an ominous feeling. As she looked around, she saw the smiles fading off of everyone's face.

“Why, hello family,” the girl spoke as her smile deepened, “long time no see.” Kamryn looked over to Joseph and Collin. They looked like they were about to kill this girl. Kamryn looked down at Joseph’s hands and saw his hands were aflame. At this point Kamryn was so perplexed she didn’t know what to do.

“Raven,” Carla whispered.

“What are you doing here Raven?” Joseph threatened with his fire.

Kamryn sat there and watched silently, on the edge of her seat. She kept thinking of this girl, whom she now understands is Raven, and how she greeted the Wilsons as her “family”.

“What?” Raven says innocently, “Can’t I say hello to my beloved family?”

“No, you can’t. Not after what you’ve done. To me, to Collin, to mother,” Joseph starts, “You don’t get to come back here and try and act like you’ve done nothing wrong.”

“Well,” Raven’s voice got dark, “You can’t say I didn’t try,” and with a flick of her hand Kamryn went flying across the room and her body was slammed against the wall. She laid on the ground unmoving.

“Kamryn!” everyone yelled collectively and Joseph ran over to her and checked her pulse.

“Silly brother,” Raven spoke, “she’s not dead, just unconscious is all. I don’t know why you really thought that mundane, little girl from Chicago would defeat me? You didn’t even tell her the whole truth!” she blamed Collin and he looked at her with hatred.

“Now come on children,” Carla begged, “lets just calm down and—”

“No mother,” Joseph interrupted, “Raven needs to pay for what she’s done. We didn’t do anything to deserve this.” Carla began to cry because she knew her eldest son is right. Collin went over to his mother to comfort her.

Before anyone could stop him, Joseph’s hands are aflame and he threw a fireball at his sister. Raven just barely dodged the flame and flicks her wrist. With a poof of black smoke, the two siblings were outside. Suddenly a sword appeared in Joseph’s hand and another in Raven’s. Everyone rushed to the window to watch. Joseph made the first move and ran towards Raven. Raven blocked the blade and counter attacked. The two were still going back and forth when Collin looks down at Kamryn who was still unconscious on the floor. Collin suddenly got an idea and ran to the back of the diner.

When he returned he had a smoking green potion. He brought the liquid to Kamryn’s lips and made her take a drink. After a few seconds, Kamryn’s eyes fluttered open and she woke up. She slowly sat up and asked what happened. Collin explained that she was knocked out by Raven’s magic and that she is now fighting Joseph.

“What?” Kamryn shot up and looked out the window. Raven held Joseph at bay on the ground with the tip of her sword hovering dangerously at his chest. Kamryn’s eyes widened and ran out of the diner just as Raven thrusted her sword through Joseph’s heart.

“NO!” Kamryn screamed, along with his family through the window, and threw a fireball at Raven. Raven looked up with her evil grin right as the fireball hit her and she fell to the ground in a pile of ashes. Kamryn fell to her knees, defeated. Tears rolled down her flushed cheeks and all she hears was her heart pounding. The rest of the Wilson family slowly made their way towards Kamryn next to Joseph’s lifeless body. She felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned into them for comfort. She then heard Collin’s soothing voice calm her down as he ran his fingers through her hair. Collin took Kamryn away from his dead brother and got her some water.

“Here, drink up,” Collin urged but she refused.

“No. I don’t deserve anything. I’ve failed you and your family, but most of all, I’ve failed Joseph. I was too late and there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m so sorry.”

“Hey, hey, hey. It’s not your fault,” she looked at him dumbfounded, “It’s Raven’s. This isn’t the first time she’s betrayed us.”

“Does that have anything to do with what happened to your father?”

“Raven wasn’t always evil, you know. She used to be the most loved person of the village but when father wouldn’t give her his blessing to marry her boyfriend, she got angry. Eventually, her boyfriend left her for another girl. Raven blamed father for this happening and sought revenge. The next week, she had killed him and ran off to carry on live her evil life.” Kamryn was speechless.

“When?”

“A year ago.” Collin looked down like he was ashamed to be telling her this.

Moments later, everyone was gathered around a hole in the ground that was big enough for a grown man. Two of Collin’s older cousins slowly laid Joseph’s black casket into the earth. Carla was saying a few words in memory of her eldest son, but only few were actually listening. Once the hole was completely filled the headstone was placed and it read,

Joseph Davis Wilson

June 18, 1993 - September 4, 2018

Beloved son and brother

Once things calmed down some, Kamryn had to return to her own realm. She talked to Collin and they arranged plans to get her back home. Kamryn said good-bye to the Wilson family and told Collin she was ready to return. Collin threw down a magic seed which Kamryn came to learn was another form of portal to travel between realms. She waved to the family she became so close to as she walked through the portal, thinking about her office, as she was taught. The family disappeared and blurred into the small office that she left all those months ago. It looked exactly the same as it had before she left, as if she had never left at all. Kamryn walked out of her office and up to her boss.

“What is the date?”

“Monday, August 7th,” she said

“What year?”

“2018. Are you feeling alright? You’ve only been here for, like, five minutes,” she stared at Kamryn.

“I’m feeling great,” she smiles as reassured her boss and walks back into her office to get to work.