With each passing day absent of him using his water powers, Kay’s mood got worse.

Each day he would go to school and then come home– school then home, barely existing outside of those two worlds. His mornings were ample with study and he drowned his nights with TV, movies, video games, and internet browsing. His free time had become a binge of media, a relentless barrage to quell boredom. But after nearly a week of parking his water form, he was becoming quite numb to the barrage.

A difficult boss in the video game Seiken Densetsu III got him to ragequit and a quick revisit to Treasure of the Rudras reminded him of the game’s complicated spell system. After bouncing off of Tales of Phantasia, got the idea of playing anything but an RPG and loaded up a game from his childhood: Aero the Acrobat. Nostalgia wasn’t doing the heavy lifting Kay hoped it would so he switched over to Sparkster, something he had never played before.

It took two stages before Kay realized he wasn’t getting any joy from the title.

He then remembered Shining Force II, a game he was curious about but he couldn’t find a Sega Genesis emulator that ran of his computer so he closed the window in frustration, letting out a quiet growl at the pesky application.

He sunk more time by catching up on a couple webcomics he liked, but there weren’t many strips to get updated with so that chewed up a few minutes at most. He checked out some forums but then AzureHill52 logged into MSN Messenger.

Azure had the honour of initiating conversation. “Sup?”

What was up? Even behind the disguise of SkyWaker, Kay wouldn’t tell anyone on the internet that he had superpowers. He knew it was a bad idea even if the temptation stuck to him like burs from a field of weeds. Kay saw Azure’s chat as an opportunity, though, to express (without giving away too much truth) how frustrated he was.

“I’m a little down,” he typed.

“Awwww,” Azure responded. “What’s the matter?”

A swirling warmth took Kay’s cheeks. Someone, a relative stranger, was concerned for him. He let the feeling of comfort ride down his chest and tingle his arms, then he typed, “I’m grounded.” It was a decent cover story for what was actually going on.

“That sucks,” said Azure. “For how long?”

Kay didn’t know what Azure looked like and vice versa, but it was easy to imagine him and Azure just sitting in school or on a park bench as they talked. Kay could even imagine Azure’s voice: youthful but with intelligence and strength.

“I’m not sure,” typed Kay, which also rang accurate.

“God,” said Azure, adding a laughing emoticon. “What did you do?”

Kay chortled then responded. “Got in a fight.” That was 100% accurate.

“Did you win?” asked Azure.

He wanted to lie and say he won, but he was venting and one couldn’t vent over non-existent problems, so he responded, “No.”

“That sucks.” Azure said it before, but said it again with more context. “Grounded over a fight you didn’t when, that blows! Hope things improve for you.”

Kay blushed. Genuine care. It felt nice to be cared for, even with someone he didn’t know personally. Maybe there was some place on the internet where he could rant about what he was going through. Maybe there was a space where he could ask for advice anonymously.

He didn’t have the energy to look for that today, though.

Kay gave a relaxed sigh and looked outside. The clouds covered the sky like a blanket but if it wasn’t the prettiest outdoors, he wanted to get out anyway. Turning into the water form was still off limits but a piece of him was vicious in wanting to get out of the apartment.

Could he go to the movies? He still wanted to see School of Rock and trailers still played on TV all the time, so it was had to be still in theatres. Kay went to the shelf to get his wallet. There weren’t dollar bills inside the sleeve, only coins in the pocket. Not enough for a movie. He would have to ask Mom for some money.

He practised asking her for money, practising his tone and word choice. How should he have approached? Should he have been honest and get right to question or butter her up with asking about her day? He bounced back and forth on what method he would use but when he heard her come through the door, he knew he shouldn’t have wasted too much time since the movie was starting soon. He left his room to begin the negotiations.

Mom was taking off her coat so Kay slowed his approach lest he started the conversation awkwardly in the middle of a sleeve removal. He let the coat touch the hanger and then he began.

“Hi Mom,” said Kay.

Try as he might to make himself sound natural, Kay’s tone was weird so Mom instantly got wary. “Hello, Mick,” she replied in a tone that didn’t gesture at any emotional state.

“I wanted to ask if I could have some money,” said Kay, keeping his timbre in check. “I wanted to go see a movie.”

“On a school night?” asked Mom.

Kay hadn’t take that into account. It was a Wednesday, not exactly ideal movie time.

“I’ll be home before nine,” said Kay. “Maybe even eight. It’s not different then when I’m usually out about town.”

Mom thought about handing him some money, then stopped. “You’ve gone to the movies before. Why do you need money now?”

Kay was in trouble. He couldn’t admit that he had snuck into theatres a dozen times, nor could he admit that he turned into a water creature while doing it. He dropped his expression. “I... used up all that money. You know, birthday money and other gifts. Sometimes friends pay for me.”

Mom went to her purse, and Kay’s heart rose– happy to have convinced her. But when Mom came back with a ten and a five, she had a serious expression on her face. “Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask you if you’ve been thinking about getting a job.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

A job.

Kay’s heart sunk. He had walked right into a brick wall of responsibility and expectation. The money was dangling there so he took the money before the offer was rescinded. He gripped the money, folding the bills between fingers. “I thought you said that if I got good grades I wouldn’t have to find a job? That you would pay for me?”

“Great grades,” said Mom.

“My grades were great!” said Kay. He could remember taking his eyes down his report card at the end of last year, a lovely crop of 70s and 80s.

Kay didn’t actually mention what grades he was referring to, but Mom parsed what he meant– his Grade 10 review. She didn’t have a clear memory of what grades he got, but remember him doing well. She folded her arms, though. “I don’t think they were great...”

This pierced Kay’s pride. He scowled and his voice crackled with outrage. “I got four As! My lowest mark was a seventy-five. You bragged about it at Grandpa’s the one time!”

Why did teenagers have to grow fierce over encouragement, Mom wondered. She countered Kay’s scowl with a stern look. “I was thinking straight As.”

Kay puttered. If it wasn’t an after school job, it was 80s across the board. Such a high demand for a little spending money. Kay and Mom shared a stare at each other, Kay’s brow furrowed.

He scoffed and turned his head away from Mom. “Were you this hard on Aubrey when she was in high school?”

Mom tilted her head down, looking a little insecure. “N... no. But... maybe I should have.”

Kay didn’t know what to say. A week ago he was flying through the rooftops of Toronto and now he was haggling his mother for spending money and she was blindsiding him with talks about responsibility.

It felt like the conversation had hit its conclusion and Kay didn’t want to suffer one more second of it, so he waggled the money, said, “Thanks, mom,” then went to his room to get his stuff together. Mom sighed. He didn’t have be so bratty about it.

Kay went into his room and took a minute to fume. What a situation to be in! Kay hiding his water form had brought him back to awful reality: reality where he had to pay money to enter theatres and Mom was expecting him to find an after school job.

“This sucks,” said Kay, repeating the words of his internet chum.

Kay supposed that even if he still had unproblematic access to his liquid form, he would still have a problem here. His mom was asking him to use his after school time to get a job. Evenings were meant for water nonsense, though!

School, work, it was all going to take up so much time!

Kay tried to put that aside, though. He had the money in his wallet and a movie was waiting for him. He put on a sweater and went to get his coat, and left the apartment giving his mom a very neutral “bye” before he left to help defuse any tension between them.

Most places around town had their Hallowe’en decorations up or kept up their Thanksgiving ones to prolong the aura of autumn. It was a bleary day but people were still out and excited anyway. Some kids Kay’s age were crowded outside a townhouse, chatting at each other with big smiles on their faces. A couple of them sang a few lines from a Jet song, botched the lyrics, and the group of them broke into laughter that crackled across the street.

A little farther down and Kay passed by Harris Place, a party venue. Coming off the street, there was a small parking lot. A young woman in a nice dress jogged up to the front door as quick as she could in high heels, clutching her bare shoulders– so cold.

As he walked to the movie complex, Kay lost himself in his worries. He refused to believe that his life with water time was over. But how long would he have to wait until it was safe? That was a question he had no sure answer. Was the gang that sent the hit out on him one to hold a grudge? If Kay pardoned his water form for a year and then went out again in that form, would the gang still be around and attack him? How about two years?

God, thought Kay, the thought of being stuck human for years is depressing me.

He let out a strained exhale. It wasn’t the first time that week he had bummed himself out with a spiral of panicked thoughts, but he was on his way to a happy place: he was going to see a movie he wanted to see. A good movie; not a clunker he had to sneak into.

He tried to keep that in mind.

The crowd was heavy on that early Wednesday evening. The lobby was full of movie watchers hustling around the carpet floor. Kay got in line for purchasing tickets. He realized that was the theatre where he got a suspicious glance aimed at him on the way out of a movie he water-formed into. As he got closer to the front of the line, he prepared some excuses in case the clerk recognized him.

The clerk did not recognize him. It was a busy job and a clerk was not going to remember someone who snuck in a couple weeks ago.

So Kay got his ticket for School of Rock without problem and walked to the theatre hall. His show was starting in fifteen minutes.

On his way there he looked over at the concession stand. Would he grab a popcorn or drink before heading in? He looked down at his money before shuffling it into his wallet. If Mom didn’t ask for it back, he was up a couple bucks for anything else later.

As he passed by the stand, though, a group of people caught his eye. Yeah, he recognized one of them: it was Jia from class. She raised her eyes and put on a perky grin, waving. “Heeey, Kay!”

“Oh, hi!” said Kay.

Jia was with a few people. There was a boy that looked her age, Aaro, and then two older kids: Liezel, Jia’s older sister, and her boyfriend Luis. They exchanged introductions and names and then cut to chatter.

“What movie are you here to see?” asked Jia.

“School of Rock,” said Kay.

Jia giggled. “That’s a kid’s film, though!”

Embarrassment came over Kay, but Luis offered clarification to the crowd. “It’s a good film!” he said. He turned to Kay, reassuringly. “It’s a good film.”

“Well,” said Kay, regaining his composure. “What are you here to see?”

“Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” said Jia. Definitely not a kid’s film. She flipped a point at Liezel and Luis. “It’s rated R so I need a chaperone to get in,” she said, her voice deflating under embarrassment. Jia brightened up a smile again. “You could join us if you want!”

Kay had seen the trailers on that one. Apparently it was a remake? Kay wasn’t interested. He clutched his ticket. “I already paid for School of Rock.” He chuckled. “I’m not kidding. I really wanted to see it!”

Jia giggled, smiling wide. “Don’t worry, I believe you!”

Kay tossed them a wave and left them to go see his movie. They remained at the concession stand as Kay entered his theatre.

Kay took a spot towards the middle with a couple empty seats adjacent to his. As the previews went on showcasing an upcoming Disney animated feature and selling Kay on the Will Ferrell vehicle Elf, people filled empty space so while Kay took a place on the outside of the row, he was seated beside a middle-aged man.

His front, rear and sides were occupied. It was quite different than his usual of entering through an air duct and crawling into an empty theatre to watch some garbage movie. The movie started up and the physical credits was an inspired choice, so Kay was expecting something good. It didn’t take long to get to the comedy and it had been awhile since Kay had been in an audience that laughed at the movie. That was something quite lacking when he saw that Child Star movie earlier in the month.

The story got rolling with the main character Dewey Finn getting work at a private school and Kay was pleased to see Finn rebel against the kids’ modern music tastes and even suggesting classic rock to a lot of them. Finn was namedropping bands Kay didn’t even know!

As the movie went on, Kay’s mind wavered, though.

He couldn’t help but feel the consequences of his trauma. Was it trauma? He wasn’t sure it wasn’t. The gang that was after him; were any of them in that room with him? His paranoia danced on his shoulder, distracting him minutes apart. He tried to pay attention to the film, and for the most part it was a success, but his mind drifted into the darkness and he wrestled with worry.

By the end of the film, with the story leading up to a bombastic (and admittedly catchy) finale, Kay’s attention was focused on the motion picture. Despite his mind wandering over the course of the fim, he grasped the plot alright. When the closing credits arrived, some people stayed for a little music video at the end while others got up, wanting out. Kay would have liked to see the credits sequence but a wave of people were coming his way so he opted to get out and join them on leaving the threatre.

He checked the lobby’s clock on his way to the exit. 8:17. It wasn’t even his bedtime; not even close! Wait until Mom finds out about this! Kay thought.