“The Portal Ring”

Having a family is a dream for many people. The thoughts of coming home everyday after a long hard day of work to a loving family is a wish to be fulfilled. Making something that you’ve built from love is a blessing, and thats what a child is. Putting all hope, faith, love, and care into a tiny baby to help them grow into the person who has it all. To someone who people look up to, who has a future, who has a good life. Knowing that there is no such thing as a perfect, you still will try everything in your power to have something as perfect as possible. Someone you always wanted to be, its now the time to try and make that happen. Watching a baby grow, from being born, to crawling, to their first words then to their first foot steps. The moments are precious and are meant to be cherished forever.

When someone has a child they will do anything in their power to keep them from falling, getting hurt, and from losing. Making sure they are always happy and having what they want, when they want it. Even if that means you doing things that you never wish to do but will anyways because you’re doing it for the light of your life. Even though you may not be capable to do so, you’ll still try your hardest to make sure that it will happen. Having a child can change a person forever. The way they think, to the way they do things, to the way they love and see things. Making you finally see the light of the gray years that passed. In the darkest days. The feeling of a full heart, just for a tiny baby. That feeling of having a child will make you happy every second of every day. Even when there are fights, miscommunications, regrets, and tears. Your child will always know where home is.

But what if you aren’t able to have that. The ability to make a love child. You’ll do anything to have the capability of creating a beautiful creature.  You’ll do anything to have that, even if that means taking in someone else's child as your own. Thats how Maria and John saw it. And thats exactly what they did. They wanted a child, no matter the race, the gender, healthy or sick. They’d love it as their own. Never giving up on something that meant so much to them.

John was a Doctor, one of the top plastic surgeons around. He performed over a thousand surgeries, where all were very satisfied. He made enough money a year to help support his small family that he always wished for. He had it all. Because being one of the younger doctors on his field and being very talented at what he did, he was a bit more liked, with his age and his charming looks. Maria on the other hand was not as good looking as John. She didn’t make as much money as he did and wasn’t as liked. The thing is, John didn’t care about her money, he made enough to make both of them stable. He didn't care about her appearance. Looks didn’t matter to John, he was completely fine with Maria’s appearance. The way someone looks shouldn't be the reason to start a relationship with someone its the way you feels towards and about them. Matter of fact, he liked the way she looked, she had a different kind of beauty. The way she spoke gave him chills. Her words grabbed a hold of his heart which made it no longer his, but hers. It was love at first sight for the both of them. The thought of him not being with her broke his heart, he couldn’t imagine life without her. Thats when they finally decided after three years of happy strong marriage, it was time to expand their family with a baby.  

Trying for a few months, many doctor appointments, injections, and tears, it was impossible for the them to ever have a baby. Maria’s body could not stand the what was needed when trying to have a baby. She was devastated, broken down. She tried so hard, did everything in her power she could to try and conceive, but nothing worked. A long month of grieving, barely able to eat, barely able to speak, John finally rose the conversations about adoption. A big responsibility, long process, questions, and wonders. Where they up for it? Caring for another person’s child. Having to face the fact that they are not the child’s birth parents. It was all too much but despite all the fears, they began the process of really being a family. Almost a year being past, the adoption was almost final. John and Maria were now going to be the new parents of a healthy baby boy by the name of Jack. Jack Mask was his name, no one really knew where Mask originated from but they weren’t going to change who Jack really was. Like they said, they’ll love him no matter what. For some odd reason, though the name was different, it fit him. They finally got what they always wished for.  

Everything was great, Jack loved his new home and Maria and John loved being parents. As time flew by and Jack was growing from a baby to a developing boy it was time for Maria and John to start thinking about schooling for Jack. For some odd reason, Jack wasn’t as comfortable with other children, not comfortable with people in general. There wasn’t a problem with family because they knew Jack since he was a baby, but you couldn’t bring different people around Jack because nothing ever turned out right. He would spaz out, shouting, kicking, crying, and no one knew what to do to stop him. The only way for Jack to really calm down is to get the people he saw as strangers out of his presence. Maria and John didn’t know what to do anymore, it was either bring new people around Jack and hear him scream and shout or it was having no communication with anyone when it come to Jack having to meet new people. After several doctors appointments to see if anything was actually mentally wrong with Jack, but there wasn’t. After a few weeks of John and Maria consulting about their son about school there was no other choice than to place Jack in homeschool. There were scared about the whole face the thoughts everything not working out right enough to keep Jack in home school because he didn’t have the ability to stay focus, or the ability to memorize things that he’d learn and then recap by doing a project or taking a test. But all they could do was try. At first, John and Maria didn’t know how to homeschool Jack, they both worked. While John was performing surgeries, Maria was cleaning houses so who was going to teach Jack. Thank god that Maria’s sister Jamie somehow joined into the conversation and suggested to John and Maria that she could homeschool Jack while they are at work with his cousin Alex. They seemed to get along well since they are around the same age and understood each other, agreeing with aunt Jaime to homeschool Jack Mask, the situation of schools was no longer a problem.

Everything seemed to be working out fine, Jack was doing better in school then John and Maria expected, he averaged out in grades as a’s and b’s which is good enough for them. Alex and Jack seemed to get really close as they began to see each other everyday for school. But the only thing is that Alex was loud and outspoken where Jack was always the shy one who kept to himself and came to a whisper when he actually spoke once in a while. John and Maria seemed to be okay with the fact that Jack was shy and to himself most of the time. He was comfortable with who he was and that is all that matters. One day while Jack and Alex were at school, Alex suggested to do a project about halloween because of it being early October, he liked the idea. Jaime being okay with that she gave a project of researching about any halloween character and then make them with some type of arts and crafts. Alex did no what he wanted to do at first, he was stuck between a ghost, a which, or a vampire. Where Jack did know what to do his project on. He never really went out for halloween except once but something bad happened and Maria and John never let that happened again, but that was when Jack Mask was only one years old, so he doesn’t remember anything that happened that day. John and Maria don’t like to talk about it so they try to keep it in the past. Jack always had a thing for people in colorful mask, dark clothes with bright ascents, with velvet material. He was looking up different types of monsters that are “seen” around halloween time. He came across some type of monster that caught his eye immediately. It was called the “joker mardi gra monster”, this monster was all that Jack loved. Searching up pictures of this creature, Jack fell in love with the whole look. He began researching about this mysterious creature. He researched day and night, and when he wasn’t he would draw pictures of the monsters. One picture he drew that his mother found was a family of these “people”, she was a little curious but she didn’t ask Jack about it because she understood he was a young boy and was exploring in his own ways. In the drawing, there was tiny words spread around the paper, but in a way to understood what it said in a sentence. “I will come home soon.” Maria didn’t understand what it meant, she just thought he was playing but thats when everything started to change.

Jack would stay in his room on the computer he received for his school work, he would sit up all day and all night on this computer. One day while Maria had off from work she went into Jack’s room to see what was going on while he was at school and went into his history just to see what he has been looking up all this time. The history list was full of google searches saying, “what am I going threw?”, “Feathers growing from my face”, “Body suit growing from nowhere”, “Joker”, “Mardi gra”, “Monster”. She was confused and didn’t know what to do or say. She questioned on whether or not this is just a stage her son was going through or something serious. But because Jack didn’t approach her with anything, so she thought is was best to just leave it alone.

The next day it seemed like everything was changing about Jack, his appearance, his mood, his voice, everything. Being new parents, Maria and John thought he was just going thru an early stage of puberty or something along those lines. But it wasn’t, it was something way more than that. The next morning Jack went down to the kitchen to get breakfast, he was thinking about either cereal or pancakes, walking into the kitchen and saying “good morning” to his mother there was a loud smash of a plate and a horrible scream that came from his mothers mouth.

“Jack, you scared me, why do you have that ugly mask and outfit on? Where did you

get that at?” Maria said while cleaning up the broken dishes.

Jack’s father ran down the stairs in alarmed from hearing the bloody scream;

“Whats going on down here? Maria why’d you scream like that, is everything okay?” John said while trying to catch his breath.

“Look at the costume your son has on!”

Jack then turned around facing his father in confusion,

“What costume? I have no costume on, what are you talking about?” Jack said while slamming his hand on the counter in anger.

“Where did that come from Jack, get that off before you give your mother a heart attack, I fix faces not hearts.”

Jack finally went to the mirror in the living room to see what his mother and father was talking about. Being a little hesitant to look in the mirror to see what they were talking about he finally gain the courage.

“No, its happening! Why me? Why mom why?” Jack screamed while tears were streaming down his face.

“What do you mean sweetie? Just take the outfit off, you’ll be fine, here I’ll help.” Maria said while smiling coming getting close to Jack.

“Stay away mom, please I don’t know what can happen to you if you touch me, don’t even look at me!” Jack screamed and cried crawling backwards to get away from his mother.

Jack knew this was going to happen soon enough, he thought it was just some stages but it was real. It was like all those dreams that he had. He became what we was researching, as joker mardi gra monster. From all of the research that was done he found out that these type of monsters as well as many others come from a place called Halloween World. Its a place like Earth but is different in a way where they have monsters instead of humans. They sip on witches brew instead of wine. They eat worms and cow eyeballs instead of spaghetti and meatballs. They are all around different from what a human is and does. But to get to Halloween World you can’t just take a plane there or drive a car, in order to get into that world you need to find the portal that leads the right way into the element. Unless you actually know where this portal is you can not find it until you are giving the ring of worlds by someone who actually lives in Halloween World.

Jack told his mother and father everything he knew about what he was now and the place he had came from. It was hard for him to everything out so he went to grab his computer to show his parents a video he found about the type of monster he is now. Though it was all so much to take in, they had to except their son for who he was now. They were still going to love him like how he was before all of this happened to him.

Months past by and Jack didn’t go to school anymore, it was all too much to take in and hold. So during the day he would continue to research how to go over to the Halloween World to see where he really came from. Why his real parents gave him up. And what he has to do to go back to a normal ten year old boy. Not having to wear this colorful, feather, shiny mask every day without taking it off. Not being able to remove this suit that was now his new skin. He wanted to know so much about himself from what he knows already. He knew that the only way from him to know everything is until he gets to the other world. He needed that ring.

Today was the day that everything was going to happen, Jack was going to get his ring, he was going to cross over to the other world and see what he really came from. Who he came from and why’d they let him go. The day was October 31st, halloween and Jack’s life is about to change. But Jack, Maria, nor John knew what was going to go on. Maria and John finally agreeing on letting Jack out for halloween again since he’s older and he actually wanted. Jack was going out trick-or-treating with his cousin Alex then after treating for all their candy to rot their teeth, they were going to go carve pumpkins at Alex’s house. Alex was going to be a mummy, he was so excited because his costume actually looks pretty real. Jack on the other hand can’t change his costume because it wasn’t a costume it was his real skin. Only because of how unique it was and how much it resembled halloween, he was okay with wearing it and going out.

While getting ready at Jack’s house he started to feel weird, like a sick feeling.

“Ahhhhh, ohhhh, ugh, ow,” Jack cried then falling to the floor.

“JACKY, are you okay? Whats wrong? Want me to go get your mom?” Alex said with a panic.

“I just don’t feel that well, I’ll be fine just give me a second.” Jack said while holding on hand on his stomach and the other over his purple lips.

Jack didn’t know what was going on. To him, it felt like someone was twisting his already twisted intestines. Like someone was holding and not letting go of them, holding them like they were trying to save themselves from falling in a body of water with sharks. After a half and hour or so Jack felt completely fine. It was weird. One minute he was in complete pain but the next he was completely fine. It didn’t make sense but now that it was gone, he was not even going to question it. Jack finished “getting ready” and it was time to leave and explore the world for the first actual time by himself, well with his cousin Alex. After Maria and Jamie being good mothers and telling their children what and what not to do they finally let them off to get their candy. So many things were running through Jack’s head and not knowing if it meant anything important or was it just a state of fear. He couldn’t put in words what he was feeling inside. There was a mix of emotions running through Jack Mask. The one step out of his front door and it all hit him. Reality hit him hard in the face and he knew where he had to be. Not with these type of people who he really is not. Not these people who are nothing like him. He needed to find a way to get back to where he really belonged, he needs that ring, but where does he find it at? Then he started to remember everyone who put a good impression on his life. His caring father who took him in, his loving mother who even though she didn’t give birth to him she still cared for him as his own. He thought about the two people who didn’t judge him at all when helping him grow and become better, his aunt Jaime and cousin Alex. Alex, his only friend. He could just up and leave Alex alone, that was his best friend. He loved Alex to death and would never want to hurt him but it was either the change to see where he come from or staying with the family that took him in. Cared for him. Fought for him to be theirs.

Jack try to put all the emotions and thoughts behind him to try and make the best  out of have some fun with his cousin. Trick-or-treat to get all the candy a kid could ever wish for. Walking down the street with Alex, Jack looked back and glanced at his house for one of the last times ever, turning back around to find a tear rolling down his face.

The boys were out trick-or-treating for only about a hour or so and their bags were filled to the brim. A ton of people ran up to them to complement how amazing their outfits were. They were pretty happy about what they have received for the night so they decided to head home.

“Alex im not feeling that good so I think I’m just going to go home instead of your house to carve pumpkins, we can just do it tomorrow after lunch!” Jack said while holding his stomach.

“Okay just have aunt Maria call my mom and we can do that and make sure you have you mom check your candy before you eat it, you know, just to make sure everything is safe,” Alex said with eye glaring onto his big bag of candy. Both walked the separate ways to their own houses without looking back.

Jack finally got to his house, waiting a few minutes to enter the house he looked at him candy bag and notice something. It was a shiny red rock sticking out in the middle or the candy that he received.

“What the hell is this?” Jack said to himself while reaching down into the bag to retrieve the mysterious item.

Jack eyes opened wide with his mouth following, it was a ring. Could it be the ring he needed to get the Halloween World. Sticking the ring in his pocket and then walked in the house like nothing ever happened.

“Hello sweetie, how was it? Did you have fun with Alex?” Maria said with a large smile on her face fixing a little snack for Jack.

“Good mom, I had a lot of fun, I’m not that hungry so I don’t need my snack, actually my tummy is hurting a little bit I think I’m going to go lay down and try to sleep.” Jack said while holding his stomach with both hands.

“You didn’t eat any candy did you sweetie, you know i'm suppose to check every piece to make sure everything is okay with it.”

“No mom I just think I ate something earlier to mess up my tummy.” Jack said while throwing the bag on the floor and running up stairs.

Jack ran to his room closing the door fast but silent. He didn’t want to worry anyone in the house with a loud bang. He went right in his pocket to examine the ring with a closer eye. He pulled it out and and as soon and his eye hit the ruby that was on the ring it glowed. Bright lighting up the whole room with a red foggy light. There was a bang in his closet randomly with a beep, there was silence after that. Jack jumped up and went to his closet door to see what was going on in there. He took a moment to gain the confidence to open the door. After thinking of what could be in there he finally opened the door. There was now a blueish purple light that was shining. There was a swirl or different colors just hovering over his shoe rack with a an inscription on the wall. It looked like scribbles but for some reason he was able to read it right away. “Once you come, you can never go!”, Jack finally found the portal that leads the the Halloween World. He knew that it was either a choice of staying with the family who took him in as his own, continue to be freak in the world or “normal” or go and explore where he really came from. Thoughts were running through his head and tears were running down his face, he didn’t know what to do.