“Hi, can I please have the number 4? Burger and fries, everything on it?” Dawson said, talking to the speaker at the fast-food restaurant. “What do you want?”
“Burger and fries, but no cheese, onions, or lettuce,” Felix responded, still looking at the menu.
“Also, can I have another number 4, but no cheese, onions, or lettuce?” Dawson asked.
“With a Sprite...?”
“And two Sprites,” Dawson added.
“Is that all? The muffled voice called out from the speaker.
“Yeah, that’s all.”
“$19.97 at the first window.”
Dawson paid for their food and drove to a nearby park to eat it. They got out of his truck and found a bench attached to a table, then started eating.
“Wow, you're right, it is pretty good….” Felix said, taking a big bite out of his burger.
“Of course I was right! When am I not?” Dawson gloated.
Just then, Felix murmured something to himself, then Dawson immediately asked, “What did you say!”
“Nothing!” Felix laughed; it seemed that all that happened not even thirty minutes earlier was nothing more than a weird dream.
They were both finishing their fries when Felix asked, “Hey, I think it's your time to practice your power. If you're up to it..? “
“Yeah, sure. I said I would do it after you.” Dawson shrugged.
He looked around for a second, looking for the perfect person. Then he went limp; Felix grabbed his head not to let it fall on the table. That’s when he saw a mom and her teenage son walking near him, but the son was cursing in the indistinguishable vulgar and ever so slightly attractive way Dawson always did. Felix was 90% sure that it was Dawson, but the question was fully answered when the boy winked at him. Then the boy stopped and stared into space; Dawson was back in his own body, and so was the boy. Dawson's face scrunched up in pain as he awoke from possessing.
“I probably made that mom hate her son….” Dawson snickered.
“That’s kinda….”
“Evil? Yeah, I know.” Dawson said knowingly.
They cleaned up their food's trash and threw it away, but just before they could get in Dawson’s truck, someone yelled.
“Felix!”
Felix's head turned and his eyes widened to an unbelievable size. He stopped in his path and began to shake. He was greeted by his mom, furious in her car. She was red in the face and waving him over.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
“Uh… hold on, I have to-”
“We’re going together, Felix, come on,” Dawson said, pulling Felix to his mom's car.
Dawson and Felix walked up to the car, and like the last time Dawson had seen his mom, her demeanor changed.
“Felix! Where were you? You scared me half to death! I was looking for you everywhere!” Vicky, Felix’s mom, said in an overly sweet voice.
“W-well... you didn’t come ho-” Felix stopped what he was saying when his mom glared at him, “I- I was just hanging out with my friend…?”
“For five hours!? No. I don’t want to hear it. Get in the car.” Vicky growled.
“Ok,” Felix said pathetically.
Dawson grabbed Felix’s arm, pulled him close, and whispered in his ear, “Listen to me, there's a payphone near your house. If you need anything, call me on that. I wrote my number on the receipt, it’s already in your pocket.”
Felix slightly nodded his head and nervously got in the car, then Vicky immediately zoomed off before he could put his seatbelt on.
“You ungrateful, fucking brat. You know what you were doing. Playing mind games with me, hm? You think you're funny, don't you?” Vicky chuckled.
“...” Felix stiffened.
“Don’t you!” Vicky roared in Felix’s face, making him shrink down, “Answer me, bitch!”
Vicky breathed heavily and rabidly, swerving in between cars and speeding past red lights. Felix swallowed dryly as he quickly put his seatbelt on and tried to sink farther into the seat.
“No… I-I don’t think it’s funny….” Felix whimpered.
“You're lying; you know I hate liars. I already know you told your little “friend” about me, huh? He knows everything, doesn’t he?” Vicky gnarled as she pulled up into their driveway.
“No.. he doesn’t know!” Felix pleaded.
“Stop lying! I hate liars!” Vicky thundered, snatching Felix’s hair and bringing his head down onto the dashboard.
Bang!
Felix's head slammed hard against the dashboard in front of him, and he couldn’t find the energy to pick it back up. The pain he felt was sharp and it moved through his body like electricity. Felix felt his body start to twitch, he felt his bones creaking and his blood running through his veins. His forehead gave a painful throb every few seconds, helping Felix know he was still alive. Felix let out quiet gasps of air, finding it hard to breathe. His eyesight was blurry and he could feel the back of his eyes pulsating. His arms and legs began to tingle as he tried to calm himself.
“Get out of my car. Now,” Vicky said, looking out the window for anyone who was walking outside.
Felix moaned weakly as he lifted his head, feeling the pain intensify tenfold.
“Get up now! Jesus! Before someone walks out!” Vicky yelled, pushing Felix roughly against the car door.
Felix got out before his mom could do more damage to him, and ran to the house and up to his room. He touched his head. Luckily, he saw no blood, but he could tell it would start to bruise up. He couldn’t let Dawson see it because he wouldn’t be able to ignore it. Felix then remembered something; when he was raiding the house looking for Wyatt, he saw that Octavia had makeup in her room. So he decided to go to Dawson’s house early in the morning and hoped Octavia would open the door. Felix was going to go to sleep early because he was sure he had another concussion. Felix wobbled to his bed, face-planted into his pillow, and cried. He screamed and wailed into his pillow, just quiet enough for his mom not to hear. Felix had so much built-up stress from school, getting powers, and now his mom was getting worse. He didn’t know what to do or who to talk to, he had Dawson, but he was also causing some stress. Dawson kept creating difficult situations, making Felix feel things he’d never felt. Making him happy and then making him feel pain one could never imagine; Felix needed just to cry it out. The pounding of his forehead increased from his weeping, so Felix closed his eyes, still sniffing, but finally managed to get some kind of dreamless sleep.