Chapter 47.

Let's Talk.

Damien Reyes.

Time/Area: August 3rd, 2013. NYC

“Let’s talk,” I said, just loud enough for Jason to hear.

He didn’t say anything, instead just leaning his head back into the brick of whatever building we were next to.

I turned away from him for a moment, still trying to catch my breath over what just happened. I glanced to the right at the huge crack in the sidewalk, a bike jutting out of it while bits of scorched metal drifted around the scene. I then looked directly ahead of me, noting the empty road of the neighborhood I used to live in, the equally empty shopping center we had all gone to for Jason’s birthday present, and the rows of apartments just past that where…I used to live.

Things went so wrong…so fast.

Nobody was out in the Bronze area, as 1:20 am was undoubtedly a part of the unspoken curfew that had settled over Manhattan recently, but that fact still shocked me.

I mean, even during an apocalypse, the latter parts of the morning still ended up with a somewhat large amount of people on the streets. But now there was even an hour when absolutely no soul could be seen.

None…except us.

I gritted my teeth, turning back to Jason now that I had caught my breath,

“I’m still waiting…” I breathed.

“For what?” He finally spoke.

I walked closer to him, offering my hand.

He took it grudgingly, standing up before looking at me.

“I’m waiting for the part that explains why the heck you thought it was a good idea to walk around at one in the morning.” I elaborated.

He looked down again, “Plenty of people in this city go out at twelve-”

“Oh shut up,” I interrupted him, rubbing my temples, “No one does that anymore, and didn’t you watch the news last night?”

He glared at me, the green of his eyes reflecting off the falling moon,

“No, sorry, I didn’t watch the news last night…a little busy, as you could imagine.”

I frowned, realizing this was getting nowhere as I tried to get back to the point,

“None of us…especially you…should be out walking-”

“Especially me?” he snorted, “Why not Selina, Melissa, or Hiru? What makes me not as capable-”

I flicked his chest, watching as he stumbled back into the brick wall again.

I tried to keep myself calm, “You really need to be quiet,” I said, “They're not the ones with pictures in the news.”

“Don’t…” Jason clenched his fists, righting himself, “...touch me.”

“Don’t…” I shot back, “...be an idiot.”

“You don’t get to tell me where I can be.” Jason huffed, already walking up the sidewalk.

I gripped his shoulder, “You could’ve died.”

He shrugged off my hand, “I said don’t touch me.”

My voice was slowly rising in volume,

“Did you not hear me?” I asked, “I said…you-could’ve-died!”

“I-don’t-care!!” Jason shouted, causing me to stop.

He lowered his voice, glancing around to check for people before looking back at me, “I just…needed some time to think, Damien.” Then his glare returned, “And you don’t get to dictate that-”

“Actually,” I met his eyes, “I do.”

“Excuse me?” He almost laughed, turning yet again to end the conversation.

I stopped him again, “I shouldn’t have to, but you’re clearly not in the right headspace now-”

Bam!

My vision went sideways as Jason’s fist sent my head slightly to the left.

“Did you not hear me?” Jason huffed, anger deep in his voice, “I said…don’t touch me.”

Ha.

I shot out my palm, the skin of my fingers barely scraping Jason’s chest before he was sent sprawling across the sidewalk for seven feet.

I dropped my hand, walking over to where he was now, “I’ll…allow that.” I muttered, “Since you’re clearly not listening to me.”

He gritted his teeth as he stood up, wiping the dust off his shirt, “You didn’t have to come!!!”

“So what, you were trying to die!?” I shouted back.

“No!” He snapped, “Obviously!”

“Then what?!” I asked, “And no, it’s not obvious!!!”

“I can take care of myself, D!”

I motioned around the scene, “He was literally two times bigger than you, and he had a knife!! No you couldn’t!”

“Shut up!”

“You shut up!” I ordered, gripping his shoulders, “You’re- going- to get- yourself- killed!”

I shook him slightly, “Does that not mean anything to you?!!!”

Jason pushed off my hands again, “Oh ‘boo hoo’, someone else is dead!!” he said,

“What else is new?”

My heart skipped a beat, letting go of his shoulders, “O-okay really?” I paused, “Stop talking.”

“Be honest!” He cried, “You can’t be around to save EVERYONE!!!”

“I CAN TRY!!” I yelled, “And you’re not exactly making the job any easier!”

He grabbed the tip of my shirt, “If you keep trying to save everyone, you are going to die!!!”

“When did this start being about me?!” I asked, moving his hand, “You’re the one doing stupid stuff, and it’s up to me to stop-”

“NOTHING is up to you!!” Jason stopped me.

“EVERYTHING is up to me!!” I denied him, grasping the sides of my head as a headache came over me, “I..”

My voice went quiet, “I can’t lose anyone else, okay?”

He took a deep breath, “So you’ll get yourself killed over this?”

I nodded, “That’s obviously not the goal, but I would not hesitate..”

“What about all of our losses?!?” He went back to yelling, “That defeats the whole purpose!”

“Better me than all of you!!” I replied, “I already realize that none of this is fair!!”

“Great, so I’ll have to go to another funeral, right?!!” He stepped closer to me,

“That’s your master plan, right?!”

I didn’t say anything.

“SAY something!!!!” He barked,

“You’re OKAY with that!!?!?”

“You’ll DIE HAPPY with that?!?!!”

I felt anger rise in me as I pointed around at the darkened city, knowing that in some direction was some kind of monstrosity that wasn’t supposed to exist. Knowing that in some direction was both our parents’ grave. Knowing that in some direction could be something that was ten times more powerful than me,

“I’M NOT OKAY OR HAPPY WITH ANY OF THIS!!”

...

We both took a moment to breathe.

This had escalated much further than I had originally intended.

BUZZ...

That was Jason’s phone.

Jason glared at me as he answered the call,

“H-hey Melissa..” He spoke, wiping his face of sweat.

While he was talking, I looked around.

Still no one.

I couldn’t get Jason’s words out of my head.

I didn’t think either of us had planned on having this conversation, but one thing jumped to another and eventually we were yelling at each other,

“Yea he’s here..okay, you’re on speaker now.” Jason muttered, tapping a button.

I turned around,

“How am I not surprised you two idiots are up this early!?”

I coughed, “H-hi Melissa.”

“HI Superboy! I was going to wait to talk about witness number three with everyone, but it was just too good!”

Jason frowned, “Good in an...actual good way, or good as in-”

“Oh no babe, I mean dramatic! Scary! Life Threatening! Duh!”

Jason sighed, and despite what just happened I couldn’t resist nudging Jason.

He quickly glanced at me.

“Babe?” I mouthed.

He ignored me.

“Anyways,” Melissa continued, “The witness that reported the sighting, Michael Lawson, apparently went missing shortly after he called it in!”

My eyes widened, “How come the news isn’t over this? It would help prove more monsters exist-”

“And the story would probably get them a lot of views..” Jason added.

“The police immediately canceled the investigation- probably to avoid causing a panic.” Melissa explained, “ Man reports monster...then instantly vanishes...why add to the growing list of headlines, am I right?”

“Where was he last seen?” Jason asked.

We heard papers being moved around, “It says in the report I got 100 percent legally from my dad that he was last seen in his apartment.” She said, “That was the only building the police checked before they closed the whole case- I don’t even think a forensic team has been down there yet.”

“Maybe they missed something..” I thought to myself,

“Uh…what’s his address?” I asked.

“Ha! This was just an update guys!” Melissa laughed, “What are you gonna do, Break in?!”

Me and Jason glanced at each other, both knowing we actually could.

.

“We just want to know, please?” Jason tried.

“I mean, okay? I’m going back to sleep after this, but if you manage to find something cool, go annoy Selina about it.”

“Will do..” I whispered.

“K, the address is in Queens,” Melissa informed, “Queens Bridge Forward Housing. It’s an apartment: 41st Ave, Long Island City, NY 11101.”

Jason coughed, “Can you text that to me?”

“Mhm! Now go to SLEEP! I know I am..”

She hung up.

Jason tucked his phone into his pocket, awkward silence once again present in the air.

“I-if you’re thinking we should go there- let’s head back to the house first.” I muttered, my eyes facing the ground.

I heard Jason sigh, “Yeah, sure. Whatever.”

-

Thirty minutes through the walk, Jason spoke,

“Thanks,” He whispered, “By the way..”

I stopped, turning to face him.

Jason stopped too, “I-I didn’t mean to sound-”

“Look,” I interrupted, “I know I can’t be everywhere at once…but you can’t you like…try to make it easier for me.”

He nodded, “Yeah, sorry.”

I frowned, realizing that I should apologize as well,

“Sorry for uh..pushing you..”

Jason scratched his head, “Sorry for uh…hitting you, ”

He suddenly sighed, “I just…I don’t know…I feel kind of useless.”

I shook my head, “You’re not useless-”

“Yes, yes I am.” Jason laughed, but then went quiet again, “Look, when you killed that monster in the yard, I couldn’t do a single thing.”

“Jason-”

“No…” he went on, shaking his head, “it’s fine, it’s just that… all I could think about was if you weren’t there.”

I frowned as he continued,

“Like,” he scratched his head, “What if it was me and Melissa…or just me and auntie.”

His voice shook a little, “What the heck would I have done if…”

“Hey,” I stopped his rant, “That’s why we stick together,” I tried for a smile, “And even if you can’t straight up fight a monster, I couldn't do any of this without your help.”

Jason smiled at that,

“Thanks,” he said, suddenly laughing, “By the way, how did you find me?”

I grinned, beginning to regale Jason with the much cooler side of this morning with epic detail.

“Yeah!” I laughed, “And then like…I didn’t even know what was going on!”

“So you flipped over a car?!”

“I flipped over a car!”

“Wait so…you’re like the Flash!!??”

“I’m like the Flash!!!”

“That’s awesome!”

“I know right!”

As we reached the mansion, and as I finished my story, I coughed,

“Jason… I’m not uh..planning to die, you know that..right?”

Jason had his back turned towards me, unlocking the door.

Once it was open, he sighed, “Yea well, I don’t think anybody does…”

I bowed my head, both of us walking inside before shutting the door.

—--

“So how long were you...walking?” I asked, sitting on my bed as we entered our room.

He sat on his, “O-only like…a couple of hours.”

I choked, “So you left at like..eleven...PM!?”

He nodded slowly, “I...uh… originally wanted to go to the graveyard...but I ended up just walking around.”

I shook my head, resisting the urge to slap this guy,

“Don’t do that again, please..” I decided, “I almost killed someone.”

Jason’s eyes widened, “Yeahhh…my bad.”

“Nah, it’s all good..” I breathed, both of us knowing it probably was not, “It just kind of spooked me, I guess.”

I kept telling myself that I hated what I had almost done, but that feeling of satisfaction was still inside of me. It was like part of the high I got from feeding had permanently interwoven itself into the crevices of my brain, and that wasn’t even what made it scary. What scared me was the fact that it felt almost natural. It didn’t feel separate, like Terry did.

And that almost made me want to find more of that E.R.L and take a huge swig of it.

I wanted to kill another human being, and if I had, I wasn’t so sure I’d be regretful. Jason scratched his head, “I guess I’m going to sleep now.”

I got up, “Yeah, you must be tired… I don’t feel like practicing anyways.”

Jason nodded, getting under his covers, “We can check out that apartment building later.” he suggested, “We’ll like…break in.”

I laughed, “Alright,” I said, walking towards the door,

“I might watch a movie or something to kill time.”

I heard him mutter ‘okay’ as I closed the door.

As I walked down our bedroom hallway, I couldn’t stop Jason’s words from replaying themselves over and over in my mind,

Another funeral?

You’ll die happy with that?

You’re okay with that?

I sighed, stopping while letting my feet sink into the violet carpet of the hall. All that could be heard was the ticking of a clock somewhere in the house.

The weight of responsibility was getting to be too much for me, and even though I tried not to think about how unfair my situation was, I just…couldn’t. I couldn’t see why I had to be the one to protect everyone. I couldn’t see why it was me and Jason’s parents that had to die.

I sighed, looking up at the ceiling before uttering a quick prayer.

Life was only getting more and more difficult…and I knew that fact didn’t just apply to me.

It applied to everyone on the planet, and it wasn’t fair if I just decided to cave…especially now.

I kept walking.

I was one of the only things in the way of this entire house and complete destruction...and I wasn’t about to let the latter take me by surprise.

So until I had to send another twelve foot monstrosity to its death, I had to stand tall.

I had to be brave.

And…I had to go watch a movie or something to keep me occupied for the next couple of hours.

Ugh.