Rise of Alpha (The Prodian Journey #1) (8 page)

She made me feel like a million dollars. I almost gave back a big grin, but I stopped myself. Instead, I got up, and we walked down the stairs together in silence.
 

The rest of the house was dark and quiet. My parents must’ve retreated to their bedroom for the night.
 

“Drive safe.” I had to fight the urge to touch her again. It’d be a mistake if I let myself get used to it.

“Thanks. Get better, okay? We have tons of work to do.” She waved before descending the lit pathway to her car.
 

I waited by the doorway until she gave another wave and drove away. After I closed the door behind me, I gave in and twirled around with happiness. I was still pirouetting when the hallway light turned on, abruptly halting my celebration. I turned to look up and saw my dad shaking his head.

“Brian, are you okay?” he asked.

“Yep!” I answered way too eagerly and took the stairs two at a time. “Night, Dad!”

I returned to my room, and like a greedy dog, inhaled deep to savor Shannon’s lingering scent. When all that was left was stale air and the aroma of our leftovers, I crawled into bed. In the darkness, I recalled Madame Elizabeth’s words.
Your curse comes with a blessing.
If Shannon was the blessing, then I wouldn’t mind shouldering my curse at all.
 

Interpretation
 

I took another sick day from school. The fever had gone down, but even though I was feeling better enough to attend my classes, it would take crafty maneuvering to convince my mother to let me out of the house so soon. Mark and Darryl called to check on me before class started, and I dozed off after playing a round of video games.
 

When I woke up, I sent Shannon a text to tell her I’d be missing school again. To my surprise, she responded right away. She even volunteered to come by after school to drop off my homework before she headed to her job.
 

Even though Shannon didn’t stay long and I would have liked to spend more time with her, I wasn’t going to complain.
 
It wasn’t every day that a fine girl dropped by my house to see me. As usual, I stared at her like she was from another planet. I couldn’t get over the fact that she was in my life, no matter in what capacity. Since I didn’t have anything else to occupy my mind, I spent most of the day daydreaming about her, still unable to believe my luck in having her come into my life. There was no questioning that a higher force had brought us together.
 

My plan was to savor the moment and enjoy having a new friend.
 
No matter how thrilled I was with recent developments between us, a nagging feeling that something was about to happen began to plague me. With my sudden recurrent nightmares and what she told me the night before, I felt rather strange and somewhat nervous. Whatever it all meant, it dampened my inexplicable high.
 

My phone rang, disturbing my inner conflict.
 

“Talon, we’re coming over,” Mark said.

“Sure. What time?”
 

Then the doorbell chimed. “Now.” He laughed and hung up.

I opened the door to find him and Darryl with PS4 controllers and a bag of chips. It was typical of them to show up like that.
 

“Feeling better?” Darryl asked when we reached my bedroom.
 

“Yeah,” I answered absent-mindedly.

We sprawled on my bed, and Mark picked up the remote control for the television and started flipping through the channels.
 

“Here, let me!” Impatient, I grabbed the remote from him and turned on the auxiliary station right away. “Let’s play.”

They gave me a questioning look. “I know you’re in love with your remote, but what the hell was that about?” Mark opened the bag of chips, and the barbecue scent filled in the air.

“Nothing,” I fibbed.

“Nothing, my ass,” Darryl said before stuffing his mouth with a handful of potato chips.

“Bro, you’re acting weird today—weirder than usual, anyway. I know you well enough to know something’s up, so spill the fava beans!” Mark made that Hannibal Lecter hissing sound from one of our favorite movies.
 

“Yeah, you ran out of that psychic shop like you’d seen a ghost.” Darryl seconded. “Then you got sick and wouldn’t answer our calls until this morning. Spill, dude.”

I wavered between the truth or a lie about what had happened over the past few days. Telling them would also mean I had to tell them about Shannon. For some selfish reason, I wanted to keep her all to myself. My own little secret.
 

“We’re your best friends, in case you’ve forgotten. We’ve shared dirty secrets since middle school,” Mark reminded me.

As long as I could remember, these two had been watching my back.
 

I still hesitated, but the overwhelming need to share my fears with them overcame the urge to keep Shannon to myself.
 

“Fine. It’s weird, and I expect you to keep this on the down-low, aʼight?”

They nodded.

“That night at Madame Elizabeth’s, she said something that scared the crap out of me. I know it was bogus, but it freaked me out bad.”

“What did she say?” they asked in unison.

I mimicked Shannon’s mom. “
With your curse comes a blessing
.”
 

“Really?” Mark narrowed his eyes. “That scared the shit out of you?”

“Yeah.” I was sure they’d start making fun of me, but when neither of them said anything, I continued. “She’s creepy, bro.”
 

Again, there was silence except for the crunching sound of their chewing, and the music of the forgotten video game’s menu screen.

After a moment, Darryl began picking at his ear piercings, a nervous habit of his. “Okay, fine. Madame Elizabeth confused the hell out of me with my reading. I got the man hanging upside down. She said that it symbolized self-sacrifice and adapting to changes. Like there’s going to be a pause in my life until I give up something for the greater good. So I asked what it really meant, because my creep-o-meter shot through the roof. She said that my friend would be going through a transition and I needed to be there for him.”

Mark and I looked at each other while Darryl resumed his assault on the chips.
 

“Who is transitioning?” I asked, not sure what it meant.
 

Mark raised both hands and shook his head with a grin. “Don’t look at me. My voice doesn’t squeak. I’m circumcised, and all cylinders are a go.”

I socked Mark in the arm. “You’re stupid.”

“What did Madame E tell you?” Darryl asked him.
 

He was thoughtful for a moment. “Well, mine was kinda freaky, too. She had me pick a card, and I got temperance. She said it meant I had self-control and was able to handle tough situations, but that I had to deal with impatience and conflict. It could also mean angels and guardian spirits were around, but in my case, she said I was it.” He sighed and looked over at me. “Go figure what that means. Anyway, now you can tell us whatever it is you’re holding back.”

Cornered, I knew it was time to tell them about the dreams. I turned my desk chair around and straddled it. “That night, I started having weird dreams. First, this creature was chasing after Shannon McKesson. It was all a blur. I went back to sleep and dreamed something different. This random woman was being bitten by a rattlesnake. It was like I was there watching it happen. Then the next day, there she was in the news.”
 

I stopped to take a deep breath, and my friends stared at me like I’d lost my marbles. “See, I told you it’s weird. But that’s not all. I dreamed about Shannon and the weird creature again. It woke me up. I went back to sleep, I had another dream. This time, there was a girl running away from a man, and he was holding a bat. I could see everything around them, but I had no idea where they were. The next day, Shannon came over, and she and my mom were watching the—”

“Hold it right there! Shannon was here?” Disbelief was all over Mark’s face. Darryl stopped chewing, mirroring Mark’s surprise.
 

My secret was out. “Yeah, she came over when I didn’t show up for class yesterday.” I tried to make it sound like it wasn’t a big deal.

“Why would Shannon care if you showed up in class or not?” Mark asked.

For a brief moment, I felt smug. “We’re partners in Sweeney’s and Mr. P’s classes, so she came by to find out when we’re going to start with the projects.”
 

“Bullshit!” Darryl exclaimed. He had a knack for spotting lie from a mile away.

“Fine,” I conceded. “According to her, she got a similar reading from Madame Elizabeth—who happens to be her mother.”

“They’re related?” Mark asked in disbelief.
 
“Are you serious?”

“Yep, and for some reason, she decided to tell Shannon that I was the key to whatever trouble she’s about to face.”

“What do you have to do with her?” Darryl asked.

“I have no idea, but the coincidences are hard to ignore. First, we were partnered up in two classes.” I flashed two fingers. “
Two
,” I repeated. “We’ve shared a lot of classes before, and this is the first time we’ve been thrown together. After she told me about what her mom said, I was even more freaked out about my dreams.” I closed my eyes, still having a tough time believing the story myself.

Mark chuckled and stood up. “Okay, just for argument’s sake, what are you going to do if this all turns out to be nothing?” he asked

Darryl leaned forward, and I stood to turn up the volume of the music.
 

“I don’t know, but I’m not going to let her go through whatever this is alone. Funny thing is, I asked Dr. Singer to take me off my antidepressant. So now I wonder if this is like a withdrawal symptom. You know, like I’m hallucinating or something. But it’s so real. And how else would you explain Shannon’s sudden interest in me if she was lying?”

“Who knows? Maybe she and the girls are planning an early April Fool’s prank. I don’t know.” Mark appeared as baffled as I was.

“Bro, you can say what you like, but I don’t think Shannon is making it up. She’s all freaked out.”
 

Darryl nodded. “So that’s the reason why you went all jumpy with the remote control.”

“I don’t want to see the news again. It’s too crazy.”
 

Mark thought for a long moment, stroking his chin. “Okay, here’s what we’ll do. We’ll take everything seriously for now and keep watching each other’s back. Shannon’s, too,” he said.
 
“And if you have a freaky dream tonight, tell us in the morning, and we’ll search the news or the net for you.”

“Thanks, guys,” was all I could say.
   

“Now that that’s settled,
Call of Duty
beckons.” Darryl chuckled.
 

We spent the next two hours caught up in a world war with zombies, just like a typical afternoon. I was glad to have a break from all the weirdness and feel normal again.

It was another tough night. I woke up feeling exhausted, despite going to bed early. This time, my dreams were back-to-back. First, I was watching an apartment fire. A few people escaped, but there were two sleeping kids who weren’t so lucky. That nightmare was followed by Shannon running away from a pursuer. It ended abruptly when I woke up, all my facial muscles twitching from the dream’s intensity.