Chapter 1: Junkyard

"MOM! Mom where are you!? I'M HERE!" Gabriel desperately cried as he was searching for his mother, Jane, after her disappearance. He searched the entire town of Winterbrett, trying to look for her. He searched so much of the town already and is forced to look for his mom in the Winterbrett junkyard, the only place in the whole town that he hasn't searched yet.

Jane woke up from being unconscious in a pool of blood. As she slowly regained consciousness she faintly started to hear Gabriel's voice in the distance. She tried to respond to Gabriel's desperate cries but could only let out a faint response:

"Gabriel? Is that you?"

Jane knew that that wasn't loud enough to attract Gabriel's attention and so she gathered all of her remaining energy and let out the last deafening scream that she would ever make:

"GABRIEL!"

Gabriel hears Jane's scream of both fear and relief and immediately rushes in the direction of her voice.

"Mom? MOM I'M COMING!"

He starts to panic when all he can hear is the background noise of the modern world and his breathing that gets heavier and heavier.

"Mom I can't hear you anymore!"

"ANSWER ME DAMNIT WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!?"

Gabriel instantly stopped in his tracks when he saw something so disturbing that he almost passed out from fear.

"M...m...mom?"

Jane looks at Gabriel with a look of embarrassment, keeping her head down and looking at Gabriel's feet because she felt unworthy to be the mother of such a pure and noble soul. She struggles to respond because of all of the damage her body has taken at that moment.

"Gabriel... I'm so sorry that you have to see me like this, I truly am."

"Just, please promise me one thing..."

Gabriel looked at Jane with more curiosity and fear than he had ever felt before and stared straight into his mother's eyes, knowing that the traumatic experience of death is just waiting to haunt him.

"W...w..what is it that you need me to do Mom? I'll do anything for you, you know that."

Jane attempts to reposition herself to face Gabriel more directly but fails to move even a little bit. Gabriel saw this and moved closer to her and decided to hold her in his arms. He knew that something horrific was about to happen, he knew that he was about to watch the life drain out of his mother's eyes as she expresses her last thoughts and speaks her last words.

"Just promise me one thing son, please promise me that you won't seek revenge. Trust me, everything will make sense, just give it more time."

After these final words, she passes away in Gabriel's arms with a look of despair. Gabriel can't help himself from shedding a tear. He doesn't bother calling out her name because he knew that his mother wasn't with him anymore, all that was left was a lifeless corpse that was waiting to return to the earth in one way or another.

He has so much anger and sadness built up inside of him and ends up letting all of his emotions out, including the ones from the past that have been bottled up and buried deep within his mind.

"AHHHHHHHHHH! FUCK YOU WORLD AND EVERY PATHETIC LOWLIFE THAT DWELLS WITHIN IT! WHAT THE HELL HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS PAIN, TORTURE AND SUFFERING PLEASE TELL ME WHAT?!"

After screaming his lungs out he went straight into a rage and started hitting and kicking every piece of scrap he could get his hands on until he heard someone open and close the main gate of the junkyard. After hearing that he immediately calmed down a bit and tried his best to stay as quiet as possible, even quieter than a mouse. This was challenging as he was in the middle of the most intense rage that he had ever experienced in his entire lifetime.

After hiding and calming down for a couple of moments he decided to move away from the scrap pile that he was hiding under. He slowly made his way towards the exit and suddenly heard footsteps just behind the row of scrap cars next to him. Once the sound of the footsteps died down he started sneaking in the opposite direction from where the footsteps went. He stayed quiet because of the fact that the source of the footsteps didn't announce themselves and he was just trusting his gut at this point. Before moving on he glanced over at his mother's corpse one last time and silently mumbled, "I'm sorry Mom but I have to avenge your death."

Just as he started creeping away he stopped because of the sound of a man's deep and husky voice screaming, "HEY YOU, BOY! COME HERE!"

Gabriel glanced over at the man to see if he can get a description of the man. He couldn't see well enough though, all he could see was the outline of a relatively large man, kind of overweight. He couldn't see well enough to take note of his outfit since the lights were all off.

He immediately ran off, and he managed to get away since he used to do long-distance running training and the other figure that saw him didn't exactly look like he was used to running after people.

Gabriel hurries outside the exit of the junkyard, running faster than he has ever run before and gets on the path that leads him home. He ran further than the point when it physically hurts. He slows down and crashes onto the ground and immediately starts crying as soon as reached the local park. He can't stop until a few minutes later. It feels strange for him to cry since he doesn't usually express his emotions at all, it's a whole new feeling for him. Once he starts to calm down he decides to get up and go home. As he walks down the dark street he sticks to the light generated by the lamps, trying his best to not get consumed by the darkness around him.

As he approached the front yard of his house he slowly walked towards the front door, unaware of the time or the amount of time that has gone by. As he opens the front door his father, Derrick, rushes toward him and hugs him. He could tell that his father was worried sick about where he has been.

"Son, where were you?! Don't you ever do that to me again! Do you understand me!? I was about to head out and search for you myself!"

Gabriel tries to respond by telling his father the truth but struggles to get the words out. "Mom... Mom is..."

Derrick quickly stops Gabriel from speaking. It's almost as if he already knew the reason why Jane has been missing for so long. Derrick moves his chest away from Gabriel's but still keeps his hands on his son's shoulders.

"It's all right son... Everything will be okay. I will protect you as best as I can no matter what happens, okay?"

Gabriel feels devastated because of what he just witnessed and his father's words immediately comfort him but he still struggles to speak. All that he could let out in that moment was just a simple nod, a simple nod with a deep and complex meaning.

As Gabriel and his father loosen their grip from each other Gabriel notices that Derrick's response was almost like it was a goodbye, like it's the last thing that he was ever gonna say to him.

"Gabriel, I know that this may sound selfish or outrageous considering what you have just gone through, but I need you to be strong and to be prepared for the worst news that you'll ever hear. I might be gone tomorrow and I might not be able to come back anytime soon. I need you to go to school tomorrow morning and every day after that. Don't wait for me to get home or anything tomorrow, if I'm not here tomorrow then just do what you need to do and get ready for school on your own, okay?"

Gabriel is clearly upset about Derrick's response and hates the idea of going to school after what has just happened. "I'll just go with you then, that will solve the whole problem of you being gone for too long." Derrick disagrees with Gabriel's proposal. "No Gabriel, that won't be possible. You will just have to trust me." Gabriel still tries to convince his father to allow him to go with him. "Please Dad just let me go with you, I promise I won't do anything bad and I won't upset you in any way." Derrick starts to become visibly frustrated. "GABRIEL! Please just listen to me this time! You can't come with me because it is simply too dangerous for you and I will never forgive myself if something happens to you. Just please trust me this time. Can you trust me?"

Gabriel has no further words that would be appropriate at that moment except for, "Okay, I trust you."

Derrick calms down a little and says one more thing before he leaves. "Look son, I love you and I always will love you. You have made the biggest impact in my life by far and ever since you came into this world I felt like I had a purpose to live for again. Thank you for being the most amazing son in the world."

They were both very vulnerable and teary in that moment because they both knew that there was a strong possibility of not seeing each other for a while, and possibly for forever.

As Derrick is heading towards the front door Gabriel calls him back to ask him something. "Dad, could I at least know where you are going?"

As he asked this question Derrick could hear how scared Gabriel was based on the sound of his voice. "Son, I'm afraid I can't tell you that right now. I would never want to do anything that would ever hurt you in any way, I can promise you that." Gabriel could see how difficult the whole situation is for Derrick based on the way he spoke and the way he delivered his words. Gabriel responded with a short answer, "Okay. Just... Don't be gone for too long, please."

"Thank you, son, you have no idea how much that means to me right now. And I will try my best to be back by tomorrow but unfortunately, I can't promise anything."

As Derrick was busy closing the front door he looked back at his son one last time, helplessly giving off a look of pure terror. It was obvious that Derrick felt a little guilty for leaving Gabriel at this stage but there was no possible way to avoid leaving his son, given the circumstances that only Derrick knows at this stage.

That night when Gabriel went to bed he couldn't help but think about where his father was going. He didn't know any special places as in the past as he wasn't interested in spending a lot of time with his parents and he deeply regrets that. He thought more than he had ever thought before. He eventually fell asleep but his face was soaked from all of the tears that fell from his face.

The next morning Gabriel wakes up and wonders if his dad came home last night after he left and headed toward his father's room. He then softly calls out for his father, "Dad? Are you home?"

No response, Gabriel realises that his father isn't home so he does his usual morning routine to get ready for school, and then walks to school.

When Gabriel arrives at school he goes to his register class and sits down. His teacher notices his intense blank stare at the blank wall in the front of the classroom, he doesn't budge or even blink, he's just staring.

"Gabriel?" Gabriel is in such a deep trance-like state that he doesn't notice any noise around him, including his teacher calling out his name. She calls out his name once more and still doesn't get his attention so she approached him and taps him on his shoulder and he finally snaps out of the trance that he was experiencing.

"Gabriel? Is everything alright? Would you please speak to me?"

Gabriel shakes his head, and Miss Anders takes this as a sign that he doesn't want to speak to anyone and quickly becomes worried about Gabriel. She then decides to call the school psychologist to try and get him to respond.

As the psychologist arrives the bell for the first lesson rings and Gabriel is asked to stay behind.

"Mr. Wilmans, it's so good to see you. Gabriel here won't respond to anything I say and just keeps staring at the wall without blinking too often and without even moving a single muscle."

"Ah, I see, let me try to speak to him."

He then tries to get Gabriel to respond but gets the same response as Miss Anders. The other kids in the class that were waiting for the first lesson notice what's happening and start to make fun of Gabriel and laugh at him. Mr. Wilmans notices this and asks for Miss Anders' permission to take Gabriel to his office to try to talk to Gabriel. Miss Anders agrees and gives Gabriel permission to leave. To their surprise, Gabriel gets up from his chair and goes with Mr. Wilmans almost immediately.

As Gabriel and Mr. Wilmans enter his office, Gabriel suddenly starts to feel vulnerable. Almost as if he was pressured into talking about how he feels but says nothing about it.

"So, Gabriel is it? How are you?"

To Mr. Wilmans' surprise, Gabriel responds with a simple two-word answer.

"I'm fine"

Mr. Wilmans can detect a sense of fear in his voice and further attempts to get Gabriel to confide in him

"Gabriel, would you mind me asking what's bothering you, or is it too early for that? I promise I won't judge you at all and if you're fine with it you can even talk about what you did this past weekend."

Mr. Wilmans can see that Gabriel wants to express how he feels but is hesitating to speak about it. He then decides to try and get Gabriel to answer more simple questions like: "How was your day?", or "Do you have any homework?" and other questions like them but Gabriel still stays silent throughout the entire session that goes on for about half an hour.

"Okay Gabriel, unfortunately, I will have to end our session here but I just want you to know that my office is always available to you and you can come and speak to me about anything that is on your mind, okay?"

Gabriel responds with a simple, "okay", and immediately leaves the room. Mr. Wilmans becomes extremely worried about Gabriel and so he decides to arrange a meeting with the principal of the school. He goes to meet with Miss Keller to arrange the best time for the meeting.

They then both see each other in the meeting that they arranged at around 11:00 later that day.

"Miss Keller, I'm here to discuss and address my concerns for one of the students here, Gabriel Corbin."

Miss Keller seems to be surprised about what she has just heard, almost as if she wasn't expecting to hear anything about him. "Gabriel Corbin? What seems to be the problem?"

Mr. Wilmans responds in a very nervous and serious manner.

"Well, you see, Gabriel had an incident in the classroom earlier this morning where he didn't say one word and didn't move a muscle whilst appearing in what looked like a trance-like state. "I'm just concerned that it might be a tough situation at home but I couldn't see or notice any signs of abuse."

Miss Keller starts to get nervous as well and is starting to realise the seriousness of the situation.

"And have you attempted to contact Gabriel's parents yet?"

Mr. Wilmans responds politely, "Well that's the main reason that I arranged a meeting with you. I was hoping that after we discuss Gabriel's situation we could give his parents a call and find out the problem."

"Alright Mr. Wilmans, thank you so much for speaking to me. I would love to call Gabriel's parents today but unfortunately, I won't be able to as I have a busy day and my only free time was the meeting that we just had. So I propose that we call Gabriel's parents tomorrow when I have more time to figure things out, is that alright with you?" Mr. Wilmans isn't very happy with the idea but understands Miss Kellers' situation. "Alright Miss Keller, I'm fine with that idea."

Miss Keller can't help but release a sigh of relief after she heard this response. "Thank you so much for understanding Mr. Wilmans. I know how serious this situation is but maybe, if you would like to of course, maybe you could try to find out who Gabriel's friends are and perhaps you could find out more about Gabriel's current situation."

Mr. Wilmans responds gratefully. "Thank you, Miss Keller, I will take that into consideration for the next session that I have with Gabriel."

Before Mr. Wilmans heads out of Miss Kellers' office Miss Keller asks him one more thing: "Oh and Miss Anders?"

"Yes ma'am?"

"Could you please let Gabriel know that he can head home early?"

"Sure thing ma'am, that's a great idea."

"Thank you so much."

Miss Anders then heads over to Gabriel's lesson to let him know that he can go home early. She sees that he is in Mr van der Merwes' class, his English teacher.

She politely knocks on the door to grab Mr van der Merwes' attention. He approaches Miss Anders, "Miss Anders, how can I help you?"

"Sorry to disturb your lesson sir but I just wanted to excuse Gabriel from your class to let him know that he is free to go home."

Mr van der Merwe gives off a concerned look, "Is everything okay with him? He seemed a bit off this lesson."

"I unfortunately can't explain anything now as I'm under a time constraint but come see me later on and I'll gladly talk to you about it."

"Alright ma'am, I will get him."

After he is excused, Gabriel rushes home, hoping to find his Dad there but was disappointed by the fact that he stepped into a quiet and unbothered home. What added even more onto Gabriel's suspicion about his father not being home yet was that it was a Monday... His dad didn't work on Mondays but at that moment he also just remembered that he went to the shops on Mondays to get the necessary groceries for the week. Before he knew it Gabriel noticed that the time was about 13:00 and his dad usually gets back from the shops at about 11:00 and so this quickly added to his concerns for his father.

He thought to himself as the hours passed slowly: "Where are you Dad? Please don't leave me alone here like mom did. All I want is a normal life but I guess that that idea is ruined now."

At around 21:00 he decided to try and get some sleep after that long and tiresome day of constant worrying and 'worst-case scenario' thoughts.

He couldn't sleep at all. He simply had too many thoughts that were running through his mind. Thoughts about the whereabouts of his father, how lonely he felt, the condition that he saw his mother in, the possible reasons that she died the way that she did and even more reasons than that. He struggled to fall asleep until he was too exhausted to be even thinking anymore. Later that night, after Gabriel finally fell asleep he had one of the worst nightmares that he had ever had.