• Two months...
    “Hey, you,” a distant voice called.
    It's been two months since the accident...
    “Hey! Can you hear me?” It called again, but louder.
    I have been looking for some one to call my own... Some one who can see me...
    “Hello!?! I'm over here!” It called again, this time loud and clear. “If your gonna jump, it won't solve any problems. Can you turn around and look at me?”
    The voice belonged to a young man, only 19. He was talking to another young man, one of 23 or so.
    “Turn around at least so I can see your face.” He said.
    The man of 23 turned around and looked at him with surprise.
    “Y... you... you're that guy that was on the news a few months ago,” he stammered. “They said you went missing...., but... but... they found your body just the other day.”
    “So? What of it?” the man of 23 said.
    “You're supposed to be dead, aren't you?” The man of 19 asked.
    “Obviously I am dead. You shouldn't be able to see me,” the other said. He jumped down from the rail.
    It was a rainy day. One that brought out the sadness in one's soul only to wash it away before the sun returned and warmed the skies. The two men were standing on a lone bridge on the outskirts of Dallas. All that they had aside from themselves was a small spark between two souls, one that would change the world in their future. Occasionally a car or truck or two would pass covering the man of 19 in water. They stood acknowledging each other with solemn faces of both surprise and denial.
    The man of 23 closed the gap of 5 feet between them to 3 and looked deep into the others eyes. He found what he was looking for for the last two months. A companion, a partner, someone to defend, someone who could finally see him.
    “You must know my name, you watch the news right? They must have said it,” the man of 23 asked.
    The man of 19 could not talk, his whole world was just turned upside down, and he had no explanation for it.
    -Talk! Speak! You know his name! Just say it, all he did was ask! Just give him the answer he seeks!-
    “I.. It's... It's Howard Byfield. I think any way.”He stammered.
    “Hah, so you aren't as stupid as you look.” Howard remarked. “You know I've waited for the past two months for someone to see me, and then here you show up thinking I'm about to commit seppuku.”
    “What's seppuku?” The man of 19 asked.
    “It's Japanese for suicide. Don't worry about it.” Howard assured him. “By the way what's your name?”
    “Um... Well... You see I don't have one. Or at least I don't remember it.” The man of 19 replied.
    “Huh... Then I guess I'll have to give you one. After all its common courtesy to have a name and tell someone it especially if you know theirs.”
    “But why do you have to be the one to give me a name if I'm the one who doesn't have one?”
    “Because you and I are like a family now. The goal I set after I found out I was dead was that I would protect the first person I met that could see me no matter the cost. And you in your current state can't remember who you are and are like a child who needs guidance.” Howard leaned over the rail of the bridge and looked in to the river. “In a sense I am now like a parent to you,” he continued. “You need help growing and learning to live in the real world. Yeah I may not have been the one who carried you and gave birth to you but you need guidance and possibly protection. That's where I come in. You and me will be in-separable and I will be there twenty-four seven.”
    “Okay, then. What will my name be?”
    Howard looked up and said, “I haven't gotten there yet.”
    “What!?! Awwww...... Now I have to go even longer with out a life.” he leaned his back on the rail and looked up.
    “Nawww.... Don't worry you won't go to long I just thought of one. Pericles. It's a simple name, yeah it was the name of some roman hero but who cares, sides it means 'surrounded by glory'. Oh and your last name, cause someone will eventually ask, will be Kinney.”
    “That is a very unusual name given the time we are in. It's 2212 he was alive like two thousand or so years ago. Maybe more I can't remember.”
    “Hah, you can't seem to remember anything do you?”
    “No, I guess I don't. I'm just wondering but I seem to be able to talk to you so easily and yet I know nothing about you, do you know why?”
    “Absolutely not.” Howard stood up and looked down to both ends of the bridge. “In times like these you need a way to defend your-self right?”
    “Yeah, I guess so,” Pericles said scratching his head.
    “I have this kind of power that allows me to become anything I wish and I guess now since I have nothing else to do I can become a sword for you to use. Although you may want to take lessons to learn how to use one first.”
    “Oh yeah? And where do you suggest I get this training?”
    “Beats me.” He disappeared and in his place a sword appeared.
    “Fat load of help you are.”
    Pericles picked it up, slipped the baldric over his head and rested it on to his shoulder. He took one last look out over the bridge and then headed west towards Dallas.
    ~ ~ ~
    A few miles to the north a girl, who could not be any older than 16, sat on a bench looking south out over the same river. Next to her sat a large Irish wolf-hound and an even bigger Timber wolf-Husky mix sat on the other side. She scratched behind the hound's ears and looked down at his face smiling. He looked up at her and barked, his tongue hanging out indicating that he was happy. The wolf laid down on the ground, put her head on her paws and sighed.
    The rain fell heavier now than it did before. The girl looked back across the river and smiled. Behind her a boy of 17 stood only a few feet away under a tree. He was looking at the girl while keeping his distance.
    “It's nice out isn't it?” the girl asked.
    “Not really. How can you stand sitting out in this?” the boy responded.
    “It's not that hard. You just sit out here and smile and the sorrow and the pain just melt away. It's nice,” she turned around and smiled at him.
    “Tala, let's go back inside, Conri won't like it if you get sick. He's your brother and ever since your dad died he's worried even more about you so try not to make your situation worse.”
    “Awww,” she stood up on the bench and jumped over the back. “Come on Glaizer. Just five more minutes,” she put her hands on his shoulders and leaned on his chest. “Look the rains letting up a little more.”
    “No it's not, and the cute act won't work on me.”
    She let go of him and started walking east. “Fine, lets go then. Leloo! Bjomolf! Come!”
    The hound and wolf got up and fell in step behind Tala.