The Shadow of Eudaimonia

Chapter 8: The Boy Struck by Lightning

CALVIN

"Cal, come one wake up! It's time for school."

Calvin groaned. "Five more minutes, ma."

He kept his eyes shut for a few seconds until he realized something was wrong. His mother was dead for four years now. He sat up instantly from bed and saw his mother, standing in front of him, with her arms crossed together.

"Wait—ma? Is that really you? Are you a ghost?" his voice trembled. He doesn't know if he should be scared or happy.

"What are you talking about Calvin? Come on get up, don't make your dad wait for you."

Calvin jumped from bed and gave his mom a tight hug. For a second, he thought he would pass through his mom, but he didn't. She was as real as he could remember. She even has that baby powder smell. His tears uncontrollably streamed down his face and fell to his mother's shirt. A certain warmth began to swell inside him—the one he used to feel when he was overwhelmed with happiness and gratitude.

"Calvin what is this drama? Are you okay?" her mom tried to push him away but he held her tighter. He won't let go of her this time.

"I'm not dreaming, right? You're real. You're still alive?"

Her mom's eyebrows furrowed. "What got into you? You're watching too much drama on the TV, aren't you? Go now and take a bath!"

"I missed you so much mom."

"Honey, can you help me find my keys. I can't seem to find them." Calvin's dad entered his room. "Something wrong Cal?" his dad asked, noticing Calvin's outburst of emotion. Calvin continued to stare at his parents. He never thought he would see both of them in his room again.

"Ma, please don't leave us again, okay? Please, mom I'm begging you."

"What are you talking about Cal?" asked his dad.

His mom looked at his dad with a worried look. "He's acting weird today, honey."

"Your mom would not leave us, right honey?" they looked at each other and both giggled. "Your mom is obsessed with me, she could never. Did you have a bad dream Cal?"

"Calvin, please. I'm going to get mad if you won't take a bath now. You're going to be late!" his mom warned once again.

Calvin smiled and nodded. Something was definitely wrong but to Calvin, everything right now was the same like how it was supposed to be. His cabinet where he kept his school uniform was there. His study table and his bed too. Even the stretched out lilac t-shirt her mom was wearing was familiar. This couldn't be a dream, he thought. Because everything felt real. He can smell the almost toasted hotdogs and the garlic rice his mom had made. And he can feel the warmth of the sun kissing his skin. Besides, he had just woken up from an absurd nightmare where he met two people who fell from the sky, didn't he?

Calvin, despite feeling estranged, went to the bathroom and took off all his clothes. He thought he might as well play along until he figures out what was going on. But then he found another thing that was weird. He looked at himself in the mirror. He had the same lazy dark brown eyes, same tanned olive skin, and same mole at the edge of his bushy eyebrows but there was something in his body that wasn't there before. His shaking finger traced an insignia—no, a thickened scar, sort of branding from fraternities, burned right on his chest. It was a circle with four dots on the center which looked like a dress button. What the hell is this, he thought.

He tried to retrace what happened yesterday. All was normal until what happened that night near the bar. A vision popped on his head from last night when a bolt of lightning struck him directly as the strange man kissed him. Did that really happen?