We stepped outside.
Daniel shut the door behind us, and we stood on the walk in front of his front porch, stopping next to a light shaped like an old gas street lamp.
Looking back at the house, I asked, “Is he getting worse?”
“I don’t know. It seemed like one of his good days. He knew who everyone was, and he was in a good mood. It’s so stupid. Do you think he’s worse?” Continue reading Turning Eighteen: Part 8
I had to admit he made sense, but I couldn’t say I liked it.
When push came to shove, I didn’t want Sean to go to jail for killing Ray. You could argue that Ray’s standard operating procedure was driving people past what they could emotionally handle, and then killing them while they were too tortured to think straight.
It didn’t take much to see that if your strategy was based on giving people an irrational need to kill you, it could come back to bite you someday. Sean just happened to be the biter. Continue reading Turning Eighteen: Part 7
“Why won’t I like it?”
Sitting up a little straighter in his chair, Mr. Cohen said, “I think we need to take a step back before we talk about that. I asked for your thoughts on what happened because I think you need to hear yourself say them.
“I’m a big believer in taking a look at the whole picture. Can our legal system take care of the problem? What about letting the superhuman community handle it? And is it worth it? In my experience, you can never ask, ‘Is it worth it?’ enough.” Continue reading Turning Eighteen: Part 6
Unsure of what to say next, I paused.
Daniel’s dad said, “Start where you think the beginning is.”
“Well, the real beginning’s back in December when we found Ray at Haley’s family Christmas party, but that would take too long, and you could say the next beginning is when Ray killed Sean’s dad at graduation, but I think the beginning that matters was when Sean told Rachel and I that he was going to kick Ray’s ass, and beat us to the cottage…” Continue reading Turning Eighteen: Part 5
We talked more after that, but not much worth repeating.
What can you say that tops, “I’m an alien on the run from my people who, by the way, commit genocide as a hobby, and might stop by any day now?”
Near the end of lunch, I got a text message from Daniel. It said, “Dad says come by any time.” Continue reading Turning Eighteen: Part 4
I thought about that. “Uh… Is there anything you’re likely to do that would put the human race in danger?”
Lee took another piece of pizza. “Anything that I’m likely to do? No. I’ve been keeping my head down for a long time now, but sometimes I’ve been known to take a risk. Now I take less.”
“I’m assuming that you’re hiding from your people, whatever they are… What happens if they catch you?” Continue reading Turning Eighteen: Part 3
If you’d asked me beforehand what kind of lunch you have when you’re turning eighteen, and you’re about to receive potentially life altering secrets from an immortal friend of your grandfather, I wouldn’t have had the slightest clue.
As it turned out, the answer was pizza.
After months of eating undelivered “mistake” pizza from Travis’ and Haley’s family’s restaurants, I shouldn’t have wanted any. Fortunately, Lee let us choose the toppings. It was a small thing, but it made all the difference. It’s nice to have a little control over your life.
We ate it at a picnic table in Veterans Memorial Park right next to the beach. Continue reading Turning Eighteen: Part 2
I turned eighteen a few days later.
It had been an odd few days. After the fight, the police came, taking Ray and Gina away in a Box. They questioned Mom about her kidnapping too, and she went to the police station to answer questions without us.
Dad brought her home late on Thursday afternoon. Continue reading Turning Eighteen: Part 1