Chapter 1: In which a child almost dies

The unfortunate reality of parents is that many are pushed into it before they're even done growing up.

They try so admirably for the young people they are, but eventually through the years, they plant their insecurities into each child. 

This was the case for Martin Green and Bethany Rhodes. Martin asked Beth if she would marry him when she was 19, and he was 20. 

Their apparent lack of maturity never occurred to either of them until they moved in together, and discovered they didn't much like being adults.

Faced without a way to de-age themselves, they did the next best thing: have a child to project their innocence on.

They hubristically named and gendered the child after the manner of the New Testament, a little collection of books everyone seemed to take very seriously.

They named him Matthew, and taught him the best they could, given the circumstances. The circumstances weren't very good.

 

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"did you know that there are millions of people in the world who have a fear of heights? it's really nothing to be ashamed of."

Matthew struggled to respond, probably because he was at the top of a 30 foot tree, waiting for his turn to take the zipline. His face was nearly white as he clung to the ladder.

"Why did I even do this?" He thought back at his imaginary friend.

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"you know, it's kind of rude to keep calling me imaginary. and i thought you were doing this to have fun," his mind thought back at him.

He climbed the last few rungs, to stand behind his cousin. They were at a family reunion, and some jerk in the family had decided to buy them all passes to a zipline.

He looked at another of his cousins grabbing the bar to jump off, looking away only as she did.

 "I'm sorry Ezra, this doesn't seem much like fun to me," he thought, being sure not to actually speak. Speaking to himself would be a quick way of making all his family think he was weirder than they already thought he was.

The cousin in front of him stepped up to the edge. Her name was Danielle, and she'd always been nice to Matt. She was part of what had convinced him to come on this hell-ride. Maybe Matt should trust her less after this. After a canned spiel from the zipline worker, she jumped. His stomach lurched, seeing her fly down with only her arms holding her aloft.

And then it was his turn. 

After a short "please don't die" from Ezra, and a slightly longer explanation from the zipline worker, he jumped.

Or he would have, except his nausea chose that moment to spike, and he found himself on the floor of the treehouse platform, retching his guts out. 

He vaguely heard someone behind him say "ew" and he passed out, falling off the tree in the process.