1
Normalcy
I punched a man in the face, and the crowd went wild.
I didn’t press my advantage, letting my opponent recover a bit and waiting for his next move. I ducked under a predictable punch, then leaned back just enough to be out of reach of the next telegraphed strike. I dodged another and retaliated with a punch of my own, a clean hit to his side.
Incredulity and frustration were making my opponent lose his cool. Not that he had much of a calm head to begin with, but he was getting desperate now.
I wove through all his strikes with ease. Had been doing it the whole fight. To my eyes, he simply seemed to announce his intentions before he moved. Better yet, I could actually see it all in slow motion. The way his shoulders shifted when he took a breath, the way he pulled back his hands and flexed his arm before throwing a punch was plainly evident, and I had all the time in the world to dodge as his fist moved towards me.
That shouldn’t have been possible, yet here we were. What had been quick reflexes and split-second decisions two days ago, had turned into an enhanced perception which granted me lots of time to analyze moves, consider options, and make decisions.
Just two days ago, I wouldn’t have been able to see all of this with such keen clarity. Now my perception, dexterity, and agility had improved so much that an experienced fighter had been reduced to a turtle trying to catch a leaf dancing in a whirlwind. He would never be able to touch me.
All because I had killed a man yesterday, and had grown stronger as a result.
And despite my reservations about the manner in which it had been obtained, I relished in my new prowess. I had taken one more step toward my dreams, and I regretted nothing.
To truly discern the extent of my growth, and accustom myself to the new parameters of my capabilities, physical exercise was best. That was where I was most keenly aware of my changes and I could notice the particular differences between the me from two days ago and the me from tonight, in practical terms.
Different exercises helped to explore different aspects of my new capabilities, and a fight was an interesting one. It granted certain insights that working out in a gym or training on my own wouldn’t help with. This strange ‘bullet time’ being one example.
There were some things I couldn’t test in a fight, though, like the true limits of my strength. I could end up shattering this man’s skull if I wasn’t careful. Hitting with full force was out of the question.
I didn’t want to kill him, especially not in public, no matter how secret this clandestine fighting ring may be. So I had to hold back from breaking his bones or causing too serious damage each time I hit him. The challenge here was moderating my speed and force when I hit him without undermining my evasion. That was fine. Learning self-control was also an important part of having power.
But this fight served various other purposes beyond just that. It was fun, as I always enjoyed a good challenge, it provided entertainment for me and my friends, gave us a nice reason to go out together, and it was a chance to make good money for us.
I would get money for winning, and my friends would be getting a huge amount of cash as they bet on my victory, part of which was also mine because we had pooled our money together to maximize winnings.
So fighting in this match was killing lots of birds with one stone.
Sure, there was a risk. But it was minimal.
After all, I had never lost.
My opponent threw a hook that left him open for another punishing blow as I once again read his movement and easily evaded. My fist drove into his gut and this time he almost folded over from the pain. I had a complete read on him now.
My opponent was a sturdy man, thick with muscle and with a face like stone, going by the name of Robb. Tall and strong, but not very fast. He lacked technique and speed, and that made him predictable to me, but if he landed a blow it would hurt.
Not too much, of course, I could take it and have no bruises by tomorrow morning. Heck, I was starting to suspect that he could end up breaking his hand against my face if I were to let him hit me.
But I wasn’t in the business of letting strikes land on me. It was much cooler to appear untouchable.
Robb was the type of tough fighter that was good in a slugfest and favored dogfights as he had decent endurance and could hit like a mule kick. Probably a true thug from the streets channeling his violent impulses into something actually productive. I could respect that. I hadn’t heard his life story, though I assumed most people had something interesting to tell.
Maybe after the fight I could buy him a beer or something. Who knows? We could become pals. I had a feeling he was a nice guy under that stony face.
Unfortunately for Mr. Robb, I was his opponent tonight. Moreover, I was now faster and stronger than just a couple of days back. I would have won if we had fought then, but now I was utterly demolishing him. He hadn’t even managed to land a single proper hit on me the whole fight, and the one time he had tried a kick the resulting clash of his leg against mine had made him grimace with pain and decide to not try that again.
My only mercy for him was that I would end this quickly and wouldn’t give him any lasting injuries. The rules of this fighting pit were quite lax, and it was well within my capabilities to have beaten this guy to a pulp and break his bones within the first minute of the fight. But I had no desire to do so.
I didn’t get off by watching someone broken under my feet. Some fighters were like that, and that mentality granted a certain edge that many lacked, but that wasn’t me.
I wanted the thrill of a great, exciting fight, not the pain of the other person. That my opponent would end up beaten on the floor was merely a consequence of the process, not the goal.
I eyed Robb as he breathed roughly through the pain and saw in his eyes that he was about to make a desperate decision. It would be his last for this fight.
This match had already served its purpose. Now it was time to end it.
I ducked under my opponent’s wild haymaker and punished him for that final mistake with an uppercut to the chin. I was sure that would do it. His head rocked back but surprisingly he still raised his arms to guard his face from further punishment, but I could tell he wasn’t completely there, so I kicked him just above his knee and watched as his legs gave in and he collapsed.
I had half a second to make a choice. Most fighters would pursue and mount him to pummel him until the referee granted a TKO. But I trusted my instincts. I stayed on guard, of course, alert to see if he needed another punch for good measure. There was no need. He was out cold. It seemed he had actually raised his guard while being about to pass out. Impressive guy.
As my opponent fell, the crowd clamored with passion, their cheers from the part of the crowd that had put money on my victory and the jeers of those who had bet on my opponent mixing in a wild cacophony.
I raised my fists in celebration, catering to the crowd.
Mixed Martial Arts were awesome. Incorporating techniques from various martial arts for striking, grappling, and ground fighting created a fighter able to respond to various situations with a hybrid style personalized to themselves. That ideal called to me.
Leaving aside my secret passion for knife fighting, when it came to unarmed combat my favored style was Kickboxing. Jiujitsu was cool too, but there was just something nice about kicking someone and seeing them double over as a result. Punching another guy in the face and watching him fall completely knocked out did wonders for one’s confidence and self-esteem.
Facing someone strong, exchanging blows, striking and dodging as if my life depended on it. That made my heart pump like little else. I rarely drank alcohol and never did drugs, I had no need for that shit. The adrenaline of exerting myself to the utmost and the euphoria of achieving victory with my own strength was a much headier brew than any stupid substance I could buy on the streets.
Of course, I wasn’t on a nice, spectacular octagon in a public stadium. No, this was a Vale Tudo fight in an underground fighting pit. Lots of gambling, dirty fighting, shady deals, and dishonest offers happening all around. My fight was just one of many, but the prize was good money and the bets were very profitable.
Danger abounded in this place, of course, but that only made it more exciting.
Moreover, the more I looked around, the more interesting things I found.
Things that caught my attention in flickers and fleeting moments.
Shadows that moved in ways that they shouldn’t. A woman walking out from between two people when she hadn’t been there a moment before. A very tall guy that got shorter in two steps and went through a door that vanished the moment it closed.
Telltale signs that something else was going on that was assuredly not normal. And it was all happening beyond the room I was in, beyond the places I had access to.
And nobody reacted to these things, because nobody noticed. Normal people couldn’t see these things. I had been here before, and I hadn’t noticed any of these before. I hadn’t seen anything out of place or any indication that there was something supernatural going on.
Was I just going insane? No. I knew that I was not crazy. So it was something else. Something had changed since the last time I had been here.
Ah, of course.
It was obvious.
The more I grew stronger – the more I killed – the closer I would get to piercing the veil. Because each time that I killed I grew stronger, enhanced myself, and delved deeper into the realm of the supernatural.
Did the world really want me to be a killer? Was it really necessary for me to become a monster to achieve my dreams?
And I was already halfway there.
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“Another great victory, Matt!”
A voice brought me out of my introspection as John, one of my pals from the gym, came over with a shit-eating grin on his face and carrying a few bags, one of which held my stuff.
I grinned and swung an elbow at him simulating a strike. Without missing a beat, he took a stance and did the same, our elbows clashing lightly in a greeting between bros.
“You know it, man. But he was a tough one, felt like I was punching bricks when I hit him.”
That was a half-lie. The guy was tough, but the implied meaning that it hurt my hands when punching him was completely false. It was just a bit of flattery towards my opponent. It wasn’t like another person could speak on the contrary, anyways. Almost anyone else who punched that man would really feel like they were punching bricks.
I never liked to trash-talk about my defeated opponents. There was no point in that, and my ego needed no stroking. I knew I could have ended the fight early on with a single punch, but I didn’t need to boast and tell that to others.
“If you say so. Dude never even touched you,” John said while mimicking dodging punches left and right. He was quite enthusiastic about the fights. In fact, I had learned about this place from him.
From our group, I was recognized as the fastest striker and the one with the best evasion. I was the kind of fighter that relied on quick reflexes and agility to dodge and land hits via counterattacks. Now that I was nearing bullet-time levels of reaction speed, I doubted anyone would be able to land a hit on me in a one-on-one fight.
John, on the other hand, was a monster of grappling and a master of submissions. He was a very technical fighter, despite his crazy personality, and would often find ways to take down his opponents with quick bursts of motion and rapid twists. And once he got you, there was almost no escape.
“Where’s Caleb?” I asked as I craned my neck, looking for the other person who had come here with me.
“Weird. He was behind me just a moment ago.”
John turned with a slight frown and shrugged. He didn’t seem concerned, though we were both scanning the crowd with our eyes, looking for our friend. Maybe he got distracted or went to the bathroom?
John passed me a towel which I promptly used to clean the sweat off my face, chest, and arms. Then he got me some wet tissues to clean off the worst of the blood from my gloves before I put them away in a bag.
I was sure Caleb was fine, but in this kind of place we never could be certain of anything, so if we didn’t manage to spot Caleb in the next minute we would be calling him to his cellphone.
And if he didn’t pick up…
“Teo!”
A voice full of pure mirth reached my ears, and a young man with blonde hair rushed over and gave me an enthusiastic hug. I smiled as I returned the hug and patted him on the back.
“Congratulations, man. Awesome fight,” Caleb, the second of my friends who had come here to watch the fight, spoke with a radiant smile that made his bright amber-green eyes positively sparkle.
Full of golden retriever energy, Caleb had the kind of smile that made you believe in the goodness of the world. Like, his whole being just beamed at you and conveyed that he was genuinely happy to be there talking with you, which naturally made everyone be on good terms with him.
Handsome enough to be a model, intelligent to the point of getting near-perfect scores throughout college, and charismatic enough to run for president, Caleb was popular with everyone.
He was hands down the nicest of my friends and honestly the heart of our little group. Two words from him were enough to settle any quarrel, and it always left a bad aftertaste if he looked disapprovingly at any of us, like a puppy getting sad that you were misbehaving, looking disappointed at you because he believed you were better and you let him down.
Quarreling with Caleb was like quarreling with a pure-hearted puppy. But those who were bastard enough to go into blows with him discovered that said cute puppy turned out to be secretly a ninja and had a laser katana to cut you to pieces if you escalated the discussion into actual physical violence.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Because while he may have a heart of gold capable of making the Grinch sing Christmas carols, Caleb was also perfectly capable of kicking nearly everyone’s collective asses with relative ease. A taekwondoin and karateka of superb skill, Caleb was the most technically adept in our little group, and our resident kick expert.
He must be a wizard in disguise, I swear. Or an angel. Maybe both.
“Thanks, Cal,” I said with a smile, accepting a bottle of cold water from him. But my eyes were drawn to the direction from which he had come.
There was nothing but a wall over there.
Hm.
“Get ready, Caleb. Drinks are on Matt tonight!” John unashamedly tried to set the bill on me, so I turned to look at the biggest alcoholic of our group who had just gotten a lot of money from my victory, and flipped him off with a grin.
“As if. You are rich thanks to me, you better show me gratitude with some nice food.”
“Apologies, Mighty One. We mere mortals shall provide our offerings in thanks for your golden boon,” John raised his hands in mock surrender and bowed repeatedly with his hands moving along as if he was worshipping me. And Caleb was doing the same shit, because he loved playing along with whatever nonsense any of us came up with.
“I expect a worthy sacrifice, mortal,” I told him with a raised chin and a dramatically solemn and haughty voice.
“Broasted chicken breast, roasted beef, the ass of a cheerleader, and salted vegetables. All very nice things to eat. Oh, and fries, can’t miss the fries.”
“Nice,” I said with an approving nod of the head.
“Mateus lo vult!” my devoted follower celebrated with his arms raised, then let them fall around our shoulders. “So, let’s get our riches and celebrate with bitches.”
I didn’t dignify my friend’s comment with a response. And John wondered why he couldn’t keep a girlfriend for more than a couple of months.
“No can do,” Caleb told him with a shake of the head.
We had already discussed what we would do with the money, and going crazy or going to a brothel wasn’t in the plans. Much less right after getting the money.
There was no way we were going to a bar while carrying bags full of money. That was just asking for a moment of distraction where we would forget the bags or have one of them stolen.
That had almost happened once.
Even leaving them in Caleb’s car was a risk, since after drinking he wouldn’t be driving. So it was better to be safe at home. We could always get food and drinks and just chill in the house of one of us.
“Come on, Caleb, I want to spend a bit of time with my bros and some fun tonight. Surely Samantha hasn’t managed to ensnare you?”
Though Caleb’s laughter only served to encourage John’s humor, I already knew that he would refuse to go along with that kind of plan. He just shook his head, still with a bright and merry smile, but we both knew he wouldn’t yield. At this point, John was just saying these things for the heck of it.
“I also need to take a shower, man,” I added my own voice to the matter. I wanted to relax a bit before anything else. A nice meal would be good but I really wanted to wash up first.
John just tightened his arms, pulling both Cal and me closer to him as we continued walking, aiming for the rooms where I would get my money.
“Pssh, you smell like victory! Mixed up with bastard’s sweat and losers’ tears. A champion’s manly odor!”
I saw Caleb’s face scrunch up with hilarity before he threw his head back with a peal of laughter. He seemed to be about to say something when his cell phone rang. He took it out in a smooth motion to check the caller.
“Oh, it’s Sammie,” Caleb slid his thumb over the green icon to answer the call, but John was too much of an asshole to let a chance to mess with Cal and Sam pass him by.
He got close to the phone and pitched his voice high, imitating a woman’s voice.
“OH! CALEB, YEAH! HARDER, HARDER! YES!”
The madman actually had a gift when it came to imitating voices. He could have been a successful voice actor.
Less amusingly, some people had actually turned our way with weird expressions upon hearing him, though they seemed to notice it was just some idiots having fun. I still got him in a chokehold to shut him up. Caleb had been too busy covering his own mouth with a hand and shaking wildly as he tried to not burst out laughing undignifiedly.
Caleb had recently hooked up with John’s neighbor, Samantha, who had been part of our group of friends for some years now. Nothing too serious yet, but it was unlikely he would agree to go to a nightclub unless she joined us.
Incidentally, Sam knew us far too well to not realize it was just John messing with her, anyway.
“Tell that bastard the next time I see him I’m gonna kick him in the nuts.”
Samantha’s voice reached my ears clearly despite the bustle around us, and it wasn’t because she was speaking loudly. My senses were just much sharper now.
There was no real rancor in Samantha’s voice. She just loved to insult John, because he loved giving her reasons to do so. She had been John’s neighbor since they were kids, so that was a friendship much older than the one I had with him.
“Sammie says hi,” Caleb dutifully said, and I heard quite clearly how she said a couple of things about John being a dickhead, and Caleb nodded.
“Says she loves you guys,” Caleb said. Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, “A lot.”
I could clearly hear how she asked him to convey her true message and he replied “I am!” with laughter in his voice, his eyes were twinkling with merriment.
I met Samantha years ago when John hosted a party at his house. She was used to spending time in John’s home, and we quickly became friends. John still claimed he was the wingman that had enabled the pairing between Samantha and Caleb, but we all knew they had just gotten together on their own.
“Alright, wait a bit, Sammie, I’ll put you on speakers. Done.”
“Dickhead, I’m gonna kick you in the nuts,” Samantha wasted no time in repeating her threat.
“Only if you wear stockings!” John, who had been tapping my arm in surrender used his first free breath to reply with his nonsense.
“We love you too, Sam,” I called out as I shut John up once again.
“Hi, Mate. Is the fight done already? Congratulations.”
I grinned. Samantha was one of the people who just assumed our victory whenever she was told about me or Caleb fighting someone.
“Yep. Just finished, actually. Perfect timing. We are going to get our winnings and go.”
“Awesome. Hey, I’m with Jessie over here, I called to see if you guys could get me some stuff on the way back or if we should go buy it ourselves.”
“Sure, we’ll pass by a store on the way back, what do you need?”
I let go of John, because it would be too much of a bother to walk while keeping him on a choke even if I wasn’t putting any real pressure. Sam told us what she needed and we committed it to memory.
It was actually quite convenient for us to go to John’s place, given its location. Sam lived next door and many of our friends lived nearby too.
“Sammie, I think we’ll be there in less than an hour.”
“Got it.”
“Yeah, let’s make it a night of games, food, and drinks. Sadly, Caleb refused my idea of bitches and chill. He wants no bitches other than you, but call some for us, would you? Other than Jess, I mean,” John let out a dramatic sigh as if a really sad event had happened.
“You are an asshole, man,” I shook my head as I told with a smile, giving word to the feelings from the bottom of my heart. I legitimately had never heard him treat any woman as badly as one would imagine if they heard him talking with Sam. But he was still the ass in our group.
“Love you too, bro,” John replied shamelessly and hung his arms around my shoulder and Caleb’s again.
Caleb didn’t react to John’s way of talking to Samantha other than by shaking his head in resignation. We had all heard Samantha calling John way worse things, and they had been like that before Caleb and I knew either of them. They had grown up practically as siblings and had spent half their lives quarreling and the other half looking out for each other.
“Fuck you, John,” came Jessica’s voice immediately, as she was not one to wait for things or let John refer to her that way without retaliation.
“You wish, but I don’t wanna.”
“Hah? Unlike you, I don’t fantasize about Caleb sticking it up my ass. He’s way out of your league.”
I was 90% sure that the first half of that statement was a lie. I had seen the glances Jessica threw Caleb's way.
It was a bit surprising that John and Jessica had stayed friends after breaking up, but even after two months they still were at each other’s throats at random moments. Although they could put aside their problems and behave when around the rest of the group, comments like these still flew between them.
“And you wonder why I don’t introduce friends to you two anymore,” Sam recovered her phone before their discussion could escalate further, though she still threw a jab at John. “We are all out of your league, Lettuce Head.”
“Nah, Caleb is out of everyone’s league, you must have put a spell on him. One day I’ll set him free and I’m going to take him to see the world and fuck a new girl in every city we visit. He is a treasure that must be shared with the world, leave a thousand mini-Caleb around the planet and the next generation will fix this sad world through pure angelic wholesomeness. That’s the true goal of all this money.”
“You are a crazy bastard. You know that, right?” Sam’s voice conveyed the image that she was shaking her head at her idiotic childhood friend, but luckily she knew better than to take him seriously.
“You are just jelly that I’m a genius. My plan would totally work!”
Though I knew he was just spouting nonsense, I found myself actually wondering what that would be like. A thousand people like Caleb would surely make the world a much better place, that’s for sure.
“Caleb?”
“Yes, Sammie?”
“I got new lingerie.”
That was such a weird turn that it got a startled laughter out of all of us. I could even hear Jess laughing on the other side of the line.
“You got my full attention,” Caleb promised her with a smile.
“Punch John for me, please.”
I couldn’t help but laugh even harder while John let out an outraged cry at the blatant bribery. Sam didn’t need to spell out her offer for anyone to understand.
Caleb, meanwhile, turned to our mutual friend with a grin.
“Counteroffer?”
Ah, he was playing mercenary.
But John just snorted and let out a defeated sigh.
“Nah, dude. It’s my loss. I doubt I can suck your dick better than her.”
I could swear that I heard Sam choking on her drink.
Caleb backhanded him lightly on the stomach and John obligingly let out a sound of pain as Caleb got the cell phone closer to John’s mouth. Then Caleb reported on the success of his quest.
“Mission accomplished, ma’am. A pleasure doing business with you.”
“It will be.”
She hung up the call with that sultry tone, and not two seconds later I saw the notification appear on the top of the screen. Sam had sent a photo. My improved eyesight let me see quite a bit of detail out of the thumbnail despite the small size of the image.
Hoho. Nice.
Caleb naturally opened it but turned the screen to shield it from view as John and I unabashedly craned our necks pretending to be trying to see. He whistled in appreciation and then put his phone back in his pocket while we half-heartedly teased him and bothered him for details.
We kept joking in a merry mood as we went deeper into the complex to get the earnings from our bets and my prize money.
But I couldn’t help but notice the strange sights as I looked upon the complex with my newly enhanced perception of the world. Things came to me in little flashes, as if my eyes were struggling to adapt and only got through the blurry mess for fleeting moments of clarity.
Men and women showing strange objects to each other and moving through the place without anyone even glancing at them. People who crossed doors or went up and down sets of stairs that I had never seen in this building before.
All of which simply kept flickering out of existence after a few moments passed.
A very curious thing indeed.
It was frustrating, but I understood now was not the time for it.
I was not ready yet. I knew and accepted that. But that didn’t make it any less frustrating.
Soon.
I put that out of my mind and decided to focus on the conversation with my friends. Better that than fuming in frustration on my own, and I didn’t want to sully the good mood.
----------------------------------------
With a decent amount of cash filling our bags, it was time to get the hell out of that place. Walking around with money tended to invite trouble. That held especially true for this part of town, and was only made worse by the hour.
“…So, yeah, got into a fight with her. I can’t believe she took it so personally that I didn’t like what she made. Not my fault it tasted so bad. I mean who messes up with salt and spices on the same dish? I even said we could buy something else, am I really the bad guy here?” John complained as we walked over to where Caleb’s car was parked.
“You are the asshole, yes,” I feelingly said to my friend and grinned at him. He really was that, sometimes. But he was also the kind of guy who would go to hell and back for any of us, and we knew it. He had proven it.
"Ah, damn it," John kicked an empty can out of the way and it went sailing into the distance.
"You already knew you were in the wrong, didn't you?"
Somehow, he always had bad luck with relationships. His latest attempt at reconciliation with Jessica had ended up in another fight. It still surprised me that they had actually tried to keep the relationship going even though both had cheated on the other. Was there any point to it, if they had no trust between them?
“You should apologize. Even if you don’t like her cooking, there are better ways of saying things, John. And you know it,” Caleb admonished him, his warm voice was friendly but firm. He knew how to toe the line between counseling and nagging.
“Yeah, maybe you are right, but I don’t want to talk with her about that tonight. Maybe tomorrow.”
John’s relationships always fell apart. He wasn’t always the one at fault. Sometimes he cheated on them, sometimes they cheated on him, or they had a discussion about something that ended up in a breakup. Reasons varied, but it all culminated in him not managing to keep a stable relationship for more than half a year.
“Alright. Let me know how it goes,” Caleb patted him on the shoulder. He did not have experience with long relationships either, but his reasons were widely different from John’s case.
Caleb was popular and had flings with several chicks, and seemed to have decided to not have any serious commitment since a couple of years ago. But he was the kind of person who would never betray someone’s trust, so he wouldn’t cheat on his girlfriend even if you put a succubus on his bed.
The thing was, Caleb wasn’t looking for anything serious at the moment, and he was upfront about that. He was handsome enough that most didn’t care. Samantha had also agreed to that arrangement of keeping things casual, but I had seen the way she looked at Caleb in many other girls he had dated before.
Eventually, she would try to get him to get more serious with her, and Caleb would politely and gently tell her no.
It was the first time it would happen with someone who was also a friend of mine, and I honestly wasn’t looking forward to that.
But that was an issue for the future.
We got to Caleb’s car, a very nice new-generation vehicle with the most comfortable seats I had ever seen, and put the bags in the trunk.
“Hm, I’ll see if anyone else will join us,” I informed the others as I opened an app and started to write on the chatgroup. It would be nice to celebrate with more of our friends.
“Fine by me, but I think we should hide the bags. No need to have them around the living room where all can see,” John commented as he got in the front seat next to Caleb, who gave him a thumbs up.
“Good idea.”
John had a special place where to hide the bags, as we all did, and in his case, it was in the back of a closet inside his bedroom. A little wooden plane and some shoe boxes hid it away. He didn’t have an actual safe like Caleb, but most people didn’t have one of those in their homes, and it wasn’t like we were overly worried about someone going over all the stuff in his place. It was just a safety measure. Just in case, since leaving loads of money lying around was never a good idea, especially around drunk people.
Besides the people in the chat group, we called some friends over and asked if they wanted to come for some drinks. Some agreed to come, others said no, some didn’t confirm. Whoever would come would come.
Then we got into the business of getting the drinks and ordering the food, plus buying the stuff that Sam had asked us to get, and Caleb safely got us to John's home once our epic quest was over.
Thus, we got started on the beers without waiting for anyone.
Samantha was the first to arrive, with John’s recent ex-girlfriend in tow.
Jess was a pretty nice person, despite how she could yell at those who annoyed her, like John. She was actually pretty chill most of the time and was quite the conversationalist. She paid attention to details when someone was telling a story and listened attentively whenever one of us needed to rant about something.
Caleb was an angel of a person, but Sam was a good match for him. A bit of a tsundere, she could show thorns and a barbed tongue when angered, but that only made her more interesting than if she was a shy wallflower. Her outgoing personality went surprisingly well with Caleb’s brand of good guy badassery where he had the skills to kick most everyone’s ass and still treated everybody nicely.
We had gone a bit crazy with the food, ordering from various restaurants, so we had broasted chicken, chop suey, chow mein, hamburgers, pizzas, sushi, lots of fries, chicken wings in various sauces, and more. It might end up being too much, but we know ourselves and our friends, we all ate a lot and liked various foods. Plus, there would probably be lots of people coming.
Food arrived, and more friends joined us.
The first to arrive were Paula and her husband Jerry, and while she wouldn’t drink due to being in the fourth month of her pregnancy, she crossed the door with two bottles of wine in hand, ready to get us all drunk.
Esteban and his boyfriend Thomas arrived with even more beer. Each one carried two six-packs and started passing them nearly as soon as they got here. I had reminded John to order the BBQ chicken pizza these two loved, and I got a slice of it myself. It was delicious.
Patty, looking like she had a long and tiring day at work, was welcomed by a smiling Caleb who gave her a hug and a cold beer, which improved her mood by a lot. She had come here to relax and have a fun time, which she would get. She promptly started devouring the sushi as she told us about her day.
Rebecca arrived next and offered a bottle of rum for the cause. She called us extravagant and wasteful for ordering so much, but she wasted no time in going for the chicken wings. She put a bit of music on, not too loud, but only to add to the ambiance. We each took turns adding songs to the playlist.
Albert had hesitated to come, claiming that he didn’t have much money at the moment, but I had convinced him to come anyway. He didn’t have to pay for anything here. I would pay for him if he wanted to order something else that we hadn’t already gotten and would give him cash for the ride back. He was a hamburger lover and was happily munching one as he joined Sam and Jess to play some games.
Jack arrived at the party with two bottles of whiskey he stole from his dad, and started taking shots with John right away. Many of my friends loved alcohol. Most were wise enough to not mix up stuff, but some of us were crazy or didn’t give a damn.
Soon enough, we were all spread around John’s living room with our bellies full and drinks at hand while playing video games and talking with each other. Catching up on gossip and trading stories about what we had done in recent days.
It was quite fun.
I was also beating everyone’s ass in a racing game. One of those cool ones where you could put all kinds of things on your car to throw at your opponent.
“How about we change to Star Party?” Rebecca asked as she got last place in the race. She had been unlucky as a missile had hit her.
“Fine by me,” I replied with a smile, and the others gave their agreement.
We kept going like that. Talking, joking, fooling around, and laughing in relaxed bliss. We ended up eating our fill of the various foods we had prepared and the cans of beer filled a couple of large plastic bags.
It was fun, spending time just relaxing with my friends and enjoying their company.
This was the nicest part of the normalcy. Opportunities to sit around with my friends, and just talk and joke with them.
Moments like this made me forget about magic knives and supernatural things, simply enjoying the simple joy of having companions who shared my hobbies and to whom I could talk about nearly anything.
I leaned back on my seat and reclined my head, taking a deep breath as I closed my eyes.
This was nice.
Very nice.
So why was I filled with such a sense of longing for something else? Why was I nearly overcome by melancholy and the certainty that things were soon to be very different as if I would not get to enjoy these moments anymore?
And yet my heart kept beating strong in my chest. Thrumming with anticipation.