Schoolday.

Chp.3

               

                Jonathon Gibbs was pretty happy for what he had just done.  Over the last four years at Western Valley he had earned himself the title of the schools “wildchild” because of his mischievous nature, and “don’t give a damn” attitude.  This was possible due to his famous incident of cancelling school for three days after causing the fire safety sprinklers to flood the school, and never getting caught for causing it.  Jonathon was not an angsty destructive punk kid by nature; he was free spirit who lived as he chose.  In his mind, he could give up this life at a moment’s notice and go back to the normal “nine to five life of everyone else”, as he often put it.  He was also Chris’s best friend on top of all this.  Having grown up together since they were young children the two were like brothers and had saved each other’s skin more times than they cared to mention.  From running from mall cops, to actual cops, to filming skateboarding videos for each other in broad daylight on public (and private) property when they were chasing the dream of becoming professional skateboarders, they had done a lot together.

               

               He laughed to himself as he quickly left the school’s library and reached for the “Deadpool” skateboard strapped to his backpack.  He was hit with the familiar blast of summer Vegas heat that practically battled with the ice cold, air conditioned interior of the library as he headed towards the staircase that led the schools lower ground level.  He detached the board from its straps and with a running start leapt over the railing of the staircase, slinging the board under his feet.  The landing was a bit hard as the board smacked down on the concrete floor, and he had to correct his trajectory quickly to avoid plowing straight into three students, but he had quite enjoyed it.  John lived for thrills, and he always thought of himself as an adventurous type of person.  He was generally recognized around his school by his grunge sort of appearance: ripped jeans, a punk band shirt, and his messy reddish brown hair that shagged into his face a lot of the time.  Outside of the skateboarding, and being what most of his friends called “a profession al jackass”, John also liked to work on cars and engines.  One of the few classes he didn’t end up skipping throughout the day was his shop and mechanics class.

              

               He was preparing for the halls to fill up at any moment as the final bell had just rung, and most of the students and a few of his friends would be quickly pouring into the halls, creating an environment not very conducive to skateboarding against regulations in the halls.  He wanted to catch up with Chris, and possibly Sam again as he was sure that they had enough of Orion and Tim for one day.  The pair had a mutual and impassioned hatred of John because he was able to gain friends despite his attitude unlike them.  He shared the same amount of distaste for them; especially Craig.

              

               Everyone in the entire city of Las Vegas felt the impact and presence of the Geneva Corporation.  When they started building facilities in once barren spots of desert and then abandoning them seemingly overnight, not only were workers left out on their own, desperate for jobs and forced into non disclosure agreements left and right, the landscape was literally littered with derelict artifices from once functioning entire research centers.  Large trucks, emblazoned with their signature “G” diamond logo were left to rust and whether near them, while they were policed from miles off by small cordons of private hired security.  Daily people would see large trucks run down their neighborhoods, hear large cargo helicopters roar over their home and not even a week later, nothing.  Absolutely nothing.    Much like the rumors of Area 51 no one ever seemed to know what occurred at these facilities either; not even Jonathon, whose father had worked at one of them. 

              

               This is why he hated Orion so much.  Jonathon’s father worked very hard at keeping his work a secret, ever since John was a child his father had worked at the facility closest to their home, which was located in a barren spot of nowhere that was once land used for the Nevada test site during an era where the thought of dropping nuclear ordinance on people was much more acceptable than it is now.  Every day at 4:30 in the morning  he would wake up and have to leave for work without even getting to say good bye to his children, and sometimes didn’t return until the following day, looking absolutely ragged.  Despite this, for a time they lived quiet well.  He made more than enough money to provide his family with a good life, nice home, and luxuries that the average person could not afford.  However, for many employees, this life does not always last.  The corporation has had a long history of hiring and firing people like mad whenever they feel their services to them have been rendered obsolete.  One day, when Jonathon was 15 his father walked into their home, telling him and his mother to pack their things and telling them that they had to move to a much smaller home, and leave behind their once comfortable life as he need to find new work.  He looked absolutely destroyed.  Upon hearing the news, John’s mother was devastated.  Even though his work obviously took a lot out of him he seemed to enjoy the life that it provided his family with.  For a time, they had much trouble coping. 

                Moving from a massive three story home to a small one level three bedroom was a change to all of them.  Adding on the pressure of John never having truly bonding with his father made things even more difficult.  In time, his father started a business of restoring older vehicles and from this John gained an interest in engine repair.  John hated Craig like an oppressed mass would hate a tyrannical dictator because his father gave him the life that was stripped from him and his family and all his father did was work as a PR pony for them. Convincing people all around his city that even through this corporation was starting to damage the job market, starting to test experimental drugs on children in schools through cafeteria food, using up land through eminent domain and then cordoning it away from previous owners, it was all for some greater good.

               

                 He knew it was bullshit, he always had.  There were many times when he was asked to report to the nurse’s office in primary school where he was asked to take various pills disguised as chewable vitamins throughout the day for seemingly no real reason.  His father one time had found about this and had apparently gone irate at the principle for ever allowing that.  He never knew what his father did for the corporation, but he knew that he did have a background in engineering as his father had several degrees in mechanical engineering, including one from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He had always figured that he worked on planes, or other things his government used to spy and or kill people in other nations he had only read about.  After all of the years of wonder his curiosity could not be contained anymore and he was determined to find out what had gone on at one of these now abandoned facilities.  He thought it not only would unlock a door about his father’s past, but would also be a proper fun way to start the summer.  Chris was the only one of the three that actually drove, had access to a vehicle, and was someone that didn’t mind an adventure.  Earlier that day, while he was supposed to be paying attention in history final day of History he was busy doing “research”.  Using an iPad tablet that he owned, and had covered the back case of with various band stickers and stuffed into the cover of a hollowed out book to give the illusion that he was actually reading (though he was certain that it fooled no one, after enough time at this school he realized that the staff did not seem too much care what the students did, so long as they could contain them in one place for roughly eight hours a day), he was looking on Google Satellite maps for a rough estimation of where his father had worked.

               

                  He was quite doubtful it would be right there in front of him.  Many areas where they are located were seemingly erased from maps entirely even though they could be visibly seen by the public, or sections where just left as blank desert.  He had an idea, and he thought it was a good one, one he couldn’t wait to share with Chris and Sam, however none of them would’ve foreseen what was about to happen.

Reviews

[Victoria Hyland]

This is insanely good!

A couple typos here and there but that's bound to happen.

I found the transition from chapter one to two a little confusing at first as it kind of jumps from first person to third person, but I figured given it was a draft that you were simply getting a feel for which would work better. Really either way works well however third person works better due to the development of the thoughts and feelings of several characters (But I'm assuming you already know that though) rather than solely just Chis's point of view.

The scene setting and character development is pretty seem less you've touched on apperances of places and charavter with out over explaining or not explaining enough. It's just the right amount that readers can undeestand but also fill in the blanks with thier imagination too.
This is a beautiful and meaty piece, I can really sink my teeth into this one. It has real substance to it and I'll be honest... I'm tempted to do a reading on YouTube but that might spoil it. I honestly can't get enough of 'Demon Hunter' though.
God damn it I want to read more! (sulks)

Be sure to let us know when you publish this gem because I'll definitely purchase a copy!

Sincerely
V.V