I wanted to share the beginning of one of
my favorite books with everyone today. Enjoy the prologue and first chapter of
Destiny!
Prologue
It’s 2:30 in the morning on a cold
Saturday, and I’m standing outside of a house that I’m absolutely terrified to
walk into. That’s not even the worst part. In the last hour, I’ve been punched
. . . twice. Did I mention that my car is in the lake, too? Yeah, it’s been an
eventful night. I would love to tell you that my story consists of an epic
hero’s journey to some type of resolution that helps the world on a macro
scale. This isn’t that kind of story, though. In fact, it’s all a bit funny . .
. and a little sad if you’re me.
Someone once told me that life is about
being satisfied with what you have. The things, the area, and the people who
choose to love you, even if their way of showing that love is frightening, are
supposed to be enough for us. Me standing outside of this house tonight with a
black eye while I’m literally freezing to death is my way of rejecting what I’m
supposed to be happy with. It’s
certainly not working out right now, but it’s been one amazing ride. All that’s
left is to walk into the house and see what the last twelve years have been
about. Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, though. Let me tell you where it all
started. I won’t lie. This is going to be a bit embarrassing. You might even
laugh at me. At other times, you might just find yourself moved to tears.
Oh, I almost forgot. My name is Eric
Wilson. This is my story from the beginning. It all started on a trip with my
family twelve years ago.
Chapter 1
Crashing
But Not Burning
Twelve years ago, my family and I were
going on a trip to Wisconsin to see my aunt and uncle. We lived in Miami at the
time, and Wisconsin was the last place most of my family members wanted to go.
I, on the other hand, didn’t care either way. To give you some perspective on
where a fourteen year old me was at that point, my dad made more money than I
could ever dream of, and my sister was the perfectly tan intelligent teenager.
In fact, she was everything my mom and dad could ask for. My mom didn’t have to
work because of what my dad did, which oddly enough, we never seemed to talk
about. I’ll tell you more about that later. In the midst of our perfect life, there was me - the kid who
was pale, average in every way, and completely lost. Now, I know what you’re
thinking. This just sounds like a story about a rich kid who whines about rich
people problems. I’ll admit that it might come off that way, but there’s a lot
more to it than that. I was wrapped up in this world back in Miami where I
didn’t fit at all. Where everyone in our community saw the perfect paradise, I
saw dysfunction. They saw private schools, beautiful people, and cash . . . and
I mean a lot of cash. What I saw were
people putting on a show. Beautiful people were driving beautiful cars, and
they were right beside a gorgeous beach. It was skin deep, though. Nothing, and
I stress nothing, was beyond the
surface.
So that was my story up until that point.
I was the oddball who never quite got with the program. On that day, everything
changed for me. It didn’t come without some growing pains, though.
“Get on your side!” I heard as I awoke in
our vehicle and felt an arm push me back over to my side of the car.
That was my sister, Catherine. Let’s just
say that we didn’t get along. Apparently, I had fallen asleep, and my head had
drifted over to her side of the vehicle. For some reason, that infuriated her.
“Relax, you two. We’re almost there,” my
mom said. Her name was Mary.
As we pulled up to my uncle’s house, I
had absolutely no enthusiasm about this so-called vacation. That all changed
when we got out. As I opened my door, I looked across the street to see a
person who would change my life. There on her front porch, in the biggest and
only snowstorm I had ever seen, was a girl who made my heart skip a beat. Her
dark hair and blue eyes perfectly accented each other, making just the sight of
her mesmerizing. Then there were her perfectly shaped lips. They seemed so far
away for someone like me. Her expression made me even more interested. She
looked sad. In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to fix whatever could
have possibly been wrong for this amazing girl.
Suddenly, she spotted me, and I looked
away. By now, my dad, Jerry, had seen exactly what I was looking at. Up until
that point, I had never shown much interest in the opposite sex. Actually, I
had never shown much interest in anyone. I think he saw it as an opportunity to
bring me out of my shell.
“So why don’t you go talk to her? I can
get the bags,” he said.
“What are you talking about?”
“You know who I mean. You were just
looking at that girl. We’re going to be here for a week. It might not hurt to
make a friend.”
“Yeah, I think Dad’s right. Why don’t you
give it a shot? I’m sure she’s looking for someone who’s athletic. Wait a
minute . . . that doesn’t sound like you. Maybe she’s looking for a smart guy .
. . no, that doesn’t sound like you either. Well, if nothing else, you should
go over there just so I can watch how badly this plays out,” Catherine said
with a smirk.
“Why do you always do that? What makes you
think that you’re . . .” I managed to say before she cut me off.
“I’m just trying to lower your
expectations a little, but who knows? Maybe I’m wrong. Stranger things have
happened. None come to mind, but given enough time, I’m sure I could come up with
something,” she said and walked away.
As my mother and father followed her into
the house with the bags, I was more determined than ever to prove her wrong. I
could do this. What was so hard about making a new friend? That’s all this was,
right?
Without hesitation, I turned and started
walking across the street. When I got a few steps into the road, I heard the
sound of a car skidding and turned to see a vehicle only feet away from me. One
thing was certain. This was going to hurt. It smashed into me, and I rolled
surprisingly well over the hood and windshield. When I hit the ground on the
other side, it took my breath. As the pain subsided, I looked down at my legs
and then to my hands. Everything seemed to be in order. The only thing that was
seriously injured was my pride. I stood and stumbled into the next lane. That’s
when I heard a car sliding again and felt yet another vehicle connect with me
from behind. Then everything went black. Yeah, maybe my sister was right. What
were the odds of me actually succeeding now?
I awoke several minutes later in an
ambulance. I was in pain, but it didn’t feel like anything was majorly wrong.
Well, there was one thing seriously
wrong. Back in Miami, I wasn’t exactly popular, and in my first five minutes of
being in Wisconsin, I had completely stared down a stranger, been hit by two
cars, and now I was on the way to the hospital. Could things get any worse?
“Oh, great. He’s awake,” I heard one of
the EMTs say.
It didn’t feel great. In that moment, I
was wishing that one of the cars had killed me. Things would get better,
though. After my family saw that I was okay, a lot of teasing went on. By the
time I was finally released that night, all I wanted to do was go to bed. That
was no problem either because it was already late. We had been on such a long
trip already, and after all the hospital business, everyone was ready to call
it a night. As they retired to their rooms, my uncle hesitated for a moment.
His name was Gary, and he was a big man, to say the least. I remember his 6’5”
300 pound frame looking gigantic to me back then. You have to realize that I
had never met my uncle until that night, so when he asked me to wait a second
before going upstairs, I was a little worried. What were his intentions? Was he
angry because of all the trouble I had caused that day? If so, did I really
want to get on this guy’s bad side?
“Hey, wait a minute,” Uncle Gary said.
“What is it?” I asked shyly.
“I’m just wondering what you were doing
in the road today.”
“I was going to talk to someone.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know who she is. She lives
across the road from you. It was stupid. I’m really sorry that . . .”
“Don’t be sorry. You know, she’s sitting
on her front porch right now, if you still want to talk to her,” Uncle Gary
said while glancing out the window.
“I don’t know. I . . .”
“Come on! You got hit by two cars trying
to talk to the girl. You’ve got your opener right there,” he joked.
“Okay . . .” I said hesitantly and walked
toward the door.
I had no idea what I was going to say. I
had just embarrassed myself in front of this girl. Should I really go talk to
her? As my head started to feel foggy, I heard my uncle’s voice snap me back to
reality.
“Eric, remember to look both ways this
time,” he said with a smile.
I returned a smile of my own and walked
out the door. In a way, I was just relieved that my uncle turned out to be a
gentle giant. As I went toward the road, I was brought back to the situation
right in front of me. I was walking toward what could be the girl of my dreams,
and I had no idea what to say. What was she like? What was her name? For that
matter, why was she sitting on the front porch in the blistering cold? Had she
been there this whole time? Without even thinking, I spoke as I walked up to
the front porch.
“Do you always sit outside during a
blizzard?”
“Do you always walk out into the middle
of traffic?” she asked with the hint of a smile.
“You’ve got me there. Seriously, though,
what are you doing out here?”
“You first. Where were you going earlier,
and do you not know how to look both ways? I thought for sure the second car was going to kill you,” she
said and laughed.
“Actually, I was coming to talk to you.
Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea, though. Now I don’t know what I was even
going to say.”
“You’re doing good so far. At least I
have some company for once. What’s your name?”
“I’m Eric. Me and my family are here from
Miami visiting my uncle.”
“Miami, huh? It must be nice.”
“It’s a little overrated.”
“How can you say that? You guys have warm
weather year round and some of the most beautiful beaches possible. All we have
are blizzards and a couple of sports teams that everyone around here can’t be
quiet about.”
“I like it here already. Just trust me.
There’s nothing real to see back there.”
“All right. I’ll take your word for it,
Eric. I’m Olivia, by the way. I’m out here right now because it’s better than
being inside with my mom.”
“Why?”
“Let’s just say that I don’t fit in my
current situation. I’m sure a guy who manages to get hit by two cars in less
than a minute wouldn’t understand anything about not fitting in,” she said
sarcastically.
“I’m never going to hear the end of that
from anyone, am I?”
“I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m
pretty much going to remember it for the rest of my life. If you think about
it, I almost killed a man today.”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, come on! I saw you looking at me
from across the street. I know why you really
tried to come over here,” she flirted.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was just looking to make a friend
while I was in town.”
“Uh huh. I’m sure your intentions were
perfectly pure,” Olivia said with a smirk.
“What? They were.”
“Okay. That’s really a shame, though. I
need to go back inside. If you haven’t noticed, it’s freezing out here.”
“Wait a minute. Why would it be a shame?”
“Never mind. I’m sure you wouldn’t be
interested in that with all your pure
intentions,” she said and walked toward the door.
“You can’t just say something like that
and then leave.”
“Oh, can I not? Give me a reason to stay
then.”
“What? I . . .”
“Hmm. I don’t think that’s going to be
good enough. You might be able to try again tomorrow night, though . . . that
is, unless you don’t feel safe crossing the road. I can always come over to
your uncle’s place.”
“Very funny. I look forward to it.”
Olivia smiled as she started to walk into
her house. She stopped just short of the door and turned back.
“Oh, and Eric, I don’t know what things
are like in Miami, but this is not a
blizzard to people here. This is just routine December weather. If you promise
not to walk out in front of any cars or freeze to death in this blizzard, I’ll show you the one good
thing about this area tomorrow night.”
“I’m fine in the cold. I make no promises
when it comes to cars, though,” I joked.
At that point, she walked inside, and I
went back to my uncle’s house to find him waiting at the kitchen table. He
didn’t say anything, but he looked happy for me. Here I was, this awkward and
very bruised kid who didn’t seem to have much hope for anything good. Just when
I needed it, though, there was a ray of light. If I had known getting hit by
two cars could change everything, I would have done it long before then. In
that moment, I thought that Olivia was just going to be a bright spot in my
life. I couldn’t have known just how much she would alter everything about who
I was. She would end up being my joy and my sorrow. For now, she was only a
girl who actually saw me. Back then, that was enough.
If you enjoyed what you read so far, check
out Destiny now. It’s a fun journey that follows these characters through their
entire lives, and I know you’ll love it!
