Memory is Key- Jace- Kyle Moore

     I stood at the entrance to my college dorm. Driving here from Lebanon, Missouri was tough but... No it was just tough. The Naval Academy didn't pay for plane tickets though so driving was it. I walked into the main lobby and found nice seating, studying cadets, five to be exact sitting around one central couch table like object and studying for history I presume. One was female, the others were male. two black and two Asian descent. I walked past and went to the desk, found my room and went and organized everything. That afternoon I decided to go workout at a friends house. I had met him during a science camp at Missouri Science and Technology in Rolla when we were both fifteen. We shared the same year and month of birth but were separated by five days. My mom never did have great timing. I drove my car from the lot across from the college grounds, plebes and third class cadets aren't allowed to have motor vehicles on campus, downtown to a small neighborhood with nice houses. Few of them looked as old as they were and all of them were very taken care of. I stopped at a petite red house with deep blue shudders and a blue garage door. I could see his red truck parked out back so I walked up to the door. I knocked twice and waited for the usual reply.
   
     "Password and Identification Phrase." A very monotone voice said.
     "G. R. A. C. E. I. S. O. N. V. A. C. A. T. I. O. N." I paused to let him write it down and make sure every letter was right, "Identify Jace Sidi. Friend. Plebe Sidi reporting." I stood rigid at attention, not saluting of course stupid movies, and waited. Three clicks, a high pitched whir and the door literally slid sideways into the wall. That was new. Wait, He wasn't even there, he had a computer programmed to do it now. He has really upgraded his fortress. Maybe his parents just weren't home. I took one step in and felt the carpet give about a half-inch under me. That had been there since he had the house, but it made me freak. Something felt off. I stooped low into a natural stalking position and pulled out my bowie knife from the back of my belt. No one could see it even in broad daylight if they tried. I slid against the couch looking around the edge as much as possible to see down the hallway. The lights were off and there was no sound. I stood up a little more, man was this killing my back, and silently walked down the hallway. I turned toward his door and put my hand on the knob. Shocker. No I'm not kidding I got shocked pretty badly. Left burn marks on my fingers and melted parts of my shoes soles. I flinched and almost spassmed onto the ground if I hadn't have worn my shoes with some metal implants in the soles touching the ground. I used them because the sole never gave out like most shoes. You could wear these for two years and the sole only depressed about five centimeters. I got the feeling he had applied static shock so i touched it again and this time it wasn't shockingly electrified. Smirking at the decent job of outdoing me I turned the knob. There was more tension than there should be. Letting go of the knob I stopped down to look under the door and sure enough he had forgotten to cover. What I didn't know at the time was that he actually meant to leave it uncovered. I looked through and saw scorch marks all over the room, torn up carpet, bedding everywhere, and there he was lying in a heap in the centre of it. I stood up and kicked the door so hard it splintered all over his room. I was not loosing another person close to me. He would make three and that can't happen.

     "Scotty! What happened? Are you ok?" I stopped at are you ok to give him some time to respond. He moved his head slightly and his eyes pointed back and forth between me and the closet. I didn't get it so I looked at him inquisitively when thwack! I was hit on the back of the head with what felt like potato.

Four Hours Later

     I felt the sharpest pain in my head, and could tell there was a mound on the back of my skull from the potato.

     "Thank you for testing Sharon for us, she is a bit tempermental and you just let us know we'd fixed her. Oh, sharon is the potato gun that was responsible for knocking you out." His voice was husky, sounded Japanese. My mind couldn't handle itself and went to mush quickly. I decided to wait and see what they wanted.

The Beginning-Jace Story Arc-Kyle Moore

     The hallway was bustling with students. I felt claustro claustrophobic and would've thrown up if not for the saving grace of, well, Grace. Grace Lewski had been my friend since we were born. We share the same birthday, at the same time, in the same hospital. Most chalk this up to coincidence, but my mom always believed we were destined to be best friends. We did become best friends, making her next prophecy about us dating, luckily no truth had been found in so far. Don't get m wrong, she had a good build, slender hips and good sized thighs, smooth skin, never showed off what she had. Blonde hair down past her shoulders a few inches, and the most beautiful blue green eyes. Don't ask me why I take note of this. If i paid this much attention to everything else in school I'd be the highsc high school equivalent to Sherlock and Watson. You could say something scares me about the prospect of dating, but I couldn't even begin to try to explain it. I presume its better to leave it untouched than to delve into it, I don't know what I'd find that deep yet, and hope I don't know for a while.
     "Jace, you look queasy. C'mon, we have every class together this year. First period is this way." She dragged me down the edge of the hallway narrowly missing many doors and lockers. I always wondered if she new how sensual she looked when she dressed business like for school or is she just assumed that God had made her ugly so she'd focus on him. Well, I guess either works for me, as long as she doesn't focus on thinking she needs to fix her 'ugly'. I followed her as best as I could without losing my arm in the process. I knew where first period was, but honestly I didn't want her hand to leave mine. She finally reached first period and let go of my hand. We both took one step into the classroom and as soon as we did as if on cue the bell began to ring. I took a seat next to Grace on the side of the room closest to the door, third row back to her left. She sat on the outside chair.
    "Jace, I've heard this teacher is kinda mean. Lot's of seniors this year said they were on meds to finish this class." Grace whispered into my ear. I couldn't even focus on what she said. All of a sudden I was feeling the heat of her breath on my ear and neck and I naturally started to lean in willing her lips to touch my ear. Wham! The door slammed shut at the front of the classroom and I was taken aback for a second. I had never gotten that feeling from Grace before. What was happening to me, I could only guess was either puberty or love. Maybe a bit of both. Whoa.

     The rest of the school day was a blur. I got everything I needed for parents to sign and homework to begin. Grace and I walked out of the building towards our cars. I walked right next to her, looking at my feet unless I stole a glace at her face. She blushed a little each time I looked up. Now, usually school parking lots are relatively close to the school for ease of teachers and students, but there was a little known strip of parking on near perfect asphalt that was in a tree covered area just past the football stadium. Usually, Grace would go to her car to change and I'd stand watch although it was almost never needed and then we would walk back to the track around the football field and run one or two miles depending on our workload that day. Seeing as today was day 1, we decided two miles/
     "Don't look Jace, or I might just have to tell your mom you're in love" She smiled genuinely and then slipped into her mercedes and began to change. I stood back to the window facing the football stadium. As per usual, no one was attending the band practicing on the field. Our football team long ago decided to practice in the morning and late at night, so the band took the after school time.
     "Ok, I'm done changing." Grace said smoothly as she exited the car. She now wore blue tights with her blue nike running shoes and a grey tank top that covered all but the slightest sliver of her straps from her yellow sports bra. Man this is getting worse. I paused and looked at the ground. She moved closer looking at me with an inquisitive face,
     "You look as if ou've done something wrong. You can talk to me Jay." She never called me Jay. The last time she did was at the Junior High dance on Valentines day when I asked if she would be my Valentine. I think it was her way of telling me that her full attention no matter what I said was focused purely on making me happy as best as she could.
     "Grace... We've been friends forever. Literally. Have you ever... Ever thought, about, I don't know... More than best friends?" I immediately regretted those words. Not because of her reaction. Not because of her face she made. I didn't even regret it because she turned me down.  I regretted it, simply because I didn't think it was the right thing to say. Her reaction was more akin to laughing at a joke then realizi realising ng the joke was a very serious matter, and she needed to consider it.
     "Jay... I didn't, I didn't know you felt that way. Actually, I thought you liked Krystina." She looked at me and smiled slightly. I subconsciously moved my fingers across hers, sliding my finger tips slowly up her arm eventually reaching the shoulder moving laterally then continuing vertically at her neck, I slid my hand ever so slightly against her cheek leaving it there. She pushed her cheek against my hand as if in confirmation that it was ok. I kept it pushed lightly against her skin lifting up her dropped chin a little, and she moved in slowly standing on her tiptoes to be closer to my height and our lips met. I closed my eyes and kissed her slowly.
     I've never kissed a girl before, so the feeling of this beautiful kiss was like fire flooding through my veins. It started to pump adrenaline through my whole body tensing every muscle and making my nerves go crazy. My stomach felt like it was Olympic pole vaulting. After a few seconds the kiss ended with us slowly pulling our lip apart, myself reluctantly, and for her I could only guess the same. I slid my arms around her waist and she hugged me. Tightly keeping me close she buried her head in my shoulder rubbing her hands down my back lightly.
     I whispered through her hair, "Grace... I really like you." She responded with a muffled, "I like you a lot too." Squeezing he arms once then pulling out of hug she looked me in the eyes, and I stood there, frozen in the stare of the most beautiful girl in the world.
     "Dinner and a movie Friday night? My place?" I stood there, just as nervous as I was before we kissed.
     "If I get to feel like that again... I'd go to Antarctica to watch a movie with you."
And with that, one of the happiest years of my life began.

"Life is like a horror movie, broken up by heaven like commercial breaks. This was the ultimate commercial, and now it is time to return to your scheduled programming."

Five Years Later

     Today four years ago, I drove home alone for the first time in my life. April sixteenth, twenty-sixteen marks four years since the accident. I never truly recovered from what happened. twenty-twelve, April sixteenth, two days after my birthday, it happened. She was gone.

Prologue-Kyle Moore

     Jace walked down the wide hallway in the dark. He wasn't supposed to be here at this unGodly hour but he was. Trying to secretly workout so no one knew was a hard task when you couldn't afford any local gyms. Jace had found a door that was old with an ancient lock that he was able to pick and had managed to never set the alarm off for the past three years. Tonight was going to be a shock. He stepped into the weight room, RING RING RING, it continued as he turn and sprinted for the door he came in. He had made it ten feet down the hall when he was hit from his right with something that pulled his body in and left him weak and not in control of his body. The police officer stared rigth into his face as he lay there drooling all over the floor. He could feel the wet on his ear, but he couldn't do anything about it. The police officer cuffed him, then dragged him to the back of what he could only assume was a police car. Driving down the road the police officer shut the window to the backseat of the vehicle and stared straight ahead focusing on why he was doing this. His kids needed him at home. Jace fell over in the seat heavily, popping his back over the seat belt buckles. He couldn't feel a thing in his body, and he slept. He didn't sleep normally, but passed out from lack of oxygen in his compressed lungs and edgy motion sickness. Three hours later the car stopped and out of the backseat the police officer dragged Jace up five steps into a run down building. They stopped and Jace woke up sitting in a chair with hands cuffed to the back and his feet duct taped to the legs of the chair.
     "Where am I?" Jace asked remembering all too late that he said the most cliche line in the book.
     "Well, If you must know, your right where you should be. At the mercy of The Judge." A deep voice from his right answered him. Only one light was on and it shined straight down on him, from the corner of his eyes Jace saw a pair of sandals, memorizing their special features like the leather straps attached to the metal sole's.
     "Jace. I will only ask you this once. Why do you do it?" The shoes took a step forward letting the end of an ancient style japanese cloak show to the knees. Jace didn't know what exacty he was referring to, but he assumed the secret working out.
     "I do it for discipline, Work, and Fun." Jace looked directly in front of him at the wall. The Judge walked around to face him. He had a small face, with a pointy nose and bushy eyebrows. His full brown hair pushed back into a puffy lump.
      "You seem to be very fit, I guess you could say you do some... unconventional, training? Ninjutsu? I haven't seen anyone resurrect this much of ninjutsu in one year as you. What is it for? CIA? FBI? Movie acting? A female?" At hearing the words a female Jace blushed and looked at his feet.
     "Ahhhh. I knew it. I have a deal for you..."

End

Preface-Kyle Moore

Hey guys! Chris Carlson and I have been wanting to write together for a while, a few years, and now we are starting! Each post following will have a title and the author if it is a writing chapter. If we decide to talk about other writing subjects we will title and inform you accordingly. We have written so many short clips of writing and now we will be starting a full time adventure! I don't know how often we will post but it will be semi-consistent. I hope you enjoy the following stories and adventures!