The Tumultuous Travels of Thomas Drabble 0: The Origin of the Ink Boy

Rachel King sat at her desk with a clean notebook and a full inkwell, fully prepared to create the greatest adventure in modern history.

In impressive, swirling letters, she wrote “The Dangerous Journey of Justin Worthy” at the top of the first page. Underneath the title, she scribbled all of the qualities that she believed a true hero should possess — courage, sharp wit, passion, brute strength, handsome features, strong leadership, and dozens of other features and skills — leaving nothing in the still nearly-full inkwell but an abundance of curiosity and a touch of superstition.

Her mind raced as she imagined all of the adventures that Justin Worthy would experience. He would fight dragons and warlocks, climb dangerous mountains and cross violent oceans. It all seemed so serious. She decided that he would need a sidekick to keep things light.

As her eyelids gained weight, her handwriting became sloppier. She was only three letters into “madcap companion” before she succumbed to sleepiness and collapsed onto her desk.

It was in that moment that the child that was never meant to be — the Ink Boy known as Thomas Drabble — was born. Rachel King, pen still in hand, knocked the nearly-full inkwell off of her desk, spilling the abundantly curious, slightly superstitious non-hero onto her bookshelf.

The Ink Boy slid through many of his creator’s favorite stories before he reached the floor. Along the way he attempted to help Winston Smith stand up to Big Brother, he tried to catch an enormous marlin with old Santiago, he feared the rundown bootheels of Randall Flagg, and rejoiced as he witnessed a group of young wizards vanquish He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

At the end of his journey, he narrowly missed the waste basket that contained the rest of Rachel King’s failed creations, and spilled onto the floor where he was born into the real world. Looking in on the crumpled, broken heroes-that-never-were hurt his newly-beating heart, and even his abundant curiosity wasn’t enough to keep him in that room.

Thomas Drabble crept out just as Rachel King began to stir. When she awoke, she looked down in disgust at the triteness of last night’s great hero. She crumpled him up and threw him away.

Unfortunately for Thomas, it never occurred to his creator that crumpled, broken heroes often become the most dangerous villains. Early that next morning, King left for a month-long book tour. She never emptied the waste basket.