Chord Austins would seem like a normal teenager, but he’s not. You see, he can’t feel temperature. This would seem like something amazing, but its not. He’s one of about eight in the country that don’t feel temperature. It was on his sixth birthday that things got weird, and yes, difficult. He has to always make sure he’s dressed appropriately so that he won’t get heatstroke or frost bite. No one really knows what happened on that day. What people remember of March 8th, 2087, didn’t happen. The creature that took Chord and gave him the curse implanted false memories into his friends and family and everyone that had heard of him that day.
When Chord turned 14 he started going on two trips every month. No, not like a vacation. Each of these “trips” last an hour. The thing is, not all of him goes on these trips, just his mind. During these trips he goes back to his birthday to the hour that corresponds with that number of trip. So Chord has to make sure that he is in a private area and that he’s alone when he goes unconscious
1st trip is at 12:00 am
2nd at 1:00 am
3rd at 2:00 am and so on and so forth.
Each trip is for a different hour of his 6th birthday.
The Leaders know a little about these kids. His older brother always makes jokes about if he found a Drone- what they have been unaffectionately nicknamed-,  he would turn them in for the prize- just a silly spot as one of The Leaders-. So what happens when his older brother catches him in the unconscious state?

  I may seem like a normal teen but, trust me. I’m not. Any person who is wanted by The Leaders is bound to have an odd life.This is story of how I try to look normal and blend in with the crowd.
  It is 3:57 pm on September 27th. I have to get home. I keep thinking. I was  going as fast as I can. I’m not gonna make it.  My lungs are burning from skating 4 miles as fast as I can. I am  still seven blocks from home. I need air and I need to get home. I need to get home. I need to get home. I need to get home. On my street. Finally.
3:59 and seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. And home. I run into to my house and rush to my room but not before crashing into my older brother Jamie. “Watch where you’re going, idiot” I hear Jamie spit. I’m hyperventilating and trying to get to my room as I hear the grandfather clock signaling it was 4:00. Not here, not now. I keep chanting in my head. I start going numb and feeling dizzy. My vision is going dark. The last thing i see is my brother’s face filled with concern as he catches me from falling head first down the stairs.
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I wake up in my room. I’m alone.  I read that the time is 5:00 on my clock. I hear my door open and see my brother come in with a glass of water. He hands me the glass before he sits in my office chair. I take the glass as I move to sit cross legged on my bed. After about three minutes, twenty seven seconds and 5 sips of water later, my brother say “I could turn you in” panic fills me and then he continues with “but I won’t. I’ve known for almost your whole life. I was denying that you were one of us so I joked…..And I’m sorry for that. I should have just told you and helped you.” My panic is replaced by relief and confusion. “it’s okay. people do crazy things.” I say before another awkward, deafening silence starts again. After I can gather my thoughts before I say “You said ‘one of us’. that means that you’re one too” he nods. “prove it” i say as a dare. He rises and eyebrow and pls up his right pants leg to reveal a circle with nine lines coming out of it. its red like a burn and it looks just like the one on the back of my left thigh.
He stated the oh so obvious “your’s is on the back of your left thigh.” I know. I replied mentally. “mom never noticed, but I did.” Jamie said as he came over to sit on my bed with me.
“hey, do you know where Pat is?” I ask. “mom called. He’s staying the night at a friend’s house.” He replied. “Guess she didn’t trust us with him” I said with a small laugh. “Would you trust us with a kid after what happened last time?” Jamie laughed. -I’d tell you what happened but thats for a different story-
The laughter died down and after a few more moments Jamie broke the silence and said “You kinda yelling in your sleep last night. Nightmare?” I nodded and as if on key Spike trotted into the room with his bone. “What was it about?” Jamie asked. “Ah nothing” I said, not really wanting to talk about it. “Liar.” Jamie accused while nudging my arm with his. “am not” I stated as I pushed him a little.
This slight nudging and pushing turned into wrestling as brothers do but that soon got broken up by a certain Pitbull that decided to jump on us.
“Wanna go in the back yard with Spike?” I suggested while heading to my door. “sure” Jamie replied as he followed. “hey boy, lets go outside” I said trying to get Spike to follow which of course lead to him running ahead of us. Me and Jamie ran after him but not without almost knocking each other down the stairs. We found Spike waiting at the back door with his favorite chew toy.
We played with spike and then decided to get on the trampoline. We played some random made up games while Spike ran circles around the trampoline until he wore himself out. It was getting really dark and we co0uld already see stars. Me and jamie decided to just look at the stars.
Me and Jamie were almost too busy to notice that spike went to drink water from the chlorinated pool. As soon as we saw Spike dipping his head down to drink we ran over and pulled him away. While doing so Jamie “accidentally” knocked me into the pool.
“Jamie!” I yelled at him once my face was above water again. He wasn’t paying much attention to me because he was laughing so hard. I decided to pull him and once he hit water I swam straight to the other side.
“you did that on purpose” I half yelled at Jamie. “yeah” He laughed. We threw our shirt, shoes and socks onto the side of the pool and just swam around for a bit. At one point Spike went inside the house and somehow our two Old Redbone Coonhounds Old Dan and Little Ann -yes, they are named after the dogs in Where The Red Fern Grows- got out and jumped in.
After what seemed like minutes but in reality were hours we got hungry so we headed in to order a pizza. After the pizza came we went to the basement to eat and watch a movie. We unfolded the sleeper sofa and stretched out on the somewhat uncomfortable bed with Dan, Ann and Spike.
“Mom would kill us if she knew we were eating in the basement with the dogs on the bed.” I stated. Jamie replied with “what she doesn’t know won’t kill us.” Me and Jamie watched as many episodes of Red Dwarf as we could until we fell asleep.
  I was walking the coonhounds up to the cliff as my normal saturday morning exercise. It was abnormally quiet. We walked over to the edge of the cliff to look at the fantastic view when I heard it. The roar of a car engine growing louder and louder. It sounded as if it was right behind me so I turned around.
A Black 1967 Chevrolet Impala four door was coming right at me. The most i could move was to let the leashes go. I was frozen. It seemed like a movie scene and everything went in slow motion.
Then I felt the hot metal of the car slam into me. The force of the hit was strong enough to send me flying over the edge of the cliff. All i heard was screaming and then I hit the ground with a loud crunch.
The ground wasn’t  hard. It was the thin mattress of the sleeper sofa. A very worried Jamie was shaking me. “dude im awake” I said. “sorry. you were yelling and so I woke you up” Jamie apologized. I rolled onto my stomach and off the bed causing Jamie to laugh. “oh yeah mom called. Shes gonna be gone a week. She also decided 3:30 am was a good time to call and tell us. “ Jamie told. “oh yeah. It’s the absolute best time to call” I said, my word dripping with sarcasm.
Dan and Ann were whining and scratching at the basement door. “lets take the dogs for a walk before they scratch up the door too much.” Jamie suggested. “yeah. Just not up any cliffs” I replied, still shaken up from the dream. Jamie looked confused and said “oh...kay. Lets get dressed.”
We each went to our separate rooms and got changed in appropriate clothes. I was ready and my brother was still getting changed or doing his hair. I went to the kitchen to make some lunch, grab doggie treats and their toy to put in my bag. I finished packing my bag as my brother came out.
“You and your hair” I jokingly commented. “shuddap” Jamie said as we put the leashes on the dogs. We went to the park, played for a few hours and when lunch time came we went by the lake and ate our lunch. Jamie ate a sandwich and I ate a burrito.
Everything was perfectly fine. I finally felt like me and Jamie were brothers instead of just housemates. I just wish I had known that my now perfect life would end up in ruins.