Chapter 5
That week at work, a lot of things happened. A lot of people got fired and a few got hired. A lot of changes were happening.
To begin, Brennan was going to be working Full-time every day. He was accepted to all the colleges he applied to, so he quit high school and decided to save up some money. (Unfortunately for him, they were all policing schools, so he had to quit doing all his drugs. Boo hoo.)
Kevin, Van Schlopen, and Matt all still worked all day, but Kevin was more of a small time trucker there now. We also got another full time guy named Bill. I really didn't like him. He was there only two days before getting promoted and he knew absolutely nothing about the job. And he tried to boss me around, but I ended that real soon. I put him in his place.
And all the part time boys had to quit for school reasons. Kind of a bummer, but oh well. We could do without them. It was just the five of us now. And Kiers, of course.
So, I was lucky. I was still getting decent hours, and I still got out at the same time. I really liked that job. The people were great, except for Bill, he was quite the arrogant bastard. Oh well, I would just have to kill him one day.... oops, did I say that?
That week, we had decided that I would be the designated Unloader. That was my position. You see, what I did was deal with all the paperwork. I unpacked the trailer and sorted it up into the different orders. I also checked the item number so we knew we had the right piece. Nobody else wanted to do that, so I got stuck with it.
Not to say I can't do anything else, I am good at everything, but I am better than anyone else at that, and that position was very important.
Other than that, the week was pretty boring at work.
After work on Wednesday, I decided to see how my family was doing. I thought it was about time to make sure they were okay.
I morphed to peregrine falcon and flew in the cool night air, waiting for it to be dark enough. I eventually flew down onto the neighbour across the road's house and demorphed on their roof. The roof was fine, so I sat on it.
As I sat there, watching my family go on about their business, I noticed that something was definitely wrong. First of all, my mom wasn't yelling or telling Sam everything he did was wrong. And Sam wasn't being a PITA. (Pain in the Ass). He was quietly sitting there, doing his homework.
And worst of all, mom wasn't on the computer. She was actually doing housework. It was a conspiracy, I tell you. My first thought was that the yeerks were doing a bad job at acting like the host. This was not the way they were.
Then I saw the reason. Dad was home. It was Tuesday, so he must hae come home early that part of the week. Everyone always behaves more when he was around. He must not be infested. I thought this because now that I think of it, they wouldn't need to act in their own home, just in public. Technically, they were acting for dad, because that was how they were when dad was around. Plus, Dad was on the road five days of the week, occasionally coming home Wednesday morning. This would kill the yeerk if it tried to stay in him all the time.
I guess this proved a lot. I was sure that both mom and Sam were hosts now, and dad wasn't.
And yes, I know how incredibly ironic it is that my brother has the same name as my best friend.
I decided I had enough. I morphed back to Peregrine falcon just as Tobias flew in beside me. {Miss them?} he asked.
{Do you miss yours?} I asked back.
{Not really. I have nothing to miss. My parents are dead, and my aunt and uncle both shunned me. I kind of like being a bird. And that doesn't matter. You had a different relationship with your family.}
If I had a human head, I would have shook it. {Actually, I had a pretty rough recent three years. Nothing compared to yours, but bad nonetheless. I never got to keep my money, I had no control over my own stuff that I bought. And I never got any thanks for the Gamecube, Games, TV, DVD player, and other assorted gifts I gave them. I know that doesn't seem too bad, but there is more to the story that I simply don't want to talk about right now.}
{I see. Well, I came to get you because Sam wanted to see you. He is in town right now, on a tall building. He is waiting for you.}
{All right. I guess I could do some city hopping right about now.} since I was long since completely morphed, I took off and followed Tobias to the big tall building.
{Hey, how did you know I was here?} I asked.
{I saw you come by here earlier. I could see you were still here when I flew past. Thankfully I caught you before you left.}
I was having a surprisingly difficult time flying over the city. Even though there were still lingering thermals left over from the day, my wings were small and didn't pick enough of them up. The stars and moon were out in full swing.
When we finally got there, Sam was sitting on the edge of the building, hanging his legs off the side. For a human, that looked really weird.
I landed and demorphed. "So, you wan to enjoy the scenery?" I asked. "that's not like you."
"I didn't come here to enjoy the city scape. I came here to show the world how much better I am than them." He said, then stood up. "You up for a duel?" He asked. I wasn't one to say no to a duel, but this was a really odd place.
"Why do you want to have a duel here?" I asked. But I already knew.
"Just for effect. Now, if only it would start raining." He said. How predictable.
{I don't think this is a good idea. Sure, sam can fly his way out, but Gordon Can't morph quick enough before he squishes on the ground.} Tobias said.
"Oh, don't worry." Sam said. He raised his hand and lifted me up. I was floating, not the normal push. He was actually holding me there. It was cool, because I was just floating there, it didn't feel like something was holding me there. It was different than before. "I am sorry, no matter how much I practice, I can't seem to get any better. You know how before, I always used to get better like every day, well, I am not getting any better. I have seemed to have hit a block. It is kind of a shame. I can use it to do different things now, though."
He put me over the side of the building. I was kind of scared, but he seemed to have complete control, but then I started to fall. It was a rush, but he stopped me before I even had the chance to think about what was happening.
He brought me back up and set me back up on the gravel. "Hey, what happened to your eyes?" I asked. For the first time, his eyes didn't glow the bright red that they normally do.
"I can turn the light off if I want to. I just discovered that. It is not involuntarily. I have to actually think about it to stop it. I was simply hoping you would notice."
I stopped him. "Okay, if we are going to have a duel, then please, no powers. You get me? No telekinesis, no fire, and no swords. Just a duel. That actually gives me a chance."
He sighed. "Alright, I guess. But I am not going to take it easy on you." He warned.
"I'm not worried."
{Children.} Tobias laughed.
That week at work, a lot of things happened. A lot of people got fired and a few got hired. A lot of changes were happening.
To begin, Brennan was going to be working Full-time every day. He was accepted to all the colleges he applied to, so he quit high school and decided to save up some money. (Unfortunately for him, they were all policing schools, so he had to quit doing all his drugs. Boo hoo.)
Kevin, Van Schlopen, and Matt all still worked all day, but Kevin was more of a small time trucker there now. We also got another full time guy named Bill. I really didn't like him. He was there only two days before getting promoted and he knew absolutely nothing about the job. And he tried to boss me around, but I ended that real soon. I put him in his place.
And all the part time boys had to quit for school reasons. Kind of a bummer, but oh well. We could do without them. It was just the five of us now. And Kiers, of course.
So, I was lucky. I was still getting decent hours, and I still got out at the same time. I really liked that job. The people were great, except for Bill, he was quite the arrogant bastard. Oh well, I would just have to kill him one day.... oops, did I say that?
That week, we had decided that I would be the designated Unloader. That was my position. You see, what I did was deal with all the paperwork. I unpacked the trailer and sorted it up into the different orders. I also checked the item number so we knew we had the right piece. Nobody else wanted to do that, so I got stuck with it.
Not to say I can't do anything else, I am good at everything, but I am better than anyone else at that, and that position was very important.
Other than that, the week was pretty boring at work.
After work on Wednesday, I decided to see how my family was doing. I thought it was about time to make sure they were okay.
I morphed to peregrine falcon and flew in the cool night air, waiting for it to be dark enough. I eventually flew down onto the neighbour across the road's house and demorphed on their roof. The roof was fine, so I sat on it.
As I sat there, watching my family go on about their business, I noticed that something was definitely wrong. First of all, my mom wasn't yelling or telling Sam everything he did was wrong. And Sam wasn't being a PITA. (Pain in the Ass). He was quietly sitting there, doing his homework.
And worst of all, mom wasn't on the computer. She was actually doing housework. It was a conspiracy, I tell you. My first thought was that the yeerks were doing a bad job at acting like the host. This was not the way they were.
Then I saw the reason. Dad was home. It was Tuesday, so he must hae come home early that part of the week. Everyone always behaves more when he was around. He must not be infested. I thought this because now that I think of it, they wouldn't need to act in their own home, just in public. Technically, they were acting for dad, because that was how they were when dad was around. Plus, Dad was on the road five days of the week, occasionally coming home Wednesday morning. This would kill the yeerk if it tried to stay in him all the time.
I guess this proved a lot. I was sure that both mom and Sam were hosts now, and dad wasn't.
And yes, I know how incredibly ironic it is that my brother has the same name as my best friend.
I decided I had enough. I morphed back to Peregrine falcon just as Tobias flew in beside me. {Miss them?} he asked.
{Do you miss yours?} I asked back.
{Not really. I have nothing to miss. My parents are dead, and my aunt and uncle both shunned me. I kind of like being a bird. And that doesn't matter. You had a different relationship with your family.}
If I had a human head, I would have shook it. {Actually, I had a pretty rough recent three years. Nothing compared to yours, but bad nonetheless. I never got to keep my money, I had no control over my own stuff that I bought. And I never got any thanks for the Gamecube, Games, TV, DVD player, and other assorted gifts I gave them. I know that doesn't seem too bad, but there is more to the story that I simply don't want to talk about right now.}
{I see. Well, I came to get you because Sam wanted to see you. He is in town right now, on a tall building. He is waiting for you.}
{All right. I guess I could do some city hopping right about now.} since I was long since completely morphed, I took off and followed Tobias to the big tall building.
{Hey, how did you know I was here?} I asked.
{I saw you come by here earlier. I could see you were still here when I flew past. Thankfully I caught you before you left.}
I was having a surprisingly difficult time flying over the city. Even though there were still lingering thermals left over from the day, my wings were small and didn't pick enough of them up. The stars and moon were out in full swing.
When we finally got there, Sam was sitting on the edge of the building, hanging his legs off the side. For a human, that looked really weird.
I landed and demorphed. "So, you wan to enjoy the scenery?" I asked. "that's not like you."
"I didn't come here to enjoy the city scape. I came here to show the world how much better I am than them." He said, then stood up. "You up for a duel?" He asked. I wasn't one to say no to a duel, but this was a really odd place.
"Why do you want to have a duel here?" I asked. But I already knew.
"Just for effect. Now, if only it would start raining." He said. How predictable.
{I don't think this is a good idea. Sure, sam can fly his way out, but Gordon Can't morph quick enough before he squishes on the ground.} Tobias said.
"Oh, don't worry." Sam said. He raised his hand and lifted me up. I was floating, not the normal push. He was actually holding me there. It was cool, because I was just floating there, it didn't feel like something was holding me there. It was different than before. "I am sorry, no matter how much I practice, I can't seem to get any better. You know how before, I always used to get better like every day, well, I am not getting any better. I have seemed to have hit a block. It is kind of a shame. I can use it to do different things now, though."
He put me over the side of the building. I was kind of scared, but he seemed to have complete control, but then I started to fall. It was a rush, but he stopped me before I even had the chance to think about what was happening.
He brought me back up and set me back up on the gravel. "Hey, what happened to your eyes?" I asked. For the first time, his eyes didn't glow the bright red that they normally do.
"I can turn the light off if I want to. I just discovered that. It is not involuntarily. I have to actually think about it to stop it. I was simply hoping you would notice."
I stopped him. "Okay, if we are going to have a duel, then please, no powers. You get me? No telekinesis, no fire, and no swords. Just a duel. That actually gives me a chance."
He sighed. "Alright, I guess. But I am not going to take it easy on you." He warned.
"I'm not worried."
{Children.} Tobias laughed.