Chapter 1

James reached above his head and stretched as best he could trying to relieve some of the build up strain from his hour long gaming session. While the game he was playing wasn’t very stressful and didn’t require a feat of finger gymnastics it was still exhausting to him because of his body’s condition.

James got up and walked….kidding James has malformed legs, he can’t walk. They looked like someone grabbed them right below the knee and twisted them out wards leaving his two feet pointed in opposite directions and the bone itself being horribly misshapen.

It was quite a nuisance to put on pants so he usually wore basketball shorts or something similarly loose. He had once considered wearing a kilt like his father’s ancestors but had discarded it. Plaid does not look good and skirts are way too breezy.

James had quite the vested interest in his few hobbies mainly reading, video games, and studying. Yes, studying can be a hobby. Essentially, James loved information.

Learning things was one of the few things James could do without his condition slowing him down. So it was one of his biggest pleasures in life. He fell in love with learning about cultures, physiology, psychology, weapons, and a lot of other stuff.

But, even with all the things he worked to be able to do being unable to walk was still a serious source of frustration for him.

He wheel his chair over to the door. It was almost time for his hospital appointment and he had a burning desire in his gut for food. He was more or less ready for the appointment aside from doing his hair, changing his clothes, brushing his teeth….he wasn’t ready at all. Well, that could all wait for after he got some food.

James glanced over at the clock on the oven as he rolled into the kitchen it read 10:05am.

So I’ve been up for four hours then. Not too bad.

He had been a habitually early riser for the past few years and found mornings to be very peaceful. He usually got up sooner than six but he had slept in on this particular day. After he got up he used the first half hour to meditate it was apparently used by monks to great effect so he had started doing it as well. The biggest trick of meditating first thing in the morning was not falling asleep.

James worked his shoulders again then rolled himself over to the fridge to get the milk and fixed himself up a ‘super filling’ bowl of cereal for breakfast.

As he finished up his bowl of milk soaked oats his mother walked into the room.

“Mornin’ James!” She called to him, 15 decibels louder than necessary.

“Good morning Mom.” He calmly responded back with a fond smile. His mother only had three modes: Loud, Very loud, and Mother Bear. So her being this loud was the norm. That didn’t stop James from loving her with all his heart, but it made it difficult to be with her in public.

“How did you sleep sweety?”

“I slept fine. Where’s Dad?”

“He was right behind me.” She responded glancing behind her. “Nope nobody there. Well, you know how your father is he probably fell asleep on the stairs or something.”

James' Dad was not, is not, and will never be: a morning person. He worked as an night security guard at the local bank with a shift that went from 6pm-3am which guaranteed his hatred of mornings.

James shot his Mother a quick grin after glancing behind her and said, “Speak of the sleepy devil and he will appear.”

True to James’ words his sleepy father preformed a sleepy zombie shamble into the room. The most impressive part of his Dad’s entrance was the fact that his eyes were still closed.

His Dad cracked one of his eyes and glanced at him; his only greeting a grunt. Talking to his Dad before he got his morning coffee was like trying to use your forehead to pound a nail into concrete: a pointless exercise that won’t affect the nail at all, and cause you a severe headache.

James' Dad shambled over to the coffee maker and started getting it running. Yes, his eyes were still closed. He had practiced until he could go through almost all of his morning routine with his eyes closed. His dedication to sleep was as unwavering as his love for his wife and James, which was pretty impressive.

His Mom looked over him and grinned like a mischievous child, “Give him a few minutes I think he has something to say to you.”

He nodded back, giving her his ascent. She went about getting her own breakfast.

Let's make this clear: If James being a morning person was like being a Herbivore and his Dad being a night person made him a Carnivore that made his Mom an Omnivore. She was able to stay up late and get up early. Sometimes he questioned if she got sleep at all. He can't do nights, they are way too lonely.

His Dad shuffled back to the kitchen table and slid clumsily into a seat with a mug of coffee in is hand. He slowly started to sip at it wincing as it burned his tongue a little. James stared him down as he was doing this; trying to make him as uncomfortable as possible.

He finally cracked his eyes and glanced at James finally ready to give me more of an acknowledgement than a grunt, “How are you feeling? Did you sleep well?”

“I’m fine Dad; my legs are a little sore and my hands are still shaking, but I did sleep well.”

He nodded at James, “It’s good that you slept well. Your hospital visit today may let us know if there is anything else we can do to help your legs.”

“Oh, really?” James questioned skeptically. “How is this quack any different from the other quacks?”

His Dad gave a rumbling chuckle in response, “Who knows? The only difference between this ‘quack’ and the other ‘quacks’ is how long the waiting list was.”

His Mom heard what he said and gave Dad a strong TWHACK on his head with the wooden spoon she was using to make eggs.

“Don’t talk like that dear! This doctor will be able to help, you’ll see!”

James rubbed the top of his head in sympathy as Dad clutched the top of his head.

Congratulations Dad! You put her in ‘Mother Bear’ mode in a single sentence. James thought to himself. Better to not say something, anything; he would get hit too. His Mom really did love them, but she often acted before she thought. It was especially bad when she was in ‘Mother Bear’ mode.

They finished up breakfast as they made small talk with less dangerous subjects and then split up to get ready to leave for the hospital. James threw on a new shirt slathered on some deodorant then spend the next five minutes carefully wiggling out of his dirty basketball shorts and putting another pair on.

Fortunately the house they lived in has most of the important rooms on the first floor with the basement used mostly as an impromptu storage facility. So getting around as a wheelchair bound teenager wasn’t too difficult.

James had to rest after changing; his hands and arms trembling from exhaustion and strain of exertion. He was even breathing pretty hard, just from changing his clothes!

His temper flared up; he grit and bared his teeth from rage before forcibly controlling his expression and emotions. His condition had always frustrated him to no end but he couldn’t let his parents know so he always did the best he could.

After the shaking stopped he rolled himself into the bathroom and brushed his teeth. The sink was specially designed to handle wheel chairs being like a low table with a sink build into it. James brushed his teeth then rolled over out of the bathroom and into the family room to wait for his parents.

Shortly after his Dad tromped into the room and began putting his boots on.

“Where’s Mom?”

“She’s dealing with her hair. She even called it a rat’s nest.”

“Really? It didn’t look that bad at breakfast.”

“Right, at breakfast. She tried to style it.”

“Oooooh. That explains it.”

James’ mother wasn’t a girly girl in the slightest she, like her husband, wore boots everywhere and loved her denim jacket to death. She almost always dressed entirely for comfort; rarely even looking at a bottle of makeup. But, whenever they went to the hospital she did make an effort to look less like an angsty androgynous teenager.

A whole fifteen minutes later she walked into the room; she had clearly given up on styling her hair. James’ mother lived by one simple creed when it came to getting ready in the morning: “If you spend longer than five minutes in the bathroom you’re doing something wrong.”

“Let’s go!” She shouted.

They all loaded in the car after agreeing with her, wisely choosing not to comment on how long she took. Well, the process of ‘loading’ wasn’t very quick they had to carefully finagle him into the back seat then put his wheel chair in the trunk. He winced a few times during the process as his legs were jostled.

James’ Dad got into the driver’s seat and his Mother plopped down into the passenger seat right in front of him. They slowly pulled out of the driveway and started the long drive to the hospital. The drive was supposed to take 3 hours. There was a problem just 45 minutes in.

*Ding*

“Uhhhh, what?”

If James wasn’t mistaken he just heard a distinct ‘ding.’ Not only that but there was a weird blue screen in-front of his face at about chest level.

Congratulations on your up coming death!!!!

Based on the afterlife lottery that every mortal is entered into, you and your parents will be given a chance at reincarnation! Since your upcoming death is classified as ‘Semi-Tragic’ the odds of winning this lottery are worse than winning the lottery three times in your mortal life-time; much more difficult than winning the Martyr or Extremely-Tragic lotteries! We look forward to seeing you soon!