It Begins Anew

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

12/25/95:

The loneliest time in the world is just before 4:00am on
Christmas day. It seems even the dead have better things to
do then walk around looking like zombies.

Mine was the only light in the house. I was up because I was
unable to sleep, which is normal for me, though I do need to
get back into the habit of sleeping at one am or so, as I'm
heading back to school the 3rd.

So I sat, working at my computer, mIRC running in the
background, not a soul on except the bot. In the back ground
of my room played the new Meat Loaf tape "Welcome to The
Neighborhood".

It was one of my presents (we opened them about nineish, as
I would still be asleep when Mom and Tom left about one). I
got a few things, but there not really important.

I was just sitting there, trying to wrap my mind around
graphics, and having very little luck. When there was a
flash out of the corner of my eye.

I looked back over my shoulder, over at the corner behind my
door, nothing was there.

Looking back at my computer I hooked my index finger on my
collar, and rubbed the band with my thumb. I wasn't sure if
I saw anything at all, and just assumed it was a glare off
my glasses.

A few minutes later I saw another flicker of colour. I
turned, expecting... no, HOPPING, that nothing was there.
Sadly I was wrong.

In the corner of my room, right behind the door, was a hole
of swirling light. It was only a few inches wide, and glowed
faintly.

"Shit," I said as I watched the hole grow, the colours
slowly mixing into a stable bluish colour. The hole stopped
growing when it was 7 feet tall, and 4 feet wide. It hovered
a few inches above the floor.

I stood from my chair, and moved towards it. "What the hell
is a portal doing here." I muttered to myself.

The portal flashed a bit, and the colour started to darken,
I knew this, unless the portal had one HELL of a good
controller behind it, it was about to explosively pull me
in. "Not again." I muttered

The as quick as it started, the colour change stopped. The
center of the hole rippled, then a small greenish ball pop
about. The second the ball hit the ground the portal closing
in on it's self with a violent flash.

I grabbed a pen, and poked at the ball, nothing happened.
The surface of the ball was irregular, and had cracks in it.
I stuck the tip of my pen in one, and pulled down some.

A bit of the green stuff pulled away, to show some lines in
red. I blinked, then blinked again. The red was clearing
writing of some kind, though I wasn't sure what.

I picked up the ball and unfolded it. It turned out to be a
wadded up paper. I was aghast, "Who would use much energy to
send a piece of junk through!"

The I had a bit of an idea. I laid the paper down, smoothed
it out a bit, and scribbled, "Keep your rejects in your own
universe! --Fox Cutter" and balled it back up.

I then closed my eyes and reached out. The location of the
portal was still hot, mean I could easily open a portal back
to where the first one came from.

"Sloppy." I muttered, flipping a switching in my mind. When
I opened my eyes a small portal had formed where the other
was.

I picked up the paper, and tossed it through, hopefully
giving whoever was on the other side a good shock. I then
closed the portal, covering my path, keeping the location
untraceable for the next two days.

After that was done, I laid down on my bed. "Well, that's
going to get me a visit by a Counsel member, but it was
worth it."

laid out on my bed, I fell asleep, still dressed, with the
lights still on. It had been a good day.