Chapter Three
Felix awoke well into the night in the front passenger seat of the car. He could see the crescent moon above, it's beams refracting into dozens of little rainbows in the shattered windshield. He yawned, sat up, and much to his surprise, saw that he was in the driveway of his house. The lights were on inside the house, and he could hear faint voices. He looked at his hands. They were no longer bloody.
"Wow, what happened, Emily?" Felix thought to himself. "How'd you find my place? And for that matter, did you clean yourself up too before meeting my parents?" He sighed and got out of the car, slightly nervous. The gravel crunching under his feet as he walked up to the house was nostalgic. Inside, he saw his parents and Emily sitting at the kitchen table, talking. He stepped in a little further and let the screen door slam behind him. All three heads turned to him.
"Felix!" Felix's mother responded, her voice high enough to be a soprano. They trotted up to each other and hugged. Felix's mother was short, slightly pudgy and graying at the edge of her forehead and temples. Her face and her bright, blue eyes looked much younger than her body; an image of someone just waiting to be a grandmother. Out of habit, Felix picked her up slightly and let her down. When he let go of his mother, he saw his father standing behind his mother, waiting. He had his hands in the pockets of his slacks. Felix's father was still in his work clothes, but his tie was loosened a great deal. He extended his hand for a handshake. Felix snatched his hand pulled his father toward him with a jerk, and bear hugged him. Felix's father groaned slightly. Felix instantly realized what happened and released.
"Son, you have to watch my back. Remember?" His father said his hand on the small of his back.
"Yeah, sorry about that." Felix replied. He came into the kitchen and took the last empty seat between his mother and Emily.
"You've been napping quite a while." Emily said. "I was beginning to think you died."
"Naw. Car rides always knock me out." Felix said, stretching. He quickly looked down at Emily's leg. She cleaned up quite well, making it look as though nothing had happened.
"Just as well. Gave me to find out from Tom and Amelia who you really are." Emily replied. "And, by the way, your parents are not long and boring."
"Felix!" Amelia scolded, smiling slightly. Felix ducked his head as if his mother tossed a pot at him. She turned to Emily. "But let me show you my orchids. They should be blooming now." Amelia and Emily got up and went into the back through the back door in the kitchen. Tom turned to Felix.
"Oh hell. Here it comes." Felix thought, swallowing with dread.
"So." Tom begun. "I called the University today." He looked down at his hands crossed on the table.
"For my grades. I know." Felix replied, also looking down.
"Well, I don't think scolding you is going to make a difference anymore. Just have to come on back home." His voice was slightly forgiving, and Felix relaxed slightly. "There's a lot of openings out toward Olympia for wage mages. Most don't require a diploma." Tom explained. Felix nearly shuttered. He absolutely hated the idea of moving back home and leaving a fairly exciting and independent life, one certainly much more exciting than home.
"Actually, I don't have to move back home." Felix quickly responded. Tom looked up, raising his eyebrows. "Yeah, I got a job."
"Oh?" Tom replied. "Doing what?" Felix suddenly panicked. That was another character flaw of his; reacting, and lying, much too quickly.
"A… small office job." Felix said.
"Office job? Did you get a jack installed?"
"Well, no."
"Then how on Earth did you find an office job in Seattle without a jack?" Tom asked. Suddenly, Felix felt his father start to push at him with magic. The same kind of magic Felix used to get himself out of trouble. Felix's father used this type of magic to cut through his occasional lies. Felix swallowed hard.
"Remember, I own a polygraph." Tom said. Felix sighed.
"Alright, alright. You can stop the mind probe. I guess you want the truth."
"Yup." Tom replied, leaning back in his chair. He crossed his arms.
"Well, I did get a job. But, well, it was retrieving some stolen documents. So, kinda in order to do that, I had to, uh, steal them back." Felix explained, wringing his hands. Tom cocked one of his eyebrows.
"Really?"
"Uh, yeah." Felix laughed weakly. "Sorta like those shadowrunners on those trid shows, I guess."
"So you blasted your way into a building, sprayed gunfire everywhere and killed any policeman and security guard that was happened to be in the way?" Tom asked, his voice slightly raised.
"No! No, nothing like that!" Felix exclaimed. "No, it was pretty simple. I didn't kill anyone. Sure, I messed them up some, but I didn't kill anyone." Tom exhaled. He stood up with some effort.
"Come with me into the office, so your mother doesn't accidentally hear what I have to say to you." Tom said sternly. Felix meekly nodded and followed his father down the hall to his office.
"He's gonna kill me. He's gonna really kill me and magically erase any proof of my existence." Felix thought. Tom stepped into the office, followed eventually by Felix.
Felix surveyed the walls of his father's office, just as he always did when he was permitted to enter. The wall behind his father's desk was a mosaic of degrees and certificates. The other three walls were similarly tiled with pictures of places he had traveled and photos of him and top executives from megacorporations around the globe. The furniture alone could have easily paid Felix's tuition. Felix stood in the middle of it all, feeling quite insignificant. Tom sat behind his desk and leaned forward into the moonlight coming from the only window in the dark room. He looked exactly like Felix, the only differences being clusters of small wrinkles around his mouth and eyes and a moustache, still the same color as his dark brown hair.
"Felix?" Tom asked.
"Yes, Dad?" Felix asked back.
"Please sit down." Felix looked at the huge chair that sat before the desk. Of all the things he was not allowed to do in this office, sitting in that chair was the absolute worst sin.
"Yeah?" Felix asked.
"Yes. You're not eleven years old anymore. I'm sure you won't ruin the leather." Tom said, smiling slightly. Felix hesitated for a second, recalling the time when he did ruin the chair, but then slowly leaned into it. He felt eleven years old again, a sense of great significance and insignificance at the same time. Tom sighed, then inhaled slowly.
"Son, what I'm going to say to you may be a bit unsettling. You see, when I was your age, when I graduated from the University, I, well, did the same thing you did." Felix stared at he father for a second, then snapped to attention.
"Then you realized what a mistake it was, like I did." Felix said in an attempt to help his position.
"No, actually, um, I was a runner for nearly twenty years before a nearly fatal injury put me out of commission." Tom said, looking down at the desk. Felix's jaw dropped.
"What?" Felix asked, barely able to even to reply to his father's statement.
"Let me explain how it all started." He stood up and turned to the window, looking at the moon. "Let's go back, um, twenty-four years. I graduated at the top of the class at UT of Seattle. The next day, I spend nineteen hours entertaining some corporation president's guests for about seven nuyen an hour. Now, I hear they're getting twenty-three an hour. Anyway, I came home absolutely exhausted. I get a call from a man who said he was at the party and was impressed with what I could do. He asked if I wanted a job. I said I already had one, but his job offered eleven thousand for one evening's work. Eleven thousand! I accepted, too naïve to even ask myself if it was illegal." Tom paused and laughed slightly. "I was to provide magical backup to a team of gun toting demolition men. All I did was sit in the van and read a Newsweek while they tore this poor guy's place to rubble."
"So that was the beginning of an illustrious career. I called into work dead, bought a Kevlar vest and a couple new spells, and hired myself out. I worked a job nearly every two weeks. Some were easy two-hour jobs, like my first one. Some required some major legwork, planning, surgical strike sort of things. I tried not to kill anybody. Some can't be helped, but I kept a very low body count."
"So, what I'm trying to say is, well, you got two choices." Tom sat on the edge of the desk and turned to Felix. He held his hands out before him like a scale. "The corporation route, or the shadowrunner route. Every magician that knows more than two spells comes to this choice. I knew you would, too."
"Mom know about this?" Felix asked, nearly whispering.
"Amelia? Oh sure. She was my right hand man, er, woman. She was my getaway driver. She was my medic. She was a damn fine contact, too." Tom sighed, leaning back on the desk with one hand. "Yeah, it was some fun."
"I don't know, dad. Shadowrunning, by the entire definition of the word, is illegal. Seriously though…" Felix started.
"Felix, Felix, I know. I've had this conversation with myself and others many, many times. Here's my answer. Yes, it's illegal. Yes, you might get killed, or worse. But it's fun. It pays extremely well, and it allows magic to be used the way it was meant to be used, not as an entertainment center for some rich man's son to turn on and off whenever he feels like it. But like I said before," Tom held his hands out before him again, "the corporate route, or the shadowrunning route. Or you can get jazzed up on lotza cool cyberware and blow any chance you had. They're both valid choices. Up to you, son." Tom sat there, gazing in Felix's general direction.
"You're… okay with the fact that I did a run?" Felix asked.
"It's irrelevant. I certainly can't condemn you."
"I… do I have to make my choice now?" Tom blinked.
"What? Oh, no! You make it whenever you want. Sorry, I didn't know I made you feel you were in the hot seat there…" Tom said, laughing. He stood up to exit, patting Felix on the shoulder as he left. Emily squeezed past Tom as she entered the room. She came around the chair and sat down on the desk.
"So what happened? He cut your nads off?" Emily asked. Felix sat silent for a few seconds. Suddenly, he snapped his head into Emily's direction, his mouth open slightly.
"Emily? Ever been in your room, smoking a big, fat reefer? You know, the kind that take two papers to make, that you just learned how to make from that Pot Smokers of America book? And, while smoking this gigantic, blimp of a joint, your parents walk in, and instead of getting the beating of your life that you expected and knew you deserved, you learn that you could have been buying it from them for half as much as you'd been paying the greasy Mexican down the street?" Felix asked in a dazed sort of voice. Emily stared at Felix, wanting to laugh but didn't out of concern.
"You see, that's how I feel right now." Felix stood up and looked out the window. "So here's my dilemma. Do I continue smoking, knowing that it's illegal but it's fun and it brings me closer to my family? Or do I quit, setting an example but pissing my parents off because I quit only because they found out?"
"Felix, you're confusing as hell." Emily said.
"Why do you do it?" Felix asked, still staring out the window. After a couple seconds of silence, he turned around. He was talking to an empty room.
"Dammit." Felix whispered to himself. He walked out to the kitchen and threw the screen door open, letting it slam into the side of the house then back into the doorway. He clinched his fists as he took long steps into the center of the yard. He slowed down, thrust his hands into his pockets, and sighed, looking out past the trees against the edge of the yard.
"You had fun, didn't you?" his father's voice asked. Felix looked over his shoulder to see his dad stepping out from the shadows cast by the house.
"See, that's the worst part." Felix said. "Ever tell a priest that sex was utterly magnificent?" Tom chuckled.
"No, can't say that I have, son."
"Well, that pretty much sums it up. Twenty-two years of being an exemplary citizen and I come to find out that suddenly, it's okay to blow shit up."
"Hey, watch your mouth." Tom scolded.
"Sorry." Felix replied. "But you know what I mean."
"Well, just remember what I said." Tom said.
"So that's how you messed up your back? During a job?"
"Yep. I was out in Santa Fe, I think five, maybe six years ago, stealing some data from one of the corps out there." Tom started. He slowly approached a pair of rusty lawn chairs and sat down. Felix sat next to him. "Our planned escape route was this small, army surplus portable aluminum bridge over to an adjoining building. The run got botched when someone working late spotted us. Our team made it to the roof. I watched everyone's back as they crossed the bridge, so I was the last one across. Halfway, I slipped and fell over the side. I managed go grab the rope used to pull the entire contraption closed again, so I'm hanging between these two buildings, about thirty stories up. All of a sudden, someone breaks one of the top windows of the building we came from. Some security guard with a pistol. He must have been some Deadeye Dick, because instead of blasting me full of holes, he takes some careful aim and splits that rope with one bullet. On the way down, I threw up all the shield and barrier and save-my-nuts spells I knew. Think they saved my life."
"You said five, six years ago." Felix said. "Right?"
"Yep."
"So I was sixteen."
"That's right."
"You were in Japan on business for eight months when I was sixteen." Felix said, smiling slyly, figuring he blew a hole in his father's story. "How's that work?"
"Easy. I lied to you. Spent that time in rehab for a telescoped spine and forty-eight broken bones."
"Mom and I visited you March of that year! How did you do that?"
"It wasn't easy wearing all those braces and supports under my suit that day." Tom said. "Itched like crazy." Felix laughed.
"That's right. You said you had an infection of some kind. Jesus, Dad, I can't believe it. You lied to me all those years?"
"So?"
"Well, I don't know." Felix said, searching for some way to be mad at his father. "That's just not right."
"Remember the middle cushion of the couch? You said you dropped a cigarette on it and it burned right through."
"Yep. You grounded me for a month for smoking."
"You should have just told us you brought some girl over and decided to use the couch instead of your bed." Tom said. Felix turned red.
"How'd you…"
"Oh, we figured you did that to destroy the genetic evidence that you did something there. Plus her panties were wedged down inside the couch. Good thing you told us you were smoking. I would have nailed your butt to the door if I would have known that bit of trivia."
"So why don't I have a nail scar in my behind?"
"We found out after your eighteenth birthday. All sins are purged, I figure, after your eighteenth birthday. My point is you lied to us, too. Don't get your knickers twisted because we did, too."
"Damn, and she said she had 'em when she left." Felix said. He looked at his father. "What color were they?"
"Eh?"
"Well, it was dark. Never got a chance to see."
"Oh, uh, pink."
"Ah. Thanks."
"You're welcome, I guess." Tom said. He stood up with effort. "I'm going to bed. Please don't destroy this couch, too."
"Dad…" Felix growled in embarrassment. He stood up and looked out past the trees again, listening to the screen door open and slam back shut as his father went inside. After a couple minutes, his eyes adjusted to the dark, and at the base of one tree, he saw a small figure. Thinking it was an animal of some sort, Felix approached to investigate. However, as he got closer, he recognized the figure to be Emily, sitting against the tree, her arms wrapped around her knees and her head hidden within.
"Emily? That you?" Felix asked. Suddenly, Emily looked up. "Are you okay?" Emily stood up quickly, wiping her face with one stroke of her sleeve. She mumbled a quick "yes" as she stepped past Felix.
"You sure?" Felix asked, starting to follow Emily back across the yard. Emily stopped.
"Nothing. It's okay." Emily replied without turning around.
"You sure?" Felix asked. "I own a polygraph." Emily sighed and turned around.
"You really don't want to hear it." She said.
"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to." Emily crossed her arms and stepped forward a pace. Her face became hidden from Felix by a shadow. "Whatever it is, I'd like to hear it." Emily swallowed, sniffed hard and exhaled.
"My entire life has been miserable. My father was so chock full of cyberware and machinery that I doubt he still had a soul. If he did, he would have sold it for a discount on the next upgrade. Mom was abused all the time. He'd yell at her, he'd beat her, and I was always in the house when it happened. It drove her to drink. I actually thank God to this day it was the booze that killed her. When she died, when I was fourteen, Dad turned to me. He never relented. Everyday it was something that crushed my soul a little more. I tried complaining to teachers, to Lone Star, to friends, anyone who would listen, but Dad carried so much clout, so much respect with our community, no one ever suspected him and blamed me for such an overactive imagination. Adding insult to injury, I was committed to a psychiatric ward and medicated for a year." Emily explained with a deathly calm. Felix was rapidly regretting he even asked.
"The one thing that released me from that Hell was actually Dad's own doing. During my stay in the ward, they found I was pregnant…"
"Jesus!" Felix exclaimed, crossing his arms. Suddenly uncomfortable, he started shifting his weight from one foot to another.
"Yeah, that's what most everyone said, too. DNA tests confirmed it was my sister as well as my daughter. They figured that anyway when Dad took off for Tokyo on a business trip and didn't come back." Emily exhaled sharply, then continued.
"Well, like they expected I would, I miscarried. Everyone around started apologizing like I was going to file suit. Not that I could comprehend much of it. I was so doped up and mentally broken, all I did was stare out a window. So, in an attempt to make up for thinking I was crazy, as well for the PR they could get from it, they hired a team of clinical sorcerers to, well, quite literally, dismantle my mind and rebuild it from scratch. Kinda like a cold format. Took a year and a half, but at least I wasn't a gibbering idiot."
"So, after all the work was done, I skipped out on my own. With the help of a couple new friends I made, I managed to bleed some money off a few of Dad's business accounts. My friends shared in the wealth and," Emily tapped the sockets above her left temple. "After getting this jack installed, taught me how to run with the big dogs." Emily's voice started to sound more positive, making Felix feel slightly better.
"But, there are times when I see something like you and your dad, and…" Emily's voice deteriorated rapidly into crying. Felix stepped forward quickly to comfort her. As soon as he was close enough, Emily buried her head into his shoulder, her hands around his waist. Felix held her tightly as he felt his shirt become damp with tears.
After several minutes of patting her back, stroking her head and whispering soothing words to her, the crying subsided. Emily took several deep breaths, rubbed her eyes and stepped back a pace.
"Okay." Emily said. "Okay, I'm better now. Thank you."
"No problem." Felix said, trying hard not to cry himself. He put his hand on her shoulder. "C'mon. It's late." They walked back into the house, careful not to let the screen door slam shut.
"Your dad said I could sleep in the room across from the bathroom." Emily said as she crossed the kitchen for the hallway. She went to the door across from the bathroom and opened it. She stepped inside and touched the wall panel. Lights faded on.
The room looked much like a den. Shelves covered every wall, on which were an assortment of books and knick-knacks. In one corner, a small grandfather clock sat silently. In the opposite corner was a dark red leather recliner with a tiny table at it's side.
"Oh, cool. Didn't know this place had a den." Emily said.
"Not a den." Felix replied. He came in, went to the wall across the room and reached for a book in the middle of the top shelf. He tilted it forward and released it. The entire bookcase slowly tilted forward as the books and items on the shelves stayed put. As it lowered to the floor, the bed built into the other side was revealed. Emily smiled broadly.
"It's my room." Felix replied.
"How freaking cool!" Emily said. She sat down on the bed, bouncing a couple times to test the softness.
"Yeah, my dad gets bouts of creativity sometimes." Felix explained. He sat down in the red leather chair. "He came home one Friday and said 'Felix! Know that hide-a-bed ya got? Let's make it a bookshelf!' I think he was watching one of those old, old movies with the secret laboratory behind the bookshelf when he got the idea. Either way, it freed up floor space." She looked up to the space where the bed was. Hanging up was a poster of a man with a five o'clock shadow, dressed as a nun, giving the finger. In his other hand was a bottle of malt liquor. The poster was for a band called "Fresh Vomit".
"Charming." Emily said, smiling again.
"Hey, I had to act like a kid one way or another, right? It was a cute CD." Felix said, shrugging his shoulders. "Need your bag?"
"Yeah, please." Emily said, laying back. Felix went out to the car, retrieved both bags and came back inside. He dropped his bag on the couch and went to give Emily hers. However, when he got to the door, he saw Emily standing in the middle of the room in a small pile of clothes, her back turned to the door, naked. He stared in surprise and almost utter awe for a second, but when Emily turned, Felix did also.
"What's the matter?" Emily asked, picking her bag up off the floor of the hallway.
"I wish you wouldn't do that." Felix said, still facing the opposite direction.
"Oh!" Emily exclaimed, suddenly gaining a little modesty and shrinking back to the bed. She tossed the blanket over herself while she dug through her bag. "Sorry about that. Living alone for as long as I have tends to induce some habits, like strolling around naked."
"If you want me to stare at you, that's not a problem. I'll oblige." Felix said.
"Oh, come now. Don't be so offended. I'm decent now." Emily said. Felix turned around to see her dressed in a long nightshirt. "You don't like to watch naked women?"
"I don't want to get slapped."
"You're always the gentleman, Felix. Good night." Emily said. Felix went into the living room, kicked off his shoes and fell asleep on the couch.
