The Medium Kid

Chapter 27

After a while of embracing each other, Koda and Alfie made their way back to the living room. Molly and Connor were patiently waiting for them. Molly's eyes stared out of the window. Alfie knew by her blank expression that she was deep in thought about him and what it would mean for Alfie to be involved with someone like Koda.

Connor, as usual, showed very little emotion. He was like a shadow blending into the couch, not resembling much importance, but being the only one who could answer all of Alfie's questions.

Alfie sat down and cracked his knuckles, preparing himself to take charge. Apart from Connor, he had the most vigorous mind in the room. Everything he was going to ask almost slipped from his head when Koda sat close enough for their bodies to touch. Alfie wanted to word vomit about their kiss and take pride in how Koda kissed him.

"How do you know so much?" Alfie asked Connor, distracting himself from tracing his lips with his fingers.

Molly spotted Koda taking Alfie's hand, and hiding their connected fingers between his and her son's legs. She looked down into her cup of tea to hide a smile.

Alfie almost forgot to listen to Connor's reply. His fingers were burning like he reached his hand into a fire pit of unburnable flames.

"I've been in the medium game for a very long time Alfie."

"Okay..." Alfie noticed his replies never really gave him a fulfilling answer. "So, how did I do that?" He pointed to the drawing on the wall, aware that Connor couldn't see what he referred to, and asked, "Tell me how I predicted what was happening to Koda and that he'd be my... my- someone of interest."

Koda smiled. Alfie didn't want to say 'boyfriend' because they hadn't talked about labels or taking their relationship to the next level. He squeezed Alfie's hand who was purposefully ignoring his gaze.

"Hmm, it seems that I was not ready for your interrogation. I was going to wait until we had figured out who sent the flowers before revealing this, but you might be safer with the information, given that it only stays within these walls."

"What information?" Alfie forgot about the potential danger that Connor and Enya were fretting over.

"The flowers were sent to Koda's home because someone knew they would die fast, which means that someone knows who Koda is, the sidekick of the Grim Reaper." Connor grinned like it gave him great satisfaction to say something so peculiar. "That puts Koda at risk because if people of power know about him, they will take what they want, experiment, and call it research, when in fact they'll be torturing Koda until he leads them to the Grim Reaper."

Molly gasped. "Why would anyone do such a thing?"

"Because knowing if there's life after death is impossible for the living to answer."

"And Koda will help them know?"

Alfie found it oddly nice that his mother wasn't freaking out about Koda's situation like he thought she would. He needed her rational thoughts when the conversation overloaded even him.

"No. Just because Koda is the sidekick of the taker of souls doesn't mean that he knows what happens after they are taken."

"Why-" Koda cleared his throat. His words seemed a little shy. "Why am I the sidekick?"

Connor's head turned in his direction. For a brief moment, his eyes caught Koda's. "Because every sidekick needs a medium."

Koda and Alfie looked at each other, studying each others expression, trying to figure out their thoughts. "What?" Alfie let his back fall against the couch, now looking defeated.