"Life is not a quiet river... but for a mosquito is it really a river ? Question of perspective..."

On the starting line, there was an infinity of participants. In the sky, the storm was at its peak. Everyone was ready to run for his life.

Suddenly, without knowing why, they began their race. They ran on a bridge at the edge of emptiness which was dark and where they did not see the bottom. But, oddly, nobody had not tried to fall. The way they followed was the only one and there was nothing else. Then the bridge bowed and their speed increased.

Further they went, the faster they were. At one point they noticed that the bridge was going to stop. Yet they continued, without thinking of interrupting themselves. They approached the emptiness, without doubting.

They came to the end... And they did not fall ! On the contrary, they were pushed by a burst of wind in this dark unknown... They were even absorbed by this dark unknown. They did not see each other anymore. The darkness was total.

Then the feeling of flying stopped and they felt themselves falling to the ground by a new gravity. In lowering their heads, they noticed that they were falling towards the light.

They landed on a soft and pleasant ground, which they could not particularly enjoy because they had to carry on. The ground seemed to be sand in which one did not sink. In the distance, they noticed a plasma portal.

The group had lost its first members during the fall. They did not get up. After the portal, the group seemed to be in a dome and to get out, it was necessary to choose between two doors. From this point, the group broke up on both sides. One side led to victory, the other to nothing...

After the door, the remaining members arrived in a smaller tunnel. The ground began to look like a swamp. Around, there were branches and creepers. It's were catching some. It must have been the last test before the reward.

And, indeed, after cutting the last wool, they ran down a big descent. They found in the final room.

In front of the survivors, there was a sphere. There was no sign showing an entry. They were walking all around the sphere, looking for one. Suddenly, hen she moved. They turned to one of theirs.

He had his arm immersed in the sphere. He had just found the entrance! They rushed on him, hungry like zombies. Lost case... He was shot inside...

Once in, he felt himself disappear, into ashes to feed the sphere ...

Outside, the sphere lifted and an explosion took place. All the survivors disappeared so early.

The race was officially over... but another one had just started !

*******************

"The mountain in the distance seemed so big, Nick had been walking for days now.

Alone against all. "

This last sentence could sum up a good part of his life. With a height of 4 centimeters up, he had fought a world too big for him since his early childhood.

Nick Jason Nathan Kemp, was born on August 01, 2008 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the second child, and first son, of Alex and Halsey Kemp. He had a big sister, Joanna Rita Kemp, born February 18, 2005, in Buffalo, New York, and a little sister, Noemie Mary Kemp, born December 27, 2009, also in Philadelphia.

Later, the family moved from Philadelphia to Little Bastid, a town of 20,000 locals, in the heart of Pennsylvania. They had moved because Nick's father, Alex, had disappeared from overnight, and her mother wanted to get closer to her job and move away from her in-laws.

Throughout his life, Nick has fought several types of enemies. But his bravery and courage worth, perhaps, the most beautiful of lives. His story will be told, in part, in this book and the following ones.

It's time to wake up all together...

**************************

Introduction to my life...

" - Joanna, we'll be late, hurry up !" screamed my mother as my older sister ended up style.

I was calmly on the shoe cabinet, in the entrance. I was waiting for my mother to pick me up and take me to the car.

"- I'm coming, it's good !" my older sister answered as she descended the stairs.

"- Put on your shoes !" my mother ordered, pointing them.

"Okay..." she whispered, starting to take them.

She had not seen me on the furniture. She put on her right shoe and then she felt something inside. She removed it automatically.

"- Oh, fuc... Mom, where's Nick ?" she said worried.

"- He's on the furniture why ?" my mother said coming out of the kitchen with her jacket.

"- Whew... I felt a pebble in my shoe, I thought it was him..." Joanna blowing.

"- But no... Come on, on the way!" she says, taking me in her hand and starting towards the car with Noemie by his side.

Joanna closed the house before moving into the vehicle. At the end of summer, temperatures were still clement, and the sky was deep blue. The holidays were passed quickly without me pay special attention. In this season, I had an appointment with my future ...

On board the vehicle, everyone clutched, the engine started, the car pulled back and rushed into the street.

We had a family car. A classic minivan, as it existed on full. The seats were a little worn and the mechanics made some noises, but most importantly, it was rolling. The school was about 10 minutes from my home.

It was called Eagle High in tribute to eagles living around the property.

The whole family went to the ceremony at the beginning of the year. My mother was driving, and my older sister was sitting on the passenger seat and she carried me in her hand. In the back, there was my little sister, Noemie, who was on her smartphone.

After this presentation of the situation, let's talk about myself:

I was born like any other baby and grew up like any other child for at least 6 years. Before that age, I was quite distracted and different. I was just a bit in my world.

According to my parents, from an early age, I showed them that I had an intelligence and a sense of reasoning highly developed compared to others. By cons, I was not one to appreciate the manual or physical tasks. My mother had told me that I had walked very late, but on the other hand I had spoken very early. I still had a normal childhood.

From the age of six, my second life started because I started to shrink, according to the words from my mother. At that time I was 1 meter 10. I was not very big by birth.

My parents realized this change when we went to the doctor for a cold. Looking at my growth chart, the practitioner could not believe her eyes: she had scaled down ! When he told this news to my parents, they would not believe it. But time told them the truth and they had to accept it. Fortunately, the phenomenon was very slow at this time, so we barely noticed him. There was no particular problem except for my clothes which was getting too small sometimes.

At the age of seven, I had already lost fifteen centimeters. Finding no solution on internet or from the doctors, they had decided to go to the Philadelphia Hospital.

When they got there, the doctors almost laughed at them. But after exams they were not laughing anymore. To find out where the problem came from, I spent a year and half being hospitalized. I saw no one from outside except my family. The nurses and the doctors were my daily. My only friend was my daily nurses, Anne-Marie.

She was of Hawaiian origin. She was incredibly kind and tender. She knew how to make me forget my problems by making me laugh and crying. Of course, my parents and Joanna were very present, but Anne-Marie was a different person. She did not treat me as a patient, but as a person, a human being first and foremost. And that was already a lot for me.

Unfortunately, being constantly hospitalized did not allow me to make school friends

I had hardly met anyone in primary school because my mother, who had left her working to take care of me, did not want me to be laughed about my size. So I lived at the house, with her.

In the years that followed, I did not stop shrinking. Finally, I did not meet the school environment before my adolescence. It was at my college entrance, when the whole family moved to Little Bastid. Previously, we had an apartment in Philadelphia. He was quite tall and comfortable, but he was too expensive and too close to my grand parents.

After my father left, my mother was a little cold with them because they did not really like her and they thought that she was almost responsible for her departure. I did not know them very much because they had a lot of trouble with me, given my size. They came from the countryside, and they did not very tolerantly sometimes facing different people. Age did not help either. They did not know how to react by seeing me so I almost became a stranger to them, over the time. They were much closer to Joanna and Noemie.

To prevent this cold war situation from continuing, my mother decided to settle in a place farther back: Little Bastid. The city was also in Pennsylvania, but further inland. According to Wikipedia , there were about 20,000 inhabitants, two colleges, a high school, a hospital and a team of Football.

The center was made up of buildings where the poorest people lived or those with the lowest income and in the suburbs, there were middle-class neighborhoods and upscale neighborhoods, which lived in houses or in villas. An average city in short ...

The people in the area were mostly rural and sometimes a bit stuck, but they were very welcoming. The city was surrounded by a very large forest which was filled with animals of all kinds. Fox, eagle, wild boar and even bears according to some. It was not necessary to venture there without connoisseur.

The weather was typical of the region: hot and dry in summer, cold and wet in winter and the wind blowing regularly, which allowed us to have good weather a good part of the year. Abundantly, the snow covered the house during the month of November and generally, until the beginning of February, despite some exceptions sometimes.

I did not really see much to the rest of the world because I was born in town, I grew up in the concrete from the megalopolis of Philadelphia and my parents had not really had time to go in vacation his last years.

Anyway, the few times they took time off, they did not take me because, according to them, "it was too dangerous for me. I especially think that he did not want to tell me that I was going to annoying them. They were a little selfish at that time, I suppose...

Short...

When I left the city for the province, I discovered great plains and forest of the Pennsylvania. It was wonderful. My mother wanted to take the time to visit, so she had chosen to abandon the highway and she was traveling on simple roads, at low speed but with a maximum of pleasure.

Joanna sang the least music she heard on the radio, Noemie was sleeping and I was staring this beautiful landscape. It seemed so simple to explore and enjoy. I wanted to live this moment of respite and in order not to think of what was waiting for me.

We were arriving at Little Bastid in the evening. The sun hasn't been lying down yet, and it was giving orange color in the sky. The heat of the month of August was not unpleasant either.

Arriving in front of the house, I was immediately charmed by the place. She has being in the middle of a neighborhood as there are hundreds, with a lawn cut cleanly around, two floors, a large garden enough to build a swimming pool and a vegetable garden, a garage allowing to return a car and finally a rather intriguing specialty: at the front of the house, in the middle of the lawn, there was a white bench, a little worn, which seemed to have crossed the time.

After parking in front of the garage door, everyone went down, tired but happy to have arrived. Before emptying the cases that were not in the moving truck, which had arrived in the afternoon, my mother wanted us to visit our new home. She opened quickly and all appeared before our eyes.

While entering, with pride but in a still empty house, she says: "Welcome home !"

She was finally smiling. It was the first for a long time. She lost the habits to smile so much. His ghosts had disappeared, and she could start a new life.

I was in Joanna's hand. After walking through the door, I noticed that the staircase was strange. He was facing the front door and there was a ramp on the left, in low.

My mother replied that it would be useful for the future and that she would explain its usefulness in due course. She had just...

I quickly got used to this new house. Life was nice because there were no pressure and stench of big cities ....

Now I could say, "Welcome to Me !"

The end of the summer and a holiday was warm and calm. I was preparing to enter college. And I did not know who I was not ready...

When I arrived there, I discovered the harsh reality of junior high school. These 3 years were not everything rested for me. I was constantly mocked and lynched by the teenagers. I did not have not stop shrinking. When I arrived in 6th grade, I was 60 centimeters and at the end of 9th grade I did not more than 4 cm. I had lost an average of 20 cm a year. It was huge ! And one more during the summer, besides...

From the 8th grade, I was only about twenty centimeters. I looked less and less to a human and more and more to a doll.

To have fun, some girls picked me up to style or disguise me. It was unpleasant, but not necessarily degrading and nasty.

The boys were the hardest. They threatened to crush me "without paying attention", to throw me into trash, to make me fall into their bags...

And they wanted above all to mistreat me, for pleasure. I have a particular memory to share with you:

During the year of 7th grade, I was forty centimeters, which began to make my really complex life. I was under the law of the playground for already more than one year, without reaction of nobody. This believer allowed everything, and the others took confidence, knowing that they would not be punished.

That day, I walked in the course without any specific purpose, but I tried not to be noticed. Joanna had left me alone between noon and two to eat. At one point, I saw shadow appear behind me. It was a 9th grade... Ryan, was his name...

I did not react because I did not want to aggravate the situation. So I continued my journey, hoping it disappeared. But he did the opposite, he started to follow me. He was laughing loudly. His laugh was unbearable. He still haunts me, when I write his lines.

I could not stop from following me ! At least he kept me company...

But I did not know that idea would cause a more important butterfly effect. Ryan was rather popular so most knew him. And so, without any particular, several began to regroup behind him, to follow the movement. They all had the same unbearable laugh, schoolboy in full puberty.

I had continued my journey, walking faster and faster to sow them, but it was lost beforehand. The more minutes went by, the more numerous they were. All the students were staring and laughing to the group that followed me. I was once again the attraction of others. And I could not answer them, so I was undergoing ...

Finally, to calm the game, I made a decision: all around the college yard, there was a concrete wall that was about fifteen centimeters, before the barriers. I had decided to go sitting there, and I was hoping the others would sit around. When I arrived there, I sat down but they preferred to put themselves on me directly. I do not tell you the scene...

I thought that allayed die. Fortunately, a supervisor arrived and saved me from imminent death. Most were glued and Ryan sent back! After, anyway, the others would take care of my case later in a more sneaky...

You might say, "Why do not you complain to the Principal?"

My mother and my older sister had tried, but it was lost cause... The supervisors protected me as best as possible but they could not have their eyes resting on me throughout the day, and the principal of the college was an incompetent and haughty woman. Her name was Mrs.Solere. She spent more time in meetings or assemblies, outside the institution, than with we. She despised us above all else. So, I did not have any means of pressure, and I had to undergo this situation.

Fortunately, his 4 years were behind me because the college was finished for me. I was going home officially in high school. A new era...

After this parenthesis in my thoughts, I came back to reality. Our car trip was going finish, because I saw the big beige building. Arriving in the car park, I could analyze it few seconds: the entrance was a suite of 5 green and silver doors. The rest of the walls were beige around the windows of the rooms.

Around, there was a lawn, with tables, fasteners for bikes and a motorcycle garage. At left of the entrance, there was also a sports complex with a basketball court, ping-pong pong and an entrance to the indoor gymnasium.

From the outside, the building appeared to be on two floors. It seemed really huge! Despite a certain stress, I could not wait to see it.

To the right of the entrance, after the lawn, there was the parking. He seemed to be full for the ceremony. Fortunately, we quickly found a place.

Once everyone out of the car, we took the direction of the amphitheater which was at the back of the school, near the football field. It was missing an important member to our dream team: my best - and only - friend waiting for me outside the entrance: Alizee Sullivan.

I will tell you soon our meeting, but just know that it is one of the people nicer on this planet, I think. She is not like other girls and usually others people of my age.

"- You, that's... Well, it'll be starting soon !" she says, in a hurry.

"- Sorry, Joanna was late in the shower," I said casually from one hand to the other.

"- Tsss ... No, I was getting ready, that's all. I was not going to appear in public anyhow" she he says defending himself as best he can.

"- You mostly spent 20 minutes combing your hair," said Noemie, with her soft voice.

"- Shut up, you!" Joanna retorted.

"- Calm down, girls, let's not waste more time," said my mother, leading the group.

"- Absolutely, let's go!" I said, smiling at Alizee, who laughed at the situation.

All our little group went inside. In entrance, I was directly marked by the world already in place. The room was very busy. We found 4 places that were free, to sit, not far from the stage. Alizee still had me in her palm. She knew how to pay attention to me, no matter the situations. The noise was unbearable at my height because my ears were more sensitive.

10 minutes later, the room finally fell silent, and the principal of the school made his appearance: Mr. Clint Meyral. He was of medium height, his skull a little bald and with a strong accent of the corner. He adjusted the microphone, put some leaves on the desk and he killed the silence.

"- Dear students, dear parents... Welcome to Eagle High!" he says before being applauded by the room, to my astonishment.

This ceremony looked almost like Apple's Keynote.

"- I reassure you in advance, I will not talk for hours, because I know that his speeches can be quickly boring and sleepy, so I'll be brief, "he says, stirring his hands in front of the desk.

"- The high school is happy to welcome your children for this new year. The teachers and myself, we will put everything in place so that all the young people present here get their degrees. It's our goal, above all! "he said, raising his index finger upwards to convince us.

"- Unfortunately, there will be failures, we must not hide it, but the most beautiful will remain, before everything, everyone's successes, be they small or gigantic, "he says before a person brings a candle of wax.

It did not make sense ...

"- Because it is only by blowing on the candle that we can manage to extinguish it ... or to turn it on again ... Thank you! he says before being applauded again.

He returned the candle to the assistant and returned to his desk.

"- After this quick introduction, let's go to the presentation of some colleagues."

Other people came on the scene. At the time I did not know any, but today I may put a name on these faces: there was Mr. Jobard, charged of the life of the professors, Ms. Santini-Presley, responsible for student life, Ms. Raybaud, responsible for sports and community life and finally Ms. Lebjioui, head of the KKlub.

The latter was accompanied by a muscular, white and blond man, who was the stereotype of popular and football player. His name was Leo Karn. He had not smiled on the stage. I knew he could be a threat to me if I ever got close to him.

Then the presentation of the representatives ended. They all left the scene. And the principal picked up the speech:

"- Now we will all welcome you, class by class, to present you in front of the room before taking a class picture."

Alizee and I were in the same class, and we passed last. So far nobody had particularly noticed me, because the room was dark and I was pretty well hidden in the palm Alizee.

Throughout this part of the ceremony, I could see many faces. But at the time I hasn't know yet, that some would be my future allies and others, my future enemies.

Then finally, it was our turn. Alizee rose and took us to the desk. She asked me above. Nobody saw me for the moment, because I was too small. She introduced herself. Then Mr. Meyral we passed a microphone to my size and a GoPro. I quickly appeared on the giant screen.

The room was speechless, seeing me. Many rubbed their eyes, some spoke with their neighbors, others were trying to take pictures of me...

To break this floating moment, I decided to express myself.

"- Hi, my name is Nick Kemp, I'm 16 and I'm very proud to be greeted at Eagle High!"

The room applauded me, and the principal took me to the palm of Alizee for the photo. We all have smiles.

This promo was something special because it had an exceptional student !