CHAPTER 1
It only takes a second. For a bullet to penetrate through the chest cavity, piercing the heart and killing its victim instantly. For an infant to speak his or her first word. And for sixteen-year old James O’Connor to realize he is, in fact, not human.
But to understand the true complexity and harrowing realization of his peculiar and unique identity crisis, we have to backtrack a bit first.
James’ story begins in the town of Twin Oaks, a small suburban hamlet an hour north of the bustling streets of New York City. James is a junior at Twin Oaks High. He is a member of the show choir, gets straight A’s, and before injuring his ankle, was the star player of the school’s notoriously undefeated soccer team. He has a beautiful girlfriend, named Shelly, and two loving, non divorced parents who spoil him to his core, the latter being extremely common of the upper-middle class, predominantly BMW-driving residents of Great Oak, New York. On paper, James had the quintessential, perfect life for a teenage boy. But you’ll soon find one of the common threads in his story is that things are not always (almost never, in fact) what they seem.
When James was...