1 Chapter 1: A Rainy Night

As the rhythmic sounds of rain continue to patter and the sudden bursts of light appear from the streetlights, a cuckoo clock plays nine harmonious notes indicating that it was time to close for the night. Within the brick building which is the home to these harmonious notes as well as the home to a gas station, a seemingly malnourished teen who couldn't be over the age nineteen was finishing serving the remaining customers. After the last custom left, the teen heads into a small office where he grabs a cash register drawer and then proceeds to swap the drawers and place the old drawer in a safe. Noticing some trash thrown in the store during the busy work day, the teen grabs a dust pan and a broom and begins cleaning up inside, after which he cuts on the closing lights before finally locking the building for the night.

The teen lets out a sigh of relief, his fair white skin, black hair, and deep royal blue eyes glistening in the moonlight, inherently showing his beauty hidden behind his malnourished body, a radiant smile like that of the sun appearing as he looks down at a check with a the name Maverick Carter written in Cursive within his hand. However, his smile was soon replaced with a distasteful look as he was reminded that he would have to spend the next thirty minutes biking back home in the pouring rain and strong storm winds.

…..

After forty grueling minutes of biking in the rain, needing an extra ten minutes to rest due to the weather, Maverick pulled out a rugged and seemingly lonesome key and unlocked the door to a small one person apartment.

Hearing the wiping of soaked sneakers on the rug, a little girl who looked to be around eight to nine years old with deep brown hair and shining green eyes came running yelling "Welcome back Big Brother Maverick" before tightly hugging the still soaked teen. Maverick, feeling the loving warmth of his litter sister, gently returns his sister's hug before pulling her off and giving her a slight scolding for getting her clothes unecessarly wet. In order to wash clothes in the morning, Maverick takes his and his sister Ava's clothes and puts them into the clothes basket in his room. Within their apartment complex, rooms didn't come with dryers and washing machines instead they had to pay for dry cleaning services from elsewhere so Maverick usually only washed clothes once a week.

Pulling a set of striped pajamas out of a built-in closet before placing them back down on a white porcelain toilet lid, Maverick then cuts a warm shower on in order to not get a cold from the long bike ride home in the rain. After taking a twenty minute shower in refreshing warm water, Maverick let out another sigh, filled with hints of pleasure, before putting on his deodorant and his pajamas. After finishing getting dressed in the bathroom and wiping and cleaning up after his shower, Maverick took a quick glance at the clock before noticing it was half past ten and he and his sister had not eaten dinner yet. Deciding to cook him and his sister a light dinner, he pulls out some rice to cook along with some raw salmon that he begins to bake and finally some zucchini and squash that he chops and bakes along with the salmon. After eating dinner with his sister and wrapping a plate of leftovers for when his mother gets off work, Maverick proceeds to clean up the kitchen and tuck Ava into her bed.

Deep in thought for a second, Maverick lays down in bed clears his thoughts about the day before picking up a seemingly new headset that perfectly fits around his head and covers his eyes. As he finishes fixing the headset making sure it feels comfortable around his head, a green dot begins blinking on the side of the headset and three short yet awe inspiring words appear in front of him "Welcome to Sanctuary."