Daniel's Dubious Destiny

By Carl D. Nuttall

Daniel is a young schoolboy who loves all school subjects. He enjoys science, especially biology, as it has always thrilled him how the human body works. He has always dreamed of being able to help people, just like he has seen on his favourite TV hospital drama. He also thinks it would be quite amusing to be a doctor as his surname is “Grimm”. “Why would anybody want to be seen by a Doctor Grimm?” he would think. Maybe if this ever happened, he would just change his name, or even adopt his first name instead!

He also enjoys physics, and the mechanics of robots. He has always had excellent grades in maths and physics and hopes that one day he might even become an influential scientist, such as Stephen Hawking or Nikola Tesla. These dreams are a long way in the future yet; but he knows that if he really wants to, he can achieve them! His parents are very supportive of all of Daniel’s decisions. They just wished that he would make more of them, as he never seems to be able to commit to anything!

Lastly, Daniel enjoys physical education, or PE. He is not the fittest of youth’s, but he does what he can to remain at his highest level of fitness. He goes for a jog at the weekend; albeit only in the summer months’, and always tries to beat his own time on pre-set routes. He is not an Olympic runner by any means, and only gets average grades at school but it is something he enjoys and so works hard to do his best at it. He would really enjoy following a path in the athletics field even though this is only really a dream for him!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Carl D. Nuttall
• Release date: Apr 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005870133

Carl D. Nuttall

I just love writing stories for children and YA’s. My ultimate goal is to sell enough stories that I can throw in the towel on my day job. I enjoy working in finance, don’t get me wrong, but I have two children and simply not enough time to spend with them; so obviously I am well motivated to succeed in my writing career.In addition to publishing several English titles on different sales platforms, I have also branched out into audiobooks.. I feel that branching into the audiobooks market certainly gives my listeners more depth into the stories and will keep their attention for long enough whenever they are presented to them. Available in many different languages all across the world, I like to think that my stories are reaching far and wide.I have partnered with very talented individuals, and hope to branch out even further in the coming years!

Book preview

Epigraph

Meet Daniel Grimm… Daniel is a teenage boy who just doesn’t know what to do with his life! With every decision which he is forced to make, he simply cannot choose. He doesn’t know whether he should follow in his heroes’ footsteps or simply live his life helping people he cares about.

With decisions ranging from simply whether to get on a bus, right up to life’s bigger questions’ each decision has a definitive consequence for him!

With over 150 unique chapters and twelve separate conclusions, this book is sure to follow the path of righteousness however you choose! Maybe you can help him make the best decisions in this interactive story where you choose the outcome!

In buying this title you might think that you are purchasing a story; although in fact you are actually purchasing twelve different stories in one easy to read book. Many other stories will lead you in one direction of the authors’ choosing; however, in this book you are the one in control of the story!

I hope you enjoy reading this book (several times) to explore and enjoy all of the possible connotations to create and develop Daniel’s specific destiny.

Prologue

Daniel is a young schoolboy who loves all school subjects. He enjoys science, especially biology, as it has always thrilled him how the human body works. He has always dreamed of being able to help people, just like he has seen on his favourite TV hospital drama. He also thinks it would be quite amusing to be a doctor as his surname is Grimm. Why would anybody want to be seen by a Doctor Grimm? he would think. Maybe if this ever happened, he would just change his name, or even adopt his first name instead!

He also enjoys physics, and the mechanics of robots. He has always had excellent grades in maths and physics and hopes that one day he might even become an influential scientist, such as Stephen Hawking or Nikola Tesla. These dreams are a long way in the future yet; but he knows that if he really wants to, he can achieve them! His parents are very supportive of all of Daniel’s decisions. They just wished that he would make more of them, as he never seems to be able to commit to anything!

Lastly, Daniel enjoys physical education, or PE. He is not the fittest of youth’s, but he does what he can to remain at his highest level of fitness. He goes for a jog at the weekend; albeit only in the summer months’, and always tries to beat his own time on pre-set routes. He is not an Olympic runner by any means, and only gets average grades at school but it is something he enjoys and so works hard to do his best at it. He would really enjoy following a path in the athletics field even though this is only really a dream for him!

More by Carl D. Nuttall

Spring Is in The Air

As it is now spring- time, Daniel has just put his vest top and trainers on and he is ready to go for a jog. Whilst he was sat doing some homework earlier that day, he had planned on which route to take. In the end he had decided on one of his lengthier routes, which usually took him about an hour to run. His Mum and Dad were both on holiday at the moment so he knew that he could complete his jog without being interrupted with a phone call. He loves his parents’, but they always seemed to worry about him whenever he went out. If he was ever any longer than about half an hour, he would usually get a phone call and this messed up his route timings so he tended to stick to the shorter routes whilst they were at home.

Roughly 20 minutes into his jog, Daniel tripped up and sprained his ankle. Knowing he was a long way from home, he attempted to run it off; although after five minutes realised this wasn’t going to happen and so stopped in a nearby bus shelter. Just as he had sat down, a bus pulled up and opened its doors…

Get on the bus – This Is Easier

Wave the bus driver off – Painful Jog

(Change decision – stay on / get off bus)

This Is Easier

Now that Daniel had gotten on the bus, he realised that he was sat in his vest top and shorts; and that everybody was looking at him! So, you decided to get on the bus! boomed a voice from behind him. Daniel turned around to see a gruff looking man, probably in his fifties’, leaning over to him. Daniel stared at the man at first, remembering what his parents had told him all of his life. Don’t speak to strangers, they would tell him; over and over! It had been a few years’ now since they had said this to him last, but Daniel still knew it was seldom a good idea. I’ve got a proposition for you, kid! said the man. Daniel started to feel a little anxious now, knowing that he might have to sit on the bus for over twenty minutes with this strange man. What’s say we go for a short walk when we get to your stop so that I can tell you more about it?

Daniel didn’t say anything to the man, and simply attempted to avoid him for the rest of the journey. He thought he would spend the entire journey worrying about what this stranger wanted from him. He had his MP3 player on him so he knew that he could put his music on and escape; but then he wouldn’t be able to hear what the man was doing. He also knew that this would take his attention away from keeping an eye on him; discreetly of course! In the end, he decided not to put his music on and instead went over to speak to the bus driver quietly.

There was a seat just behind the drivers’ cab, so everything he said could be heard by the rest of the bus too. On the bus was the stranger, him, the driver and about four other passengers; but the others’ seemed totally unaware of the gruff man’s advance on Daniel. Either they didn’t want to acknowledge it, for fear of involvement, or they actually didn’t think anything of it! Come to think of it, it was probably the former as the man did seem to be rather strange; muttering and grinning to himself!

After attempting to make polite conversation with the unwilling bus driver for several minutes, Daniel noticed he had almost reached his stop and realised he would have to make a choice. The strange man didn’t appear to be paying him any attention at the moment and he wondered if he might be able to run away from him before he realised that he had gone:

Get off the bus – Oops, Forgot!

Stay on the bus – Don’t Tell Him

(Change decision – Get off / stay on bus)

Oops, forgot!

Daniel stayed in his seat until the bus came to a complete stop. Fortunately, somebody else on the bus had pressed the stop button so Daniel didn’t have to reveal his intention. He simply sat back and contemplated his plan to dart at the last moment! A few seconds later, the doors began to close after the other passenger had gotten off. Daniel lunged for the opening and fell straight out into the street. In all of his haste he had forgotten about his sprained ankle. As the bus sped away, the pain hit him and he fell to the floor clutching his ankle in agony. He was all alone now as the other passenger had already crossed the road out of sight; but at least the strange man wasn’t following him any longer!

Just as Daniel thought this, he watched the bus go up the road and saw it stop further up. As he watched the bus, he saw the doors open and somebody get off. Daniel’s heart sank as he saw that the person who had just gotten off of the bus was the gruff man who had spoken to him a few minutes prior. As he got off, he started walking back down the hill towards Daniel.

With every ounce of strength in his body, and more pain than he had ever experienced, Daniel pulled himself to his feet and started to run away! After a few steps of intense pain, it all disappeared and he was focused on escaping the stranger. He ran straight home as fast as he could, weaving through alleys’ and jumping over bins which had been blown over in the wind earlier on. Daniel had travelled this route before and so knew it well, in that it would be extremely difficult for anybody to track him through it; let alone an older man who didn’t appear to be very fit. Besides, he had never run the route as quickly as he had done today; obstacles or not!

Before long, Daniel had made it back to his house, opened the front door, and locked himself in with the keys left in the door. Although he seriously doubted anybody could have followed him back to the house, he made it look as though there was nobody home. It had started to turn dusk, so Daniel drew the curtains and sat on the sofa in complete silence and darkness!

Roughly ten minutes later there was a noise at the front door. Knock, knock! Daniel ignored it thinking that whoever it was would go away soon. Daniel, I know you’re there! boomed the man. Daniel recognised the voice as the stranger from the bus and chose to remain completely silent and still. His heart was pounding out of his chest, but he knew that he couldn’t possibly answer them now. The man must have been there at least fifteen minutes trying to impetrate a response from Daniel, before he eventually announced who he was. I’m a talent scout for the local athletics team Daniel. And I seriously admire your determination and strength! he said. Oh no! thought Daniel as he realised that the man had obviously been watching him for some time, and now knew where he lived!

Call the police – Help!

Invite him in – Why Are You Following Me?

(Change decision – Call police / invite him in)

Help!

Rather than acknowledging the man, and give him the chance to run, Daniel snuck upstairs and went straight to the landline telephone. He picked it up without hesitation and dialled the emergency services. Which service do you require? asked the operator. Police. whispered Daniel as the operator transferred his call.

As the officer answered his call, they firstly asked for Daniel’s name and address. Daniel whispered his name and address to the officer before he was abruptly interrupted. Sir, what is your name and address please? Daniel whispered louder this time as he had assumed that they could not hear him before. My name is Daniel Grimm and I live at... Is anybody there? interrupted the officer again. Daniel realised that whispering to them was not going to get him anywhere and so went into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. Now that the officer could hear him, Daniel gave her all of his details and listened to what they told him to do next.

You need to make sure that all of the windows are locked, as well as the doors, and we will come over as soon as we possibly can! confirmed the officer before putting the phone down. Daniel immediately left the bathroom and headed towards the nearest window. He locked it and continued to lock the remainder of the windows on the first floor. Next, he knew that he would need to lock the ground floor windows’ too and, most importantly, the conservatory doors. Soon after he had spoken to the officer, he realised that he had left the house earlier through the conservatory doors. This was around the back of the house and, normally, the easiest way for Daniel to come back in after his jog. In his sheer panic over the situation, Daniel had totally forgotten that he had left the house this way upon his return and that the conservatory was therefore still unlocked!

As he made his way downstairs tentatively, he listened out for any unusual noises. The stranger at the door was no longer trying to get his attention and this worried Daniel somewhat. As he locked each of the window’s downstairs, he could think only one thing. Where is he? After locking the living room window, he went straight into the conservatory; which he had been dreading, and locked the doors. Only the kitchen window remained unlocked now and there were no signs that the man had entered the house by any means.

Lastly, he went to the kitchen window and reached up to pull it shut. As he did so, the security light on the back garden came on and Daniel jumped back from the window; startled! The gruff man was stood there and simply said, I know you have called the police so I don’t have long; but if you are interested, meet me at the Red Lion playing fields on Tuesday at 12:30. We can go far together Daniel! My name is Gerrard Bryson if you need to Google me first. I wish you all the best!

Google Gerrard Bryson – Who Is He?

Ignore him – What A Loony!

(Change decision – stay on / get off bus)

Painful Jog

Daniel decided to wave the bus driver on and continued on his journey. He immediately regretted his decision though as it was quite painful to run. It wouldn’t have hurt him to get on the bus because he was injured, and jogging home would only exacerbate his injury. Regardless, he had decided to continue now and the next bus wasn’t for another 30 minutes. H journey home would normally take about 20 minutes if he went straight back; but with his sprained ankle he doubted he would make it home in less than 30 minutes.

Nether the less, waiting for the next bus just wasn’t an option as his favourite show was on in 35 minutes time. After waiting for the next bus, assuming it was on time, he would have had literally no time whatsoever to get home before it started. Given the five-minute journey by bus and four minutes’ walk at the other end it just wasn’t mathematically possible. Any physician could tell you that; it just didn’t add up!

Funnily enough, his favourite show was about building job descriptive robots. Each week, the show would host a competition whereby its’ viewers would compete with their creations for a chance to visit a famous physics museum with a modern-day scientist. Daniel had always wanted to do it, and thought that one day he might build something which was actually worthy of something BIG.

On his agonising jog home, Daniel saw lots of everyday machines such as, trains, forklifts, bin lorries and even electric wheelchairs. As he saw these, he thought about all of their mechanical parts just to pass the time along the journey. It wasn’t that Daniel didn’t enjoy a jog; it just seemed a bit mundane not to think about something else on his way. The MP3 player he carried usually kept him occupied for the first ten minutes or so, but then his mind would start to wander.

Before he knew it, he was back at home, sat in the living room, waiting for his programme to start. The return journey had only taken him 25 minutes so he had had plenty of time to make himself a drink and settle himself down for the show which was about to start. Just then, the phone rang and Daniel wondered if it might be his parents’ calling from their holiday? He didn’t really want to answer it as he knew he would miss the start of the programme, but was also anxious about not answering it if it was important.

Answer the call - Not My Parents

Leave it to ring off – Peace at Last

(Change decision – accept call / let it ring)

Not My Parents

Daniel answered the call, and it was a good job he did too! The call was from his physics teacher who was calling to tell him that the recent assignment needed to be in a day earlier than expected. His project was originally due in on Tuesday, so he thought he would have had plenty of time to do it. It was Sunday now, though, and therefore he needed to complete it tonight given the new deadline.

The class had been tasked with answering a menial set of physics questions regarding pulleys and axles. Daniel already knew most of what there was to know about this subject from the programme he was about to miss. Because of this phone call, he would have to bypass his favourite show and do his homework instead. He probably knew all of the answers, but it still needed to be done or he would fail the course.

As Daniel reached the top of the stairs to go to his room, he began to feel angry that he was missing his favourite TV programme for something which he didn’t think would get him very far at all. Yes, he knew he needed to do his homework to pass his exams, but he was never going to gain fame by passing exams. He could only gain fame by doing something spectacular; and passing exams simply wasn’t spectacular! Daniel’s plan, before his teacher’s silly phone call, was to build a fantastic robot to gain fame & fortune being in the TV competition; once he was entered!

Instead, Daniel sat at the desk in his room, took out his homework book and started to answer the questions. What is a unit of force? was the first question. Daniel sighed as he thought to himself. Surely everybody knows that a Newton is a unit of force. He wrote the answer in his book and continued on to the next question, asking himself only one question as he did so. Why am I doing this?

Before long, Daniel gave up asking himself the same question over and over and decided that he would just finish his homework and go to bed after. It took him another half an hour to complete although he finally finished his homework and went straight to bed. He knew that his physics class was the first one tomorrow morning and he didn’t like to feel sleepy during it. He therefore always went to bed early on Sunday night to make sure! His parents would ordinarily send him to bed early anyway, but with them being on holiday they obviously wouldn’t be able to tonight.

Physics Class

The next morning, Daniel got up as usual and headed to the bathroom to get ready for school. Getting ready for school without his parents was quite different. Not bad; just different! He could style his hair however he wanted without his Mum telling him to tidy himself up. He could put on his shoes without his Dad telling him to stay in the doorway. He enjoyed the freedom of it, but it all seemed just too quiet without them.

As much as Daniel enjoyed going to school with messed up hair and a muddy hallway, he knew that it would all need to be tidied up when he got back home. Daniel didn’t enjoy tidying up as he would much rather watch something educational or sports- related instead. Depending on which day it was, would depend on exactly what he watched. There was a variety of programmes on a Monday so he could choose what he wanted to watch; but he would have to time his dinner right to catch them all, and this seemed like far too much of a rush when he had to cook it too!

For that reason, Daniel realised that he could only realistically watch one of his favourite shows on a school night; and this was a decision he would have to make after school every day.

Whilst Daniel was putting on his shoes that morning, his sprained ankle from the previous day was really causing him some significant discomfort. Maybe it was the overexertion of trying to continue running on it, but he knew one thing for certain. He didn’t want to participate in the PE lesson later on, no matter how much he enjoyed it! It was the first time he had thought about it since he had fallen, but now he thought that it was possibly the worst decision he had made recently; not catching the bus!

Daniel loved PE, and not being able to participate would be a very hard decision; albeit one which he didn’t really have a choice in. Whilst at school though, he powered his way through the physics class looking forward to the rest of his other classes that day. Daniel’s classes on a Monday were Physics, PE, Computer Technology, Spanish and then Art; in that order. He enjoyed Physics and PE so Monday was usually a good day for him although today he could only watch the PE lesson, rather than join in, which made him a little sad!

Due to not being able to participate in the PE lesson, Daniel missed a special appearance from a local athletics scout, Mr Bryson. Mr Bryson apparently trained young hopefuls to be better than they thought they could be; but Daniel couldn’t even attempt to show him anything about himself and at the end of the class he picked a girl called Casey to be his trainee.

Daniel couldn’t concentrate on any of his other classes that afternoon as he didn’t really like Casey, and was annoyed at himself that she had been picked. If he had just got on the bus yesterday, he would have probably been able to show the talent scout just how good he was and then, maybe, he would have been picked instead?

After moping home and throwing his bag on the sofa, Daniel slouched into the armchair and switched on the TV. Nothing which was any good was on for a while yet, but in about fifteen minutes he would need to decide when to have his dinner. If he had it now, then he would be able to watch the hospital drama; but miss the robot programme later on. On the other hand, if he saved his dinner until later, he could watch the robot programme instead.

Eat Dinner Now – Chicken Soup

Watch the robot programme – I Love Robots

(Change decision – Get off / stay on bus)

Don’t Tell Him

As the doors opened, Daniel knew that he only had a couple of seconds to make his decision about whether to get off the bus or not. He watched as the doors started to close at his stop, wondering if staying on the bus was a good decision or not?

As he thought about this, he turned around to see the strange man looking out of the window, seemingly without a care in the world. He took this opportunity to whisper to the driver that he was being followed. The driver had clearly been in this kind of