The Life of Aaron Mars

By Jullian G. Mortimer

Aaron Mars is not your typical teenager. He lives by a strict moral code, shuns the spotlight, and prefers his status as an outcast. But not even Aaron is aware of how strange he truly is.

Not until a mysterious new teacher at his school comes along, and changes everything that Aaron knows about the world and himself.

With unknown enemies and mysterious organizations attempting to capture him, Aaron must face the most difficult choice of his life. Will he stand and fight, or will he abandon his home and hide? With his loved ones hanging in the balance, only one thing is for certain.

The life of Aaron Mars will never be the same again…

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 21, 2014
• ISBN: 9781304960757

Book preview

The Life of Aaron Mars

Prologue

Found

The young boy looked so small, so very fragile.

When they first brought him in he was shivering and crying. Fear and cold conspired to break the tiny child’s will. Even the adults of his species reacted in the same way. They all lived in a society that held certain strong and stable beliefs. The humans believed in the power of their governments, in the protection of their deities, and in the things that were held as common sense. Bigfoot was a hoax, the Loch Ness Monster was made of driftwood, and aliens were not real.

That last one was not the truth.

This was the reality that the boy faced as he was carried to a cold metallic table and strapped down. Unbeknownst to him, one of these beings did not mean him harm.

In fact, for one of these beings, this young boy was the first step towards a much larger plan. This boy, Aaron Mars, was the hope for the future.

*******

A missing child has the power to devastate an entire community. This was especially true of smaller towns where everyone knew their neighbors. Suspicions could lead to rifts between friends, accusations might tear families apart, and the grief affects many people beyond those who have lost their son or daughter.

Aaron Mars could be seen everywhere. His face was on fliers posted throughout the town, on milk cartons in every grocery store, and even on the nightly news as they reported any progress in his case. For all this exposure, however, he had yet to be found. Until one night when chance brought him to the attention of complete strangers.

The woods outside the small suburban town of Summerhaven Falls were a great place to go camping. In the summer there was plenty of shade during the day and temperatures at night were mild. Green foliage rustled in soft breezes, and civilization was far enough away that the stars were perfectly pristine in the sky. A beautiful lake was only a brief hike away. Campers frequently made the trip to swim and cool off.

Angie did not think she would enjoy camping when her boyfriend first talked her into giving it a try. But three years later and now she made it a point to get out of the city as often as possible. Craig, her boyfriend, could not have been happier about it.

This time the couple brought along two friends. Their group arrived in the mid-afternoon and began to set up camp. Craig and Eli built the tents while Angie and Joanne gathered firewood. Angie didn’t know Joanne very well, but the upbeat redhead had an easygoing personality, and it wasn't difficult to relax around her.

Do we really need all this wood? Joanne asked.

Angie explained, We need light when the sun goes down.

I’m new to this, Joanne laughed.

You’ll learn quickly, don’t worry. I did, Angie assured her.

Once each of them had an armful of firewood they made their way back to the campsite. By then Craig and Eli had finished pitching the pair of tents and were busy unpacking the back of the truck. Angie briefly admired her boyfriend as he carried a sleeping bag to their tent. For as long as she had known him Craig was more at home outdoors than in the city. He was an intelligent man that recently graduated with a degree in engineering, but his heart belonged to nature. Strong arms matched a square jaw, a brown beard was perfectly groomed, and his hair fell down in wavy medium length locks.

Craig lit up when he saw Angie coming, Welcome back.

Thanks, Angie dropped the wood by the fire pit.

Night was fast approaching, so the campers built their fire. The two couples gathered around the warmth. Craig told a scary story while Eli cooked dinner. Angie continued getting to know Joanne, and the night grew darker.

Strange, Angie commented, It’s not usually this cold.

Joanne nodded, I was going to ask about that.

The chill made it possible for Angie to see her breath. The smoke from the fire plumed out and radiated extra heat. Between the two she was reminded of spending a week hiking through the icy mountains. Summertime in this area had never felt like this; not since she first began camping.

Must be some kind of cold front, Craig reasoned.

At least we’ve got sleeping bags and warm bodies to cuddle up to, Eli said.

Their conversation was cut short by a thunderous noise that sent vibrations through the ground. Less than a second later the brightest light Angie had ever seen flashed through the sky. Her first thought was that it might be a jet, but she had never heard of a jet flying so close to the ground before.

Eli jumped to his feet and ran in the direction of the light. Angie was baffled as to why he did this - he wasn’t going to catch up to the thing. Another loud crash sent her skittering back.

Stay here! Craig yelled as a second light shot down. This time something collided with the ground in the distance.

Angie wasn’t about to do that. She followed Craig, and the both of them trailed a dozen yards behind Eli. Her lungs ached as she took deep breaths and ran as fast as she could. Angie wove in and out of trees and nearly tripped a few times, but eventually the three of them made it to a clearing.

The grass in the field was tall, almost up to Angie’s waist. There was no sign of anything crashing or colliding with the ground.

What was that? Eli asked, astonished.

Joanne finally caught up to the rest of them, What the hell, guys?

That was when Angie saw the small form of a child slowly stand up in the grass. Her eyes went wide with shock, and then she ran over to the little boy. His face was blank and expressionless as she dropped down to see if he was hurt. The boy was cold and pale, but otherwise unscathed.

It didn’t take her long to recognize the child. He had been missing for several weeks, and the entire town was being turned upside down in the search for him. Police went door to door, followed every lead, and even searched these exact woods. In the end the search had been given up. Everyone was certain that the boy was gone forever, and now here he was.

Angie had to ask, Where did you come from?

The boy did not answer. He just kept staring up at the stars, eyes alight with wonder.

Chapter 1

Another Dream, Another Day

The first thing he noticed was just how quiet it was. No city traffic, no birds, no people talking, not even the wind. None of that existed here; no sound existed in this place. It was a cleansing silence that was downright deafening. Cold, amazingly cold, impossibly cold. His skin should have been frozen, but for some inexplicable reason, it wasn’t. His body had gone completely numb.

What he saw is what made this a moment he never wanted to forget. In all his life, for all his experiences, he had never seen anything like it - at least, not that he could remember. His skin was cold, his body numb, and yet his heart was achingly warm as his eyes gazed around.

Every star was bright, brighter than he had ever known. And there were so many more of them. On a certain level, he knew that light pollution around the world made it impossible to see all the stars. But even knowing that on an intellectual level was not enough, now that he could see them all with his own eyes. Billions of them, all connected by the dense universe, brilliantly united.  Each light had a purpose, all meant to be a cog in the universal machine which was ever in motion.

These stars had begun before he was born, and they would continue after he died. Whatever may come next, he knew that it was impossible to stop the perpetual motion already in place. Life may end, all life he knew of might even end, but all the same there would still be life. Some might see it as cold and eternally far away, but there was a oneness to all things.

This was a place of peace, of calm. Nowhere on Earth was quite like it. The planet, wherever you went, was always in some form of struggle. Nature and society both held their own distinct kinds of conflict. There was a beauty to that always-changing tapestry as well, but it was something he would never get to see the full scope of. To do so would take too many eyes and too much time, both of which he knew that he did not have. A person could never comprehend the beauty of the planet, but anyone could appreciate the stunning nature of the heavens. Which is exactly why it made him feel so happy to have a chance, before the end, to take in the true majesty that they held.

His gaze shifted as he continued to drift. He had no control over the movement of his body, all that he could do was wait. The planet came into his line of sight, his home, the place where he belonged. Earth.

It was much larger from above, but somehow easier to see and simpler to understand. When standing on the surface, the size of the planet always felt, for lack of a better term, grounded. A person could never see beyond the horizon. But up here, in this distant place, the full scope of his home became clear. Earth was huge. Not as big as the rest of the universe, but still impressive to this one small man. Everything was okay. In the scheme of things, he really was unimportant.

He could rest now. After so very long, and so much hard work, he could rest now.

Drifting closer and closer to the blue giant, he began to feel his body being pulled in by gravity. Weight was once again returning to his form. Bit by bit at first, a slow buildup that soon turned into a growing speed. That speed became velocity, and soon the cold was gone. As that velocity grew, so too did the heat. Before long, it burned. He was not used to the sensation, and it certainly hurt, but he was too tired - and too powerless - to do anything but let it happen.

Fire engulfed his body and cradled him in his descent. And after what felt like an eternity, he passed through a cloud. The vapors exploded around him, but did nothing to slow the fall. Before much longer he would collide with the surface, and then die.

The ground came closer. Every moment lasted much longer than it should have, and it made the thrill continue as precious memories filled his mind. The people who truly mattered, the people he cared for most, and all the things that had happened. But the Earth came, the ground finally reached him.

*******

… and then the alarm clock went off. Aaron let out a miserable groan and hit the snooze button. But it was already too late, and he knew it. He was awake and there was no going back. With a mother who was a doctor and a father that could have been a truancy officer in a past life, he knew there were no other options. Today was the first day of his senior year, and Aaron Mars had no plan to escape.

Defeated before the idea of a fight could even form, Aaron sat up in his bed and let the drowsiness drift away. His room wasn’t gigantic, but as an only child he still had the privilege of space to call his own. The walls were decorated with posters of various bands he liked, mostly of the punk and rock genres. His sheets were a two-color pattern of red and white, resting comfortably on a twin mattress. One corner had a desk that was in a constant state of disarray, while the opposite corner was occupied by a television. Next to the bed was a single window with a view of the backyard.

Awareness crept into his thoughts. There was a single concept perfectly sharp in his mind. It was going to be the longest year of his life. But then he would be free. Off to college and out of this suburban nightmare.

In his time at Sunrise High he had crossed more people than the average student. Aaron didn’t think of himself as an aggressive guy, but trouble just seemed to have a way of gravitating towards him, and he refused to buckle under pressure or fold to threats. That didn’t work out well with a decent number of people.

Examples such as Tim Cunningham, one of the more obnoxious footballs players, came to mind. Not to mention Fred Sudekis from the drama club and Lonnie Something-Or-Other the photographer for the school paper. Actually when Aaron thought about it, he had managed to anger at least one person in every single after-school club. Maybe someone at the yearbook committee would be willing to make a note of it.

The alarm went off yet again. Had ten minutes really passed by already? Aaron felt like he wasn’t even half-awake yet. That’s how it always went. Aaron never enjoyed waking up before noon.

Deciding it was time for him to begin moving, regardless of how awake he was, Aaron shambled out of bed and out of his room. His family’s house had three-bedrooms, with his parents sharing the second room. The third acted as a study and office. If Aaron woke up early enough, and had a little luck, he usually made it to the bathroom before it was stolen by one of his parents. Luck was on his side this morning, and so he got first crack at the shower. That meant he had to rush a little, so his parents could get to work on time, but he preferred to start the day that way. It woke him up better than coffee ever could.

Rather than warming it up, Aaron set the shower to the coldest setting possible. His eyes continued to droop as he got undressed, pausing to look in the mirror. Something about his reflection had always bothered him, but he couldn’t quite tell why. His features were thin and fair. He tried to smile, his dimples showing when he did, curly brown hair strewn about from rustling in his sleep. Aaron shook his head and then went into the shower. The burst of cold water over his body finished waking him up instantly.

Now that he was finally awake Aaron adjusted the water temperature and went over his normal shower routine. Shampoo, soap, conditioner - it was all a pretty standard order. He tried to think of all the good things he had to look forward to today. While Aaron had lots of enemies, he also had several amazing friends. And of course, there was always the girl.

Melissa Taylor. It wasn’t just that Melissa was gorgeous and intelligent, but she was also humble and kind. She was the girl-next-door type, unlike most of the girls who invaded Sunrise High. When it came to Melissa there was just one catch.

Melissa absolutely refused to date anyone. In junior high a nervous boy at the beginning of his adolescence asked her to a Valentine’s dance and she’d politely declined. Since then many other boys in the school had tried to get her to go out with them. Nobody succeeded, and no one knew why. To most boys she was a mystery. To the dope who asked her out in seventh grade, she was the only girl he had ever loved.

Aaron Mars was that dope.

It also didn’t help that Aaron was around her all the time. Her brother, Edward Taylor, was Aaron’s best friend. The three of them had known one another since grade school. Despite his all-access pass to their home and lives, even Aaron was in the dark as to why Melissa was so dead set against forming a romantic connection to anyone in high school.

His shower finished, Aaron dried off and got dressed again in his pajamas. Returning to his room he sorted through his clothes in a futile attempt to create an ensemble. Whenever he tried, his shirt pretty much never matched his pants, or his shoes, or something else. The rules of fashion largely eluded Aaron. His attempts at trying despite this handicap often earned him odd stares and glances, which he’d gotten used to at this point.

Today Aaron would be wearing a red t-shirt with an alien on it inscribed with the words They’re just as scared to probe you as you are to be probed along with baggy jean shorts, though not baggy to the point that they would sag embarrassingly low. The shorts were just comfortably loose, rather than being tight like so many denim products tended to be. Black sneakers and belt completed the outfit.

By the time Aaron had gotten dressed, his mom and dad were already finished their showers. It was amazing to him just how quickly they prepared for the day. When Aaron went to the kitchen he found breakfast sitting on the table.

Toby and Susan Mars, dad and mom to Aaron, were always a perfect team. When it came to playing board games or cooking they worked in a harmony that few couples ever achieved. They had their fair share of fights and stress over the years, but none of it amounted to more than the normal tensions that occasionally arise in a long term relationship.

Aaron’s father was a slightly portly, balding man with dark hair and a mild Canadian accent. Susan was always wearing the expressions of a typical mother, that special smile that somehow combined love and hope all at once, with shoulder-length red hair and classically aged features. Each of them was in their mid-forties; they’d been young when Aaron was born.

Good morning, Susan was the first to notice that Aaron had come out of his room.

Aaron nodded in response, sitting down at the kitchen table, Morning.

Breakfast ought to be ready in about ten minutes. Could you run the garbage around the curb while we finish up? His dad requested as he fried the last of the bacon.

Sure, Aaron stood up and took the garbage bag out of it’s hollow white-canned prison. He carried it out the front door.

Emerging from the house into the morning light for the first time, a small flash of heat hit Aaron with little warning. It was late-August and summer was on its final gasps.

Aaron walked to the large garbage can at the end of the street. He pulled it open before tossing the bag inside effortlessly, and turned to head back into his house. It wasn’t until he reached the front door that Aaron got the strange feeling he was being watched. He turned around and looked for anything out of the ordinary.

A black town car began to pull away. The windows were tinted black, just like in the movies. In a place like this, a small suburb about two hours away from the Bay Area, a person still got a sense of their neighbors. And Aaron did not recognize that car at all.

It wasn’t too common, but people did drive through town on their way to San Francisco. Aaron decided to write this off as nothing and resume his day.

He went back into the house and joined his parents, who had just finished preparing breakfast. It was a warm meal of toast, bacon, eggs, and fresh fruit. While his family always ate together, none of them were exceptional cooks, and so nothing very extravagant was ever at their dinner table unless they ordered out - a measure saved exclusively for special occasions.

Aaron sat down and the entire family began to eat.

Toby swallowed a mouthful of egg and then asked, Are you nervous about your first day of school?

Not really, Aaron lied. Senior year is just like any other year, except it’s the last one.

Come on, Susan cut in, You can’t honestly feel that way?

Why not? Aaron shrugged.

Susan sighed, Because, the big moments in a person’s life are the moments of change. This whole year will be about you changing from a high school kid into a young man in college.

The young man let himself smirk, I think that ‘time of change’ is actually next summer, mom.

It’s all connected, his mother replied, Today to tomorrow, spring to summer. Everything just leads to the next thing. You won’t realize how fast the time passes until you’re a little older, but trust me on this one.

Susan Mars was a doctor at the local hospital, and one of the most respected members of the Summerhaven Falls community. She moved here after getting a degree from Berkeley, and quickly became known as the doctor to see if you had any kind of emergency. And while medicine was her greatest talent, her passion had always been philosophy.

Toby then said, out of the blue, We have an early birthday present for you.

Aaron let out a sound that was something between a soft groan and a pathetic whimper, No…

Yes! his father shot back excitedly, standing up and heading out of the room.

Aaron never liked his birthday. Being the center of attention always made him feel awkward. But Aaron's father loved birthdays with an almost-obsessive enthusiasm.

Aaron looked to his mother in the hopes that she might give him some kind of clue about what he was in for, but she already had her poker face on.

Toby returned to the kitchen only moments later with a small box in his hands. The box was wrapped neatly in green paper with a bow. He put it in front of Aaron and then returned to his seat. Toby and Susan looked to one another with smiles on their faces. Aaron unwrapped the gift quickly, eager to move on.

Underneath the paper was a wooden box without any display or label. Aaron carefully pried the lid open. It creaked just a little, which suggested the box itself was rather old. Inside of it Aaron found an ornate golden pocket watch. A pattern of tree roots wrapping around stars was carved along the rims and edges, while the front and back were perfectly smooth. When Aaron opened it the watch was still running, and told perfect time. An inscription on the inside read To new beginnings.

It was an overwhelmingly thoughtful gift, and Aaron was at a loss for words. Wow, he uttered, and it would have to be enough for the time being.

Do you like it? Susan asked.

Are you kidding? It’s amazing, Aaron was quick to answer, not wanting them to misinterpret his stunned silence for a lack of enthusiasm or gratitude.

We had to give it to you early, Toby explained, Since today is a new beginning. I hope you have the best senior year that anyone can have.

Susan nodded, We are both so proud of you, Aaron.

Thanks mom, thanks dad, Aaron couldn’t contain his smile, It really is perfect.

*******

Once Aaron had finished eating with his family it was time for him to walk to school. They all said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. His mom drove to the hospital, his dad began a lengthy commute to the city and his law office, and Aaron walked down the block to where he traditionally met Edward.

Edward was usually joined by his girlfriend, a nice girl named Tanya Roberts,