An introduction

Danny Rocket grew up in Santa Barbara, California and moved to Boise, Idaho when he finished middle school. But that was years ago.

He sat in one of the comfy chairs of a Starbucks just a few miles from home with a mocha. One week after graduating high school and he still didn’t have a college picked out, let alone a career. It wasn’t that he was an indecisive kid, he just had so many grandiose ideas about how he was going to change the world, that he never settled on a way to actually accomplish any of them.

His biggest fear was facing future and turning into a no one who accomplishes nothing–which is possibly the largest fear any high school student has when facing their own future. Everyone wants to be special and change the world but very few actually do. In all likelihood, Danny would probably fit much better into a fantastical world with wizards or aliens, but even then, he’d probably end up selling drinks at the tavern or something equally exciting.

“You’re not making my future look very bright, in this or any world.” Danny whispered at the ceiling then looked around. No one paid any mind. “Where are you even going with this?”

I’m introducing a character and building empathy with the readers. Besides, you’re not supposed to talk back. Keep sipping your mocha and look a little more mournful. Your future looks bleak despite your undetermined hopes and dreams.

“What? My dreams aren’t undetermined! Besides, your intro is super rambly. Where are you going with this?”

Well, I’m not entirely sure. I figured if I started writing, eventually something would come to me and I could wing it.

“Wait, you started writing my story without a plan? What kind of a writer are you?”

Apparently one that can’t keep control of his own characters, that’s for sure. Besides, I’m a creative type, I don’t need to be constrained by plans, outlines and the like.

“Well, your move, but no one’s going just sit here and read about how depressing my future looks. You’ll need to throw in some excitement at some point.” Danny took the last sip from his mocha and walked outside.

The brisk spring air prompted Danny to put his hands in his pockets as he walked a few blocks to the greenbelt then North along the river. As he crossed a footbridge, he noticed something moving in the river. He ran to the railing and looked closely. Deep in the slow moving river, the form of a woman came to view, hair flowing gently with the current.

As the panic set in, Danny yelled, “Help! somebody, there a–” but as he looked around, he realized that was nobody to yell to, so he stripped off his shoes and shirt and jumped over the guardrail.

The icy water hit him like a very sharp ton of bricks and if it weren’t for his poor diving form, he would have inhaled a large mouthful of the river. Fortunately, his momentum thrust him down to the bottom of the river where he opened his eyes and remembered why he had jumped to begin with–there in front of him drifted a young woman in a white dress with her arms tightly hugging a long box.

Danny grabbed her around the waist and kicked off the rocky riverbed, the he struggled pathetically to get her to shore. He did eventually get her to shore though. He picked her up and carried her to a picnic table, she was ice cold, and he feared the worst. He checked for a pulse, but what did he know? He wasn’t a doctor.

He looked around–still no one. He rotated her head up and pressed on her chin to open her mouth. Closing her nose, he filled her lungs with his oxygen. His red face turned redder when he looked down to her chest, where he was about to start chest compressions–her dress wasn’t particularly thin, but she did just come out of a freezing river, and she definitely wasn’t wearing a bra. After counting 15 compressions, he repositioned to give her another couple breaths. He pinched her nose again and breathed into her.

Then there was something in his mouth, cold and foreign, then warm. He tried to pull away but something grabbed the back of his head. her lips warmed, and her exploring tongue returned to her own mouth. He opened his eyes and she was sitting up on the picnic table as he stood next to her.

“You’re ok. I thought maybe you were dead.” Danny stammered.

She just sat there staring at him hungrily. Long enough for Danny to become extremely aware of how cold he was, and how shirtless.

Reason returned and Danny spoke again, “Do you need me to call someone for you? You know, so you can go home?”

She jumped a little when he started talking and refocused on his face–instead of his body. “Home? Oh, this is for you.” She handed him the long box that he had been holding.

He took it. “How did you dry so fast?” Her hair blew gently in the breeze as if she had just finished brushing it, and her dress almost glowed white.

She sat there smiling prettily at him until he realized that she was waiting for him to open the box. “Um, just a minute. I need to get my stuff.” He walked half way over the bridge and retrieved his belongings. He immediately put on his shirt and sweater then returned to the picnic table with his pocket knife, phone, keys and shoes. He put on the dry socks and shoes and put away the keys and phone, then he carefully cut the tape off the edges of the box.

He marvelled at how the cardboard box with Amazon Prime tape all over it had stayed dry for the whole episode with the river, but odd things seemed to be happening, so he brushed the thought off. He glanced at the girl. She had swung her legs down to sit on the edge of the table, and she watched him expectantly.

Inside the box, he found a black cloth, and inside it, a sword.

Danny Rocket => The sword