Hell's Princes

Izzy and Adam

When I'm done I exit the station and look like I'm in a little town. I walk around a bit and ask someone where I am. Apparently, I'm in a town called Blue Vill. I see a big forest surrounding the place, so that's good. It was 9:30 in the morning now, more people getting up to go to work. As I'm walking I see a big sign that says “Dinner” and walk over to it. When I entered there were a couple of waters, and an older couple sitting in a booth on the left side. I walk over to the back and sit in the booth on the right side. I put the duffle bag in first then I took off the backpack and sat in the booth. After a minute of sitting, I close my eyes and lean my head back on the set. After about 10 minutes of me nodding off, I feel a tap on my shoulder that startles me awake and I try my best not to punch them. I look over to my left and see the lady from the couple looking at me.

“Hi, can I help you?” I ask, she just smiles at me and says “no sorry I was just wondering if you're waiting for someone, or if you're on your own.” “I’m on my own.” I tell her and I can see on her face that my answer makes her a little sad, but she covers it up and says “I'm Isabelle but people call me Izzy or belle. Do you mind if I take a seat?” “no, go ahead,” I told her. “Well, I saw you sitting here all alone and thought I would check to see if everything is ok. But considering you told me your parents aren't coming, do you maybe want to tell me what happened?” she asked I just looked at her then I asked the guy’s ‘ What do you think, what should we tell her?’ ‘We should keep to the truth as much as possible.” says Mason ‘tell her your dad died before you were born, your mother died during birth, and you were staying with your aunt until she got sick and died, so you decided to leave.” Killen says. I ask them if they agree with Killen and they do so I tell Isabelle “My dad died before I was born, my mom died giving birth to me, so I was living with my aunt but she got sick and died as well” looking down at my lap fighting with my fingers trying to sell the story. I look up and she has so much sadness on her face, with tears brimming her eyes, threatening to spill. Then I continued saying “so I decided to leave and ended up in Massachusetts.” She then calls the man she was sitting with over and tells him what I told her and I'm just zoning out so they talk, but I pick up on one of them say “He has no one and we always wanted kids, so why don't we see if he wants to stay with us?” then I say to the guys ‘if they do offer us a place to stay, do think we should accept it?’ ‘YES!!!’ they all yell at the same time ‘but I don’t want them to end up getting attacked or killed because of me’ i argue, but Greyson just says ‘kid if they do offer us a place we should take it, I mean what else would we do. They would be offering us a roof over our head, and food in our stomach. If they offer, you will accept it.’ ‘ok,’ i say. A minute later Isabelle’s husband says “sorry I'm Adam.” “Riley,” I say back. He continues saying “well Riley, we would like to offer you a place to stay. You see we always wanted kids, but it never happened for us, and we would love it if you exempted our invitation to stay with us.” I say “are you sure, because I wouldn’t want to intrude.” they just have the biggest smiles on their faces

“we are offering this to you, you wouldn’t be intruding.” Isabelle says.

“Well, then I would love to accept your offer.” I didn't think it was possible but their smiles just got wider. Then Adam says “well how about we get some food in you, and then we can go to the house, and I must warn you, our house isn't in the village, it's on the tree line of the forest.”

“that's not a problem at all. My aunt and I lived in a cottage in the woods. We did all sorts of stuff in the woods, she homeschooled me so that she could teach me all about nature, what plants are safe and which are toxic, how to climb trees, how to build a shelter, how to fish, even how to hunt.” when I said how to hunt their eyes went wide. “She taught you how to hunt?” Adam questions. “ya, she did. Even how to butcher the meat properly, how to skin the animals I hunted, change their pelts and turn them into clothes.” Isabelle said, “wow, that's a lot for a 13-year-old to learn.” “I’m not 13” I started, and they looked at me curiously. “I’m 9.” I continued. Right now they look like their heads are going to explode. Then I say “how about we forget my food and go to your house, and I can eat something from my bag. Cause I would like to get some sleep if it's ok with you?” they snap out of their trance and agree. We exit the dinner with me reluctantly letting Adam carry my duffle bag. We walk over to a black truck Adam unlocks it and opens the driver's door and the back seat door puts my duffle in then motions for me to go in. I do, he then closes the door, gets in, starts the car and we are off. 20-25 min later we stop and get out. There is a 2-floor house painted a light blue with a black roof, and the door painted black. We went inside and there was a living room with a tv. A lazboy reclining chair, a leather couch, then we moved on to the kitchen. Through the kitchen, there was the backdoor that went out to a patio with an amazing view of the forest, and I could see there was a pool. The kitchen had an open concept that connected with the living room and the dining room. The dining room continues to an office, then back to the door, we entered from. There was still the upstairs and basement to look at but I can do that later. I walked back to the dining room and found Izzy and Adam sitting at the table lost in their own worlds. Then I asked a question “if you don't mind me asking, but I was wondering what you do for a living.” “We don’t mind at all. We own a martial arts gym /dojo in town.” Adam tells me. “What type of martial arts” “all types. Karate, Jiu-Jitsu, mixed martial arts, judo, Kung Fu, Taekwondo, and also boxing.” Izzy says. I get an idea and say “could you teach me how to do martial arts?” “what type,” asks Adam. “all types.” “of course, we could teach you some basics.” Izzy said “No, not basics. I would like to master them.” “let me make sure I'm hearing this right.” Adam starts “you want us to teach you how to do martial arts.” I nod “and you want to learn all them” I nod again “and you want to master all of them.” I nod again “ok, but how are you going to learn martial arts and balance school at the same time?” he asks. I say “well I was going to ask you this anyway but now there’s a reason. If it's ok with you I could be homeschooled, then the school schedule would be up to us and I could learn martial arts, and do school at the same time. I would also like to continue to learn about nature, like what I was doing with my aunt.” then I add “and only if it's ok with you. I mean I don't want you to do this if you don't want to, it's just that I'm good with homeschooling, and I enjoy learning about nature and would love to learn how to defend myself.” as I say that I'm looking at their faces and their smiles never once wavered. “So what do you think?” I ask after a minute of them staring at me. “I think it’s a wonderful idea, and I think Adam agrees. I used to be a teacher so I could homeschool you, and I think we could alternate days, one-day martial arts, and the next to learn more about nature. Also in the dinner, you mentioned something about hunting.” I nod saying “yes, my aunt and I would go hunting together, and if possible it’s a skill I would love to be able to keep doing.” “Well Riley, on the weekends the boys and I go hunting to get the meat for the town for the week, so you can have one of my extra rifles when we go.” Adam said. Rifles? What's a rifle? “I don’t understand. What is a rifle?” I ask. They have confused looks on their faces like I probably do. Them Izzy says “a hunting rifle is the type of g*n you use to hunt with.” “ok, I don’t know what a hunting rifle is. We used bows and arrows to hunt.” Then I took off the sweater I was wearing. “Is that an armed guard and a quiver?” Adam asks, motioning to the black leather bracer/arm guard with dark blue spirals down into in on my left arm, the black leather archery finger glove I guess they didn't notice before on my right hand, and the black leather quiver with their dark blue spirals shown into it that matches my bracer “Oh, ya. My aunt made them for my 7th birthday, and we always would wear this cause whenever we have free time we would practice shooting.” “it’s nice that you brought it with you. Now, why doesn't Adam show you your new room and I can work on the schedule for the week.” Izzy said, “ok Izzy.” I say. Adam and I get up and start walking up the strait then he says “so you’ve only hunted with a bow before?”

“Ya, I hope that's not a problem. I was hoping I could go with you and your friends hunting next time.”

“Well today is Thursday and we go hunting on Saturdays so tomorrow we can go to the hunting store to get some arrows and a bow for you. That sound good?” “Sounds great.” and we stop walking at a door. Adam opens it and I step inside. It’s a big room with grey walls, white moulding on the bottom, a white desk and chair on the right wall, a white bookshelf next to the desk, a queen size bed with a black bed frame and white sheets and grey blankets, a black nightstand with a sky blue lamp on it. On the left wall, there were 2 doors, the first one led me to a walk-in closet and the other to a bathroom with a black and white theme to it. I look back at the door and see Izzy and Adam standing there looking at me. I say to them “Its great. Thank you so much.”

“it’s not a problem, and thank you. Even though you're 9 and very mature, everyone needs someone to love them, and we will love you as if you're our own kid. Now get some rest” Izzy says. They then turn to leave. I take off my bracer, finger glove, and quiver and put them on the desk. Then take off my shirt, socks, and pants, and climb into the big bed. Then I asked the guy ‘do you think we would be able to try the dream space thing now?’ ‘no. we’re not going to do that for a couple of years. Let's say until you're 12.’ ‘fine, but you guys should still talk to me ok’ they all agree and I fall asleep.

When I wake up it's about 5:30 pm. I walk over to my pile of clothes and only put my pants on. I probably should have checked with Izzy and Adam before I walked around without a shirt on, but I didn't, and let me tell you a little something about my upper body. I may only be 9 but I already have a 6 pack of abs. I walk downstairs and see Adam sitting on the lazy boy watching tv. I say “hey, Adam. do you guys mind if I get a snack to eat?” “I think Izzy is in the kitchen cooking dinner. So you can ask her, but she might say u need to what to eat until dinner,” he says slowly looking away from the tv. When his eyes set on me they went wide. I know he sees the scars and muscles. He says “a 9-year-old with a 6 pack, something I never thought I would see. Where’s your shirt, Riley?” “Sorry, I should have asked if it was ok for me to walk around like this. I prefer to walk around without a shirt but I can put one on if you want.” “No, it's ok. Go see if you can get a snack.” I walk into the kitchen seeing the oven on and pots on the stove, with Izzy sitting at the dining room table with papers and a computer out. I sit beside her and say “what are you working on?”

“I'm working on the schedule for the week. I was thinking Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays can be martial arts, and Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday can be nature with Sunday a day off. What do you think?”

“That sounds good to me, but I thought Saturdays and Sundays there was no school.”

“Normally that's connected but because you will be out hunting, learning different stuff about that, I figured that we could turn it to a school day then you can have a longer summer break.”

“Do you think we can have it so we do school throughout the summer as well then I can finish faster?”

“If that’s what you want that’s fine with me.” “Thanks. You can plan the days how you want, I just wanted to make sure martial arts and nature were on the schedule. I was also wondering if I could get something to eat?”

“Dinner is ready, I was just waiting for you to wake up. Also, why don’t you have a shirt on?”

“sorry. I prefer not to wear a shirt, but I can put one on if you want.”

“No, it’s ok. Can you tell Adam dinner’s ready, please ``'' sure” I got Adam, we had a lovely dinner, talked about how the home schoolings are going to go, stuff I like to do, stuff they like to do. After dinner, we watched a movie and went to bed.