Chapter 30.

Funeral.

Damien Reyes/Jason Cole.

Time/Area: July 21st [5 days later], 2013. NYC

PERSPECTIVE: JASON COLE

I tried to keep the tears from my eyes as I checked the mirror above our double sink.

We were both looking at ourselves in the bathroom reflection, trying to adjust our black suits and red ties before the… funeral.

Damien was to my left, looking down at his sink bowl in an obvious effort to conceal his own emotions.

I sighed, trying to focus on the bow tie that was giving me trouble, trying to keep myself together, trying to keep all thoughts of my parents away.

It was dumb, since this was the day I was supposed to ‘commemorate’ them, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want to feel the pain anymore.

But I couldn’t keep their faces out of my mind. They were smiling..together.

They had just started to work out their issues, I had the most amazing girlfriend, and my family was actually acting like one..

And then, out of nowhere, my life gets flipped upside down?

It wasn’t fair to me!

It wasn’t fair at all!

Without thinking, I tossed the bow-tie to the side, watching it land into Damien’s sink.

I cursed under my breath, which I was now getting used to doing, while reaching into the bowl to pull it out.

Damien’s voice stopped me,

“Jason,” He breathed. This was the first time he had spoken all morning.

His dark brown eyes were easy to read: Calm down.

I looked back at my mirror as he grabbed the bow tie from the sink and handed it to me.

No more words were spoken as I tied it.

Once I finished, there was a brief pause in all motion.

We were probably running late as it was, but tardiness wasn’t all a concern for me. But, as the last five days had painfully sewn in my mind, life didn’t wait for anything.

I glanced at Damien. He had shifted back to his fixed gaze upon the mirror, eyes not all there.

“Damien,” I cleared my throat, “W-we should get going.”

No response. It was like he was reliving that day at the hospital over and over again.

I frowned.

I wondered what it was like for him right now. I wondered how much worse he must be feeling. Throughout the past couple of days, I had heard him speaking to himself randomly, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit scared. Not of him, but for him. It didn’t take a neurosurgeon to know that having an eight foot monster’s…soul in your brain wasn’t healthy, especially when that monster murdered your parents.

It almost made me feel bad for any moping I was doing. Who was I to be sad when he obviously had it much worse?

“I can’t help it,” I thought, “They’re…they were my parents.”

Even the whole superpower thing became less of something I was actually interested in and more of a way to try and make Damien feel better about himself.

I tried again, reaching out to tap Damien’s shoulder, “Dude-”

“What.”

I retracted my arm out of instinct, jumping a little at how fast his neck had turned to face me and how much his voice had changed. The overhead bathroom lights began to sputter and flicker sporadically, causing me to gulp as I stared into Damien’s gaze.

Those were not my best friend’s eyes.

Damien blinked, the room lights instantly reverting back to normal as he exited whatever trance he was in,

“We-we’re going to be late Hermano.” Damien pointed out, heading out the bathroom door like nothing happened.

I followed him outside, deciding not to question it. These kinds of things have been happening a lot lately.

“Where are my dress shoes?” I asked, checking under my bed.

Damien pointed to my closet,

“I thought I saw you put them in there.” He responded, tugging on his own pair.

I quickly walked over to the front of my closet and, seeing them on the floor, pulled them on. They were a tight fit, since I hadn’t gotten new ones since I was in middle school, but I made it work.

When I turned around, Damien was waiting for me by the door, nervously tapping his shoes against the violet carpet.

This had become a common thing for us to do.

Over the last few days, we wouldn’t dare to leave each other alone for more than a couple of minutes.

It was too painful to be left alone.

Too quiet.

The behavior was half for each other and half for ourselves, but we barely ever spoke about it to one another; it just happened. I suppose you don’t question why you breathe.

We both silently walked out of our room, down the staircase, and into the kitchen where we found Auntie M.

She was dressed in the fanciest purple I had ever seen, but it didn’t go well with her red eyes.

Auntie didn’t seem to notice us, as she was wrapped in a photo of my mom.

Her best friend and only sibling.

She liked to pretend that she was unaffected for our sake, but even she couldn’t hide it today. My Aunt didn’t have sons, and my grandmother and father from my mom’s side died when I was four. She was all that was left of my mother’s side of the family. My father had brothers who had plenty of kids. They’d be at the funeral, but I only knew some of them and they weren’t staying in New York. A family friend was coming though, and I was kind of excited to see him. Maybe ‘excited’ wasn’t the right word. Relieved. Yeah, relieved was better.

I wanted to ask when uncle, Auntie’s husband, was coming, but aunt M had already put on her fake smile so there was no point in getting anything real out of her.

“Oh good!” Auntie M exclaimed, “You two look just amazing.”

We both said thank you as she rushed by us, heading towards the front room without another word.

Me and Damien glanced at each other before following her out of the house.

This would be a rough day for everyone.

Damien had explained that after the funeral, we would meet back here with several friends; Selina, her friend Hiru, Mr.Drake, Melissa, etc to lighten up the mood for a bit.

But I didn’t think I would be up for some kind of party after this- Not with everything that was still going on. It wasn’t like that day at the school just hadn’t happened. They were in the city now.

Every once in a while, I would hear a scream from outside the window that didn’t sound...human. Those screams kept me up at night. I didn’t know which were real and which were fake.

It wasn’t the only thing that kept me up though.

It was the monsters, and the thought of my parents. I had looked up tons of stuff about their death, despite Damien’s suggestion not to, in order to find out more about how they died. The plane crash was reported, but my parents’ bodies weren’t even found. At first, I thought they could be alive, but Damien told me to not ‘do that to myself’...whatever that meant.

We stepped out onto the driveway, the cool Monday breeze blowing gently through the morning air as my ears adjusted to New York's newfound silence. This was the only day where I might’ve actually appreciated the quiet. I felt like saying ‘Yeah, that’s right. Let the world shut the heck up for a second. It’s the least it could do.”

Once we got into the van, Mrs.M immediately turned around to face me and Damien in the back.

He eyes were worse than before and her bottom lip was quivering,

“I’m sorry boys,” She stuttered, “Imma have to ride this one in silence.”

With that, she pressed a button on the dash, the tinted, soundproof glass ascending upwards between us.

Once I heard the metallic click of the sheet, I turned to look out the window.

Through the dim reflection, I could see Damien looking at me with concern.

I sighed, turning to face him,

“What is it?” I asked, fiddling with my dark colored cuffs.

Damien just shook his head,

“I know it doesn’t help, but I’m really sorry.” He said.

I shrugged, “It helps when you say it...I’m sorry too.”

Buzz

I turned away from Damien, producing my phone from my pocket.

It was a text from Melissa.

-

Leaving for the Church place now. Hang in there dude ✊.

-

I smiled weakly, typing ‘thanks’ before stuffing the device back into my pocket. We would be having the memorial service at Damien’s church, since the church I went to was further away. The building was called Mercy Foundation and was right off of Bronze street...where the fire had happened.

As we turned onto D’s old street, I couldn’t help but glance at him. He was looking out his window, fully captivated by the sight of his burned down apartment.

Half an hour passed before we pulled into the church’s driveway, both me and Damien taking a deep breath before exiting the van. At the service, a family friend would be the one saying things about my parents. His name was Tony Floyd, but I always called him Uncle Tony. He wasn’t my real uncle, but he was one of the nicest adults out there and was always there for me to talk to when Dad and Mom fought. Damien was always there too, but I don’t know, something about understanding adults was cool. He had just gotten into town when the airport boycott started last week, which only happened because of all the monster sightings.

My parent’s plane crash didn’t help much either.

Uncle Tony was moving here, as he would be my aunt’s partner in running Cole Industries from now on. I couldn’t think of a better set of people than that, so I wasn’t worried about my Family business anymore. Auntie knew what she was doing when it came to business, but It would still be a hard shift from her old pharmacy job to this.

I took a quick glance around the parking- lot, a smile forming on my face as an orange Ferrari pulled up next to us. It wasn’t Uncle Tony, but Melissa had arrived.

---Perspective Swap: Damien Reyes—

A couple of other cars pulled into the driveway shortly after we did, all but one looking extremely expensive.

That car was Mr.Drake’s.

I saw Selina get out of her dad’s white Lamborghini, Immediately making a Beeline for me. She was dressed in an all black blouse with equally black leggings and heels on.

The only things that weren’t black were the iconic streaks in her hair and her matching crystal blue eyes. It was weird seeing her decked out in something besides blue; just one more thing that was changing.

The first thing she did when she got to me was pull me into a hug, which I gladly returned.

I looked into her eyes.

This was the first time we actually talked since the day at the hospital.

“How are you?” She asked, trying a smile.

I tried one too, “Bad.”

“Selina.” Mr Synth said, stepping out of the car, “Let’s head inside.”

We both turned to face him. He seemed a little bit annoyed at us hugging but didn’t say anything.

This was a funeral service after all.

Selina frowned, glancing back at me, “We’ll talk at the reception, okay?”

I nodded, watching her run back to her Dad.

Mr.Synth gave me a sympathetic nod, which was more than I could’ve asked for from him, before disappearing into my church.

Next to the white lambo stood an orange Ferrari from which the Embers came from.

Melissa dashed for Jason, while Draxon Embers just waved towards him.

Though I didn’t know where Melissa’s mom was, or Selina’s for that matter. It was a little weird seeing the Draxon Embers here. Ember Defense had done some pretty awesome stuff according to the news, and they housed like…top secret weapons or something for the government.

I looked back at the van, watching as Mrs.M left the driver’s seat and walked towards me.

“Let’s head on inside Damien..”

She spoke softly, as if I were a piece of glass that was too fragile to be left alone. I slowly nodded in response, choosing to walk by myself into the building.

I walked past the lobby, through the familiar wooden hallways, and into the central auditorium.

Inside the dome-like room, thirteen rows of chairs were aligned horizontally facing the main stage, where a lectern sat in its center.

Selina and her dad were sitting on the far right of the first row of chairs, and I spotted Mr.Drake sitting on the far left.

Upon seeing Mr.Drake, I rushed over and sat next to him. My footsteps echoed off the otherwise quiet interior, the soles of my dress shoes clacking off the thin carpet flooring.

“Damien,” Mr.Drake started, patting my knees as I took a seat, “I’m so sorry man...”

I shook my head and smiled, “Thanks for coming Mr.D.”

Out of every adult that would be attending, he was the most familiar with my parents.

He would also be the one who would say a few words about them in a couple of minutes.

Even with everyone inside the auditorium, only the first and part of the second row were filled.

No, honey, wouldn’t it be better for you to sit around family?

I clutched my ears, feeling a slight burning sensation as a distant sound suddenly became more clear. The same underwater sensation from the hospital plagued me again, the awkward feeling of sound dampening and maximizing at the same time ripping through my brain as I stopped hearing Mr.Drake and began hearing someone else.

I looked back over to the far left set of chairs to see Jason and Mrs.M whispering. Some of what I recognized as his cousins from his dad’s side of the family were also surrounding him.

Jason suddenly looked angry,

He may not be family to you, but he is to me! And he was with Mom and Dad!

Mrs.M frowned but nodded. I could see their lips moving before I heard the actual voices, even though it sounded like they were right next to me.

Alright..just as long as you’re okay.

I shook my head, trying to stop listening as Jason approached my position.

I felt the burning sensation stop just as Jason sat next to me. Mr.Drake had gone back to his quiet wait for the stage to be opened up to him. I wondered what he was going to say…

“Hey,” Jason said, staring at the stage as my pastor got situated at the lectern. Pastor Joseph was a tall, dark skinned man who was built like a tank. Despite his intimidating size though, he was undoubtedly one of the nicest human beings on the planet.

I gave Jason a small smile,

“Uh. Shouldn’t you be sitting with your family?” I asked, glancing back at Mrs.M.

Jason shook his head, “I would, but I didn’t want them staring at me every second.”

“Oh,” I said, not accounting for something like that, “That makes sense.”

Jason sighed, “Plus, you looked really pathetic over here just staring at the ground.”

I let out a laugh, which was rare, “Yeah, I guess we did.”

That was the only good thing about going through the same stuff with someone. You never had to worry about what was too much or not enough, cause all you had to do was ask yourself.

Just then, Pastor Joseph coughed into the microphone, signaling that the service was to begin now.

As the lights dimmed and the stage light brightened, I took a final account of everyone who was here.

On my row sat Mr.Drake, me, Jason, the Embers, Selina, and Mr.Synth.

The second row held an Asian woman, a boy a little older than me who I assumed was her child, A kind looking man who kept staring at Jason, and a couple of friends from both of our families.

I bumped Jason’s shoulder,

“Whose that?” I whispered, nodding towards the second row.

Jason smiled, “Th-that’s Tony Floyd!” He said under his breath, “He’s a family friend.”

I nodded, both of us turning back towards the stage.

I remembered Jason talking about a Mr.Floyd before, but I had never met the guy.

As pastor Joseph started to talk about my parents, Mr.Drake placed his hand on my shoulder, not saying anything but just letting me know he was there.

I had already promised myself not to cry during the Memorial Service, but as the Pastor went on, recounting the many things our family did for the church, It got harder and harder for me to hang on.

“Now, Mr.Clemmons would like to say a few words.” Pastor Joseph closed, nodding towards Mr.Drake.

That was his proper name; Drake Clemmons.

I felt his hand disappear from my shoulder as he stood, quickly making his way up the stage and grabbing hold of the mic.

He started by talking about what he knew about my parents; how they met, their reactions when I was born..

There were some funny parts in what he spoke, which everyone was grateful for, as it helped take away from the morbid tone that shrouded the room.

The last lines of Mr.Drake’s piece really stuck with me,

As Andre always used to say: Be grateful for what you had, live for what you have, and don’t worry about what’s ahead. Cause if you take care of the first two, that should work out just fine!

Fine. Yeah…right.

-

The rest of the Memorial service went pretty smoothly without too many breakdowns.

Tony Floyd spoke a few words about Jason’s parents, then the service was wrapped up with a short sermon from Pastor Joseph.

Right now, everyone was heading towards the lobby exit to prepare for the procession.

In a funeral, generally, after the Memorial service, a thing called a Funeral Procession happens.

Basically, a line of cars follow a Hearse, which carries the caskets, to a grave site for burial.

That line of cars would be where we would be riding.

I stepped out into the parking lot for the second time, eyeing a group of men that had formed outside Melissa’s car.

They were talking to Mr.Draxon, and Melissa stood next to him.

When she caught my confused stare, she rushed over to me,

“H-hey dude.” She said, rubbing her arm.

I, once again, gave a half hearted smile, “Everything okay?”

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

She nodded, waving off the men, “Typically, funeral processions have police escorts, but since my dad is..”

She struggled to find the words,

“..Mister Security himself, I think he wants to make sure that this is safe.”

I slowly nodded back, taking note of their bullet proof vests with the word Ember stitched onto it,

“With Ember Defense guards?” I pointed out, “Seems a little..extreme.”

Melissa chuckled, clearly embarrassed, “I-I tried to tell him not to..but-”

I shook my head, “Oh no,” I stopped her, “It’s totally okay, tell your Dad thanks for me.”

Melissa smiled, “Okay I will,” She said, “See you..at the.. Um- yard place.”

She took off.

I sighed, looking around the parking lot.

Mrs.M had just exited the building.

She was talking to Mr.Floyd and Jason was walking next to him, they seemed to be laughing about the stories Floyd had told.

I smiled, glad that Jason had someone like that in his life. How long would it take for him to die?

Selina and Mr.Synth were sorting everything out with the Hearse driver, and Mr.Drake was walking towards me.

I smiled upon seeing him, “Hey Mr.D.”

Once he was close enough, we locked hands, grabbing upwards then sliding out with a snap.

“You still good little man?” He asked, taking off his glasses and wiping them clean,

“I didn’t make you laugh too hard did I?”

I chuckled, “Which car are you?”

He pointed at a nice looking black sedan, confirming my original guess,

“I’ll be behind Mrs.Mabel...so you.”

I nodded, “Cool, I’ll see you there then.”

Mr.Drake returned my nod, giving me the handshake one last time before trotting off to his car.

“Uh, hello?” A semi-deep voice said from behind me.

I turned around to find a guy that looked to be a little bit older than me. He was a tall Asian boy with dark, wavy hair and was dressed in an all black suit with a blue tie.

He looked nervous for some reason.

I smiled, recognizing him from the second row,

“Hi,” I greeted, extending my hand, “I-I don’t think we’ve met.”

He took my hand and shook it, “My name is Hiru..Hiru knight. You’re Damien Right?”

“Yep,” I replied, both of us dropping our hands.

Hiru coughed,

“Well, I kinda just felt bad..for not knowing..whose funeral I was going to.”

I nodded, realizing that I would probably feel awkward as well,

“Oh, That makes sense.” I agreed, “You’re friends with Selina right?”

“Yep!” Hiru answered, “Ever since she was in kindergarten. My mom is her Dad’s scary advisor.”

“Ah,” I said, glancing towards Hiru’s mom. She was talking with Synth at the moment, Selina at his side.

“I lost my father when I was ten..” Hiru spoke, sadness in his voice, “Losing a parent is hard man..I’m sorry.”

I tilted my head, happy but surprised he had shared this, “Thanks dude.” I whispered, “Sorry about your dad.”

He nodded, “Well, it was cool meeting you.” Hiru said, giving me a smile.

I returned it, “Same here, maybe we could talk more at the reception?”

Hiru nodded, “That’d be great!” He exclaimed, giving me a thumbs up before running to his mom.

“Damien, we mustn't linger for too long dear!” Mrs.M shouted from the van.

I turned and jogged towards the black car, “Oh right right sorry..” I muttered, sliding in next to Jason.

We all watched as cars pulled out in a specific order, a chain slowly beginning to form.

We were second to last, not counting the car with the blinking lights. In front of us was Selina, and behind us was Mr.Drake.

If you’ve ever encountered a Funeral procession on the road, you know how slow the cars drive. It’s respectful to pull over when facing a procession, as if you don’t, you could get a ticket from the police.

Jason and I didn’t say a word to each other as we slowly dragged across the highways.

Instead of making conversation, I turned my attention towards my phone. During the past week, I had turned on notifications from New York Daily, and despite some of the idiots that worked there, they provided the best coverage on the whole monster situation.

My eyes widened, reading the recent news.

The French Armed Forces were calling on the United States Military for support, which, undoubtedly, would put to rest the idea that the monsters actually didn’t exist, Or at least sway the majority to believing that they did.

I sighed, realizing that this wouldn’t be over for a very long time.

From the looks of the article, it didn’t seem like anyone knew that the monsters were directly linked to Energis yet, and our president, Henry Jackson, hadn’t issued a statement yet either.

But honestly, what was he supposed to do?

Acknowledge that we were all utterly screwed and high tail it to Paris?

If anything, our country would probably stay out of it. Maybe we would claim that we needed to protect our own people or we were too fragile as it is.

History was doomed to repeat itself I guess.

Energis was probably doing the best they could to cover up their involvement, but I didn’t see any point in doing so.

I mean, did anything even matter anymore during an apocalypse?

Or were we not at that point yet.

To be honest, I only ever had an idea on what to do during Post Apocalyptic scenarios, not before they happened.

From the looks of the NYD page, that was the biggest event so far.

No confirmed monster sightings had been reported yet, but more and more people have been posting on social media that they had seen some.

Unfortunately, no one that claims that was very reputable, so the country was only in half panic mode at the moment. But half panic from the United States of America caused travel bans and airport boycotts to start up across the entire world.

It was like the world was on a counter balance that was slowly becoming uneven as more and more events unfolded.

As if small chips were constantly being added on the other side but not quite enough to break the opposites’ grip on reality.

But with the way things were headed, something a lot bigger than a chip was bound to fall at some point.

I just hoped we were ready when it did.

Wow, you sound dramatic.

Click.

I turned away from the view of empty streets to the front of the van, watching as the tinted glass that separated us from Mrs.M closed,

“We’re here boys..” She said, trying to give a smile but not quite being able to.

We both nodded, glancing at each other before getting out our respective doors.

I fixed my tie as I hit the sidewalk, looking around at our new location.

We were parked next to the opening of Manhattan Cemetery, its black gates guarded by a small entry booth.

Since the cemetery was right off of the sidewalk, our chain of vehicles had parked along the entrance in order to fit.

Trees lined the outside of the gate, and the gate itself lined the entire cemetery.

Our crowd slowly began to reform in front of the booth, small conversations being held as we waited to get in.

Jason walked from around the van next to me, his eyes fixed on the gates.

“Jason, Damien!” Draxon Embers called us from the booth, motioning for us to come in as the gates parted.

We both glanced at one another, each of us whispering good luck as we parted ways to get inside the Graveyard.

-A couple of hours later

After the official service was over, I found myself still standing over my parent’s grave.

With a look to my right, I saw that Jason was doing the same.

The rest of our group had gone off to our new house for the reception after the service ended.

Me and Jason convinced Mrs.M to let us walk back, and after much thought, she eventually agreed and drove away.

It wasn’t that bad of a walk to Draxon from the cemetery, which I was grateful for.

That way, I could still feel close to my parents even when I was in my own room.

I smiled as I looked at the flowers I had placed next to my Mom.

They were roses- her favorite.

A tear fell as I turned my attention to my dad.

I had placed my basketball there, the one he got me for Christmas, and surrounded it with stones to keep it in place.

“S-sorry,” I barely whispered, “I-I never got to play with you Dad..”

I choked, slowly bending down on my knees as I rubbed both of their tomb stones.

The rub turned into a squeeze.

I did this. I did this.

I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I wiped my eyes and looked up, clearing my throat as I saw Jason,

“O-oh right,” I said, getting to my feet, “We’re gonna be late.”

Jason just bowed his head, glancing back at his own parents’ graves, “Y-yea...I guess we are.”

-

It started to rain as we reached the intersection, our nice suits getting wet from the tiny droplets as we started to jog.

Jason gave a small chuckle from my right as we turned on Draxon,

“Us alone, rain, It doesn’t bode well does it?”

I laughed a little, remembering what felt like ages ago. I enjoyed seeing my mother’s angry face flash through my mind.

What I’d trade for her to be able to yell at me…

“At least our phones are charged right?”

Jason nodded as we came to a stop in front of our house.

I kept looking around though, almost daring some idiot to jump us. I didn’t know where this newfound attitude was coming from, but I gladly embraced it

Anyone who attacked the three of us right now would surely regret it.

The whole chain was parked along the sidewalk to fit, and talking could be hard from inside the front room.

Jason gave me a slight elbow,

“What are they saying in there?” He asked.

I rolled my eyes, “I don’t know how it works yet…”

Jason’s eyes only widened, “Wait-” he started, “So you admit that yo-”

“Yes yes..” I conceded, both of us laughing a bit as we strode towards the door.

Jason smiled, “One day we’re going to have to test you out...like...a superpower simulation or something.”

I returned his smile, but in my head I was still a little worried. I didn’t know what would happen with the monster inside of me if I actually tried to train it.

You should find out.

Ever since the encounter I had with it last week, my thoughts on the monster were all distorted.

I wanted to believe that it was a cold blooded killer and, while that may have been the case at some point in time, I could feel that it wasn’t the case now.

…

It had changed.

I think.

“Oh,” I froze at the door, patting my pockets, “I don’t have the house key.”

Jason shook his head, “How about you just break the door down.”

I glared, “House key.”

Jason chuckled, inserting his Lightsaber shaped key in the door and pushing it open.

All the conversations ceased as we entered the front.

Snack tables were everywhere, and everyone that had been at the service was staring at us.

I coughed as Jason shut the door.

“Hello boys!” Mrs.M greeted us from the front of the group, “Why don’t you two, uh-”

“We can go upstairs..” Jason suggested, not waiting for a response before heading towards the staircase. I followed.

Mrs.M coughed, “O-Oh okay!” She shouted after us, “But come down for some food at some point!”

As we reached the top of the stairs, Jason groaned,

“Jeez,” He said, “I hate it when they stare.”

I nodded, both of us entering our room and flopping on our beds.

After we both had changed into sleepwear, we heard a knock on our door. About thirty minutes had passed since we got up here.

Jason was on the floor with his earbuds in so he didn’t hear anything.

I sighed, rolling off my bed and cracking open the door.

I blinked, almost forgetting what was to happen at the reception as the noises from downstairs filled my ears.

Melissa, Selina, and Hiru were all outside standing awkwardly.

Selina gave me a hug, “Save us please.” She muttered, “Adults are weird…”

Hiru laughed as he walked inside, followed by Melissa who began to ooh and ah at our TV.

I walked with Selina back inside, closing the door as everyone settled in.

Melissa walked up to Jason’s foot, kicking him when he didn’t notice her.

Jason looked up, his annoyed expression vanishing when he saw who it was,

“Hey!” He jumped up, dropping his phone and earbuds before hugging Melissa, “Escape group?”

They all nodded.

Hiru coughed, “So,” he started, “I’m like..new to the..Zombie Squadron.. I guess.”

Selina punched him in the shoulder, “Yea, you have to go through initiation first.” She paused, then added, “...that name is so corny.”

I laughed, picking up on this, “You must bring us all brownies from the front room.”

Hiru squinted, as if actually contemplating this,

“Okay,” He agreed, shocking everyone but Selina, “I’ll be right back th-”

Jason threw a slipper from his closet at Hiru, but he caught it.

“We aren’t serious dude.” Jason laughed, “And nice catch.”

Hiru blinked, tossing the shoe back, “Oh, you weren’t?”

Melissa sighed, falling onto the floor next to Jason, “I was..”

We all laughed, both me and Jason feeling relieved at our newfound company.

Throughout the next couple of hours, we all talked about various things like Hiru’s hobbies, which were apparently all things fighting.

Besides being a fifth degree blackbelt, Hiru was also apparently an excellent marksman. He explained that his dad was in the military, and that he taught him how to use a rifle.

My parents would’ve never let me use a real gun, but if I was being honest, I was never really into that kind of thing.

Unless they were in video games.

Then I loved them.

In fact, in Fight4Life, one of my favorite characters had a gun. His name was like, Ammuno or something.

Selina told Hiru that I was a black belt too, which made him want to spar me...which I was not looking forward to. I should’ve probably said no, but I couldn’t just say that in front of my girlfriend. Nice call.

We talked about the Monsters, School being canceled, and other stuff, but now we were just laying on the carpet of the oversized bedroom- unsure at what else to talk about.

“Hey, Dami,” Selina spoke, rolling next to me.

I faced her, “Hm?”

“You’re now friends with Hiru now, right?”

I looked at Hiru, who just gave me a thumbs up from the carpet. He was talking to Jason at the moment. He was older than us, but he seemed to be one of those guys with the mind of a child so it didn’t really matter.

I shifted back to Selina, “Looks that way.”

Selina laughed maniacally, freaking me out a bit,

“Then your streak of rich friends continues!”

I groaned, “Oh Joy..”

Jason shot up from the floor, causing everyone to look at him,

“Oh!” He started, “Damien, you’re technically rich now too!”

I rolled my eyes, “Even more Joy..”

Melissa threw a slipper at me.

“Where are these slippers coming from?” I thought, catching it and placing it on the floor.

“What’s with the sad tone?!” She interrogated, “You can order servants!”

I frowned, “I would like to do things on my own, actually.”

A murmur of Same’s and I agree’s went around the room, completely bewildering Melissa.

“You guys..” She started, “Are just like my sister.”

I smiled, “Lorica the perfectionist?”

Melissa face-palmed herself, “I know right? She’s such a disappointment! Queens lover..”

We ended up watching a zombie movie before everyone had to leave.

Melissa had recommended it, claiming that it was an important team building exercise that we should all invest our time in, but I have to say, it was not the best film.

The movie was completely unrealistic.

For one, the zombies could fly, and two, the zombies had to sleep during the day.

It made no sense to me, and in retrospect, It really should’ve been a vampire movie.

-

Me and Jason both waved goodbye to everyone as their cars drove down Draxon and turned on the far away intersection.

That was a nice reception.

In the end, we ended up adding Hiru’s phone number to the group chat as well as to our contacts list.

He was an extremely, excessively nice person who gave Mrs.Mabel a run for her money with the way he acted, and I was glad to have met him. I thought he was going to be weird considering the two year age gap, but he was completely chill.

-

Now, only Mr.Floyd remained in the house, and I was currently sitting at the kitchen counter across from him.

I had talked to him for a bit, finding out that everything Jason had said about him was true.

He was a nice guy and was absolutely hilarious to talk to.

Mr.Floyd was exactly six foot, had blonde hair, blue eyes, and a smile that lit up a room.

I could see how Jason dealt with his parents through him, and it made me happy to get to experience that kind of thing.

“Damien…” Mr.Floyd said from the kitchen counter.

I smiled at him, “Yes..?”

He was current stuffing one of the cookies Mrs.M had backed for the reception into his mouth, barely leaving any gaps in his eating to speak,

“Have you-chomp-tried these-chomp-cookies?!”

I cracked up at this sight. I had no idea rich people could be so...undignified, and I loved every second of it.

“Daaaamieennnn!” Jason voice bounced off the walls, the rapid sound of his feet echoing through the room as he charged down the stairs,

“Whaaaat!?” I yelled, imitating his long winded call as I watched him slide into the kitchen.

“I talked to Auntie in her room upstairs,” He started, “These people retrieved your pictures and they should be here by July 30th!”

I couldn’t hold in my relief, “That’s awesome!” I exclaimed, stealing a cookie off of Mr.Floyd’s plate and popping it in my mouth.

He seemed genuinely sad about this,

“M-my cookie..”

Jason laughed, “I feel you..”

I coughed, remembering critical information,

“Jason, your Birthday is July 30th.” I pointed out.

Jason’s eyes widened, “Oh..I forgot about that.”

Mr.Floyd squinted at him, getting up and running his hand through Jason’s black hair,

“Well, what did you want?” He asked, now having sufficiently ruined it.

Jason laughed bit before thinking,

“I want..” He began, “A News journal…”

Both me and Mr.Floyd coughed.

“Borrrring!” Mr. Floyd cupped his hands over his mouth, creating a makeshift megaphone.

I grinned, making a mental note of that. My birthday was in a month, August 30th, which was funny since it was exactly a month away from Jason’s.

“YALL NEED TO GO TO BED!” We covered our ears as Mrs.M’s voice boomed through the house.

Mr.Floyds eyes widened, “Yea guys, what are you doing?” He asked sarcastically, menacingly waving a cookie in our direction, “Go to bed.”

We both laughed as he pushed us out of the kitchen,

“Alright now,” He chuckled, watching us go up the stairs, “I’ll visit some time later.”

We both said goodbye from the stairs, hearing the front door open and close before entering our room.

-

“Wow, he’s really cool.” I said, falling on my bed and pulling up the covers.

Jason did the same, “See,” He smiled, “I told you so.”

I laughed as we both turned out our bed lamps, moonlight now being the only illumination in the room,

“Night..” Jason spoke into the silence.

I smiled at the roof,

“Night.” I responded.

-

“Oh..You again.”

I groaned as I entered the black space for the second time,

“Are you serious?!” I breathed, looking at the beast in front of me, “What do you want?”

He..shrugged?

“You came here on your own accord.”

My own accord?

As if.

“Uh, I just want to sleep.” I stated, still not feeling any sort of danger from this thing.

“Well that makes two of we.”

I rolled my eyes, “It’s two of us, not two of we.”

He huffed, “That is what I said in the first area.”

Area? Did he mean place?

I didn’t bother to correct him this time,

“I didn’t mean to come..here..wherever here is.” I motioned around.

“I believe..this is our shared space..or something of that nature.”

“Shared space?” I was confused, “What does that even mean?”

It tilted its head, walking closer to me.

I gulped and stepped back, obviously still not comfortable with this.

“What is the matter, Ringer?” He asked, more annoyed than concerned.

I glared at him, “Why do you call me that?” I asked, “And-uh..what should I call you?”

I figured I had better get used to living with..this, as much as I hated it. I kept searching for any indication of wrong from the monster, but everything I had felt from before seemed to dissipate. I no longer saw my parent’s killer, no matter how hard I tried.

“You are Ringer because your spine seems to ring. Ostentatiously.”

“Come again?” I thought, blinking.

Did that have to do with the ERL liquid in my back? Was that connected to why the monster attacked me? If so, would others like him try that too?

I coughed,

“Ostentatiously, huh?” I tried to sit down, surprised when I could, “That’s a pretty big word for a guy who can’t put sentences together sometimes.”

He looked confused, “My previous body held a wide vocabulary. Your mind is just clouded with useless thoughts like our girlfriend.”

I rapidly shook my head, “First off, she’s my girlfriend,”

It grunted,

“Secondly, how do you know what I’ve said before…or know how to say? I’m pretty sure I haven’t been a monster all my life.”

“I read your memories...obviously.”

The sas of this monster was unreal.

“Oh..kay.” I struggled to find the words, “Well uh...your name?”

It thought for a moment, “When my previous body was human, its name was Morgan Ringer. But I like the sound of Damien.”

Another head shake, “Uh no,” I refused, “Damien is my name.”

“Maybe Neimad?”

“That’s just my name backwards!” I almost laughed. Maybe he wasn’t so-

“What about Andre? I like Andre.”

I froze at the sound of my father’s name,

“You don’t get to like it,” I ordered, not caring what this thing could do to me. I gritted my teeth, trying to ignore the feeling of regret that echoed off of the creature.

“I..am sorry.” It said. I rubbed my temples, trying to tune out the monster’s feelings. It didn’t care. It couldn’t care. Stop…caring.

“Emotions are..hard to control, as I’ve found out.” The monster spoke, “That is what causes the monsters in the first place.”

I coughed, “I thought that was because of the virus thin-”

“In part, yes,” It continued, copying my actions and sitting across from me, “But once one has been infected, like you, they must exhibit stress for the monster inside of them to...bloom.”

I slowly nodded, “So like..someone has to be really angry to become a monster?”

“Yes. Or sad..joyful..anxious.. Etceteria. It’s almost poetic really, that the very thing that makes you human makes you...a monster.”

I blinked, “So the infected could just be normal people?!” I asked, “How..angry would one have to get in order to..bloom?”

It shrugged, “That depends on how much of the infection one was exposed to..”

“Well how much was I exposed to?”

It let out what I pieced together was a sigh, “You were stabbed, so a lot. Plus I’ve been..supercharged?”

I blinked again, “What does that mean?”

“It means that I’ve absorbed enough electricity to where I’ve… evolved...”

“Evolve?”

I decided not to question it, as I still had other questions,

“Do different emotions do different things?” I asked.

It rapidly nodded, “Oh yes. They look different, have different abilities, different infection counts..”

I was back to being confused, “Wait so like..it’s a whole system?”

This wasn’t like any zombie movie I had seen.

“So..what would Anger do?”

“I’ve seen an Anger mutant..” The monster started, “It can control its muscle growth and can infect one time.”

I felt like I was inside a card game. How did he even know all this stuff? It wasn’t like when someone turned into a zombie they knew all about why they wanted to eat brains.

“Um okay..” I said, “So what are you...I mean… we?”

It smiled an evil, terrifying smile. The kind of grin that would tear skin, the kind of expression that sent shivers down whatever spine I had in this dark world, and the kind of look that embodied the meaning of presence.

“We are Fear,” It answered, “The most powerful emotion.”

Another blink,

“Oh..cool?”

He frowned, as if disappointed by my reaction.

“Um, so what about what you said last time?”

This time it blinked, “What about it?”

“Well, what did you mean by.. feeding?”

“All monsters must feed. I’ve been drawing the little energy you get from..dinners.. But eating human flesh is much better.”

My eyes widened, seeing where this was going,

“So either begin what I call Aura Feeding or find me some humans to ch-”

“Umm, What’s Aura feeding?” I interrupted, shivering from what he wanted. Why did monsters even need to eat flesh. I didn’t know how they worked, but it just seemed unnecessary.

“Aura feeding is when I feed on others' fear...like you did in the hospital.”

“I did that in the hospital?”

“When your friend was scared of the television, you took his fear, consumed it, and used its excess to locate..Mrs.M.. in her black van.”

“Is that what I did?” I wondered, thinking back to that day, “The heck does that mean?”

Suddenly, it felt as if my brain was shaking, my vision becoming distorted.

We both clutched our heads, groaning from the strange feeling, “What is th-”

“You’ve been in here too long.” It told me, standing up, “You must..rest now.”

I stood up with it, still desperate for answers, “H-how do I get back to this..common area again? Is getting eight hours really that important? Hello?!”

It shrugged, “I have no idea Ringer.”

I coughed, feeling myself begin to slip away, “W-wait, what about your name?”

I didn’t just want to be calling him Monster forever.

He thought for a moment, but ended up just shrugging again before I slipped into sleep.