Prologue                                     ~~~~~~~  One time, there existed a young man who resided outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His name was Dillon Vera. He was sixteen years old, and neared the end of his freshman year of high school. Like many teenagers, Dillon had had a rough time. With his hormones and self esteem all over the place, it was difficult to find anywhere to fit in. Add in the fact that Dillon's best friend Dominic, Dom for short, had just moved down south, and Dillon was not happy. Dom was two grades above him, but they had been best friends since they were small.  Once Dom was a Junior, he got offered a course at some ritzy tech school for carpentry down in Texas. It was something he really enjo

Right after he had registered who had run into him, the mechanic had put down his bag and started to inspect the wound. It looked like a flathead screwdriver jutted out of the bag and he figured that's what got him, since there was a little bit of his blood on the tip. For a couple beats, Dillon glared at the mechanic as he looked at his elbow, not entirely sure what he should do. His brain was in chaos. 'What the fuck is he doin' here? Can't

Dillon hooked right off of Chestnut Street onto Main Street, and walked the couple blocks up the road towards the shop. It was a fine day. It was in the mid-seventies and partly cloudy with a nice light breeze. It had started to smell like summer,

The community in which he lived was one that didn't accept those sick with that in their ranks. Dillon had thought he could maybe invent a girlfriend, or a girl he'd been with. Maybe it would make himself seem even

"Hey Tony, I wanted to ask you somethin'"  "Yea kid, shoot." Tony replied as he continued his cleanup.