Weaknesses 11

Lenny awoke but was still a little tired to open his eyes. His head was killing him. He must've hit it on the wall while he was asleep. Before breakfast, he'd have to find some aspirin. He sat up in his bed, rubbed his aching head, and stretched his half awake body.

"Okay, Lenny," he said sleepily to himself. "Time to get up and greet the…" Lenny opened his eyes and saw nothing in front of him but never ending blackness. "What the…?" He blinked repeatedly in hopes that his site would return to him any second, but still he saw nothing. "I'M BLIND!" he yelled in horror. "MOM! POP!"

When neither of his parents came, Lenny lifted his fins up to his face to try and rub the blindness out of his eyes. It was then he noticed that he in fact wasn't blind after all. Both of his fins were right there in front of his face, clear as crystal. He examined the rest of his body, which was all clearly visible to him. Then he looked all around again but still saw nothing.

Now he started to panic. "Okay so if I'm not blind, then what the heck is going on?!"

"I'd be more than satisfied to answer that, Lenny," said a voice that scared him half to death.

Lenny nervously skimmed his empty surroundings to seek the voice's owner. Seconds later, only inches in front of him, the tall, dark, and evil Vince magically appeared out of thin air wearing his infamous evil smile.

"No, not you. Anything but you," Lenny said looking up into Vince's devious eyes.

"What, Lenny?" said Vince. "I'm not good enough for you? You're hurting my feelings."

"What's going on? Where are we?"

"We're inside your mind, small fry. Of course soon, this'll be my mind. Your body is lying helplessly in the middle of nowhere and you have no control of it whatsoever," Vince explained.

Lenny was so confused but proceeded to ask questions. "What do you want this time, Vince?"

"The same thing I wanted last time; revenge."

"On Pop again?" Lenny asked.

"Ding! We have a winner," said Vince. "But not just him. Lately I've had a second target."

Lenny thought for a moment and then came to a conclusion. "Victor?"

"Well aren't you just the sharpest tooth in the mouth?" Vince teased evilly.

Lenny became furious. "Vince, you are seriously messed up. First you abuse your own son and now you wanna get back at him for turning against you?"

Vince chuckled coldly. "Poor, naïve little Lenny. Put yourself in my place. If your own flesh and blood turned against you, wouldn't you feel betrayed? Humiliated? Enraged?"

Lenny knew what it was like to turn against a relative, but not the other way around. "Well it's not like Victor had a choice. From what he tells me, you've always treated him like garbage. My dad treats him more like a son than you ever did."

"Hmm," Vince thought. "That makes it even better. Instead of destroying my own son, I'll be destroying the "son" of my rival. This plan just keeps getting' better and better."

Lenny shook his head in disgust. "I can't believe you, Vince. You still want revenge on my dad for something that happened eleven years ago? Why can't you just let these things go?"

Vince looked him in the eye with an evil half smile. "I'll tell you why. Or better yet, show you why."

"What the heck are you…"

Vince clapped his fins twice. Like smoke clearing from a room, the blackness surrounding them slowly vanished and was replaced by a different location.

Lenny looked around the new setting, which he knew all too well. "Pop's office?"

"As it was eleven years ago," said Vince.

"You mean we've gone back in time?"

"Pretty much," said Vince. "And there's the old man himself."

Sitting at the office desk was none other than a slightly younger version of Don Lino, with his eyes glued to a newspaper and looking like he was waiting for someone to come. Lenny darted towards the desk to warn his father of Vince's plot. "Pop!" he yelled. "Pop, it's me, Lenny! You've gotta get out of here, Vince is…" Lenny reached out his fin to touch Lino on his shoulder, but his fin unusually went right through him like a ghost. "What the heck?" Lenny asked examining his fin.

"He can't see or hear you, kid. All this is just an echo of the past," Vince explained, pointing towards the office's bar table. "And so are they."

Lenny looked in the bar's direction and saw three young boy sharks sitting together in some of the stools. The two younger ones were playing with action figures together, making fake weapon blasting sounds and talking through their little plastic toy sharks.

"Look familiar?" Vince asked him.

As Lenny got a closer look at the three kids, he realized that the smallest one was himself at age eight.

"You might as well give up now, Victor," young Lenny said to his playmate. "Your Captain Hammerhead doesn't stand a chance against my Admiral Tsunami."

"Come on, Lenny," Victor laughed. "Admiral Tsunami doesn't have x-ray vision, heat vision, or the power to read minds."

"Well Captain Hammerhead can't start an earthquake by slamming his tail onto the ocean floor," young Lenny retorted.

"Ugh, you two are such kids," said the oldest of the three, the sight of whom made nineteen-year-old Lenny want to cry. It was a much older kid of about thirteen. He looked very tough and was rugged for his young age. He had angry looking hazel eyes and was wearing a blank expression on his face. Covering his body were quite a few scars and scratches from fights with other sharks.

"Frankie," Lenny said sadly.

"Hurts, don't it?" Vince said insensitively.

"Why've you brought me here?" Lenny asked, now saddened by the sight of the echo of his late older brother.

Before Vince could answer, the office door opened and in came a younger version of Vince himself.

"You're about to find out," older Vince replied.

"Morning, Vince," Lino greeted younger Vince as he took a seat in front of his boss.

"I got your message, Boss," said younger Vince. "Did you wanna talk to me about somethin'?"

"Yeah I did. But first," Lino turned his attention to the three boys. "Boys, Vince and I need to have a word. Can you go play somewhere else?"

"Okay, Dad," said eight-year-old Lenny.

"Yes sir, Mr. Lino Sir," said Victor.

"Whatever," said Frankie.

Once the room was free of kids, Lino told younger Vince what he needed to. "Vince, I hate to say it but I got some bad news that involves you."

Younger Vince started to look nervous. "What do you mean? Did I do something wrong?"

"No it's nothing you did specifically. It's just…" Lino held a fin to his forehead and sighed. "How do I put it?"

"Lino, if it's seriously important then just tell me. Whatever it is, I can handle it."

"Well," Lino began, "You know that new guy I just hired a few months ago? Luca?"

"The octopus?"

"Yeah that's him. I've noticed that he's a really good addition to the mob. He's a hard worker, he's obedient, and above all he's loyal."

Vince looked like he knew where Lino was going with this. "Yeah, I guess he is."

"So I had dinner with him the other night and told him how impressed I was with his skills. And then I… I offered him your spot as my right hand man."

Vince stared at Lino with a look of both shock and disappointment. "You what?"

"I'm sorry, Vince," said Lino. "But I'm gonna have to let you go."

"W-what do you mean let me go?"

"You're fired, Vince." Lino said this trying to sound as sympathetic as possible.

"Lino, I… I don't understand," said Vince. "I've been your right hand man for more than twenty years! I've done everything you ever told me to do! You tell me to jump, I say "how high?" And now some new guy comes along and you give him my job without even asking my opinion?"

Lino sighed. "Vince, I'm sorry but I think it's the right thing to do."

Vince angrily arose from his chair. "The right thing?! Lino, we've been best friends through thick and thin since we met in college! Don't you remember? When you graduated, you took over your family's business and asked me to drop out of school and join your mob! I was only a freshman, Lino!"

"I know, but…"

"But what?" Vince interrupted. "That ain't good enough for you? How 'bout the fact that I was there for you when you got married, when you had your kids, and I saved your neck when Don Carmine had you on death row. I gave you the best years of my life, and now you wanna get rid of me?"

"Vince, please just try to understand."

"So when you said that I'd always be on your right side, you were just kiddin' around?" Vince asked.

"I thought you would always be on my right side."

"That isn't the answer! If ya want me outta your life forever, why don't ya just say it?" Vince turned and swam to the door.

"Vince, that's not what I want," Lino tried to convince him.

"Too bad! That's what you're gonna get!" Vince threw the door open and swam out into the hallway. "So much for friendship! I'm takin' my family and gettin' outta this dump for good!" And with that, he instantly vanished from Lino's site.

Lino was left alone in his office. He sighed to himself and held his fins to his eyes in a regretful manner.

"Alright, enough of that," older Vince said to Lenny. With another clap of his fins, the echo of Lino's office was replaced by the same blackness that had surrounded them before. "Did you see the look on his face?" Vince asked. "If you think he regretted firin' me then, just wait 'til I'm done with you."

"Done with me?" Lenny asked curiously. "You were the reason I was always getting mad at everyone yesterday?"

"You sure do catch on quick," Vince replied. "And technically that wasn't you at all. I was in total control of your emotions. You only thought it was you getting mad, and so did your friends and family. And now my mind invading process is getting more and more complete. You have no control of your emotions or mind at all and you're taking my physical appearance."

"About that," said Lenny. "How in the heck did you learn how to invade my mind?"

"Simple," said Vince. "After Victor turned against me and joined your old man, I wanted to get back at both of 'em. So I swam away to the outskirts of the North Reef and happened to have met a fortuneteller who lived and worked alone in a sunken old rowboat. She said her goal in life was to grant people their heart's desires. Without sayin' any names, I told her that my heart's biggest desire was revenge. She told me that the only thing I had to do was to find the weakness of those who I wanted to get back at and then to use it against 'em. Then I realized that that weakness was you."

"Me?" Lenny asked.

"Yes you. After all you're Lino's kid and Victor's best friend. With you gone, they'd both be nothing. But then I remembered you were dead, or at least I thought you were. Just in case you were still alive, she gave me a book called "Mind Invasions For Dummies". I didn't know what I'd do with it or how it'd work, but I took it anyway. I read the book from start to finish and learned that invading your mind would kill you if I succeeded. It was perfect."

There was still one thing Lenny wanted to know. "But how did you find out I was alive?"

"Oh, from Victor."

Lenny gasped silently. "What? Victor told you? I can't believe it."

"Oh don't be so stupid. Of course he didn't do it on purpose, he's too sweet and innocent. I fooled him into tellin' me. Then it was clear to me that my plan would be a success."

"What's gonna happen?" Lenny asked, even though he was afraid to find out.

"This process takes three days. Two of which have already passed. By this time tomorrow, you'll be history. After Victor told me you were alive and after I knocked him out, I accidentally left the book there with him. By now they probably know what I'm up to. And earlier today I almost blew my secret by letting Lino look me in the eye. I knew I had to escape to a place that'd take them ages to get to in order to buy me more time. And here we are, in the middle of nowhere. I got here in just a few hours but the average person who's not in control of someone else's mind would get here in probably two days. I'm pretty good, huh?"

Lenny shook his head. "Vince, the last word that would ever describe you is good. And since Pop and Victor know about our plan, they're gonna find out how to stop it and you'll be the one who's history."

"Oh I get so sick of you tryin' to rain on my parade." Vince clapped his fins three times and suddenly a horribly painful sensation hit Lenny's entire body.

Lenny screamed in pain at the top of his lungs. It felt as if a long and powerful bolt of lightning was striking him and wouldn't stop. Vince watched him suffer and laughed a horrible, loud cackle that hurt Lenny's ears and added to the intense pain he was feeling. After about forty-five seconds, the painful sensation ended and Lenny fell to the ground unable to move let alone feel any part of his body.

Vince stood over him and looked straight down into his eyes. "There. Now that you're good and paralyzed, I don't have to tolerate any more of your whinin'. You're just gonna lye here helplessly and wait for your end to come. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta mind to take over." Then he vanished into thin air, leaving Lenny all alone for good.

Poor Lenny lye miserably on the ground of the inside of his mind, paralyzed from head to tail, concerned about his dad and Victor, and unable to control his actions. Although he couldn't move his face, a small tear fell from his eye. This must've been how it was going to end for him.

End of chapter