My mind was all a blur… I couldn’t see anything clearly… I could barely remember that a brute hurt mom…
A trail of blood ran from my bed and out beneath the door to my room, looked like footprints. My sheets were stained too. As I got out of bed, I must have kicked a bullet or two from the bed onto the floor, this was creepy.
On my desk there was a small, torn off piece of paper. Of course, this too had a few drops of blood on it. The writing on it was in lipstick, “I like you” and a cute little heart. Only one thing can make something like that… Girls… But how the hell did a message of this caliber reach my desk? And why? Nobody liked me anymore, save for my parents.
I put down the piece of paper, pulled on some clothes, went downstairs. It’s still dark outside, as well as inside. As I pass the living room I notice the TV is on. Uncle Snowen and some guy with white hair were watching the news.
That’s when I suddenly saw my face in the headline. “Only few hours ago, 14 year old Joon Fredrik Storm ran amok in the ritual-pit. His mother was too fight Zehn Kilm in a trial of bloodright because of Joon’s slaughter of the council’s children.” The footage were shocking as well… They caught it all on tape. How I jump into the pit, then as I run I turn into a huge beast. “The authorities doesn’t dare to go deeper into the apprehension of either Joon or Xeni Storm, due to recent terrorist-actions,”
Uncle Zaz laughed as the reporter said the last bit. “What exactly did you do?” the guy with the white hair asked him. “I dyed their uniforms pink, rigged their coffemachines with laxatives and did a little bit of plumbing…” Uncle Zaz chuckled. “Plumbing?” silver-hair asked. “Reversed the flush…”
“Snowen, my good friend,” the silver-haired took a sip from a can “You’re nothing but a big child, are you?”
“You know,” Zaz said “The kid would have died if you didn’t zoom Falcon over here… Ain’t that right, Fredrik?”
My light feet were no match for Zaz’ senses…
Silverhair turns around. Then suddenly jumped over the couch and kneeled down to me. “Are you in pain, my child?” His black fur made his hair and teeth even whiter. “No…” I answered a bit uncertain. He produced a white handkerchief from one of many pockets inside his leather-trenchcoat. He pressed it hard against my chest after pulling up my t-shirt. “What in God’s name did you give him?!”
Uncle Zaz quickly turns around “Oh, fuck!”
Before I knew it, I was pinned down on the couch. I didn’t understand what was going on, but as soon as Silverhair moved his hand away from my chest, I saw his handkerchief was dripping with blood…
“His wound has sealed up…” he says.
“Where’s mom?” I couldn’t help but ask. “She’s out with your dad. They’ve been gone ever since we got you back home,” Zaz says.
“Who the hell is this?” I point to the guy with white hair. “Mind your tongue, child…” he sighs. “It might be appropriate to introduce myself… I am Jusuf Serem, a good friend of your father,”
He felt a bit different than anyone else. There was an inexplicable purity and goodness surrounding him… He had a tiny crucifix around his neck, that kind of tipped me off what profession he had. The doorbell rang. Uncle Zaz had an odd habit of hiding guns virtually anywhere in the house.
With a Desert Gryphon in hand he carefully opened the door.
He quickly lowers the gun and says “Sure, come on in…” in a mild tone.
My eyes were a bit blurry. I was nauseous too…
Apparently, angels made house-visits. The name of this one, was Zil…
“Is he alright…?” I heard the sweet sound of her voice coming closer, alongside uncle Zaz’ affirming words.
I smile at a face hanging over me… She couldn’t help but notice my red shirt. It obviously disturbed her, so I took it off.
This must be the first time I’ve ever seen a girl have problems finding words. “How is your mother?” she eventually said. “I don’t know…”
The three most used words among school-youth…
“Where are your-eh… wings?” Hadn’t she asked me that question, I wouldn’t have missed them… “I don’t know…”
I didn’t know much… Period.
“Does your parents know you’re here?” Zaz couldn’t bare to leave simple details be. “No… I snuck out…” But even the slightest detail could make the world collapse. “Are you aware of what danger that might put us in?” Zaz sighs. She was mute.
“Don’t worry too much, kid… I am here,” He grins and winks at me, then walks over to a window.
“What did he mean by that?” Zil asks me. “You don’t wanna know…” I answer.
“Someone’s screwing with your bike, Jusuf,” Zaz says. Jusuf’s trenchcoat flaps like wings as he dashes out to his bike. The trenchcoat had a beautiful cross embroidered on the back, a shining silver contrary to the smooth, black leather. Much like his hair and fur.
I never knew priests were allowed to use such language like Jusuf did right then and there… And he told me to mind MY tongue…
“Why did you come here?” I asked Zil. “Well-eh… I-eh… Like you…”
“So… You wrote that little…?” “Aha…”
Uncle Zaz put on a small headset and started talking to someone.
Zil was still a bit nervous, but I’m pretty sure I was ten times as shaky as her. “Well…” My heart was coming out of my mouth “I like you too…”
This was either the start of something wonderful, or the further progress of something awful.
“Pack some clothes, Fredrik,” Zaz said out of the blue “We have to move away for the moment…”
He didn’t seem to happy about it.
“When will you be back?” Zil asked a bit confused. Uncle hangs his head and sighs. “The day Beta-Storm gets his way…”
Zil turned to me. “What does that mean?”
I was pretty choked up, as I knew that it would never happen. I didn’t answer.
“You’ll come back, right?”
This was probably the worst thing I could say but… “I promise,”
My life was turning into a soap-opera; Relationships, promises, lies…
There was a certain amount of false hope in her eyes, it was clear she knew she was in for a long wait. Poor girl… Poor me… I could never forgive myself for that promise.
“Go outside and Jusuf will take you home,” Zaz tells Zil.
To burden my soul even further, she kissed me… On the lips even…
That little slice of heaven would surely haunt my dreams until the end of time…
“Bye…” She said, and forced a smile. I knew she wanted to cry, even I wanted to… Big boys don’t cry… I was no boy anymore!
From the window, I saw the last of her. I know it was a bit of a distance, but as she put the helmet on, I know I saw a tear hit the ground. She turned and waved at me as she got on the hover-cycle. Jusuf strapped on some goggles then fired up the beast. I just couldn’t watch her disappear into the distance.
Packing clothes was a bit less depressing. Seeing the class-photo on top of the pile in my backpack was not…
I lugged my pack downstairs. “The time has come, Fredrik,” Uncle Zaz says “Get undressed,” “Why?” I doubted my uncle’s sanity. “To fit into your suit,” he smiles like a sinister crook. He leads me to the basement, to a room I never was allowed to enter. Before now…
The walls were adorned with tools and machineguns, sub and heavy.
In the middle of it all, there were three strange metal piles. “Suit up, soldier,” I got a black suit in my face. There were no openings on the suit. I examined it thoroughly, then suddenly it melted onto my body.
Zaz ripped a few weapons of the wall, gave me two silenced SMG’s.
“Action!” The piles of metal rose up, into what looked like fluorescent green skeletons.
Before I knew what was happening, uncle Zaz had stabbed a syringe into my back, then two more followed shortly. My sight turned white for what I thought was a second. Next thing I knew, I was inside one of the metal-skeletons. I felt stronger than ever…
“Right…” Zaz said “Your awake. Take these skeletons a trip to Rasha’s Park, and meet your parents there. They will know what to do when you meet them. Got that?” “Uhm… Yes… Sir…?”
Zaz smiled as I called him Sir.
“I’ll take your stuff, so don’t worry.”
“Where’s Eve?” Details, details…
“Resting…”
I was apparently in the army now… Oh well…
The skeleton was a sort of movement amplifier, I guess. Fitted like a glove, and carried it’s own weight, and more.
Zil’s house was along the way to Rasha’s Park, so I stopped to look for a minute… I saw her looking out of the window. I activated a built-in laser-projector, then burnt into the pavement the undying words;
“I WILL RETURN”
In the park, I found mom and dad. They seemed so happy together…
They saw me and the two skeletons. The skeletons walked over to them and opened up. In no time at all, they were ready to go. I had a feeling they had operated things like this before.
We didn’t say a word. Dad knew our destination, and my skeleton followed him automatically. The running speed of these mechanic wonders were three times that of a man, but when in some “combat-matrix” or whatever dad said over the radio, the speed is three times that of a bullet…
We ran along the roads, those who might be looking out their windows or happened to be outside were in for one hell of a surprise…
The fluorescent green metal drew attention away from who was inside, and the “head-lights” could really scare the shit out of anyone.
I’m not sure why Zaz armed us so heavily, cause I was yet to see resistance. I could hear the roar of Jusuf’s hover-cycle coming closer, and a high pitched “scream”.
I stopped and looked behind me.
I guess it was a tank… A hover-tank. There weren’t many who could qualify as owners of such high-tech equipment. And only one guy I knew was most likely to possess something that destructive.
We got across the border…
Nothing came in our way. I didn’t know if it was a good sign or a bad sign.
All I knew was that we were safe.
For now at least…