Immortals (Completed and Unedited)

16

I went back to the room with Chance, tired but for a good reason this time. This was the kind of tiredness I didn’t mind.  And of course Chance beat me to the bathroom again to which I just shouted, “Save me some hot water.” I sat down on the couch then and tired on the TV. It was cable so I just watched the news. They said good evening as always then proceeded to say why it wasn’t.  I yawned and watched long enough to hear that they caught the Boston Bomber and something about some magazine putting his face on their cover. I really didn’t care too much. I was so tired I couldn't muster up the energy and I had no idea what this story was about.My guess was it involved Boston, but I was dozing off too much to be sure.

I started drifting off into a nice, deep sleep but that’s around the same time Chance exited the bathroom with red hands and damp hair. “There might not be much hot water. I washed our clothes while I was in there. I wanted to do it now so I could sleep.”

  “Fine,” I said standing up and stretching hoping it would help me watch up. “It’s no biggie. And take the bed, you’ve earned it.”

Chance developed an interest in the carpet and stared down at her feet, face turning spaghetti sauce red. “Um thanks Xander. That’s nice of you."

“I’m a nice guy.” I said yawning as I tried to smile. “Sleep tight.”

“Night,” she whispered flopping down onto the bed and curling up under the covers. I yawned again and turned on the shower as I walked into the bathroom. Quick as humanly possible I washed up with actual soap and stepped out just as it got cold. I put on the damp shorts from swimming wishing this place had a dryer and exited the bathroom flopping down onto the couch. All tuckered out from my make believe.

***

If I was lucky I would have slept all night, but the gnawing in my stomach wouldn't allow that. The angry gurgling that was hunger pulled me out of the nothingness of sleep and I got up, noticing that the lamp was still on. The dim yellow glow blinded me a second and I blinked fast  as my eyes adjusted and hopped over an inch on the couch and dug around in the backpack. Let’s see, what’s good for midnight snacking? Apples? Nah; had one already. Besides we needed those for eat-on the go moments. Sandwiches maybe-ugh mold! Nope, okay…I kept digging through the pack-yes donuts! We still had a few!

I pulled out the slightly smashed plastic case and pulling out a circle of goodness. I bit into it and it tasted a little stale, but it brought back good memories. Game day when Coach Carter made breakfast for the team in his classroom. Mikey and I stopping in a gas station or something after a day in school to indulge in junk food. Memories that were what my life was before I got what I’d wanted my entire life. The day I finally met my dad.

  I could still remember that day so well even though it had been over a year ago….Like it just happened…Like it was only yesterday that he'd walked into my life and destroyed it. I drifted away from the powdered donuts and the hotel room, back to my New York City aparment.

***

I’d gotten home from school after practice. All sweaty, dirty not to mention gross from running plays.  And but when I’d gotten home to our apartment-my Mom’s and mine-something was wrong.

Well not really wrong, just not part of the ordinary. Instead of sitting at our table or on the couch waiting for me to come home she was sitting at our table, a coffee mug in her hands. That wasn't super strange, even though it was coffee in the afternoon, a thing she'd told me not to do,  Mom was not alone this time. There was a middle-aged dude with black hair  a few streaks of grey here and there and he was dressed in a suit. What on Earth…? He looked up from the coffee in his hands and I met with a pair of stormy grey eyes and a couple questions ran through my head. Was he from the school? Or just who was he? What was he doing here?