by Lan Dang
Chapter 4: Friendly Discussion
The next morning, Eric woke up to the sound of two voices talking downstairs. He was still tired and wanted to stay in bed to continue his sleep but his curiosity got the better of him. He reluctantly rose out of bed and decided to go downstairs to see what was going on. As he opened his door, he noticed that his mom’s bedroom was still closed. Eric decided to check on Janet and quietly opened the door. He was surprised to see that it was not Janet sleeping on the bed but his mom. She must have gotten home late yesterday. She was sleeping on her side, her light brown hair covering most of her face. Eric smiled and was glad to know that she was safe and sound. He gently closed the door.
As he went downstairs, the voices that had woke him up before had gotten louder.
“Dad, I think we should tell him the truth. He deserves to know the truth. You can’t hide this secret from him now, not after last night.”
“He’s not supposed to know the truth. Remember the promise we made?”
“Yeah, I do but the circumstances are now changed. He has to be able to protect himself and he will only do that if he knows his real identity.”
“It’s not our decision to make. Besides, we are his protection.”
“Dad, that’s not fair. I mean if I was Eric, I would want to know the truth too.”
There was a slight pause in the conversation and Eric made a loud creaking sound as he crept downstairs. The sound was loud enough to stop Janet and her dad from talking. Eric knew he was caught eavesdropping and went into the living room to join them. They both looked at him and then at each other questioningly as if they knew he had heard them, but how much he had heard, was still a mystery to them.
Janet’s dad walked over and politely smiled. He extended his hand and introduced himself.
“Good morning, Eric. I apologize for not introducing myself properly yesterday. I am Janet’s dad, Mr. Blakesfield.”
Eric shook Mr. Blakesfield’s extended hand and smiled in return.
“Good morning, Mr. Blakesfield.” He cleared his throat and said, “Um, about last night, I actually want to thank you for saving my life.”
“It was my pleasure. Janet was the one who informed me really. You should thank her.”
Eric turned his head to look at Janet. “Thanks Janet.”
Janet smiled and said, “You’re welcome.”
“Um, so do you know when my mom came home last night?”
“She came home around two o’clock. That’s why she’s still asleep.”
Janet continued, “Don’t worry, she doesn’t know a thing. We just told her that the electricity went out last night and you didn’t feel comfortable being home alone by yourself so you called us over.”
Mr. Blakesfield nodded his head in agreement and said, “It sounds plausible to me. The most important thing was your mother believed us. Now, about last night Eric…what do you plan to do?”
Both Janet and Mr. Blakesfield looked nervously at Eric. They weren’t sure what he thought about last night’s odd event and more importantly, what he planned to do about it. Eric simply shook his head.
“Honestly, I don’t think there is anything I can do about it. Apparently, it was a burglary gone wrong. They didn’t steal anything, not anything that I know of and we don’t even know who it was. I couldn’t see their faces so even if I did call the police, they would have a hard time finding them.”
Eric lied about not recognizing their voices. He knew that one of the burglars last night was the store clerk at the video game store but he thought it was in his best interest to keep his own secrets. He figured he could arrive at the truth on his own and be his own private detective. It didn’t look like Janet or Mr. Blakesfield were going to tell him what they knew, because they clearly had more information than he did, according to what he heard this morning.
Mr. Blakesfield breathed a sigh of relief and Janet dropped her eyes. For some reason, she refused to meet Eric’s gaze.
Mr. Blakesfield walked over to him and said, “You are a very smart boy. That is exactly what I, myself, would do if I was in your position.” He looked at his daughter who remained quiet with her eyes focused on her shoes. “Well, everything seems to be alright now. We must be leaving soon. We have other things to do as well. Please stay safe and don’t be afraid to ask us for anything if you need help.”
“Thanks, Mr. Blakesfield and Janet. I really appreciate what you two did for me last night. Have a good day and take care.”
Mr. Blakesfield smiled. “Extend my regards to your mother too. Come Janet, we must be leaving now.” He quickly ushered his daughter, who seemed to transform to a zombie, in the presence of her dad.
As the two left and closed the door behind them, Eric yawned and contemplated going back to sleep. He felt very exhausted for some reason. Maybe the dream last night had taken so much energy out of him…if it was indeed a dream. Not to mention Janet’s odd behavior this morning, combined with the conversation between her and her dad, it was all becoming too much for him. He didn’t really want to unload all these thoughts on his mom but he definitely needed to talk to someone.
Eric picked up the phone and dialed Jonathan’s phone number. It rang for awhile and Eric was about to hang up the phone in disappointment when someone’s voice answered it.
“Hello?” It was Jonathan’s mom.
“Hello. May I speak to Jonathan please? It’s Eric.”
“Oh, hi Eric.” She sounded very surprised to hear him. “It’s very early. I didn’t expect such an early call. Can you wait while I get Jonathan?”
“Sure. Thank you, Mrs. Kilmer.”
Eric waited impatiently as he played with the cord of the telephone.
“Hello?” Jonathan’s voice was hoarse and annoyed. Clearly, he had just gotten out of bed and wasn’t in the mood for any crank calls.
“Hi, Jonathan. It’s Eric. Sorry for waking you up so early but can we meet right now? I really have to talk to you. It’s urgent.”
“Uh, sure. But can you at least tell me what it’s about first? I think I deserve to know a little bit since it’s like eight o’clock in the morning…..on a Sunday morning, might I add. That’s a crime, you know, calling this early.” Jonathan sounded a bit grouchy because he knew that Eric knew he always slept late on the weekends.
“I can’t. I don’t want to wake my mom up. Besides, it’s sort of a secret. She doesn’t even know about it.”
“Wait a minute. You don’t mind waking me up but you mind waking up your mom. That’s so unfair. You are clearly abusing our friendship here.” Jonathan still sounded annoyed.
“Well, that’s because I can trust that you won’t make a big deal about this. I mean we are friends, right?”
Jonathan sarcastically replied, “Unfortunately.”
“Well, just consider this as a favor between friends okay?”
“Okay. Just let me get dressed and eat some breakfast. I don’t think so well on an empty stomach.”
“Okay. Can we meet in front of the school?”
“Sure. Just wait for me okay?”
“Okay. Thanks and bye.”
“No problem. See you in a bit.”
Eric put the phone back on the receiver and got up. He dressed quickly and ate a simple breakfast, comprised of cereal and a banana. He ran out of the house before his mom could wake up.
He grabbed his bicycle from the garage and pedaled as fast as he could to Live Oak Middle School. It was empty and he felt a sense of relief. He knew they would be able to talk privately here because there were very few kids lounging around school grounds on the weekends, except when there were practices or special events. He got off his bicycle and leaned it against the fence. He took a deep breath to relax himself and waited impatiently for Jonathan to arrive.
Jonathan arrived a bit later, huffing and puffing on his bicycle. He still had
a rather annoyed and grumpy expression on his face, as he whined to Eric about how this was the weekend and how he should be allowed to sleep in. Eric listened politely until Jonathan finally decided to start the conversation.
“So what’s up with you? What did you need to talk to me about?”
“Okay, something happened last night.”
Eric immediately plunged into the details starting with the first burglary but he decided it was better to omit the part about Janet and the cat in the second burglary. Jonathan might suggest that he speak with a psychologist about that. He ended with the conversation between Janet and her father and Janet’s odd reaction afterwards. Jonathan listened intently with no interruptions until Eric finally said, “Well, that’s it. What do you think?”
“Hmmm….I’m just curious. So you say you recognized one of the voices as the clerk in the video store?”
“Yup.”
“And all this happened on the same day that we visited that same store?”
“Yup.”
“Do you think maybe he followed you that day without you knowing it and when you were out taking the trash and left the door open, that he and another man took that opportunity to enter?”
“Maybe. I don’t recall being followed though.”
Jonathan stared at his friend with an annoyed expression. “How would you know? No one is that obvious as to wear a bright neon sign that says look at me, I’m a stalker.”
“Okay so even if that is true, it wouldn’t explain the fingerprints I already saw from before. I think this is the second time that my room has been burglarized.”
Jonathan pondered about what he said. “That’s true. And you said that the first time it happened, the front door was unlocked but you didn’t see that anything had been taken. And this was the day of our soccer victory.”
“Correct.”
“So obviously, the reason they felt the need to burglarize your room a second time was that they never found what they were looking for which was confirmed by the conversation you overheard between the two burglars. And they still weren’t able to retrieve whatever it is they were looking for because Janet’s dad scared them away.”
“Again, that is correct.” Eric had to give credit to Jonathan. He clearly believed what Eric had told him and was trying to do all he could to make sense of everything to help his friend out.
“Hmmm….but what do they mean about you having powers? Like what sort of powers…something supernatural?”
“How would I know?” Eric shrugged his shoulders. He could only guess what both the two burglars and Janet and her dad were referring to when they kept mentioning about his ‘powers.’
“Wouldn’t it be cool if you could use those powers to help us win all our soccer matches? Or even do all our homeworks or ace all our tests? That would be awesome.” Jonathan smiled at the thought of using his friend’s powers to fulfill his own desires.
“Okay, we’re off the topic a bit now. Back to my problem. What should I do? What if they come back again? Especially since they couldn’t find what they were looking for?”
Jonathan became serious again and his smile vanished. His forehead wrinkled up and he was quiet for awhile as he assessed the situation. He looked down at the ground, making Eric fidget impatiently, until he looked back up again and spoke.
“Honestly, Eric, I don’t think they would come back, not to your room anyways. I think you are safe there. I think they know you don’t have it in your room. It must have been in your possession those two days, the day of the soccer victory and the visit to the video store. What did you have with you on those days?”
Eric thought about Jonathan’s question and shook his head.
“I don’t know. If I knew, I would have let them take it and remove this burden off my shoulders. Now, I feel like a target because I know they want something from me except I don’t know what it is and what frightens me is, they seem to know a lot about me. They know my whereabouts because they searched the room when they knew I wasn’t there. They made sure I was absent. But now, they’re so desperate that they are contemplating kidnapping me just to retrieve it. That’s what I am afraid of.”
“Yeah, that does pose a problem.”
Another thought hit Eric.
“And what do you think of Janet and her odd reaction?”
Jonathan started chuckling.
“No offense or anything but Janet is an odd person to begin with. We all know that. But she’s harmless and clearly, she and her dad are protecting you. So I don’t think you have to worry about her. And whoever both she and her dad made a promise to, it seems like this must be a powerful person, someone they are both probably afraid of.”
“Yeah, I never thought about it. It’s just that Janet was quiet only because her dad was with her. He was the one preventing her from telling me the truth. So if I can just get her alone, maybe she can tell me what she knows. She might know what the two burglars are after.”
“That’s true. She and her dad obviously know more than they are willing to say. But if you want to get her to talk, you have to go about this very cleverly. Janet may be weird, but she is smart. She isn’t going to fall for any simple trick.”
“Who said I was going to trick her? I’ll simply just ask her.”
“Yeah, that’s a lot easier.”
Eric grinned at his friend and thanked him for his input. He made Jonathan promise not to tell anyone about what transpired today. For some reason, he felt so much better after this discussion, as if a heavy backpack was taken off his shoulders. He could breathe easier and maybe, sleep more soundly. Personally, he wasn’t too keen on having any more dreams about the prisoner. It was too creepy because it felt too real.
Eric and Jonathan decided to spend the rest of the day riding their bicycles around the block. They were racing each other to see who could pedal the fastest. The weather was perfect, sunny but not hot and the wind was cool as it whipped their faces. It was fun and relaxing as they laughed and joked together. It felt so normal to spend the weekend with a friend. As the day drew to a close, they parted ways and Eric pedaled back home.
When Eric arrived at his house, his mom was up and about. She was in a good mood, smiling at Eric as soon as he walked in. It felt pleasant but unusual as his mom was normally tired and cranky after working all the time.
“Hi, Eric. Are you hungry? I’m cooking lasagna right now. It’ll be done in about fifteen minutes.”
“Sure. I’m starving. You look well rested.”
His mom laughed. “Yeah, I have Mr. Blakesfield to thank for that. He gave me this really good sleeping pill. I took it and woke up well-rested this afternoon. Too bad he couldn’t tell me what the brand is or where he got it from.” She sighed. “If only I could feel like this more often.”
Eric looked at his mom strangely. He decided not to say anything and walked upstairs.
“Mom, I’m going to take a quick shower now. Jonathan and I rode our bicycles together all day. I feel like I need a refreshing shower.”
“Sure. The lasagna should be done by then.”
Eric walked up the stairs and into his bedroom. He took out a clean shirt and pant from the closet and went into the bathroom. It felt like a long day and Eric wanted to wash all his worries away. There were still so many thoughts that plagued his mind but one question, in particular, kept circulating and re-surfacing above all his other questions. What were the two burglars looking for? They obviously did not find it and it had to be something that was in his possession, something they thought he would keep in his room. And it had to be something important or else they wouldn’t have risked coming into his room and alerting him. Something he always had with him, something he had with him the two days that his room was burglarized. But what was it?
He sighed as he got out of the shower. He looked at the foggy mirror and then, the ans
wer stared at him in the reflection. The silver color gleamed at him as he stared at the necklace he always wore. This must have been it. This must have been what they were looking for. He had never paid much attention to it for this necklace served only as a sentimental object of his dad. It was a symbol of both love and hate so he always wore it under his shirt and the only time he removed it was when he takes a shower.
Eric was so excited, he exclaimed, “Eureeka!” and almost forgot to put his clothes on. Luckily, he stopped himself before he walked out and reluctantly slowed down to dress himself. As he went downstairs, he gave a bright smile to his mom who looked at him with a surprised expression and placed a plate of lasagna in front of him. As he happily chewed down his food, he decided to tell Jonathan about this latest discovery first thing tomorrow morning before class began.
