Jayfeathers Room of Lightning
Chapter 7
Oh the people, they were so bad ...
That the war made the rain come down
And she washed away the red city
And she washed away the red town
And all of the people drowned
"God, I'm freaking hungry!" Jayfeather snapped. "Why didn't you think of bringing any food?"
Flametail threw his hands up in frustration. "I can't!" he cried. "I'm imaginary, remember!"
"Oh right," Jayfeather realized he had a point. "I guess that would make sense."
"Why didn't you bring any money to buy food?" Flametail muttered.
"Oh, wait a second, I think I did," Jayfeather said, digging around his pockets. "Okay we have approximately ... twelve dollars."
"Well it's better than nothing," Flametail sighed. "Let's go get some food."
They walked to the closest diner in their view, which just so happened to be a dirty looking donut shop at the corner of the street. They walked into the doors, and Jayfeather stopped uncomfortably. Everyone in the diner had turned to stare at them.
"What are we, a fucking museum exhibit?" Jayfeather muttered to Flametail. Flametails only reply was a snort. A tired looking waitress led them to the only free table in the establishment, and Jayfeather sat down gratefully, happy to rest his legs from all the walking. Flametail sat across from him, and by the look on his face Jayfeather could tell he was grateful for the rest too.
"Just for one?" the waitress grumbled, handing him a menu.
"No, two," Jayfeather snapped, completely forgetting that he was the only one who could see Flametail. The waitress gave him a funny look, but passed him a second menu anyway.
"Thank you," Flametail called after her, but it was only in vain, since she had already walked away.
"What are you gonna get?" Jayfeather asked as he read over the menu.
"All we can afford is the soup," Flametail muttered.
"Then soup it is," Jayfeather sighed, shoving his menu to the side. "And I don't know what we're gonna do about food later on, so don't waste it."
"We really didn't plan this out very well at all," Flametail pointed out.
"Well I'm sorry," Jayfeather growled. "At the time, all I could really think about was the freaking electric chair, not what we were going to eat later on."
"That would make sense," Flametail looked like he was about to say something else, then stopped, and his expression completely changed.
"What?" Jayfeather snapped. "Are people looking at us funny again?"
"No," Flametail whispered. "It's your parents."
Jayfeather slowly turned his head around, and to his horrid dismay, Crowfeather and Leafpool were standing at the front desk, talking to the girl running the till.
"Shit," Jayfeather hissed, then proceeded to climb under the table. Flametail followed. It was unfortunate for Jayfeather, because the very second he got under the table, a waitress showed up.
"Uh, what are you doing?" Jayfeather heard a girls voice ask.
"Get down!" Jayfeather hissed, motioning for her to join him under the table. Jayfeather squashed Flametail into the corner to make room for her.
"What are we doing?" she whispered.
"My parents are over there," Jayfeather explained quietly. "And if they see me they're going to strap me to an electric chair."
"Oh?" the girl sounded disbelieving. "Don't be offended, but what drugs are you on?"
"I'm not on any drugs," Jayfeather snapped. "Sadly, I'm as sober as it gets."
"We should have brought the root beer," Flametail said from the corner. Jayfeather elbowed him in reply.
"Look, why don't I just go out there and tell you when they leave?" the girl offered.
"Good plan," Jayfeather agreed. The girl nodded and got up from under the table.
"Take a wild guess at what people are gonna think when you both get up from under here," Flametail giggled.
"You, not helpful," Jayfeather hissed.
"They're gone," the girl called. Jayfeather sighed in relief and got out from under the table, Flametail close behind.
"Now, I'd take your order but my shift ended a few minutes ago," the girl said. "So, yeah I'll get someone to take over for me."
"Okay thanks..." Jayfeather paused to look at her name tag. "Half Moon? What the hell kinda name is that?"
"The name you get when you're dad's a hippie and your moms a drug dealer," Half Moon grinned.
"Oh," Jayfeather said, not sure what else to say.
They stood in silence for a few minutes, before Half Moon awkwardly spoke again. "Want to come outside for a smoke with me?" she asked.
"Sure," Jayfeather agreed at once, then mentally kicked himself for sounding so eager.
"But you don't smoke," Flametail said, confused. Jayfeather just rolled his eyes at him.
"And what about the soup!" Flametail cried.
"We'll get it later," Jayfeather said very quietly, so Half Moon wouldn't hear him.
Jayfeather followed Half Moon outside to a bench, and sat down awkwardly close to her so Flametail could have some room too.
"Uh, there's lot's of room on the bench," Half Moon pointed out.
"I'm aware," Jayfeather replied uncomfortably. "But uh, I uh, don't really know why I'm sitting so close to you," and with that he shoved Flametail off the bench and moved over.
"That was rude," Flametail snapped.
"Well sorry," Jayfeather snapped back.
"Um, sorry about what?" Half Moon giggled nervously. Jayfeather inwardly groaned, realizing he had just spoken to Flametail, who in reality wasn't really there at all. Then he realized he had no reasonable explanation at all.
"I was talking to Flametail," Jayfeather muttered.
"Who?"
"Flametail," Jayfeather repeated awkwardly. "My uh, imaginary friend."
"You speak to it?" Half Moon asked disbelievingly.
"Well, yeah, how else are we supposed to communicate?" Jayfeather demanded.
"I don't know," Half Moon sighed, lighting up her smoke.
Jayfeather just then noticed how weird he sounded. "Sorry, I know it sounds odd," Jayfeather murmured. "It's just that, I don't know, I've been talking to him since I was a little kid."
"What triggered it?" Half Moon asked, mid drag.
"What?"
"Imaginary friends are often triggered by something, you know, like a loss of a loved one, or a childhood trauma," Half Moon explained. Jayfeather thought about it for a minute. "I guess I created Flametail after my brother disappeared," Jayfeather admitted.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Half Moon said sympathetically. "What happened to him?"
"He watched my dad shock me via electric chair, then he ran away."
"That's terrible."
"I know."
"Do you want some of this?" Half Moon held out her smoke to him. Jayfeather hesitated, but then took it anyway. What the hell, he thought to himself. It's not like one puff will kill me.
Jayfeather inhaled it, then nearly died coughing. Half Moon giggled, trying to cover it with her hands. Flametail was shaking his head in disgust.
"You'd think that would be an easy habit to break," Jayfeather said once he was done coughing.
"Don't inhale so much," Half Moon instructed. "Try it again."
Jayfeather held it up to his mouth and did what he was told.
"It's funny," Half Moon shook her head in confusion as Jayfeather hacked away at the smoke. "But I know someone who lost their brother, too. And it's really weird because I've known him since we were like seven and he still won't tell me how he lost him."
"Oh," Jayfeather said, not really paying attention, trying to focus on smoking without coughing like an idiot. "Who was it?"
"His name is Lionblaze," Half Moon replied. Jayfeather nearly spat the smoke out onto the concrete, then proceeded to hack and cough and wheeze until Half Moon smacked him on the back. "What the hell?" she snapped. "You were doing so well!"
"Lionblaze," Jayfeather repeated. "Are you fucking with me?"
"No!" Half Moon cried. "What the hell? What's the problem?"
"My problem," Jayfeather said, looking up at Flametail, who's expression was equally shocked. "Is that Lionblaze is my brother."
