Divine Punishment - 9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

This was soooo not the way I wanted Jordan to find out about all the freakiness in my life. I mean, sure, actually showing him makes it easier for him to believe me and saves time, but on the downside, there’s the whole firestorm thing. When I thought about demonstrating my abilities to him, I always imagined something along the lines of a strong gust of wind. This was totally overdoing it. And, of course, there was the added issue of having to deal with unwanted witnesses.

I finally broke away from looking at Jordan, who was still speechless and checked on Justin, Gabe and Ryan. Ryan was out cold and that was definitely a relief. I really had no desire to deal with his shit right then.

Justin and Gabe were fine and were looking at me with a mixture of wonder, fear and confusion on their faces. Finally, Justin started laughing loudly, then he got to his feet and ran over to me. He clasped me by the shoulders, then shook me violently. I was too confused to react. What the hell was he doing?

“DUDE! You’re a fucking superhero?”

“Err…”

“Man, this is so cool. And you’ve got the glasses and everything. You’ve already got the Clark Kent thing down, now you just need to work on the Superman aspect.”

I looked over his shoulder and noticed Gabe slowly walking towards us. I tried to put my feelings into the look I gave him. And my feelings were perfectly summed up as “WHAT THE HELL?!”

Gabe shook his head slowly. When he was just a couple of feet away, he stopped. “I think he’s having a breakdown.” He said, referring to his brother.

Justin whipped around and laughed again. “Breakdown? Gabe, are you crazy? I’m perfectly fine. And this is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me. Don’t you see? Xander’s a friggin superhero! I have a superhero friend! Come on, how many people can say that without getting thrown into the loony bin?”

“Well, you might want to hold off on shouting that out to the whole world, or you might still get thrown in the nuthouse.” I said. “I’m speaking from experience, so trust me. Besides, I’m not a superhero.”

“Then what are you?” came Jordan’s voice, raw either with pain or anger. He sauntered over to where we were standing, but stopped just short of me. I felt like a wall had just gone up between us and I wanted to cry.

I hung my head and took a deep breath. What the hell? Might as well just lay it all out. “I’m a conduit. Umm…think of me like a shaman. I can channel spirits and use their power. Well, ONE spirit, in particular.” I looked straight into Jordan’s eyes. “Terry.”

Jordan looked as if he wanted to say something, but Terry drew my attention away from him. “Willis is trying to run away.” He said.

Sure enough, Willis was crawling on his hands and knees, trying to duck behind the nearest car.

“HOLD IT!” I yelled. He froze in his tracks. He looked back over his shoulder and there was sheer terror in his eyes. He jumped up and ran off. I sighed. “Be right back” I told the guys and sprinted after him. All of that running with Terry in the mornings was paying off. I caught up with him just before he reached the locker room. I stuck my hand out towards him and he was carried off his feet by the wind and knocked into the wall. I walked slowly over to him and kneeled down over his slumped form. I flicked his ear, making sure he was conscious. He groaned and I took that as a good sign.

“Listen to me and listen good.” I told him in the lowest, scariest tone I could manage. “You’re gonna forget what happened tonight. You’re never going to talk about this again. You’re never going to harass me or my friends again. And that goes for your troglodyte friends as well. You tell them what I said, because I don’t feel like repeating myself. You basically forget you even know me or I will kill you. And don’t think I’m joking or bluffing.” I went on, narrowing my eyes, attempting to imitate every bad guy I ever saw in movies. “Got me?”

Willis swallowed and bobbed his head up and down as fast as he could. “Y-y-yes. Got it.”

“Good. Now, take a minute to compose yourself, then go wake up your friends and fuck off.” The two I had slammed into the car were still unconscious. But hey, football injuries happen all the time. Instead of a 200 lbs. linebacker, they ran into a 2,000 lbs. car. Shake it off, as the coach would say. As I walked back over to my friends, I gave Willis’ two friends who were still awake my most deadly evil eye, trying to convey without words what I had just told Willis. They turned away from me, avoiding my gaze. I had no idea if I was doing the right thing. I was basically trusting them not to tell anyone what had happened. It was risky, but what were the chances of someone believing them anyway? And I was sure that, after the way things went down, they wouldn’t be too quick to try and mess with me again. If they talked, I had no intention of actually killing them. I’d just laugh it off as the ravings of mad, substance abusing athletes.

But I still had the other four to deal with. Ryan apparently missed the whole thing, as he was already asleep when he fell down, praise be to vodka. Justin seemed like my first and biggest fanboy. Gabe was calm, but I still couldn’t be sure. As for Jordan…That scared me the most. He could break me with two words and it had nothing to do with what he might tell others, but what he would tell me. “Fuck off!” or “Drop dead!” were definitely not something I wanted to hear. Well, time to face the music. I put my hand on Jordan’s arm when I reached him, but he shook it off. You could have stabbed me through the heart and I don’t think I’d have felt as much pain.

“This is just a lot to take in.” he said, as he took a step back. “I just need time, okay?” He turned on his heel and walked to his car. “Justin, you can give Xander a ride home, can’t you?” he asked, without looking at either of us.

“Yeah, sure.” Justin replied, looking back and forth between us. His good mood from just a few minutes before had evaporated.

“Good.” Jordan said as he got into his car and started the engine. He looked at me one more time and I called out his name softly.

“Let him go for now. He’ll come around. He loves you.” Terry said, placing his hand on my shoulder. It felt warm and comforting and painful at the same time, as I thought I might never feel Jordan’s touch that way again. I prayed to God that Terry was right and hoped for the best even as I kept silent and watched the boy I loved drive away.

“Xander?” Justin handed me a tissue and only then did I realize that I was actually crying. “Come on, bud. You’ll be okay. He loves you. I know he does. He just needs a bit of time.”

I choked out a bitter laugh. “That’s what Terry just said.”

“Yeah, that’s…something else. Ghosts, huh?” I nodded, blowing my nose and then throwing away the tissue. I really couldn’t be bothered about littering. “Hi, Terry.” Justin said.

“Hey.” Terry replied.

“He says hi back. But I have no intention of being the interpreter for a conversation between the two of you, so knock it off. Please, just take me home, okay?”

“Sure.”

“Well, this weekend certainly provided more excitement than I had bargained for, even with the playing gay thing.” Gabe said as he bent over to pick up Ryan. “Get up, you bastard! God, if he throws up in my car, I’m dumping him by the side of the road.”

I ran over to help him as Justin went to bring his brother’s car around, so we wouldn’t be forced to drag Ryan more than was strictly necessary.

“I’m sorry about all this, Gabe. I never meant for you to get caught in the middle. Hell, I never meant for ANYONE to be caught in it. I just…couldn’t control myself. I was just so angry and scared for Jordan…” Damn it, just thinking of Jordan made me almost break down again.

“I’ll be honest with you. That scared the shit out of me. But…it was amazing. It’s hard to describe what it was. Epic, I suppose fits.”

“Epic?”

“Yeah. You know, one of those iconic images you see in a movie or a photo or whatever. Something that stays with you. Like…that Chinese guy standing in front of the column of tanks in Tiananmen Square…”

“That one didn’t end too well…”

“Regardless. It’s one of those moments that take your breath away and leave you thinking “Wow!”. That was you tonight. Dude, you conjured up a wall of fire! Christ, the way you looked, with your hair blowing, a dark figure surrounded by hot flames…I can definitely see how my brother thought you looked like a damn superhero.”

“So…”

“So, what I’m saying is that I don’t understand what’s going on, and it scares me, but it’s exciting as hell when you think about it. So, you don’t need to worry about me.”

“Thanks. I wish Jordan felt the same way.”

“Well, if I got this correctly, that Terry guy was his cousin, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So, that’s even more…I don’t want to say disturbing…”

“But it fits.”

“Right. So, it affects him even more than the fact that you kept this from him.”

“But he said I should only tell him my secrets when I’m ready.”

“Oh, please. And you believed him? Dude, you have a lot to learn about relationships, then.”

“I’m willing to study hard. Just as long as I still have a relationship.” I said gloomily.

“He’ll come around.” Both Gabe and Terry said.

Justin pulled the car around and jumped out, then opened the rear door. We all stood around then, looking at each other. “Fine, sheesh!” Gabe said. “I’ll get in the back with him. If he throws up on me, we’re definitely dumping him in a ditch somewhere.” We carefully placed Ryan in the backseat – and by careful, I mean we banged his head on the door – and Gabe walked around the other side and got in the back as well. That left me in the front seat.

“We should drop Ryan off first, if you don’t mind, Xander.”

“Yeah, sure. Whatever.” I replied numbly. I was tired now. I guess using my powers without proper control took a lot out of me. And I was still hurting from…what? Was it a break-up? A time-out? Whatever the hell it was, it was painful and I just wanted to sleep. So I dozed off and only woke up when Justin shook my leg.

“We’re here. You wanna give us a hand?” I didn’t answer. Instead, I just got out, opened the rear door and helped Gabe with the still sleeping Ryan as Justin searched through his pockets for his keys. “No luck” he said.

“We should just leave the fucker on his porch.” I said. “Do you think he’d do even that much for any of us?”

“It’s kinda cold out.” Gabe replied.

“Serves him right if he gets pneumonia. It’s all his damn fault!” The rage was building up inside me again and this time, Ryan was my target. If he had kept his mouth shut, if he hadn’t gotten drunk, if we weren’t stupid enough to try and help him…

“Relax, Xander.” Terry said, once again placing a comforting hand on my arm. “You did the right thing and you know it. Yes, he’s an idiot, but you couldn’t just leave him there. No more than Jordan could have left you when Willis told him to do so.” Damn him for making so much sense.

“Come on, let’s ring the doorbell. His parents are probably still up.” I said, resigned to my fate. We walked down the stone walkway and up to the 2-storey white house, with a wide porch running along the front and both sides of it. There was a light on the second storey and as soon as we rang the doorbell, we heard heavy footsteps coming down the stairs.

“Who in the hell is it at this hour?” came a harsh-sounding voice. Great. Another confrontation. The door opened and we were faced with a very large, very angry woman in a purple muumuu. She was about 5’8”, but seemed just as wide and had white hair and a lined face, along with a crooked nose. Her hazel eyes though were almost identical to Ryan’s. I assumed it was his grandmother.

“Who are you?” she said, looking in turn at all of us, finally settling on Ryan. “Oh. He drunk again?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Well, at least this time he had someone to bring him home.” She let out a long breath, then stepped aside and motioned for us to enter. “I swear, this boy is going to put both of us in an early grave if he keeps this up.” All I could think of looking at her was “EARLY?!” She must’ve read my mind, because she gave me a dirty look and told me she’s just 63.

“If his daddy were home, he’d give him a good spanking, but my bones are too old and frail for that. Yes, just set him down on the couch. No need to go up the stairs. He’ll get just as good a hangover regardless of the bed he wakes up in.”

We put him down on the big couch and his grandmother threw a quilt over him, after making sure he was face down. “Don’t want him drowning on his own vomit, now do we?” I withheld comment on that one. “Well, thank you boys for dropping him off. Now off you go. I need my rest.”

“Umm…sure.” We all said, as we were herded towards the door.

“Tell Ryan we wish him a speedy recovery.” Justin said.

“Oh, you’re such a nice boy. You must be Justin.”

“I am.” He answered, looking confused.

“Ryan talks about you all the time. I swear, the boy has the biggest crush on you.”

Justin didn’t know how to answer, so I thought I’d cut in, since I was so damn tired. “Yeah, well, that’s cute, but we really must be going.”

“And you must be Alexander.”

“Just Xander, actually.”

“Whatever.” She scoffed. “My grandson doesn’t speak too highly of you.”

“Well, considering your grandson is a drunken pig that, in his unparalleled stupidity could have gotten all of us killed tonight, I think I’ll take that as a compliment.” Justin and Gabe were staring wide-eyed at me, while Ryan’s grandmother studied me for a few seconds.

“Yes. He can be quite the idiot. I think I like you, Xander. Name’s Edna. Edna McKinley.” She said, sticking her hand out.

“Umm…nice to meet you?” I extended my hand as well and she gripped it tightly and shook me to my very roots.

“Likewise. I’m glad my grandson has good kids like you around him. He needs fine role models and, as wonderful as I am, I’m not spritely enough to keep up with him. But with kids like you around, he might just turn out alright. You be sure to drop by for a visit soon, you hear?”

“Yeah, sure. Err, good-night.”

“Take care, now. Drive safely.” Then she slammed the door in our faces.

“What the hell was that?” I asked.

“Edna McKinley, apparently” Gabe answered, laughing, as we walked back to his car. “Goddamn, that’s a lot of woman.”

“I kinda liked her.” Justin replied.

“Figured you would. After all, she did say Ryan had a crush on you.”

Justin blushed and tried to slap the back of his brother’s head, but Gabe was too fast and spun around and grabbed his brother’s hand, then twisted it around his back and grabbed him in a head-lock with his other hand.

“Come on, admit it. It made you all giddy. You like Ryan, don’t you?” Gabe went on.

“No, he’s an asshole.”

“But he’s a cute asshole.”

“N-no…” Gabe let go of Justin’s hand, still holding him a head-lock and gave him a nuggie. “Okay, okay, he’s cute. There, I said it.”

“And you want to get into his pants.”

“God, you’re going to make me sick” I put in. “This is Ryan we’re talking about.”

“Yeah, he’s a total jerk. But I wouldn’t mind getting into his pants at least once. Now let go of me.” Justin said, giggling and Gabe released him.

“Ugh. What about his parents?” I asked, as I got into the car, this time in the back, with Gabe riding shotgun. Yes, it was a desperate attempt at changing the subject, but I was also curious. Edna and now Ryan’s crush on Justin at least served to keep my mind occupied, so I wouldn’t think of Jordan and bum myself out.

“His parents got divorced. Don’t know why, but his dad got custody. He’s in the Marines. He’s in Iraq. His third tour.” Justin said.

“Christ, man, how do you know all this shit?”

“Dude, we’re in high-school. Gossip is what keeps that place running. And every girl loves to gossip with their gay friend. I learn all kinds of things.”

“Information is a powerful tool.” Gabe said.

“And I know how to use my tool.” Justin replied. Gabe and I gave him a few seconds to figure that one out on his own. “Wait, no, that’s not what I meant…” he said, but by then we were laughing so hard that I was almost in tears.

“Thanks, guys. I needed this to keep my mind off Jordan.” I said, when we finally settled down.

Justin and Gabe exchanged a look and I swear they were communicating telepathically or something.

“They’re planning something.” Terry said.

“Okay, what are you guys up to?” I inquired. “Even Terry’s suspicious and you know how big of a bonehead he was, Justin. It’s obvious you’re planning something.”

“Well, you’re going home with us tonight.”

“I am?”

“Yeah.” Gabe said. “You need to be around friends right now. Like you said, to keep your mind occupied.”

“That’s alright, guys. I can just call Sharon when I get home. She’ll let me pour my heart out and then I’ll get some sleep.”

“Does she know about you and…well, you know? All the crazy magic stuff?”

“No.” I admitted grudgingly.

“Right. So, you can’t really talk with her, since she’s not in the loop. She won’t really understand why you’re upset. So, unless you want to tell her everything…”

“I don’t, thanks.”

“Okay, so, Justin and I know all about it, so you can talk to us. Then we’ll have a fun guys’ night in. Order pizza from a great place I know that’s open 24/7, maybe play some videogames, watch a movie…”

“Play strip poker…” Justin intervened helpfully.

“I’m gonna skip that one, thanks, but you two can go right ahead.” Gabe said.

It was actually tempting. I’d never had any real close male friends before and this might be fun, even if the Jordan situation was hanging heavy in the back of my mind.

“What about your dad?” I asked.

“What about him?” replied Gabe, his features darkening at the mention of his father.

“Won’t he mind? I mean, you already said he wasn’t okay with Justin. What if he thinks I’m his boyfriend or something?”

“Don’t you worry about him.”

“Guys, I don’t wanna cause more trouble for you. It sounds like fun, but we’ll do it some other time, alright?”

“No, we’re doing it now.” Gabe suddenly brightened. “Besides, it might actually be fun if he thinks you’re his boyfriend.”

“Huh?”

“Well, my roommate’s still coming in tomorrow. Just think of how lovely it’ll be to have two gay couples in the house.” He said, then he started giggling, mischievous glee simply radiating off him. Yes, I was really starting to like Gabe.