Chapter One: “Call me Allen”

Pilot;-
“How could this be?” thought Allen. It was 10 years ago that he stood at the same spot and swore that he would never set foot in that place again. No, this was not a castle or a restaurant or a mystical religious joint. It was Woodbridge High School. It was his kindergarten Alma Mater. It was the same place he learned that the world is a cruel place and that education is not the least of what is taught in schools. As he passed the huge Iron gates, he could not help but think of the times he spent there. Most of them spent thinking and envisioning of the time when he’d be free of that ‘God forsaken’ place.
But today, he was there by his own wish and by his own choice. In fact he had to fight to be there, he had taken risks the consequences of which he was fully aware and apprised of by his seemingly concerned parents & friends. He had left all that was known to him, all that was familiar, all that was just and right- all for a shot at being at a place he swore he’d never go. It forced him to think and rehash all the events which had brought him there.
To understand the mind of Allen, one has to understand the mind of the Youth. It is the period of life in which anything seems possible, everything is plausible. Everything is either black or white. Grey is a concept not yet fathomed or dreamt of.
Allen had it all. He was the first-born to a relatively well to do couple who until a few years back lived in the suburbs where he had place to “play” and grow. He was not spoiled but suffices to say, he had never seen hardships as well. His family abided by a very strict moral code which he had fully and completely adopted and practiced to the level of annoyance to his fellow mates. His views brimmed of precociousness and reeked of naiveté. He had grown up too soon for his age. Allen was bought up to believe that to be anything worthwhile in life one had to excel academically, because in the book of ‘the world’ by his father there was no place for mediocrity. Allen was an average student. Oh! Who are we kidding? Allen barely managed to pass in a few subjects. He was lucky to clear Junior High let alone being near the Average. He was the embodiment of failure to his parents and to himself. He had it all but he had nothing. His mortal weakness, his Achilles’ heel was his illegible ‘Hand-writing’; the Age of computers was yet to be heralded. It was as if all he was worth was worth nothing in the current system of academia. He had worked hard, too hard in fact. He had given it his mind body and soul. It was then when he got his board results that he realised that for all his wisdom and for all his effort he was below average. Below expectations. Worthless. It was then that he decided that since he had lost all he had and had gone down without a fight, there was only one way to go; up. He had decided that it was time to him to reinvent himself, and do what he feared most; go back to “Woodbridge High”.
Assured once more of all his reasons to be there and for his personal crusade against the world, Allen walked on the soil he swore he’d never walk again.