Burned Memories
There was a moment of silence as Langston and Blossom looked at each other. Finally Langston spoke, "Brick was used as a puppet?" He said with a hint of doubt in his voice.
"Yes, by HIM." She said.
"Him who?" Langston said.
"Oh right, I forget for as much a pain as he has been for us, the larger population doesn't know about it." She said shaking her head, realizing this was about to get a lot harder to explain. "We don't know his original name, we just call it HIM but he is an inter-dimensional demonic lobster. He is actually the one who revived the boys after our first encounter."
Langston took a breath in and let it out slowly, playing with the rim of his mug as he did so. "Why is this the first I'm hearing of such a creature then?" He asked.
"He likes to work in the shadows, and usually when we fight him, somehow the population at large forgets about him." She said. "He has a dark magic behind him, but he usually likes playing mind games."
Langston was searching his memory for, and found chunks missing when the boys talked about how they came back. It was like every time they talked about how they came back, the sound went to static in his mind. It did indeed hold credence to what the girl in front of him was saying. "Okay, that makes things, a little harder. For Brick at least." He said looking back at her. "Tell me what you believe happened that night."
Blossom spent the next little bit retelling Buttercups story the best she could, and by the time she was done a good 30 minutes had passed due to the questions the man had. She looked at him expecting a reaction, but found him instead stone faced. "You don't believe me do you?"
"No, no I do. I'm just trying to think about how a jury or a judge would see it. It would be tricky to have it accepted into court. This isn't miracle on 34th street where circumstantial evidence would prove Brick innocent. It's semantics." He said, then took another long breath, "But let's say we do get a judge who believes you. Then what? What if he finds Brick being puppeted like that an even bigger danger? If this lobster from hell can puppeteer Brick, he could do the same to all of you. What if the courts decide you 6 need to be incarcerated until proven HIM can't control you? It's not an easy fix here." He said before taking a sip of his coffee.
"He once put a spell on the entire city. He twisted the love this city had for me and my sisters, into malicious hatred. He gave Bubbles magic chalk that brought monsters to life. He trapped us all in nightmares, and in a future where we disappeared he did ruin the world. I heard he even threw the planet into the sun then back again as a flex of power." She said. "If the courts did indeed accept HIM, they would also need proof Brick's possession is not reoccurring. Is that what you're saying?"
He nodded in turn and looked at the bag. "Mind if I ask you a question now?" And she in turn nodded. "Why are you trying to help him?"
"Because I want to." She said, but it came off almost as a question.
"But why? Brick has held a lot of energy for you, and very little seemed to be positive. It would appear to me, him being locked away would be better for you." He said, watching to gauge her reaction.
"I know it may seem that way due to our long history, but it's different now. He, in such a short time has become my best friend. Someone I confide secrets to, hang out with, share music with. Brick being locked away like this, hurts. I know he doesn't belong in there, and even if he did, I wouldn't want him to." She said trying to fight the sting of early tears as she spoke. "When I stopped his rampage, I saw how he looked, and knew he had to be innocent. He wouldn't do that to himself just for giggles. I knew something happened. I first thought it was Sedusa, but I trust my sister." She looked to the wall and sighed, wiping away the mist from her eyes. "I was really hoping I could see him today and get a new picture in my mind. One where he is conscious and healthy, and it hurts to know I can't. So I want to fight to see him again. In the sun with a hat on his head and a smile on his face."
He looked at her and inwardly smiled, he was happy these teenagers were growing so close to each other, and now wanted to help ease some of her burden. "What's in the bag?" He asked.
"Hmmm, oh right. Just some stuff I brought to cheer up that awful cell he is in. I know before he wasn't allowed anything, but I was hoping this time it could be different." She said placing the bag on his desk. He looked inside, and after inspecting the contents smiled wide to her.
"I think this would be a very good gift for him." He said after looking through one particular item. He grabbed his phone and asked for a guard to come by, and when one did he handed the bag over to him. "Please bring Brick up for his next session. Through the building this time." He said, still unsure of who the mystery guard is. "And when he is secured in the interview room, place this on his bed."
The guard nodded and took off. "You know Blossom. The rules of his incarceration are you are not to be in the same room, but I do have to get my patient seen today. I'm going to be on the other side of that very wall." He said pointing with his crutch. "And if you happened to wait for a little bit, killing time in my office however you saw fit, you might catch a glimpse of him some way some how." He said smiling.
"I cannot be in the same room though, so how would that work? You mean through your office window? It's not clear enough for that." She said as he got up.
"The session could be short or long, depending on if he wants to talk. Like I said, we'll both be just beyond this wall here." He said tapping the wall with a fist as he passed it. "You are free to stay in this room and pass they time any way a super hero like yourself might until he is back in his cell. Then if you caught a glimpse in any way shape or form, no one could ever know." He finished as he reached the door. "It's up to you. And if you did decide to do just that, I hope to see you soon, Miss Utonium." And just as he said her name he closed the door.
A few minutes went by and she heard the sound of chains passing the door, and entering the next room. The door closed and she started hearing muffled voices coming from the connecting air vent. "Just on the other side of this wall, huh?" she asked aloud as she placed a hand on the wall. "He wants me to see a session with Brick?" She asked herself. A small part told herself it was wrong to eavesdrop on another persons therapy session, but the rest told her it was what the doctor wanted. She took a breath, and the wall seemed to open up to her showing her Brick and Langston talking in the room.
"You okay Doc? You keep looking at the wall?" Brick asked.
"Oh sorry, I think the coffee pot I have in my room needs a good cleaning, coffee was just a little off." He said returning the smile to Brick. "Either she got the hint or didn't" He thought to himself.
"I know why you keep a pot in your office, the break room swill here is god awful." Brick said with a laugh. It made Blossom smile hearing it as she continued to watch. She figured if he didn't want her to listen in he'd find a way to tell her. So she made herself comfortable by the wall and watched.
"Have you made any progress on what we talked about? Rediscover any new memories?" Langston asked.
"No, none at all." Brick said shaking his head.
"I had a theory I would like to explore. You are the sons of two super villains correct?" He asked.
"Nope, just the creation." Brick said with bitterness.
"That's interesting word choice, could you elaborate? Why do you say creation only?" Langston asked. He had an agenda today, but needed to ease into that topic more naturally.
"If I was their son, that would make them my dad, and they are not my dads." Brick spat. "A dad takes care of his kids, works to make them better, and doesn't treat them like some tool to be thrown away." His voice was harsh as he grew more angry. "Yeah I know I told you before about that fathers day a long time ago, how I wrote both of them off and we flew away, but a father checks up on his kids when they move out don't they?"
"The good ones do yes." Langston said jotting down some notes.
"I bet you anything, that they don't even know Boomers favorite comic character. Or Butch's dream car. Or my favorite book." Brick said.
"I'm not sure I know, it seems to change with you three." He replied in a chuckle.
"Exactly! My favorite book is a collection of fairy tales, before I hated reading for fun. It was a tool to learn, that's it." He almost yelled. "Butch first wanted a mustang because is was an easily identifiable muscle car. Then it was a vintage Camaro cause it had power, now it's an escalade because it's about class that goes with it. Boomer liked Thor first cause he had lightning powers like Thor did. Then it was The Punisher cause he was practical in how he dealt with bad guys, now it's green arrow cause he fights the same villains other super heroes fight with just a bow and skill." Brick took a second to laugh to himself before resuming, "I also think he sees himself and Bubbles with Green Arrow and Black Canary."
Langston was tempted to talk about the girls, but Brick kept going, and he wasn't about to ask him to stop. "I'll give you our tastes may stay the same, but the day I hated them both was when Butch got sick." He said looking away from the man.
"Butch got sick once? When was this?" Langston asked.
"A little bit before lockup, a year or so. Butch caught this nasty cold, and it turns out when he is sick, he secretes mucus. A lot of mucus. So much in fact, that we had to get a big basin of water heat it up, and throw him into it and wash him or else the mucus would suffocate him. Three times a day we had to do this for a week. When he woke up, lunch and before bed." He said returning his gaze to Langston.
"We all get weird when we got sick, for three weeks we each learned what happens to us. Boomer sneezes and his short circuits himself. We lost so many electronics that week. Granted they were stolen, so it didn't bother us, but he would sneeze and electricity would just launch in the direction he was facing. Me on the other hand, I burned up so bad, my brothers had to drop me bare ass naked in a lake, in winter to cool me down. Otherwise I left burn marks on everything. We moved to a junkyard hideout, and I melted the seats of a car we slept in." Blossoms heart sank low hearing about how they had to care for each other the way they did, but kept listening.
"So you hate them for not taking care of you as a sick child?" Langston asked.
"Wouldn't you?" Brick asked, "Or am I being petty."
"I don't think you're being petty Brick, but did you ask them for help when you three were sick?" He asked.
"No, but I shouldn't have had to. Apparently HIM could see us at all times, and Mojo never even tried to find us. When I woke up after all that, I swore if we didn't need them then, we wouldn't ever need them after." He said before shaking his chains, "It's not like I was given any proof they cared. We get locked up, I saw the papers telling how, and neither of them tried to bust us out? Forget them, who needs 'em."
"I suppose I should be happy you don't seek out any form of relationship with them. You don't try at all to talk to HIM?" He asked.
"No, I don't even really remember what he sounds like. I just know I didn't like it." Brick said. He then furrowed his brow and looked up at Langston. "How do you know about HIM anyways? Whenever we talked about those two it never seemed to take in your mind. You'd always forget. Everyone usually did."
Blossoms felt the air catch in her throat, but Langston remained inwardly calm. "You just didn't have much to say about him, at least not in a way that I found really related to your rehabilitation. Sorry if I gave you the wrong idea, but it's also in your file somewhere I'm sure."
Brick seemed to take that answer and relaxed. "Okay, well. I've had enough talking about them. Can we move on please?" He asked.
"Of course, Brick of course. I did have another person in mind to talk about." He said careful not to look at the wall he hoped she was listening in at.
"Whose that?" Brick asked. He felt like he knew the answer, but was hoping she wasn't it.
"Blossom." Was Langstons reply. Brick dropped his head, and Blossoms brow raised. He did say he used her to motivate Brick before, she was interested to see how this would play out.
"Do we have to?" Brick asked.
"Yes, she has been apart of your life, and the target of most your energies. It's time we have the real talk about her I put off for so long." He looked at the boy who seemed to be avoiding eye contact. "The sooner the better Brick."
"What do you want to know?" He asked after a minute of silence.
"Tell me Brick, when did you first realize you didn't hate Blossom anymore?" He said watching the boys face.
Brick took a sharp breath in and let it out. "It was a long time ago." He finally said. Blossom was confused, it seemed like it should have been recent. So where was he going with this.
"I would call you a liar if you said otherwise." Langston said with a straight face.
"I know you would. How long have you known?" Brick asked.
"When you snatched that pretty red bow from the table, that day long ago when we decided to get you an education. Just to show her up. She has been your driving force for so long, that I knew by the time you were at my table, you already experienced your first crush." He said looking at the ceiling as he recalled. "The way you snatched it was like a treasure, not taking something of little importance."
Brick shook his head and spoke, "Nothing really gets past you. Alright. I'll talk about it. Feels kinda weird." He said with a nervous laugh. Blossom couldn't rip her eyes away if the sun had materialized in the room, she was focused entirely on Brick as he started.
"It was a little bit before we got locked up. We woke up just before Christmas, and it snowed an insane amount. Of course me and my boys decide to have some fun, so we start snow wrestling, which turned into snowball fights, which lead into the city. I guess we got a little rough, and the girls got called. We weren't trying to wreck the city, it was just happening I guess."
Blossom knew this story, and was curious to hear his side, she still wondered what happened in his head that day. "So anyways, we're all playing and those girls show up, we break up to fight our counterparts, and Blossom gets a really good kick in. she sends me flying and for a moment I forget I'm fighting Blossom. She looked, so cool. He hair was like fire flying behind her, and her scarf blowing in the wind made her look like a bad ass. Like she could take on an army of vampires." He said with a chuckle.
"So what happened?" He asked.
"Suddenly I didn't care about the fight. I just wanted to watch her. I fought defensibly, and I can still remember how she smelled like cherries." Brick said failing to hide a smile. "I mean, this bad ass girl shows up dressed in red, smelling of cherries and stands out in a blizzard like a rose fighting off the snow? It was almost ethereal. She fought, up until I realized, I didn't want to fight after this. So I ended the fight, and got my brothers."
Blossom smiled, she had no idea, he was thinking of her like that way back then, and she could feel her heart flutter in rhythm to his words.
"So what happened?" Langston asked. "Your file showed an increase level of violence starting that January."
"I'm getting there, hold on." Brick said, "Back at the hideout we had some money, and I knew I had a crush. Of course I did, it made sense, she was the leader, I'm the leader, we both kicked ass, we could do so much together. I didn't even think of the possibility of rejection. So using some of the money we had, I went to town. The Christmas crowd was in full swing so nobody even paid me attention. I didn't start a fight and people assumed I was just a lost little boy looking for his folks."
"What did you do when you got there?" Langston asked.
"I walked into a store and was looking at the books. I knew she liked to read, so I managed to find someone who could help me pick a book out for her. I'm still not sure if the lady who helped me that day knew who I was, but I bought her this book from some famous female author. Agatha something or other. Doesn't matter."
"Why not? You went through some trouble to get it."
"I even had it wrapped there. In a pretty pink paper too." Brick said. "But it didn't matter. I managed to get the gift and went to her house. I had gotten a little lost looking for it, so it was dark by the time I got there. Everyone had Christmas lights on and I could see into most peoples house showing off Christmas trees." He looked at Langston who gestured for him to keep going. "So yeah, I find her house and just like the rest I can see inside. There she is, wrapped in a blanket watching her tree glisten with lights."
Blossom tried to remember this night, and thinks she remembers it, but can't place Brick anywhere in the memory. Curiosity took her, and she was almost pressed against the wall trying to get a better angle to hear.
"My god, if what I had before was a crush this was something else." He said closing his eyes. "These memories keep trying to surface, but I usually keep them down, letting them flow like this isn't easy." He opened his eyes and looked down, "So she's sitting on the couch, and I can still see perfectly how pretty her eyes were. All the lights were dancing in her eyes like a ballet. I took a breath and puffed out my chest, was getting ready to walk up to that door, and declare something. I don't know what. Then I see her dad walk in."
Blossom remembered this night as he spoke it vividly and was even starting to place when Brick must have been outside her house, and was determined to hear what happened next.
"Her dad comes in, holding a mug of hot cocoa, filled with cream and marshmallows, and he hugs her." Brick said blinking a few times. "For whatever reason that hug, told me something. It told me, there was no way she'd ever take me. She lives in a world of light, love, and family. She'd probably just laugh at me."
"That must have hurt to believe." Langston said, starting to put the picture together. "So what did you do?"
"Not much. They sat together on the couch, like any parent and child would, she fell asleep, and he carried her upstairs. I just stood there in the darkness, hidden by Christmas displays casting shadows. I looked down at the book I got her, and the sadness I felt, turned to rage. I burnt the book and took off." Blossom remembered finding it on her lawn and throwing it away, she never knew until then what it was. It hurt finding out now, but she couldn't argue his point either. "Until now, I don't think anyone ever knew about it. I didn't want to see her again. Well not at first."
"You can't usually turn off that kind of emotion Brick, and considering you didn't have someone to go to talk about these things, you were probably very confused." Langston said.
"Yeah, I was. I wanted to get better so I trained over where they keep all the out-of-commission trains. I tried to get my brothers involved, but they didn't see a point. I got a lot stronger, and yes, a lot meaner." Brick said remembering how Bubbles chewed him out on top of the roof only a week or so ago. "I wanted to see her again, but I also hated her. I just didn't know what to think anymore, so I stopped thinking and just did what came naturally. I didn't think it would lead to the girls getting so desperate they would trap us here. That didn't go to plan"
"So how about now?" Langston asked.
"You and Blossom seemed to get so close so quickly, if the newspapers are any evidence." Langston said.
"That was just an act. It wasn't real." Brick said. "Although, I'll admit. It was fun enjoying that one day, where I got to pretend what might have been if I wasn't such a shit person then." Blossom felt her cheeks go red. She also liked that day. She was ready to kiss him, but he never kissed her back as far as she knew, so didn't think he was interested in her that way.
"If only things were different." She thought to herself.
"Everyone regrets how they acted when young Brick. You were created to do bad things, but that doesn't lock you in life to doing bad things. You needed someone to show you how to grow better, and I hope I have done that. I'll tell you something, nobody isn't kind of a dick in high school. You just had a bit of a head start. You may not be born like a traditional human, but your mind and soul are very much human. You have that free will to change and be better. That's why I'm here. I believe in you to make choices to be better."
Brick smiled weakly, "Thanks doc. If only one person knows about all this, I'm glad it's you."
"Hey you still like her don't you?" Langston asked.
"Honestly? Yeah I do. A whole lot. It's why I hope the city lets them be for their final teenage years. I want them, and her specifically to be happy." He said. Blossom smiled to herself and stepped away from the wall. She made her way to a nearby window and gently opened it.
"If you show me you're a free thinking individual who isn't a threat, you can tell her all this yourself. So don't worry. At this rate you will be a free man in no time." Langston said.
"I hope so, but it doesn't matter as long as she gets to relax and be happy." Brick said smiling.
Blossom smiled to herself despite hearing her heart beating hard. "I'll be happy when you're outside with me." She said softly to herself before leaving out the window on her way home.
"I think that's a good spot to stop for now. Let's pick this up again soon." Langston said, as he stood up and walked to the door. He informed a guard Brick was to be escorted back to his cell, and left the boy alone in the room. It was true how quickly he got along with her. "If she still wants to be friends after all this, maybe I'll buy that book again." He thought to himself. It didn't feel as impossible as it did then. He was different now, she saw that, he was sure.
A guard came and lead him back to his cell. Inside was a brown paper bag sitting on the mattress. He walked up to it and looked inside. He pulled out a battery operated lava lamp, a new collection of unabridged fairy tales, and a red cap. He knew only one person would get him the book, and smiling with mist in his eyes placed the cap on his head.
Swinging the Brim of the hat back he turned on the lava lamp and the room glowed magenta. He sat on the bed and opened the book. On the inside was a little written note in distinct feminine writing. "Dear Brick, I don't have words to say how sorry I am to see you back in there. I hope this lamp is manly enough for you, and I hope the hat fits. Please, enjoy this book. Your friend, Blossom."
Brick felt his heart lighten a bit, and he thought to himself. "Okay, when I get out of here, I'm definitely re-buying that book."
A.N. sorry it took a long time to get this update out. It was a lot of sitting around and thinking of how how to word dialog, and which scenarios I would be covering. I'm also used to putting four chapters out at a time, but decided to go with three for this update. As shocking as it is I didn't plan to upload this around Christmas, but with the relevancy to the situation I decided I had to push myself to try and get it out. How did I do? Please review would you kindly.