by Rue Volley
He lowered his hands and stared at me.
“Oh…yea, I guess that not everyone knows what that is,” he said.
I glanced at him and grinned.
“Well, Halloween is the one day that you can dress up like whatever you want to… Why just put on your battle gear and be what you are everyday?” I asked him.
“Mmm,” he said.
We both looked at each other when we heard the front door open, and Josh flashed from my room and down the stairs before I started to move. I reached the bottom step and stared as Sam stood there, with Theo, and I grinned.
Sam glanced at Kai on the couch and then at Josh.
Nobody said anything, which to me was beyond bizarre. There we all were, all of us very quick to say anything that came to mind, and no one spoke. I stepped down and looked at Sam and then Theo.
“I am hungry,” I said.
Theo cleared his throat and looked at Sam.
“Well, of course you are, love...! I will get something going right away,” he said, as he moved into the kitchen, and we heard pans clattering.
I looked at Josh, and he grinned, as he looked down.
Sam stepped up to him and stared at him.
“What have you been doing?” she asked him.
I suddenly realized that all three of them were experiencing something completely new… They had no idea what the other one was doing or how they felt. Something I spent my entire life doing. It wouldn’t… and did not seem strange to me, but to the three of them it probably teetered on loneliness. I mean, it would be like if I suddenly was told that I couldn’t read ever again. That is the only way I could try to understand it.
Josh looked at Sam and raised his eyebrows. She stood there and waited; ready to have to talk about whatever he had on his mind, which I could only guess was irritating to her. He cleared his throat.
“Ummm, well. I guessed that Rue would come here, and I was right as usual. Then I fixed Calvary and ran into Sia…” he said.
We heard pans hit the floor in the kitchen.
We all looked, as Theo stepped back in.
“Did you say ‘Sia’?” Theo said, as he stood there looking a little upset.
Josh looked at him and shrugged his shoulders.
“Yea… Sia, crazy obsessed evil girl from way back… and she had company, two others that I didn’t know,” he said.
“Well, go on,” Theo said, as he stepped to the chair and sat down on it.
He glanced at me and then back at Josh.
“Well, Rue and I got into a discussion,” Josh said.
I leaned and looked at Theo.
“An argument,” I said.
Josh looked back at me and shook his head. I grinned and straightened up.
“No… well, anyway…” he started to say.
I leaned again and looked at Theo.
“He doesn’t like to discuss his hair,” I said.
Sam laughed and Josh shot a look at her.
She cleared her throat and shook her head, as she looked at Theo. Theo smiled.
“Okay… and,” he said, as he placed his fingers on his chin.
Josh cleared his throat.
“Anyway, she was all acting like ‘Sia’, and Rue and I blew her ass into the next town,” he said.
Theo leaned forward.
“That is not an explanation… that is vague,” he said.
Josh laughed.
“Well, we were in the middle of our discussion, and then we both had a burst of energy and she was thrown out of sight,” Josh said.
“Ahhh,” Theo said, as he leaned back and stared at the two of us.
Sam walked up to Kai, and he kept playing his game, like no one was in the room. She looked down at him and bit her lip, as she sat down and looked at Josh.
“So, is she dead?” she asked.
Josh shrugged his shoulders.
“I think so, we didn’t go look.”
“Why not?” Theo asked him.
“Oh, I don’t know Theo… maybe it was the crazy flash of light that came out of the two of us, of which I have never experienced before… or maybe it was the fact that I wanted to get Rue back to the house,” he said.
“Well, I wish that you had,” Theo said, as he stood up and looked at the two of us.
“Well sorry!” Josh said, all irritated.
Theo tilted his head at him.
“Are you feeling alright?” he asked him.
Josh looked at him and crossed his arms.
“Yea, never better,” he said.
Theo stepped up to him and touched his face.
He opened Josh’s mouth and stared into it.
“What are you doing?” Josh asked as he stepped back from him.
Theo held his hand up to him, and a small light welled up in his palm… He placed it over Josh’s face, and red color started to swirl on his face. Josh stood there and stared at him. Theo grinned.
“Oh... that explains it,” he said, as he walked back to the kitchen.
Josh stood there looking all weird.
“Explains what?” he yelled after him.
I stepped up to him and grinned.
“Your color is red now,” I said, as I turned and walked into the kitchen.
Josh shook his head and looked at Sam.
“My color is not Red… it is Black,” he said.
Sam shrugged her shoulders.
“Johnathan was Red,” she said.
Josh looked at his hands.
“Oh shit,” he muttered.
“Theo?!” he yelled out, as he followed us in.
I sat down at the table and took a bite of a muffin, grinning as I chewed it. Josh stood there looking all… well, he looked like Johnathan; he really did… all sweet and insecure.
“Excuse me,” Josh said, as Theo kept tooling around on the stove.
“Yes, love,” Theo said, as he looked at the concoction he had brewing in a pot.
“Don’t call me that,” Josh said.
Theo turned and swung the spoon, he had in his hand, towards him.
“I would assume that you would enjoy the more sensitive reaction to your question.”
Josh shifted his weight and placed his hand on his hip, then he lowered it… realizing that he never did that… the ‘hand on the hip’ thing.
“I, ah… I,” he started to say.
Then he straightened up and raised his eyebrows.
“Get this out of me now,” he said.
I looked up at him and held my muffin out, as I smiled.
“I kinda like the whole insecurity thingy you got going on… I should have known,” I said, as I took another bite and looked at Theo.
Theo smiled and shook his head at me.
“Well, I agree with you, Joshua… You are not equipped to care,” he said to him.
Josh shook his head.
“I care about stuff,” he said, before he realized it.
I heard Sam laugh behind him.
Josh turned and stared at her.
“Don’t,” he said.
Sam stepped in and sat down at the table next to me.
We both looked at him.
“What?” he asked us.
We both laughed and Sam looked at me.
“So was it about his hair?” she asked me.
I took another bite and nodded.
“Uh huh… I said that I didn’t like it.”
She laughed and leaned back.
“I knew it!” she said.
Josh stood there, and I just know that he was just dying to react like a girl.
So instead, he walked out of the kitchen, and Sam laughed and looked at me.
“Holy crap...! Theo, fix that… it is sad to watch,” she said.
I looked at her and glanced at the living room. Josh not only left the kitchen; he went upstairs. We both leaned and watched him run upstairs and giggled. She looked at me.
“I am surprised that you didn’t knock him out,” she said.
I shook my head,
as I crumpled the paper wrapper that had held the muffin that I scarfed down.
“I should have noticed it… he has been acting weird.”
“It is Johnathan’s light that he harbors in him. It is not uncommon for the receiver to take on the traits of the giver in such cases,” Theo said.
“So… I have been hanging out with Josh and Johnathan, basically?” I asked.
Theo nodded, as he leaned over and smelled whatever he was cooking.
“It would appear to be so,” Theo said.
We all heard something crash upstairs and Sam laughed and covered her mouth.
“Holy crap… he is throwing a fit,” she said.
I looked at her and shook my head.
“Should I go up there and calm him down?” I asked her.
Theo turned and poured whatever magic he did into a coffee cup, and it smelled like dead raccoon. He placed it on the table in front of me, and I leaned over and smelled it. I backed up and placed my fingers on my nose.
“OMG... that stinks!” I said.
Sam smelled it and stood up.
“Yuck,” she said.
Theo tapped her on the shoulder and handed her a cup too.
“Oh… no thanks… I’m good,” Sam said.
“I am afraid that we all need to drink it, love.”
“Shit,” Sam said, as she leaned in and smelled it.
“Usually you can mask this stuff with flavor.”
Theo smiled.
“Not this time, I apologize. It is an old potion… one I was lucky to stumble upon, thanks to Rue,” he said.
I looked at him and held the cup away from me.
“What?” I said.
“Yes… seems that your books hold many things of use, but no time to discuss this now… Everyone needs to drink; then we can get back to the business at hand.”
“What business is that?” I asked.
Theo pulled out an envelope that shimmered from something sprinkled on it.
He pulled the card out and placed it up for me to see.
“We have a party to attend.”
I leaned in and read the fancy script on the paper.
You are cordially invited to a Halloween celebration to be held at the Graph house, tomorrow eve.
Hosted by
Johnathan Graph and Elizabeth Crowley.
WTF??
I looked up at Theo and shook my head.
“OMG,” I said.
“Exactly,” Theo said, as he pinched his nose and looked at his cup of stinky goodness.
“We need to all be completely in charge of ourselves for this. So, I suggest that you run upstairs and convince Joshua that he needs to put his pants back on.”
I giggled and spilled a little of the nasty liquid on the floor.
“Oh, be careful, love... here.”
Theo handed me a second cup, and I realized that I had to drink it too.
“Oh, fantastic,” I said.
Theo smiled and tipped his cup back. He shuddered, as he swallowed it, and then covered his mouth to avoid hurling it back up. Sam and I stared at him. He shook his head ‘no’ and stood up straight, trying to grin.
“It is not as horrible as you would imagine,” he said, as he coughed.
Sam rolled her eyes and looked into the living room.
“Give me one for Gamer Boy in there,” she said.
I looked at her and at the two cups in my hands and sighed.
“Shit,” I muttered under my breath.
Theo waved his hands at me, and I turned and started to walk towards the stairs.
I stood there and looked up the steps, shaking my head.
“Well, it was fun while it lasted,” I whispered to myself.
Realizing that I was about to get the Josh back that I knew… full throttle and all sarcastic. Mmm. Yea, all Josh, I thought to myself. I grinned and started to walk up the stairs, knowing that I needed Josh to be himself again… because I missed him, I really did.
All 150% of his obnoxiousness.
I walked up the steps, as slowly as I could, trying not to spill my goodies. It was hard not to, seeing that the stink of it was floating upward and stinging my nose. I had this bad feeling that I should have drank mine right out of the cauldron, but no. I took it and waited, letting it settle into its grossness. Some things age gracefully, but that…no, definitely not.
I made it to the top step, and Josh popped out and stared at me. I ‘oh’d’, as I balanced the two cups, and a little of one spilled on my hand and dripped on the carpet. It felt slimy, and it was losing its heat. I looked at the two cups, as the mixture slowed its sloshing around… like it was starting to jell. Theo yelled upstairs.
“I would suggest that you drink it before it cools down!”
I looked at the film collecting on the top of both of the cups and sighed.
“Uh huh… right,” I yelled back.
Josh looked at the cups and then at me.
He looked as if he may have been crying.
I raised my eyebrows and tilted my head.
“Were you up here crying?” I said.
He shook his head and sniffled.
“No,” he said.
I grinned.
“You see what I have in my hands...? Well, we have to drink them, so please move,” I said.
He looked at them and walked away from me. I followed him into my room, and he sat down on the bed and turned away from me. I stood there and shook my head, as I walked a little quicker. I think at that point, the crap in the cups had done the worst thing they could have and made it impossible to just swallow them quickly. I walked to him and held one cup out to him, and he kept his face away from me.
“Josh… you have to drink this. Theo made it for us,” I said.
“I don’t care,” he said, as he stared at my wall.
I had to hold back a laugh. I really did. Here he was going all girl on me, and now I have to find the girl in me to get him to right this awkwardness. I sat down behind him, and he scooted up. I sighed and looked at my cup. It jiggled, and I grimaced at the thought of having to swallow it now… even more so than I did before. It is going to suck.
“Josh… I am sorry,” I said.
I tried to make it sound convincing, but I knew now why I felt so aggressive. I mean, I guess that I am naturally, but the whole bond breaking thingy and then having to deal with Josh all emotional had tilted me more towards the boy side of my personality. I had to find some sensitivity now. I really did.
“Josh,” I said all soft.
He peeked at me, and I leaned down and smiled at him.
“Come on… I was joking; I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” I said.
He slowly turned to me and looked at the cups in my hand.
“What is that?” he said, all sad and beaten down.
I looked at the cups and wanted to tell him it was hot chocolate, because that would rock… but no… it is grossness in jelled-form now, and I don’t want him to spit it out and get all freaky on me for lying.
“This is what will bring you back to normal,” I said.
He looked at me and shook his head.
“I am not normal, am I?”
“No you are not… not even close to it. So let’s do this together and get back to who we are,” I said to him, feeling like a parent convincing a child that the dentist was a good thing.
“I don’t know,” he said.
I raised my eyebrows at him and shook the cups in my hand a little, watching the congealed nasty shake around.
“Listen to me… I won’t lie, this is going to taste like your feet,” I said, before I realized that referring to the fact that it was going to taste like him, was probably a bad thing.
“Oh, I see,” he said, as he put his back to me again.
I rolled my eyes, placed the cups down on my nightstand, and stared at his hunched shoulders. I want to rub his back and make him feel all fuzzy, but the truth was he was annoying me. That is true! He is annoyi
ng me! I didn’t have that problem with Johnathan at all! I don’t. OMG. I just realized that the love that I have for Johnathan is like what I have for Kai. I love him, but not all wanting to hump on him. I don’t want Josh right now because he is acting like Johnathan, and that drives me crazy.
“Josh!” I said all excited, as I tapped him on the back.
He looked back over his shoulder and raised his eyebrows at me.
“What?” he said.
“You have to drink this now and so do I,” I said to him.
He turned and looked at me.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because you are acting like a pussy,” I said, as I straightened up on the bed.
Josh took a breath and looked at me.
“What did you call me?” he said.
“A pussy,” I said to him.
He grinned and shook his head.
“That I am not.”
“Uh huh… well, stop acting all scared about drinking it,” I said.
My new game plan was to try to draw the ‘ass’ out of him to drink it to spite me.
“Yeah… actually you are,” I added.
He looked at the cup behind me and then at me.
“You don’t have to be all mean about it.”
I smiled at him.
“Oh, shut up… pussy,” I said.
He stood up and stared me down. He reached past me in a flash and gripped the cup in his hand. He took a look at me that resembled Theo more than himself, and then he tilted it. The jelly moved slowly, and he muttered something as he lowered it.
“I think that I need a spoon.”
I stood up and grabbed my cup. I placed it to my mouth and sucked the contents out. It tasted like dirty socks and poo, and I did my best to swallow it as quickly as I could, although it coated my mouth and caused me to want to throw up. I pulled the cup from my mouth and grunted, as the last of it slid down my throat, and I slammed my cup on the nightstand. I looked back at him and cleared my throat.
“I didn’t need a freakin’ spoon… just suck it out and stop complaining,” I said.
He looked at me and straightened his shoulders out. He placed the cup to his mouth and tilted his head back, making an awful slurping sound as he sucked every last bit of the crap out of that cup. He leaned forward and whined, as he swallowed and peeked up at me. I stood there ready to hold his mouth shut and make him hold it in, but he slowly stood up. He became taller, as his posture improved, and he looked around the room.