Paddie's book (name tbc)

[Paddie paw]

Here I will post small sections from a book I am writing. Tell me what you think of it andwhere it could be better!

“What is reality?” asked the philosophy teacher to a class of eleven pupils. They were hemmed into a small, dark and damp classroom where the only rays of light that hit the dusty wooden desks penetrated through a large but dirty Victorian window. Lights filled the rest of the room with light but they only revealed the amount of dust which was clogging the air. “Reality can be described as what your senses tell you. For example you can touch this table, you can see it, you can smell the polish covering it, you can hear the solid oak when you tap it with your hand and lastly I’m sure you can taste it if you took a bite out of it although I wouldn’t recommend it.” The class gave a half hearted giggle before returning to trying to understand what the teacher was saying, “However all our senses send information to our brains but our brains can interpret this information differently. Our brain, which is our perception, says this is a table but is it? For all we know we could be living in the matrix, our Brains interpreting information not from our senses but information given to us by a computer.” At that moment the bell rang, “Oh is it that time already, I must of lectured to you again, well anyway for homework I would like you to watch the Matrix and try and understand the philosophy about reality behind it.” When she spoke the class erupted with a small buzz of excitement. I wish I got more homework like this!” shouted one boy. A few minutes later the class room was empty leaving the teacher to sigh in relief and munch on her chocolate bar.

“Wait up!” shouted a girl, a boy in his teens turned around, “C’mon I’m hungry don’t be so slow!” he replied cheekily, “Yeah whatever!” she retorted. They walked around the languages building and were heading towards the canteen when four boys approached him. “Oi you!” one of them shouted, “What now Zack?” asked the boy with frustration while the girl tugged on his hand to try and get him to walk away. “Alex...I’ve been waiting for you. We’re not very happy about your little scheme.” Said Zack calmly but with a small evil grin on his face, “Oh you’re still not moody about that are you?” asked Alex, “You challenged me and you lost, face it. You can’t bully me anymore!”
“Just watch me!” claimed Zack, “I’ve had it with your ‘perfect ways’ we all know you’re a dirty cheat.”
“Maybe you’re just thick and can’t get high scores on your work which in turn makes me look good,” commented Alex. “No Alex don’t get into this again!” screamed the girl into his ear. Alex just gave her a reassuring glance and started to circle Zack. A passerby saw the situation and immediately screamed, “Fight!” Suddenly the whole courtyard was full of teenagers straining to try and get a decent look of the fight to come. “Fine let’s do it.” Muttered Alex. The girl backed off into the crowd and Zack stepped towards him. “I’m going to enjoy this!” shouted Zack who threw a punch at Alex. Alex nimbly dodged his attack and parried another blow. Alex then hit the nearing six foot blonde haired boy in the chest sending him to the back of the circle. The crowd helpfully held Zach upright and pushed him back into the ring. Zack tried again but none of his blows connected, not even a sneaky kick posed a threat to Alex who was almost dancing around him. Alex struck again but this time into Zack’s face. A small crunch was heard and the crowd gasped as a torrent of blood flowed from his nose. Zack tried once more grabbing Alex and pushing him hard to the other side of the ring formed by teenagers who were now screaming with excitement. Zack then shouted, “Now!” More gasps filled the air as they watched a tennis racquet crash into Alex’s head from one of the boys behind him. Alex fell limp to the floor. The screams of excitement quickly turned to fear and the horde of students fled the scene in a rush, stumbling and crying along the way.

“Who is this boy?” asked the doctor as he ran up to the ambulance. “He is Alexander with no surname,” muttered the paramedic. The doctor looked up at the paramedic with a small hint of confusion, “He is an orphan...anyway, he was found in this condition at the local state school. He has gone into shock and has stopped breathing, I’ve given him fifty milligrams of adrenaline and he is responding to it.”
“Quick get him into surgery we need to stabilise the bleeding!” ordered the doctor as they unloaded the boy from the ambulance.

“That’ll be two-fifty,” Said the cashier of a convenience store to a wealthy looking business man in a suit. The business man paid for the newspaper and walked out of the shop. He sat down on a bench at the train station and began reading.

Confusion!
Doctors are astonished when a sixteen year old boy, who had very little chance of surviving, regained consciousness from a serious injury and a few hours later disappeared without a trace from St Helens hospital. After further analysis the trauma to the head that he had suffered had caused him major brain damage and as a consequence he has forgotten how to talk. Doctors are worried that he is a threat to himself and to others unless he is brought back to a place where medical supervision is available. More on this story on page 5.

Many weeks passed and the search for Alex was called off and he was presumed dead...

Footsteps were heard crashing through the mud in the outskirts of the forest. A young man and his dog frantically darted around the trees holding a few freshly killed chickens. He was quickly followed by a few older men who were in hot pursuit. A gunshot sounded scaring the birds into hysterics, darkening the area as the sky filled with panicked birds attempting to flee. Soon the forest was quiet and all that could be heard was the angry cries of vengeance and the panting of the dog. A few minutes had passed and the boy glanced back at the men, he saw one cock his gun and aim. The boy held his hands, accompanied with a shriek born from shock, in front of his face and jumped to the side as the bullet barely missed him and exploded a tree trunk in front of him. He kept on running, his heart racing. His mind was dulled out by the basic instinct of survival and he ran on the endless amounts of adrenaline that was coursing through his veins. The fleeing boy looked once again at the pursuers and took slight comfort to the fact that they seemed to be tiring.

Soon the land became thick with large trunks of the trees. The men with the guns gave up the chase and they started walking back to the farm with anger and frustration as they had not caught the thief. The boy, who was hiding up a tree with his dog, sighed with relief and he hopped off, landing elegantly onto his feet. He handed one of the chickens to the dog and he patted it on the head while it tore the chicken to pieces. He then lit a fire using various sticks and stones and put the remaining two chickens, after being plucked and gutted, on a makeshift spit. The boy, who now glowed with amber light from the fire in the failing sun, smiled at the dog who was staring hungrily at the meat. As day turned into night the boy retreated up onto a low branch and sat there eating while he laughed as the dog struggled to follow him. The dog looked up at him and whimpered so the boy tore off some chicken and dropped it down to the dog. He promptly fell asleep on the branch, his legs and arms hanging off either side.