This choice: Reveal yourself to your father, and hope for the best. • Go Back...Chapter #5Reveal yourself to your father, and hope for th... by: Unknown In the morning, you busy yourself with your mother's chores while considering how to break the news to your father. Your hands work away methodically without you even having to concentrate, so your full mental capacity is at work on the problem. Eventually, you have the outline of a plan, and you begin preparing John's morning coffee, knowing that the smell will pull him out of bed.
Sure enough, he stumbles down the stairs in short order. Without preamble he growls, "David never showed up?" If you want to tell him where you are, it's now or never.
Taking a deep breath and looking him straight in the eye, you reply, "Actually, he did."
Your father looks up sharply from pouring his coffee. "Did he say what he was doing out so late?"
"Yes. And I'm afraid he's gotten himself into quite a bit of trouble."
With a groan, your father slumps into his favorite chair. "What did he do?"
"Well, he and his friend Caleb were hiking in the state park when David got it into his head to cause trouble at Fort Suffolk." You're still upset with Caleb for abandoning you, but you figure that your father will be angry enough about this story without you trying to shift the blame to someone else. "They snuck into a warehouse at the edge of the base, and David started throwing things around."
Your father, glaring into his coffee mug, mutters something that you can't quite catch, but he appears to still be listening to you.
"Caleb left just before David dropped a bottle full of chemicals, causing an explosion." Here it comes. "The chemicals did something to David, changing him."
Now your father's full attention is on you, and for the first time there is something in his expression other than anger. You can't tell if it's concern or incredulity, and you hurry on with your story.
"His body turned the same shade of blue as the chemicals and collapsed into a ball of goo, but his mind appeared to remain intact. He managed to sneak off of the base, and then he was eaten by a wolf in the park."
Your father's face is beginning to turn a peculiar shade of purple at this point, and you wonder if he has forgotten to keep breathing, so you rush through the final bit of your tale without even pausing for a breath of your own. "He discovered that he could control the wolf, so he came home, left the wolf, and entered... me."
*****
Joanna's face seems incredibly large from this vantage point. You quiver miserably in the mixing bowl, and she gasps. "David? Can you hear me?" She reaches a hand out, as if to touch you, but then pulls it quickly back. From the living room, your father barks, "Leave your brother alone, Joanna!"
At least he believes it's you. And your mother has finally come back downstairs, although her face was still pale and tear-streaked when she passed you. She also deliberately kept her eyes averted. You feel very frustrated. Your mother and father are discussing what to do about you in the living room, but you can't really make out what they are saying from here. And it's obvious that that's the point.
From what you have been able to overhear, it seems that your father is of the opinion that you should be taken back to Fort Suffolk to answer for the damage that you caused. However, he seems to be reluctant to do this until he has received assurances from the military that you will not be harmed. Your mother, on the other hand, thinks that you have already been punished more than enough. She wants to buy a dog, let you possess it, and then have the family take turns letting you "in" every once and a while so that you can talk to them.
Neither of these options sounds very enjoyable to you, and it irks you that they don't seem to care what you want to do. You exited your mother voluntarily, but you have no desire to live in a lab rat or the family pooch!
Suddenly, the doorbell rings. Joanna is still leaning over you. You could take her now, and when whoever that is at the door leaves, you'll be in a much better position from which to bargain with your parents. But do you dare?   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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