Part I

Jeremy stood short in his stance, he was a good six inches shorter than the average for his class. He'd always been ridiculed for his stunted stature growing up, making it worse he was also very frail. On the way home from school one day, a Friday when all the kids were especially anxious to get home, Jeremy lagged behind not having much to look forward too. None of the kids would be calling him up to hang out anyway. Mom and Dad were never around, always out at the casino's. This Friday Jeremy stumbled over a tree root in the ground that made him look down. Underneath the tree root Jeremy noticed a glittering piece of rock. He didn't know what it was at first but he picked it up and held it in his hand. Shortly his hand began to turn warm and see thru. He could almost look through his skin to his veins and a little of the sidewalk even. Jolted by this he dropped the magical rock and just as quick his hand turned back to normal, like any other boy's hand. Jeremy stood there for some time pondering what had just happened. He decided he had to at least keep this special rock for keep sake and maybe look at it later to see if anything happened again. He put it in his backpack and continued walking home.
When he got home there was a note on the kitchen table from Mom saying she and his father had gone out to Joe's and would probably be out late, that there was a microwaveable dinner in the freezer and to get to bed early. Jeremy was used to this kind of behavior from his parent's by now, for years they'd barely had a single meaningful conversation about anything, not even about his day or how he was doing in school. Jeremy heated up his meatloaf dinner with corn and mashed potato's and sat down in front of the tv. Feeling hopelessly bored Jeremy then remembered the rock he'd found earlier in the day walking home from school so with excited enthusiasm he ran to his bag to get it out. The rock in his bag had a somewhat phosphorescent glow emanating from it now, he didn't remember it having this sheen during the afternoon, maybe it glows in the dark he thought? Curiously Jeremy pulled out the rock from the pocket and held it up to the tv light. Vaguely the rock began to change luminosity and loose its glow, turning more solid like he found it in the day. Jeremy held the rock closely to his chest now and walked toward his bedroom where it was completely dark. He walked into his closet where no light was sure to enter. Holding the rock out in view now Jeremy again noticed it's vibrant luminosity and his hands warming like before. This wasn't a painful or frightful warming but something like a warm shower on a cool morning, rejuvenating, desirable. Jeremy was amazed at the strangeness of this rock for he had never seen anything like it before. After a while he began to feel slightly different than ever. Like he was getting lighter or losing weight. The translucency he had noticed before in his hands were now moving all throughout his arms and chest and he wasn't afraid but welcomed it, he was feeling better than he'd ever felt in his life. Eventually, still holding the rock Jeremy turned completely invisible. To make sure it wasn't just the darkness of the closet that didn't allow him to see himself he walked outside his room and into the living room where the tv was and to his amazement he wasn't there, his body was entirely dissappeared. He held up his arm to the window where a little moonlight shone through and there was no arm. He looked down at where his feet should be but there were no feet. He couldn't believe it. He walked into his parent's room where the only mirror in the house was and looked for his reflection but had none. Jeremy was gleaming with the biggest smile. He'd dissappeared into thin air.