THE CHOSEN · BATTLE WITH A CERBEROSIAN PRINCE
12 13
The Chosen: Battle with a Cerberosian Prince The Package
stuff, picked up the box, and took it to his room. Before he
could pass the doorway, he heard his uncle calling out to
him from the living room:
“Tristan…”
Not wanting his uncle to see the box, he stuck his head
around the wall, just enough for him to see his uncle’s face.
“Yes sir,” he responded.
“Why are you still here? You’re gonna be late! You
can’t start off by giving a bad impression to either of these
schools, regardless of which one you choose. Just because
you got options don’t mean you can do as you please. You
still gotta follow the rules.”
“Yes sir, I just forgot something in my room.”
He turned around quickly into his room before his uncle
continued with the lecture. For a moment he had forgotten
about the intrigue of the package. He put the box down
on his bed, grabbed a pair of scissors, and sliced through
the middle from one end to the other. He paused. What if
it’s not something pleasant? But between the curiosity that
consumed him, and the uncle in the living room who was
about to call out his name again, TJ decided to open the
package.
At first all TJ could see and feel was a whole lot of white
package cushioning. Eventually getting to the center, it was
another box. This time a smaller box, about the width of
his size 13 sneakers. Unlike the brown box, this box looked
better—it looked fancy. Not only in its appearance, but in
its texture, too. It felt strange, very smooth, yet with a subtle
bit of coarseness to it. It was unlike anything he had ever
seen before. It wasn’t made of cardboard; it had a marbly
texture to it, and yet… it looked like a small cardboard box.
After a little hesitation, TJ opened the peculiar-looking
box. Inside were a Watch, a credit card, and a passport.
Curiouser and curiouser, he thought to himself. I am so surprised, that for this moment I quite forgot how to speak good
English. He snickered to himself in amusement, as he wondered why that line came to his mind as it did. The credit
card had his name embossed on it, and likewise with the
passport, it had a current photo of him, with all his details.
“What is going on here?” he said aloud. None of it was
making sense to him. As he removed everything from the
box, to ensure he wasn’t missing anything, he noticed there
was a note inside. It read:
“DESTINY AWAITS IF YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT”
Hyatt Regency Kathmandu, Nepal.
May 30th, 18:00.
“This is crazy,” TJ exclaimed. The absurdity of the situation overshadowed the cheesiness of the quote. Just as he
was about to sit down to take it all in, he remembered he
had a life-changing decision to make in a few hours. So,
he hurriedly took everything from the package and put it
in his backpack. And of course, he put the credit card in
his wallet. He ran outside to his car, but as he was about
to close the front door, he realized he almost forgot to say
goodbye to his uncle. “See you later, sir,” he yelled. Before
he could even hear his uncle’s response, he slammed the
door and ran to the car.
Original preview spread 3