I’m Eli Spade, once a normal kid with a normal life from a small town in Iowa. As you can see, I was nothing special. Until one day everything changed. It’s crazy how a certain turn of events can cause your whole life, and dare I say destiny, to change. I went from being some lame towel boy for the school’s football team, to being an inter-galactic hero. I know, it sounds completely ludicrous, but it’s true. But, before I start my story (which by now I know you’re dying to hear) I just have to say, some of this stuff I’m about to tell you even I have trouble believing. Space travel, magic rocks, and a planet on the verge of destruction are just some of the many things I’ve seen and experienced. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me start from the beginning…



It was a gloomy day. Well, at least it was for me. Everything was quiet, deserted; it had been like this for hours and the thing that was bugging me was I didn’t even know why. Everyone was gone, and I don’t mean just a few people here and there that I knew. No, I mean everyone. I was walking down a deserted street in my town next to city hall. I couldn’t take the silence and so many things were rushing through my head… Where is everyone? Finally, a loud crash split the silence, piercing my ears. Garbage flew amuck. No, it couldn’t be… I thought …Could it? I ran further down the block to find that a garbage truck had crashed into a wall, the driver; missing. Just when I thought I had found another person like me, my hopes were crushed. Killed. Living as the only teenager on earth was more difficult than I expected it to be. I didn’t even need to find someone I knew, I just needed to find someone. My loneliness was driving me insane; I had no one to talk to, to find solace in. No one. I didn’t ask for this, to be alone. I don’t even know how it happened. I just woke up one morning to find everyone I love (and even those I don’t) missing. Gone. I have no way of describing it...


Like I was saying before, Previous to all of this happening, my life was totally normal. I had your average “cookie-cut” family with an over-protective mom, a pressuring “Be like me” dad, and an oh-so annoying little sister who I call booger-face. But my parents call her Leah. I even had dog; a ninety-pound husky named Benji. But, that morning all of them disappeared and I was flipping out. I couldn’t survive like this much longer. I was starting to go full out crazy.
On the street where the garbage truck crashed was an abandoned factory. Windows were busted out of this lifeless building and random scraps of metal and concrete were lying around. The brick that the warehouse was made out of was crumbling after years of holding up the structure. Behind the building was a river. But, instead of this river being a normal shade of dark blue, it was a petrifying puke green. Whoever used to own the factory was not environmentally friendly. This place was perfect for when one needs to be isolated from the world around them. In my case, this could be anywhere. I walked into this mysterious building, almost tripping on a large sheet of metal that lay on the ground. As I stepped inside, a wave of nausea hit me. The placed reeked of fish and rotten eggs. Where was I? It seemed like some sort of fish packing factory. Now the smell overwhelmed me to the point of barfing. But just as I turned to leave, something caught my eye. A man in a dark trench coat stood about twenty feet away from me, hidden in the dark shadows cast by a dormant machine. I glanced back at this man only to realize he was gone. He vanished. OK, I had definitely lost it. “Don’t worry, you’re not insane. No, no...” I said to myself aloud. “Look at me! This is pathetic! I’m talking to myself just to hear a human voice!” Yeah, but it doesn't help when that humans voice is your own. “Hey! Shut up!” I said to myself. AHG! I had to find something to do to distract myself from arguing with...myself. Just then I heard a noise...Footsteps. “Shhhhhh!” I hissed to, well, apparently no one. You’d think I’d be used to being alone by now. You’re wrong. I followed the faint tapping noise until it got louder, and louder. Then, it stopped. It was dead silent. I dared not breathe. The footsteps, after what seemed like hours, finally descended down the godforsaken hallway. Each step had its own little echo.


I perused this mystery man down 3 hallways and a flight of stairs, only to find he had lead me in a circle... What was going on? Then behind me I heard what sounded like the rev of an engine followed by the buzzing of the once sleeping machines. How was it possible that this factory, abandoned for over a decade, could suddenly run again, no problem? I’ll tell you how, it wasn’t! Now, I was paranoid. I scoped my surroundings. Just as I had scoured just about all of the machine room, my eyes locked on a figure. The trench coated man. I felt as if his gaze burned through my bodily form and stared right into my soul. Chills ran though my body. My heart nearly leaped right out of my chest, for this time, he was chasing me.

Now, I’m no track star, but when I’m being chased by some maniac dude with a gun, I run pretty darn fast. And yes, he had a gun. I tried to lose him, but it seemed that he knew this factory better than me. Sooner or later I would be cornered. It was sooner. The man backed me up into a far corner of the factory, and I finally got a good look at his face. Imagine the creepiest, most cold-hearted person you can think of. This guy was seven times worse. His eyes were hard. His scarred mouth was twisted into an eerie smile. He looked like a killer. “I wonder how many people he’s killed...” I thought to myself. What are you thinking Eli? This dude is about to KILL YOU. My mind raced. I never realized how difficult it was to come up with a well thought out plan when someone is about to shoot you. Well, technically I’ve never been in a situation like this, but still... C’mon brain, help me out here!


What was my well thought out plan, you may ask? I screamed. Not that it would help anything, but hey, that was the only thing my thirteen-year-old brain could come up with. The next moments I will never forget for as long as I live. I heard an ear shattering “BANG!” and timed seemed to slow down, like I was trying to swim trough honey. Slowly, everything dimmed. I slid to the floor. I looked down at my chest, now a bright red. My once braggingly bright white tee shirt was blood soaked. I hopelessly watched as my blood spilled all around me. After the state of shock wore off, I felt it. The pain. It started where the bullet pierced my chest and spread through my arms and through every inch of my body. I had been shot.


I stared at him straight in the face and got a feeling deep within me I’ve never felt before. Fear. And this wasn’t that kind of fear you get when you’re about to take a test you haven’t studied for. No, it’s darker than that. The feeling started out as just a brief thought then gradually grew to panic. His cold eyes stared down at me unkindly burning through my body and created a pain much worse than the bullet had. He was like an infection; slowly, painfully spreading, attacking all of my hopeful thoughts, my only chance to fight back. Hope was dissolving in me with every passing second. I could feel myself grow darker and colder. Slowly slipping away, slowly dying. I grew so weak I gave up the fight, letting the darkness consume me.