The Witcher

Becoming Part One

Raelle woke up to her alarm clock radio playing "Just A Girl" by No Doubt. She hit the snooze button, turning off the music before sitting up. Raelle stretches out her arms as she yawns. She kisses two of her fingers and taps Stitch twice with the two fingers on his smile. Stitch is a crudely stitched-up teddy bear with a few varying shades of brown patches sewn over him. He has black eyes and a smile showing pointing teeth sewn in black and white thread. Raelle has had Stitch since she was a baby.

She got up out of bed and went through her morning routine. After getting ready for school, Raelle walked out of her room in time to see her brother, holding a tray with breakfast in his hands, standing in front of their mother's closed room. Raelle walked over and joined him. They look at their mother's room's door and a paper attached to it that says, "Late night at work, sleeping in. -Mom".

Raelle opens the door, and they find their mother fast asleep. Jim puts her breakfast on the bedstand while Raelle removes her mother's glasses, cleans them, and puts them on the nightstand. Jim covers her with a blanket before he and his sister each place a kiss on their mother's head.

"Love you, Mom," Jim and Raelle said before leaving the room and closing the door behind them.

On their way to the garage, the two grabbed their backpacks, helmets, and lunch. Jim also got his magazine 'Motor Pedal' and looked at the page with his dream Vespa. He then looks at his bike, and the smile on his face fades a little.

"Hey, don't worry, Jim. At least this way, you don't have to pay for fuel," Raelle told her brother, causing the smile on his face to return.

Raelle presses the button next to the door to open the garage. The garage door goes up while Jim and Raelle get their bikes. They stand in the middle of the garage with their helmets on. When the door is up, Jim and Raelle see the trashcan on the ground scattered on the driveway.

"Ugh! Raccoons!" Jim groaned as he and Raelle walked onto the driveway with their bikes before putting out their kickstand.

"I really hate those furry little jerks," Raelle muttered.

They then begin cleaning the raccoons' mess, and their friend Toby walks over to them with his bike.

"We're late for school, Jimbo, Rae-Rae," Toby told his friend while putting on his bike helmet.

Jim and Raelle finish cleaning the mess and put the trashcan back before walking back to their bikes.

"Sorry, Tobes. Busy with the lunches. One for me, one for Rae, one for Mom, and..." Jim reaches in his backpack and hands Tobias a brown paper bag with his lunch.

Tobes opened the bag, checking the contents by smell, "Balsamic mushrooms, meatloaf, chunky, sun-dried tomatoes...." He listed the name of the ingredients one by one.

"And cardamom," Jim finished.

"Ooh! Taking a chance there, Chef Jim," Toby commented.

"What's life without a little adventure?" He responded.

"I can't eat this. I'm on a diet," Toby tries to give the lunch back to Jim, but Jim gently pushes the lunch back to Toby.

"You've been on a diet for the past fourteen years, Tobes," Jim said.

"I know," Toby said.

"Dude, you're fifteen!" Raelle told him as she and Jim got on their bikes and rode away.

Toby puts the lunch in his bag and gets on his bike, "Long-term goals. My body's still changing."

Toby pedals as fast as he can to catch up to Jim and Raelle, riding in the street.