by Ballan, Greg
Shanda, who was sparkling and glowing with radiance, replied, “Oh, I think I can find several ways to keep our wayward boy home at night,” she replied.
Everyone laughed while Erik blushed slightly.
Jeff shook Erik's hand. “You deserve all the happiness in the world, my best to you both.”
“Thanks, Jeff.”
“Now c'mon, let's eat this cake, I'm hungry,” Jeff replied as he started slicing the delicacy for everyone.
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Erik awoke suddenly, he glanced over at his clock: 3:25 a.m.
He could hear his staff calling to him in his mind. Deep down, he felt the urge to be in the woodlands again, under the pale moonlight. He cautiously peeked over at Shanda who was sleeping soundly beside him. The warmth and perfume of her body was difficult to leave, but he knew the nagging wouldn't end until he had been out into the darkness for at least an hour. He crept from the tiny bedroom into the living room and quietly opened the small wall safe. He reached in and took the satchel containing his staff and placed it around his waist. Erik then tiptoed out of his apartment and into the small rear parking lot in the back of his apartment. He lifted the staff from its satchel, willing it to elongate into its true form. The staff sang in an eerie harmonic as it happily complied with his mental command.
“Alright, I feel the need to be out in the open too; let me change and we'll tour the town for an hour or so,” he said to the sentient weapon.
The staff seemed to murmur in acknowledgement as Erik allowed himself to become his Esper form. He easily leapt thirty feet into a nearby tree and began his preferred route around the small suburb. He leapt from treetops to rooftops then back into the larger white oaks around the Hopedale Park. Once at the park, Erik perched on a thick limb, fifty feet above the playground sand. His mind flashed back to the battle he fought here, reliving each blow as well as the horror of the mothers and children that were there at the birthday party. That's in the past. I have a whole new future to look forward to. I'll have Shanda and Brianna to share it with. Now, I can give my daughter some of the finer things that I could never do before.
But deep inside himself, he heard Jakor's whisper. He had given his daughter the most important thing a father could give a child: love. That love for his child spurred him to achieve all that he now was. He was the Hybrid because of her, in order to save her. He would never have to doubt her love for him, and she would always know that her father loved her unconditionally. That was more important to a child than any material possession he could give to her.
Erik smiled to himself. It was good to have that extra voice inside, a seventh sense to go along with the telepathy and empathic gifts he already had acquired throughout his life.
The Hybrid, Erik Knight, looked up at the full moon, its light reflecting off his metallic flesh, and savored one last moment in the night. He now wanted to be home, in his tiny little apartment in this sleepy little suburb, wrapped in the warm embrace of his fiancée. With a cautious leap, he began the journey home.
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About the Author
Greg Ballan is a graduate of Northeastern University holding Bachelor's degrees in Marketing and Management. He lives in Hopedale with his patient, tolerant and sometimes bewildered wife, Teresa and his three children: Tom, Rachel and Christie. Greg enjoys several outdoor activities such as hiking, archery and shooting. When he's not working his full time job as a Financial Analyst or getting lost in some unknown woodlands, he's crunched over his laptop putting his warped imagination into words or penning a column about politics, hunting humor or his latest tale about avoiding house work and yard work.
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