Edge Becomes a Witch | [Half Bad Fanfiction]

Fever

Edge Davidovich

I'm covered with blankets to keep me warm. I'm still freezing. Isabella is sitting on the sofa arm by my head, stroking my damp hair. Mike's on the other couch across the coffee table, practicing one of my guitars.

"Seriously, guys, I'm boring now. It's summer vacation; go have fun," I say to them. Mike stops playing and gives Isabella a questioning look.

'What's a family for if it's not comforting you, Edge,' She just says and leans down to kiss my nose tip.

'You better feel comfortable, dude,' Mike says and turns to the guitar again. My laugh turns into coughing and Isabella gives me a glass of water.

'Your dad is coming,' Isabella says and I hear the front door open from the hallway. I hear his heavy footsteps come towards us, but also light footsteps and I wonder who else is here.

'Sweetheart, there's someone here to check on you.'

I jerk my head to see mom. Dad is standing beside her. Then I notice a blond man in a white coat behind them.

It's the first time mom's here since their divorce.

'Nothing to worry about,' Dad says and sits down beside Mike. The doctor places his bag between the flowers and cards on the coffee table, grabs a syringe from the bag and says; 'I hope you're not afraid of needles.' I'm surprised; his accent is British, like mom's.

He tells me he's going to take a blood test, and Isabella helps him remove the blankets. He lifts my sleeve, lubricates some mucus on my arm, and suddenly there's a needle there. The doctor readies more equipment and injects a drop of my blood into a test tube with black liquid. It turns from black to clear.

'Woah!' Isabella shouts, and I'm as wowed as she by the chemical reaction. The doctor doesn't seem too impressed, though. He stares at the test tube, frozen for a moment, before turning to mom who's standing beside him. She looks even paler than usual.

'Let's find a room,' He just says. Mom nods and gestures him to follow her to the kitchen. Dad goes with, tells us, 'Just a minute,' and closes the door behind him.

'Am I the only one who thinks that was super weird?' Mike asks with a high pitched voice, putting the guitar away. Isabella covers me with the blankets again.

'Yeah, what was that chemical reaction?' Isabella shakes her head, still amazed by it.

'And, like, Edge's parents actually got him a house call.' Now he hisses, 'Who does that?'

'The doctor's accent is nice, though.'

'Sure, nice accent. I just don't get why they need to speak privately about blood.'

'I'm just surprised mom and dad is in the same room,' I say.

Mike laughs. 'Yeah, what's up with that?'

'Well, of course they have to talk when their child is ill,' Isabella says.

'They didn't last time,' I shrug.

'Well, you weren't ill for a month last time,' Mike says, and then the kitchen door opens. Mom stares at me as she enters the room, and I'm not sure which one of us looks sicker.

'You have to leave now, guys,' dad says.

Mike gets up. 'See you later, dude.' He's about to leave, but stops and looks at Isabella, who's still sitting by me, asking her silently to come with.

'I think I should know if something's wrong,' And I feel her stroking my hair again, managing to distract me from the pain a little.

Dad looks from her to Arran and Annalise. They shake their heads slightly.

'Ben asked us to leave, Isabella. We can go to my place and you can play my drums if you'd like.'

We wait for her to answer, but she doesn't.

Instead, she leans down and kisses me on the lips. Our lips are millimeters apart when she whispers; 'You tell me everything when I see you again, right?'

'Yes.'

'I love you more than words can say, Edge.'

I smile.

'I love you more than I think I should.'

We kiss more, and it's good, she's so good, but then she breaks it and follows Mike. The front door shuts, and everything is quiet. I look over at my parents. They look serious. The doctor is standing behind them again, covering his mouth as if nervous.

Mom sits by me now, her fingers interlocked with mine. I reach to wipe away a tear under her eye with my free hand.

'Mom...?'

She closes her eyes, takes a long deep breath before she opens them again and says; 'We haven't been honest with you, Edge. We've tried to protect you by giving you a normal life... but also a sheltered one.'

'Ok, what up?' I ask.

She turns away, and she's trying to speak, but nothing will come out.

'Annalise, you want me to say it?' dad asks.

Mom nods, and moves so he can sit by me.

'This isn't going be easy to hear, son, but it's time you get to know the truth.'

'Just give it to me straight.'

'Fine; your parents are witches.'

I stare at him for a moment before cracking up, and my laugh turns to cough again.

'It's true, Edge. Your mother and your biological father are witches. Witches and magic - it's all real. I know it sounds crazy, I thought it was, at first, but it's true.'

I stare at him incredulously. 'What have you been smoking, dad?' I ask, joking, but I think I might also be serious.

'It's true, Edge,' Mom says, sitting on the couch across. I turn from dad to mom to dad to mom, studying them.

'No, it isn't!' I yell, and then I'm coughing again.

'It is,' and the doctor is handing me a glass of water.

I stare up at him.

'It's normal to hallucinate when having high fever, right?' I ask him.

'It can occur, yes. But you're not hallucinating, Edge. I am also a witch-' And suddenly the glass is shattered on the floor and I'm letting out a one long shout. Then I'm done and I just stare at the wall, monotonically saying; 'Now I get why you didn't want my friends to stay.'

'It's illegal to reveal the witch world to fains without the Council's approval. If you want to tell your friends about this later, you have to send an application and such,' the doctor informs, and my jaw drops. I turn to mom; 'I don't know what this man has told you, but you're not a freaking witch!'

Mom sighs, and says; 'I'll have to prove it to you.'

She takes a deep breath, and then, suddenly, she's gone. She just vanished right in front of my eyes, and I'm pinching my arm to be sure. Then I feel a soft hand touching my cheek but it's not dad's hand and it's coming from nowhere and I freak out and scream. Then mom is standing above me. My heart is racing, and I want Isabella and Mike back, but a part of me tells me it's going to be a while until I see them again.