My life was ruined on my 13th birthday. On that day my life was put into a stranger’s hands. Fate. I realized that I myself didn’t make my future. Fate made my future. Fate was my future. At least in my world it was. Hello, my name is Joseph Baldwin and welcome to my world. A world past reality. A world of… magic.

I don’t really know how to explain my life. Explaining your life is more like trying to explain a picture that you didn’t draw. But I guess I’ll do my best. In our world there are many possibilities. These possibilities flutter around us each day like snowflakes dancing in the cold bitter wind. By grabbing out at a snowflake you make a choice. Looking back, I can tell you I’d wish anything that I’d chosen a different snowflake. Or better yet, simply not made the choice to choose a snowflake in the first place.

I began my 13th birthday gazing up at the stars. The cold wind ruffled my long unkempt dark hair. It whipped around me like snakes camouflaging in the vast darkness. I lay on the black tiled roof of my house and sighed deeply. This birthday like most birthdays would end like they usually did. Me falling asleep on top of my roof. It was lonely but, I was used to that.

My parents had abandoned me here four years ago when I was nine. I felt that when they left they hadn’t just left by themselves they had also taken a chunk of my heart with them as well. I stayed up here gazing up at the sky with tearful eyes and the star’s luminescent beauty consoled me mending my heart slowly but gradually like honey seeping out of a bottle. It wasn’t as if this would be the first time that I would ever feel agonizing despair like this. This was only a small spoonful of the tsunami yet to come.

It was time to leave this begotten place, and in that moment I made my choice, a choice that I regret to this day.