I AM ORDINARY (1)

Chapter one

I am a 13-year-old boy, with a common name of Ahmed who has a mundane life in the capital city of Pakistan, Islamabad. Not much of an intro, I get it, who would like to talk about 'normal' things and life. People want excitement, adventure and mystery to spice things up. Here in Pakistan, it's not the men, who cause havoc, no, it's women.

Now, before you go all feminist with me, I'm not blaming the general gender that is women, no, no, even guys create a lot of chaos in the country. That's not what I'm talking about, it's the covenant made by a group of women who began series of threats towards the government and army of Pakistan.

They are literally all over the news channel; it's crazy. Whoever the ringleader is, well she's the number one wanted criminal in Pakistan. She leads groups of women into a heist, rob banks and use that money however, they like; even putting some 2 lac (2M) rupees into the charity funds. Funded exclusively by the most, trustworthy organisation GCIF, "Global Charity for International Funds".

These groups of radicals are given the name of "Haq" and they are creating wild fire everywhere around the big cities, Lahore was one of their last episodes by conveying their message.

"As you can see here, every corner of the city building is covered with radical writing of the words, "Haq" and "Liars" while phrases, "End all suffering" and "Stand up and fight" is seen spray printed on the windows, shops, walls, cars, etc." the reporter just continuously babbles endlessly until the anchor stops him and thanks him for the report on the situation. I usually tune myself out since I can hardly understand what they are saying especially when they speak in Urdu like they are high in caffeine. I was just curious to know about the group, seems they are going on a hiatus for now.

I am currently sitting on a couch, eating a box of very unhealthy cereal, in the TV lounge…by myself. I just got off from school, holidays are a must in May, June and July although there are still summer courses but a person must be crazy to study in this heat.

It is the usual boring day; I wake up around 12 to watch television with food in my mouth. Totally normal; no parents around, nothing was bound to happen like every single day. When all of a sudden, the light goes off. That's not abnormal; we do get load shedding but rarely in Islamabad.

I get up and walk towards the curtains, pull it away and look up through the barred window. It is what I expected, the clouds are grey and I can see a streak of lightning. I sigh; it's a storm. Of course, it would be the storm? I won't be able to play video games…or I could go outside and enjoy the rain…

I smile as soon as I think of it; I quickly finish my cereal and run upstairs. I live in a two-story house and there's a terrace that over looks the mountains. Yeah, I know, it's amazing.

I open the bars, separating the glass door, which seems like a window; I unlock it and go out. I slide it shut so that water doesn't pour in. There's a half curved roof above my head so I stay under it and gaze at the sky. I hear the rumble of thunder and see flashes of lightning. Big drops of rain comes pouring in like a sea of it's own. Some splatter and sprinkle at my face and jeans.

It isn't the smartest thing to do, going into the storm but when you don't have a guardian to stop you, well you can't help doing it. The wind picked up speed; finally my brain alerted me that it's time to go back inside.

I walk towards the glass door, before I could enter into my safe haven; a blast of air knocks some of the plants. I trip but luckily have my hand on the door. Few of the trash and dirt flow here and there. I close my eyes to protect it from sand; I blindly go in and lock the glass door. I'm not doing that again!

I scan around me and most likely there are plastic bags and cups while dirt covers half of the area. Ugh! Great now I have to clean it up…

I pick up the garbage and throw it in the dustbin. I look at the dirt on the hallway; I'll let the sweeper (1) take care of that in the morning.

Something lights up at the corner of my eye. I turn, next to the glass door is a black box. How did that get there… it couldn't have been blown by the wind, it looks too heavy. I go towards it; the moment I pick it up, I am astonished…it's pretty light. Doesn't weight at all. I wonder what it is? I was sure that it would be heavy.

It is shaped like a perfect cube, bigger than my hands. I observe it for a while and press a button that is barley conspicuous.

"OW!" I immediately drop it, the instant it stings my finger. What the heck was that?

It starts making clicking noises and kind of freaked me out so I do not bother lifting it up again. A sharp pitch sound vibrates from the black box. I put my hands on my ears but it doesn't block the sound. My scream is not even audible to me. I did not even realize I was screaming until that stupid sound turn off. The box gradually shrinks and transforms the rest into eight spindly legs.

"What the_!!"

That's not normal, that ain't normal!

I couldn't move; I did not want it to start crawling towards me so I keep still except it does not want to do that at all. It crawls towards me at a fast pace. Of course, I scream. I run downstairs and shut the door behind me. I'm back in my living room, breathing hard.

It must have left…

The thing crashes in to the door, banging it. After some time it stops. It must have given up… I smell something burning…I look down at the door; sure enough the smell was coming from there. No, way…

It makes a hole, somehow; how the hell did it do that?

It scuttles right after making the hole, I run towards the hallway where there's another room. It's my brother's, I go in, not bothering to close the door this time; I grab a bat instead. Ready to swing at it, that thing jumps at me before I can react. I scream, letting go of the bat, I scramble my hands to get it off. I try to remove it but it was too swift. It bites at my neck.

"Ah! GET OFF!" I manage to grab it but it bites again. It creeps on my wrist and snaps right on to it.

"UGH! GET OFF, WHAT THE F__" its legs twine around my wrist and attach itself like a bracelet. The pain begins on my wrist as if thousands of needles got inside it or even my bone. Then it slowly starts burning on my wrist, then my arm, progressing to my face till it covers everything. That is when I got really sick. I fall on my brother's bed, aching all over. I finally pass out.

(1) sweeper: an Urdu word for worker who cleans the house.

>>>>>>>

"Hey! Ahmed! Wake up!"

A familiar voice wakes me up from my sleep. My headaches a little but I get up, regardless. I rub my eyes, trying to get out of my drowsiness.

"Are you okay?"

I finally look up and squint at my older brother. He has that frown on his face, when he gets worried or is in stress because of the exams.

"You guys are back?" I try to remember what happened; slowly the memories come back to me.

"I'm back early from University, my cricket practice been cancelled__ this fucking storm! It ruined my practice!"

I usually point him out for cursing but after a brief moment, I remembered what happened and why I passed out here. I quickly check myself; my left wrist was where that weird thing attached itself. I'm not poisoned, right?

If I was, I would've been dead by now.

"You really okay?" he stands there, folding his arms. My brother is tall, taller than his colleagues at his university.

"You…you have no idea what I've been through…" I tell him about that creepy thing, but my brother, Abdullah, just shakes his head.

"I would've believed you, if the door actually had a hole!" he chuckles, like as if I tried to fool him, unsuccessfully.

"Huh? You mean…" I run out of his room, towards the lounge, and scrutinize at the double door. There really is not a single scratch on the door.

What the hell is going on?

Now that I think about it, that thing, I can't find it on me, anywhere. Was it really a dream?

Pfft

I laugh at myself, 'of course, it was real!' I would've believed it to be a dream if I wasn't in so much pain. That was real, but I scratch the back of my head, wondering what that was all about.

"I'm going to take a bath, and don't touch my bat, ever again," he raises his eyebrows, and sneers, "if that spider comes back, give me a holler, I'll bring it and kill it"

He goes to his room and locks it.

I sigh, well, at least I'm fine and…

Beep, beeeep, beep….

What the…

An alarm breaks my thoughts; it just suddenly comes out of nowhere. Wait, it's coming from me, more specifically…

I look down at my wrist, hoping it not to be true. At first, there was nothing on my wrist, until like a hologram, a black bracelet appears with red light blinking it sync of the beeping sound.

Why is it making this sound? And how did it…

Before I could even begin to contemplate about this bizarre situation, I notice how everything around me, is starting to get blurry. My mind goes blank…

Well, it couldn't be helped…Am I going blind? That would be a logical conclusion since something like a poison could do that…right?

Everything gradually goes black until there's nothing left. I put my hand in front of me, I can see my own hands but everything is dark, all around me. At least, I know I'm not blind. I notice my write stop blinking red light and that annoying sound is off.

What is going on here?

"Welcome, Player 0069," I flinch at the robotic voice. I swirl around, to find where it is coming from, except there's nothing but darkness. A blue light flashes a distance away from me.

"Please, step towards the portal to go to the required destination"

Bewildered at the circumstances, I walk towards it and stop, only a step away. I gulp, and slowly enter. I put my left foot first, if I loose my legs, I'll still live. It was a joke, but I couldn't laugh right now.

I sigh as soon as I know it won't hurt me, so I go through it. I close my eyes from the burst of white light.

"Welcome, new player!" a cheerful voice greets me. I open my eyes, and immediately wince in surprise.

A cute little brown bird, flap its wings, "You have been chosen to become the player in the system; right now you will be tested, if you pass the test, you will be brought back to your home so make sure to introduce yourself with the other player. Are there any questions?"

"Huh? What's the system? And how is this happening? Wait! No, first tell me, how did you abduct me here?"

"Answering the first question: you will know about the system eventually, when you pass level 20; second question answer: you are currently in the system for evaluation; third question: the machine on your wrist, functions as a locator, and it also informs you that you will be teleported here"

"This is a machine? And I was teleported?" I forgot to interject how it just ignored my command to skip towards the important part. It behaves much like a machine.

"Currently, you are level one, so I am explaining on the basis of what you as a player can understand. Are there any questions? Be careful this is the last time I'm asking so make sure it is a relevant question"

Ah, then what you just told me is apparently nothing.

"What kind of test is it?" I instantly become nervous, it better not be something like an exam. Will my nightmare come true? I once had a nightmare that I was sitting on an exam, prepared for nothing. I don't like to be unprepared!

"You and another player from the same country, will be transported to a village for beginners guide, make sure to listen to the instructions, it will help in your coming missions; after that the system will show you, your skill. You can use your status to keep up with the level and upgrading." It stops talking, and tilts its tiny head, as if thinking.

"A player has been chosen to guide you through the system, the countdown has begun, on your watch"

I hold up my left arm, on the black watch, there is a countdown of ten seconds.

I close my eyes as the timer ends.

The wind brush against my face and dark-brown hair; I open my eyes. I am surrounded by forest with weird-looking plants; one plant appears like a blue rose, but it is giving off a blue hue. I can frogs croaking, insects buzzing.

Okay, so it's not so bad. I guess.

I turn around, and stop to stare at the most beautiful creature I have never seen.