Owen Thorn was my first real love.

I’m not joking when I say that. Owen Thorn was more than a book and movie series to me. It was my life. Everyone else seemed to grow up and move on once the last movie came out but I just...I couldn’t. There was something about that world I couldn’t let go of. Maybe it was because the magical and fantastical world of Owen Thorn had been my only escape my entire life and I just wasn’t ready to say goodbye to it.

“Mister Price! Are you paying attention?” My head jerked up at the shrill voice of my math teacher, Mr. Slinger. I quickly dropped my pencil which I had been using to doodle a picture of Owen in my notebook.

“Y-Yes sir!” I stammered. Everyone turned to look at me. My face grew warm from the attention.

“Then, mister Price, you wouldn’t mind telling me what the answer to the question on the board is?”

My gaze fell to the chalkboard which contained a series of numbers and symbols which might as well have been chicken scratch for all that my mind cared.

“I...I don’t know…” I mumbled.

“Speak up mister Price. I can’t hear you.”

“I said..I don’t know sir.”

The class snickered and Mr. Slinger shook his head. “That’s what I thought. Maybe in the future you could pay attention to the lesson instead of doodling mister Price. Then maybe you wouldn’t be failing my class.”

More laughter followed this. Sean, the boy next to me turned and whispered just loud enough for everyone in the class to hear, “yeah and maybe if you weren't such a freak you would actually have friends too.” This brought a series of chuckles from around my desk. I heard a few people whisper ‘loser’ from behind me. My mouth felt dry and my cheeks burned. If I could have just sunk into the floor and disappeared from this plane of existence I gladly would have. One more year, I thought. One more year and I’m out of the horrible nightmare that is high school.

----

The rest of the school day played out as usual. I had lunch alone because as much as I hated to admit it, Sean was right.

I have no friends.

It was okay though, I just sat at the end of the table by myself rewatching the third Owen Thorn movie while chewing on one of our cafeteria’s mediocre tuna fish sandwiches. After that I finished the rest of my classes which were all as boring as always.

Next up was the bus ride home where I once again sat alone finishing up the third Owen Thorn film. All the while the kids from my school were being so loud that even with my headphones in I could still hear their shrieking. At some point during the hellish ride the bus driver finally yelled at them to shut up but in a matter of minutes they started up again.

----

Finally I got off the bus and headed home. Yep, today was like pretty much like every other day for me. It was so mundane in fact that I didn’t even remember it was my birthday until I stepped into the house and my family popped up from behind the table like an overzealous jack in the box.

Well all of my family except my older brother.

My older brother hadn’t been there for my birthday since I was 12.

“Surprise! Happy birthday Chester!” My mom said, all the while holding an icecream cake that looked like it had been melting for the last 10 minutes. There they were, 18 candles, painfully reminding me that today I was an official adult.

“Can we give him his present!” Bridget piped up.

“Let him blow out the candles first, the cake is going to melt,” my mom snapped.

“Please! I’m just too excited!”

“Bridget-” ignoring my mom Bridget brushed past her and shoved a large book into my hands.

“Sorry I didn’t have time to wrap it,” she said with a grin.

I looked down and my eyes widened. “T-This...this is a real first edition Owen Thorn book!”

Bridget chuckled. “Yeah! It took me forever to find one! It wasn’t cheap but luckily mom helped pitch in and we snagged it for you.”

My dad’s gaze darkened. “Owen Thorn?” He looked to my mother. “ I thought we agreed on not buying him any more of that shit.”

My mom’s eyes widened with shock. “Walter, don’t talk like that around the children! We can discuss this later!”

“They’re not children anymore, that’s the point,” my father said sharply. “Bridget is 21 and now Chester’s 18. You can’t keep supporting him being this into kids stuff. It’s not normal.” He looked to me. “Am I wrong Chester?” He lay a hand on my shoulder. “Your older brother was the star of the football team when he was in high school. Don’t you wish you could be more like Aiden?”

I had always wanted to be like Aiden, I had wanted to be like him my entire life.

That sinking feeling of wanting to disappear straight out of this plane of existence was back.

“Well dad I just-”

“Jake McDougle’s boys all play football too and my kid still plays dress up and watches movies for little kids. How do you think that makes me feel? That’s why I told you we were done buying him this crap Allison. I’m sick of everyone looking at our son like a freak.” My hands were shaking and my clutch tightened on the book. My mouth felt dry again and my chest felt tight. I could feel a wet burning sensation in the corners of my eyes and to my horror, despite myself a small sniffle escaped me. My father looked to me now, his expression softening. “I’m just trying to look out for you bud. Aren’t you sick of being a weirdo?” He saw the tears in my eyes and he gave me a hearty slap on the back. “Pull yourself together Chester, you’re a man not a boy now. Men don’t cry.” The room had gone awkwardly silent. My mom looked to the icecream cake. It had begun melting onto the table now. The whole thing looked pretty disgusting.

“Why don’t you blow out the candles sweetie,” my mom said softly. I nodded stiffly, taking a small step closer to the cake. Slowly I shut my eyes, hugging the book tightly to my chest. I wish, I thought, that I wasn’t here. That I was in the world I actually loved...the magical and fantastical world of Owen Thorn. There I would be going on quests, and attending Hemlock Academy and being a hero. Not standing in front of my entire family looking like a failure of a son in front of a half melted ice cream cake. Taking a deep breath I blew out the candles.

No one spoke for a moment.

I let out a small sigh. “I think...I’m going to rest for a bit. I’m really tired.”

“But,” my mom said quietly, “you didn’t even try your cake.”

I looked to the puddle of icecream on the table. “I’m not really hungry,” I mumbled. Before anyone could say anything I quickly took off, slipping past my parents before making my way into my room and slamming the door.

A few moments later I could hear my parents from the other room.

“Look what you did! It’s his birthday! Couldn’t you have talked to him about it later?”

“It’s for his own good. It’s bad enough as it is that he’s a homo-”

“What the hell is wrong with you? That’s your son!”

“Yeah, well he seems dead set on doing everything in his power to make it a humiliation to call him that.”

“Walter you just have to accept that Chester will just never be like Aiden and let go of it. Those books are important to him. The therapist said he used them as a coping mechanism for when-”

I covered my ears. I didn’t want to hear it anymore. I directed my attention on the poster of Owen Thorn across from me. My room was filled with merch of him but this poster was by far my favorite. Owen stood at its center, his face dirtied, holding his wand. His snow white hair was ruffled and his clothes were torn but his blood red eyes held a spark of determination that always seemed to get me through anything.

God...he was just so beautiful.

Owen Thorn would never give up so neither should I.

“You never even knew your parents,” I said softly to the poster. “And you grew up with people gawking at you and treating you like an object all because you were forced into being the chosen one. Your life must have been way harder than mine. I just...I just wish I was as brave as you…” I shut my eyes tightly, gripping the book even closer to my chest. God how I wished my birthday wish could really come true.

And then suddenly it felt like my bed had given way and I was falling.

Like...literally falling.

My eyes shot open with horror as I landed with a thud.

“Ow,” I muttered, rubbing my head. What the hell? Was there something in that tuna sandwich. Shit, maybe was I having a hallucination?” My glasses had fallen off when I fell and I could hardly see a thing. It kind of looked like I was...in a field? I began quickly fumbling around in the grass for my glasses.

“Hey, do you need help?” I suddenly heard a voice behind me say. Whoever was speaking had a British accent. That was...really weird. I furrowed my brow. That voice sounded oddly familiar.

“I uh...I’m just…not really sure what’s going on right now,” I mumbled, still slightly dazed.

The person behind me chuckled under his breath. “That’s quite the predicament. I’m not exactly sure how much I can be of service but I think these might be yours.” A hand reached out behind me and dropped my glasses into my lap. Relief swept over me and I quickly scrambled to put them on. The world finally came into focus once more. I turned to look at my savior.

“Thank you so much-” the words caught in my throat when I saw who was standing there. My stomach dropped and my face turned ashen. The boy before me was tall and slender with eyes the color of a snow storm and ruffled blue black hair that perfectly fell around his painfully sharp cheekbones.

Most notably was a pair of pointed elvish ears sticking up from behind his hair.

The person before me was no other than Silvian Greygate.

“Are you okay?” He said slowly. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” His gaze wracked over my own ears and he smirked. “Oh my, so you’re a human? How unfortunate.” My mind spinning I stumbled to my feet and without even thinking carried out my promise to punch him in the face.