• Frank was a shy 16 year old kid, he didn't get out much, he didn't have many friends, and he has never been on an adventure that wasn't on a video game. He was always short, and didn't fit in well. He had dark brown almost black hair, and hazel eyes that had a hint more green then brown. He was into school and enjoyed it very much. In that part of New Jersey, he was known as a geek and an outcast.
    Today was a bright spring morning. He was ready to go to school, unlike other kids his age. Leaving his fairly nice house, he was stopped by a strange figure. The figure wasn't animal nor human, it looked more like it was a cross between the two. Slowly approaching the figure, Frank cleared his throat to talk.
    "Wh-who are you?" He said to the figure cautiously.
    "My name is not what needs to be known, Frank. What is, is that you and your family are in danger. You must protect them." The figure said in a deep scratchy voice.
    "What is it that I must protect them from?"
    "From forces beyond your knowledge. Beyond your years. Forces that you never would have thought were here, watching you. Protect them, you must start now. It is what you decide to do, I can't make you save the lives of the ones you love. You must do it on your own." And with that said, the figure disappeared.
    On his way to school, Frank thought of what the figure said, "Beyond your knowledge." What is out there that I don't know? He thought to himself. That is true. Frank knew everything humanly possible, ask him something and I'm 99.99% sure he will get it right.
    "Frank, you're late. Where have you been?" The teacher asked as Frank walked into class 20 minutes late.
    "I had to return home for my homework. I'm sorry, I'll go to the office if that's needed."
    "No, just don't continue to be late."
    "Yes."
    That day went by slowly for Frank. He wonder endlessly about who the figure was, and what could possibly be after him. He wondered if the figure was just his imagination, or was it real, his ideas were endless. He thought he would never see the figure again, never have to hear that scratchy voice. He thought that if he forgot about everything, that nothing would happen.
    A few days went by, Frank had finally forgotten about the figure and the nonsense the figure said to him. He forgot about all of it. Until late that night, that is. He heard a horrible crash coming from upstairs. Running upstairs to see if anything was broken, he found nothing wrong, nothing moved and surely nothing had fallen. Confused he turned to walk down the stairs, but was stopped by the figure again.
    "Don't turn now. Are you going to protect the ones you love, or let them and yourself die?" The figures voice was still deep and scratchy.
    "Why must I do it?" Frank asked furiously, "Why can't my father do it, or my older brother. Why not my older sister or my mother. I'm the youngest of all my family and I must protect them from the 'forces'. I find that completely stupid. I'm weak and I'm small. The rest of my family is strong and tall. I can't do it!"
    "Young Frank, there is so much to be learned. Big and powerful things always come in small packages. Your family, compared to you, they are all weak and small. You are the mighty one, the strong and tall. In the eyes of the unknown, they will not see you coming, they will turn you down and fight weak, they will not be able to defeat you. You are the one I have called upon, and no other person can complete this task like you can. You are the only one that can do this. Frank, believe me, I have sent many other young ones to defend like I am about to you. Turn this task down Frank, and you and your family will all be dead, they will no longer exist." The figure looked at Frank.
    "I will do it, but if I fail and die, who will be there to protect then?" Frank looked back in the figures dark eyes.
    "Not a person. You will not fail," The figure replied, "You must come with me, you have to leave and start now if you want any hope in winning." The figure entered the spare room Franks family had set up. Opening the closet door, the figure entered, in the blink of an eye, the figure was gone. Frank entered the closet slowly. He felt as though he was falling, and when the falling feeling stopped, Frank was in a different world, not the dark old closet he had entered. This world was dark, cold and smelled badly of death.
    "Where am I?" He asked.
    "You are in the Underworld. This is where dead souls go before they are told to go to Heaven or Hell. The place they go right after they die. A dead soul is allowed to wonder the Earth until they feel they are done there. You have two souls after you and your family. They don't have a reason, they just picked your family as the people they want to haunt. They found your family was strong, so now they want to kill you. You must protect your family, find out who these two souls are and beat them. Don't turn back or you will not be able to return home. I will return." The figure disappeared.
    "Well, here goes." Frank said walking around.
    Frank walked for hours, not finding anyone that looked nice enough to talk to. He soon came to a young girl, she looked about 15, maybe 16. She had damp brown hair and her eyes were dark brown.
    "Excuse me, but can you help me?" Frank asked a bit nervous.
    "I can. But I won't until you tell me what this place is. It smells bad down here." The girl said, she had a soft pretty voice.
    "You are in the Underworld." Frank said.
    "Oh great, my mother finally killed me." She said with a sigh.
    "She beat you?" Frank asked, not thinking how rude it was.
    "No, her boyfriend said one night to her, thinking I was asleep, 'Kill that girl, she is nothing, worthless.' and I guess either he did it, or my mother did," The girl looked up at Frank, "Now what is it that you need help with?"
    "I need to find two dead souls. They are after my family and I, I was told to search for them, and I thought I would ask for help." Frank said.
    "You do realize how many souls are here, over thousands! And you need to get two, are you crazy?" She asked him, yelling a bit. "Maybe I am. But I need to know, are you going to help me?" Frank asked as calmly as he could.
    "Fine. But we need to gather more people. Oh, and by the way, my name is Blair. Yes I know, it's weird, but my mother is weird." She smiled.
    They soon set off. As they approached many people, they found out how horrible the world could be. People being killed for a pair of shoes or a necklace. It was sad how many people died for no reason. And then we found the group that had a reason. Murder, rape, and dying in jail. The amount of people here shocked Frank.
    "Who are you?" A guy yelled from behind Frank and Blair.
    "I am Frank, this is Blair. And you are?" Frank asked.
    "I am...." The man threw a punch at Frank, ducking quickly, Frank grabbed the mans hand. The man put his foot behind Franks and pulled, causing Frank to fall to the ground. The punches, kicks and hits went on for about ten minutes. Finally the man takes one last punch and gets off of Frank. His nose bleeding and head aching.
    "Don't think you will win. They will get you all. Johnny and Vincent are smart. The Formen brothers are too smart for you." The man disappeared.
    Frank thought for a bit. "To smart for me?" he thought. He finally decided to give up.
    "You can't. You can beat them!" Blair reassured Frank.
    "Maybe." He looked around and saw someone, they looked familiar, really familiar.
    "Frank! It's me, Mike, your best friend." He said sounding cheerful. Franks eyes grew big. His best friend, the one he saw just the other day in math?
    "Liar! You can't be! You can't be dead!" Frank yelled. Mike just smiled. Frank looked at him and walked away.
    After sitting down and crying a bit, Frank thought, he thought about why Mike would be dead, and not family, the figure said that the two souls were after his family. Jumping from where he was sitting, Frank ran to find his "friend" Mike. Seeing him he yelled his name.
    "What is it Frank?" Mike said rudely.
    "I'm just coming to say, you need to study harder, you don't act at all like Mike." Frank punched Mike, ripping part of a mask off. With the mask off, Frank saw this man was old, and looked strong.
    "Are you Johnny or Vincent?" He said fearless.
    "Vinny. I am here to kill you young Frank, just like you grandfather killed me." He said attacking Frank with all his force. Another man arrived, assuming it was Johnny, Frank punched the old man in the face, forcing him off. Next he stood up, looking at the young, yet strong Johnny. Lunging at him, Frank knocked him to the ground. Using all his force he punched Johnny in the face. With both of the souls laying in pain on the ground, Frank wondered what was next.
    "Good Frank." The figure said.
    "Now that I have completed what I needed, tell me, who are you?" Frank asked. The figure nodded and removed his dark hood. The figure was not animal, like Frank may have thought, but he was simply, himself. Frank looked at himself, confused.
    Suddenly, Frank was in his own room, staring at his ceiling. Jumping up he thought, was it real?
    "Frank, Mike's here." Franks mother said.
    Later that night, Frank thought alone. What the figure represented. How the figure could be himself. Before he shut off his lights to go to bed, he realized something, the figure turning to him, represented, his stronger, more confident self.