Many years ago, in a place outside of space and time there was a Boy. The Boy was altogether unremarkable. In a terrific twist of irony, he was so unremarkable that he tended to stand out. His peers liked to avoid him due to this, but he didn’t mind, as he preferred his own company more than almost anything else.

The Boy was Howard Greene. The place, Lecompton, Kansas. The time, 1985. This is not the Boy’s story. The boy is entirely unremarkable. What is remarkable is what happens on a late summer day, when Howard Greene changed the entire world completely by accident.

 

---

 

I sat on my favorite bench under my favorite tree, contemplating the past few days. A fantasy novel was burning a hole in my backpack, and there was no way I was sitting through math class with it there. It was 1985, and it was the first week of school in Lecompton, Kansas. It was Wednesday, to be more precise.

I had hoped, as I always hoped at the start of the new school year, for something exciting to happen in the boring town I grew up in. I was only 15 but considering the insanely small number of people in Lecompton, I knew practically everyone by name. That could be useful, as often I would get discounts at the small-town restaurant where I spent my allowance by simply remembering the owner's name. I could check out any book in the school library with a simple glance at Nancy, the librarian. Living in a small town had its perks.

It was, however, also quite terrifying. This is of course primarily because I have a strong dislike of other people, and living in a town with 600 others that all knew me by name gave me shivers down my spine when I thought about it. I have always had a bit of a disconnect with others; it was nothing new, and my parents understood me well enough to not really complain. I’m sure they would like me to get up and make some friends my age, but honestly, it never really felt necessary or important to me. There have been times in the past when a classmate tried to make contact or start up a conversation, but my general aloofness and lack of response tended to throw them all off. I liked to just lose myself in my thoughts, creating worlds of my own, or jumping in the worlds of others. I loved Tolkien, and comics always made me happy. The big battles! The loud sounds rattling through my imagination! Why would you ever want to live in reality when fantasy and fiction are so much more interesting?

I looked down and started reading where I left off. The story was about a boy who discovered a master of martial arts outside the wall of his town. The world was dystopian, with an evil regime reigning over the common folk, keeping them penned up into camps devoted to some form of forced labor. I could practically feel the adrenaline as the protagonist took his first footstep outside of the wall. I could feel the rush when he started learning the arts, and his elation when he realized that these were no simple combat forms; they would grant him so much more power than he ever thought possible.

Far too soon I heard the school bell ring across the yard. With a sigh, I reluctantly put my book away, gathered my stuff, and headed off to the bus that would take my home.

As I walked up to the bus, a heard a familiar voice calling out over my shoulder.

 

“Howard! Hey, Howard! Wait up!”

With another sigh, I slowed down and waited for her to catch up. Turning to look, I was greeted with the familiar sight of Stephanie Williams, my neighbor. We were the same age and were born only three days apart. My parents met her parents in the hospital after we were born, and they have been friends ever since. We moved next to each other when Stephanie and I turned three, and she was the only person I could even vaguely consider my friend.

Stephanie was also beautiful. She was 5’11’’ and had wavy blond hair. Her face was aggravatingly symmetrical, and her eyes were like green ponds. Look too long and you could fall in. her skin was clean and somehow perpetually smooth. Every time she approached me, I would feel my pulse quicken and I would get all flustered. This was a newer development and was annoying to no end.

It certainly didn’t help that I was slim and 5’9’’, with some outrageous freckles speckling my cheeks.

She ran up and wrapped me in a deep hug.

“Where were you during the last period? Mr. Simpson was furious.”

Fighting the blush that rose to my cheeks, I quickly shot off a short response, hoping to placate her.

“I was just catching up on some homework.”

She released me and looked down with a very disappointed scowl.

“Oh? Is that so. I seem to recall someone going to the library during lunch… you and I both know you were reading that book. Could it really not have waited?”

“Come on Steph, it’s not like it was an important day. What were we even going over? Triangles still?”

Her frown deepened. That was apparently not the correct response.

“That was last week Howie. We started going over sine and cosine today. It’s pretty tricky, you should have gone. You know Mr. Simpson is going to talk to your parents during brunch on Sunday.”

I let out another sigh.

“Yeah, I know. I’m sure it’ll just blow over like it always does.”

With that we walked into the bus and sat next to each other on the seat right behind the bus driver. Our stop was the first one, and this was the best place to sit. I wanted to get home as soon as possible. My reading schedule was already lagging behind, and Stephanie sitting next to me basically made it impossible to concentrate. Damn these hormones.

I was lucky I didn’t run into any other students. This was high school, and that means that someone was a bully, and someone got picked on. Fortunately, my town was small enough that there was only room for one bully. Unfortunately, there was apparently also only room for one kid to get picked on. I guess I was an easy mark because a fellow 10^th grader named Travis Jacobs had been a thorn in my side for the past four years, right around the start of middle school. The casual bullying was an open secret, and unfortunately his parents refused to do anything about his actions. It made constantly seeing them rather awkward, as they always tried to ignore me. Oh, the joys of a small town.

All things considered, the bullying had been pretty tame. Some light name-calling and the occasional push while in the halls. The biggest reason I never took trying to stop it further than simply mentioning it to someone was that all the actions so far were so petty it just seemed not worth the hassle.

Pretty soon we arrived at our stop, and Stephanie and I hopped out of the bus.

As we stared separating, she turned around and said,

“See you tomorrow Howie! Don’t forget our history assignment!”

Damn. I had forgotten all about it. It's terrifying how well she understands my mind. Almost concerning, really.

“Yeah, I’ll make sure to get it done.”

We parted, and I made my way to my door. My house was practically identical to Stephanie’s, as they were built by the same company at the exact same time. Mine had a black shingled roof and eggshell white paneling on the outside, while hers was a lighter white. Both houses were two stories and were rather comfortably sized. There were three bedrooms. For me, that was one room for my parents, one for my Uncle who lived with us since he lost his job, and one for me. My bedroom was upstairs and had a bathroom all to itself. My parents and my uncle have downstairs rooms, so I have plenty of privacy.

I walked inside, dropped my backpack, and kicked off my shoes. I moved to the kitchen as I skipped lunch to spend time in the library, so I was hungry. I turned to the fridge to start making a sandwich and noticed a note attached with a magnet.

Your father and I are taking Uncle Greg to Kansas City. There was a job opening at Mr. Clements's office, and he was nice enough to give Greg a position. Make sure to do your history assignment! Also, Mr. Simpson called before we left. We need to have a talk about your attendance young man.

There is a cooked casserole in the fridge.

Love you and see you tomorrow.

Mom

It's rather typical that she would already know about me cutting class. I probably should have expected it really. Ah, well. For tonight it's not a problem. Cutting a slice of some type of cheese/pasta casserole, I put it on a plate, picked up my backpack from its place on the floor, and headed upstairs.

 

I have an old blue suede reclining chair that someone was planning on throwing out sitting in the landing right at the top of the stairwell. It's my all-time favorite reading place. There’s a lamp in the perfect position behind the chair for ideal lighting at night, as well as a large window overlooking the back yard. Our house faces the east, so considering the time the sunlight was coming out of the cloudless west sky strongly and shot through the window, tracing sunbeams through the residual dust in the air.

I sat down and continued my novel while munching on my casserole. Before I knew it, the sun has set, and I had to turn on the lamp behind my head. Was that really 5 hours? Time sure does fly when you’re stuck between the pages of a good book. It was nothing new to me though, so I couldn’t really complain.

As I stood up from my chair, I realized how dark the house was. I always find it disconcerting when you are home alone and forget to turn the lights on. As much as I dislike talking with people, I do find some comfort in the soft sounds of my family moving around downstairs. The noises always make me comfortable, regardless of whether I talk to them much.

I decided to walk downstairs and make sure the front and back doors are locked. While I’m down there, I also turn on the kitchen and living room lights, just to make the house seem fuller. On my way back up the stairs, I’m greeted again by a wave of darkness. As I move to turn on my reading lamp, I suddenly remember my history homework. Damn.

Deciding that I couldn’t really afford to miss this one, I continue past my chair into my room, grabbing my history textbook and a spiral notebook to start the assignment. I don’t think it would take me more than an hour, so I will still have plenty of time to finish this book tonight. I walk back into the sitting room and start working in the bright light coming out of the window.

…

…

…

Wait a moment.

Its nighttime and I never turned on the lamp. Something about this seems… wrong.

An electric shock shoots up my spine. I can feel all the hair on my arms standing on end. I turn to face the window and am greeted with white light.

High up in the air, I saw a white speck of light. It almost looked like a star; it was just much brighter than expected. It cast a pale light through my window, almost like the light of the moon. The moon hadn’t quite come into view yet, so something was wrong with what I was experiencing.

My first thoughts were that it was a helicopter. I quickly ran down the stairs and cautiously snuck through the back door, hoping I could hear the rotor blades, but fearing I would not. I looked up again but couldn’t hear any sound. Whatever this is, its no helicopter. This was a particular point of fear for me as whatever this light was, it was getting closer, and was doing so much faster than I was prepared for.

I stood agape watching the supernatural phenomenon take place right above me. I was craving for something interesting to happen in the boring small town, but whatever this was, I was not ready for it.

The second I began to contemplate running back inside, I heard the wooden scraping sound of a window opening. Stephanie was looking at me and the strange light through her upstairs window. She began to call out to me with what I assume was either a question about my actions or a warning to go inside. Whatever it was, the noise got caught in her throat.

The light had arrived.

It was white light, almost like sunlight. It shed no warmth and sat in a sphere about a foot in diameter. It was also floating about five feet in the air, hovering over the grass in my yard.

As I turned to face it, the light spoke. When I heard it, all other sounds around me failed to penetrate my ears. Steph’s constant pleas for me to run, the sound of the wind, or the sound of crickets; none managed to give me any indication of their existence. All there was, was me and the light.

“What are you?”

The light answered. It was hungry.

“I don’t understand what you want. There is food inside. My mom made a casserole.”

It was confused. It tried to clarify what it needed.

“An idea? I don’t understand.”

It was going to take what it wanted whether the boy liked it or not. It was here on accident, but perhaps it might be providence.

“It could be anything at all? Are you sure?”

It was sure. It wanted to make sure the boy understood that there was always a price to be paid.

“It’s ok. I think this might be more interesting this way. No one would be bored anymore, that’s for sure.”

It told the boy that it would take time. Quite a great deal of time, in fact, for it to work correctly.

“Will I still be alive after we combine?”

It was not sure.

“Will it be interesting? Will things be better than they are now?”

It knew it would be dangerous. It knew that many people would die. It knew that if anyone ever found out about Howard Greene, then he would be hated across the world. It also knew it would be interesting. Very interesting.

“Very well. Can you make sure Steph is watched out for?”

It decided that it could.

“Great. Then I’ve made my wish.”

 

---

 

Steph looked out of her window at the scene playing out below her. What was going on? What was that strange ball of light? Is Howard OK? Howard was talking to the weird floating ball. Steph wanted so badly to call out to her parents to alert them to what was happening, but she couldn’t seem to move her feet.

“Stop Howie! That thing is dangerous! You need to get away!”

Steph had been shouting across the yard since the light had descended, but Howie couldn’t seem to hear her. Suddenly, the light moved. It shifted up and cast a beam directly at her. Steph had the strangest feeling that it was looking at her. Frozen in fear, she could only try and focus on the words that Howard was saying.

At last Steph was able to make out a sentence.

“Very well. Can you make sure Steph is watched out for?”

The ball moved its attention off Steph and was now focused back on Howie. Steph could finally move again.

“Great. Then I’ve made my wish.”

Howard looked up at Steph, and the demure boy looked excited. He looked excited. Steph didn’t think she had ever seen Howard look excited in her whole life. He also seemed to look kind of sad though. Steph didn’t understand what was going on, but a small voice in her mind suggested that it wasn’t good at all. This was goodbye.

Howard called up to Steph with a confident voice.

“I’m going to be gone for a little while Steph. I’ll be back though. Well, hopefully.”

That really didn’t sound good. Steph began to panic.

“What are you talking about? I don’t understand! Where are you going?”

He didn’t answer any questions. He simply looked at Steph one last time and reached out to touch the light.

As his fingers made contact, the light exploded outward. It expanded rapidly, washing first over the town of Lecompton, then the rest of Kansas, then the rest of the country. It expanded rapidly, moving all the way across the world until every living thing on planet earth had been touched.

And then, nothing happened. For 35 years, at least.