The Beginning of the End of Joy by Di-Di Lewis (iphone ebook reader txt) 📖

Prologue
The day started out so wonderfully, and it had to end like this. Today, a baby boy was born, his name, Zachary Sandromaya. One moment the day was pleasant, all was calm and peaceful, the next, there was chaos, the sun was covered by clouds darker than night, the wind picked up, it blew so hard, it was like a tornado, there was hail, and six children disappeared, Zachary was one of them, three girls, and three boys. Each of them had two things in common, one, they were born in The Center, and two, they were all children of the The Great 6 rulers of the environment and The Center.
This was the most devastating thing that could have happened. Luckily, there are children who would do anything for their leaders, even risk their lives so the children of The Great 6.
A child, right after, happened to wander into the camp, when the seer made a prediction, that each of the lost 6 children would find their way back, and they would each have the help of two people. Zachary would be found by Julie, when Zachary discovered what he can do.
Chapter 1

The wind, it was howling like a wolf, I couldn't even hear my sister just three inches away from me. I looked up and the sky was pitch black. There was a flickering street lamp casting its gloomy glow on an old homeless man with a newspaper on his face, lying down on a park bench on the corner of the road. Then came the rain beating against my hood, the lightening striking fast overhead. My little sister reached out and grabbed my jacket, pulling herself closer to me, and she whispered in my ear, "I'm scared Zach, I'm really scared." She looked up at me with her sad, ancient, innocent eyes.
"Everything will be OK, Julie, trust me," I patted her on the head, unsure of what to do with this child thrust into my incompetent care. What I can't believe is that just this morning, we were fighting about who would get to use the restroom first, and now we just have each other. We are on our own now.
I had just arrived home from school, Julie was sitting on the curb, her knees wrapped up in her arms, head down, and back shaking. I went over to her and wrapped my arms around her shoulders, and I asked her, "Are you OK, did something happen?" She just shook her head and pointed back at the house, "No, Zach, everything is fine." She yelled at me, "Yeah, everything is perfectly fine, I mean, I am fine, even after I saw the house catch fire when I got off the bus, knowing there was nothing I can do." I could see the tears welling up in her eyes, "You know the worst part, Zach? Mom and Dad came out to me, hugged me, looked me in the eyes and said, 'Julie, sit here and wait for your brother, there are really bad people out there looking for you, don't let them get to you. Your brother will know what to do.' Really Zach, do you really know what to do?"
"I think so…" I stood up and I ran to the door, each step growing heavier and heavier as I came closer to the door. I looked inside and I saw the 72-hour kits sitting near the entrance, as if mother and father knew that I would be looking for them. I ran out to my sister, we had to get out of there, I had this strange feeling in my gut, like I had to get out of there, that something bad was about to happen. "Julie," I said firmly, "get out of here, let's go." As we were walking away, the house blew up, pieces of flaming wood flying everywhere. We ran, I knew that we had to get out of there, and that there was somewhere that we needed to be. I knew that we had to get out of there as fast as possible, that whoever did that would look in this neighborhood first. We had to get out of there.
Now we are on our own, no home, no place to sleep, nothing. Why we were thrust into this impossible situation, I know not, all I know is that right now, the most important thing to do is stay alive, and to do that, we needed to find a place to sleep.
I looked around, my sister squeezing harder and harder with each breath I took. She grabbed my hand and said, "Let's go to the park, Zach, I want to go to the park." So we went to the park, we walked until we could hardly walk anymore, then I saw the faint glow of one of the lights lining the track. We walked a little farther and found a nice, dry place just outside the circle of light, under a bush. I pulled out one of the safety blankets and wrapped it around us. Julie fell asleep right away, and she pulled the blanket away, leaving me to stare up at the leaves in the spiny bush above my head.
I eventually fell asleep, 'cause the next thing I know, I hear someone calling my name. I reached out and pushed whoever it was away. "Come on, Zach, you need to get up, don't forget that today is Friday, you still have to go to school." I opened my eyes, everything was slowly coming into focus, and with it, the grim memories of the events of the previous day.
"It's not Friday, Julie, it's Thursday, and plus, it's summer break." I said groggily, "couldn't you have let me sleep a little longer?" I sat up and I saw two people sitting in front of me, both girls, and only one I knew.
"Who are you, and what are you doing with my sister?" I shouted at the stranger.
"Gees, Zach, couldn't you speak a little quieter?" then to my sister, "He sure is grumpy when he gets up, isn't he?" back to me, "You could be more considerate, you know, it's not like I'm a complete stranger, is it?"
"Actually, yeah, I've never seen you before in my life." I stated, rather rudely.
"I've seen her before," Julie intruded, "She one of the forest people, you know, the ones that you always tell me stories about. The people that help others when they don't ask for it, even if they need it. Her name is Joy."
"She's not one of them, we don't need anyone's help, and I think she might be one of the people that mom and dad were talking about." I hissed at my sister.
"She's not, I know she's not." Julie pouted, "And to think that you would understand, I am such an idiot."
I shook my head, Julie would never call herself an idiot, in fact, she would hurt anybody that did call her that. "You're not my sister," I scowled at her, "Who are you and what have you done with my sister?" I sat up and bonked my head. I looked up and saw my sisters smiling face as she held a pan above my head. I reached for my h sad and felt a giant lump, and it hurt; I just shook my head, she would never do that, ever, something must be possessing her. There was a green mist slowly coming into view, I held my breath and passed out.

The next thing I know, I somewhere in a forest, 72-hour kits just a few feet away, my sister standing over them, laughing maniacally. "You will never be able to reach these Zachary, you know you need them, but you can't get them." was she taunting me? I stood up, tried to move, but I couldn't, I was trapped. Am I sleeping?
"No, Zachary, you are not sleeping," someone placed a hand on my shoulder. I shuddered, how could that person have know what I was thinking. Julie started to laugh.
"Joy," Julie said, "stop messing with his mind," she sounded like she was really enjoying herself, as if this was some kind of game, which it was definitely not.
"Zachary," I heard a voice from right behind me, I turned my head and there was this little boy who looked about 6 years old, "Zachary, don't let them mess with your head, what you need to do right now is wake up, you know how to do that, right?"
"Of course I know how to wake up, what kind of idiot doesn't?" I asked, sounding really agitated, did he think I was an idiot?
"Wow, Zachary, you really think you know it all, don't you?" I shook my head, "Stand up Zachary, now."
"I can't, there's something holding me down, I don't know what it is."
"Are you really that dumb? You do know that your mind is playing tricks on you, right? Just stand up ya big dummy." He threw his hands up in exasperation.
"What?" I asked, just a little confused. The boy reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling me up from the ground; how could he possibly do that? I stood up and brushed off the dirt on my clothes, then I realized that there was nothing to brush off. I stood there, puzzled for a little bit. How could this even be possible? How did I get here? What was going to happen to me? Where am I?
The boy reached out and smacked my face. I gasped and I was back in the park, the rain coming now in a light drizzle; was that a dream, or was it a nightmare?
I tried to go back to sleep after that, but I couldn't, I just laid there until the rain stopped coming and the sun broke through the clouds on the horizon.
"Zach," Julie shook my arm, why was she doing that, I was already awake, "Open your eyes, there's someone who says she knows you." I opened my eyes, apparently I had fallen asleep without knowing it.
"What?" I asked, dragging my words out as long as I could so they still made sense.
Julie pulled me up, "She's over here you dummy," she pulled me up and dragged me to some girl who looked oddly familiar. I struggled to remember where I had seen her before.
"Hi, my name is Joy," she reached out her hand, I recoiled from it; I remember her now, she was in that crazy dream/nightmare thing, "What's wrong?" she questioned.
"Nothing," I replied, "Have you met Julie before today?" She nodded her head.
"Yes…" she she said, sounding rather confused, "How would you know that?"
"Oh, just a hunch, nothing really." I answered. Julie looked at us strangely.
"What are you guys talking about?" Julie asked me, "What's going on between you two?"
"Nothing," Joy and I said simultaneously. "I…" we said together, I waved Joy on.
"He was just asking if we had ever met before, so I told him that we had, I was going to tell him how we knew each other before you rudely interrupted." Joy said rather rudely.
"Don't talk to my sister like that," I shouted at her, "I don't care if she interrupted you or not, she is still my sister, I don't care what you say to her."
My sister reached out her hand to silence me, "It's ok, Zachary, after all, she and I do know each other well enough that she can do that without offending me." I gave her a puzzled look. "Nothing, Zachary, I'll let her explain."
"No, no, why don't you