Chapter Three – Wake Up Call

Chris was running, faster and faster, he couldn't explain where he was going. He was on the beach, he did not feel the cold air cutting his face or the coarse sand under his feet. He stopped and looked, the entire ocean was frozen. He looked at the ocean for a moment, he couldn't explain why it was frozen. Someone grabbed his shoulder and he turned around. He was standing in a forest, Aunt Paige was standing there.
"Aunt Paige." Chris said
"You need to go Christopher!" Paige snapped standing in her elder robes.
"But I wanna talking to you."
"I am sorry Chris." She said in an echo through out the forest. He turned around and the forest was gone and the ground was covered in snakes. Chris opened his mouth to scream, but he couldn't make a sound. Then he blinked.

Chris was laying in his bed, sweating. He looked at his clock, 6:45. He groaned and turned back over. He put his face in his pillow and pulled his blanket over his bare shoulders. He was about to fall back to sleep when Wyatt appeared in his doorway in a white shirt and silver work out pants.
"Chris, wake up!" He said eating a bowl of cereal.
Chris groaned.
"Christopher. It's 6:45. You have practice in an hour!"
Chris opened his eyes. He suddenly remembered it was Sunday. Tomorrow was the big meet. He sighed. "Alright." He mumbled. He mumbled, he felt his eyes begin to fall, and he slipped back into the forest.

Wyatt watched his brother, he put his spoon back into his Lucky Charms and produced a low voltage energy ball and threw it Chris' leg. Chris jerked awake lifting his body.
"DEMON!" He yelled falling out of bed, and he was on the floor, wrapped in his blanket.
Wyatt started laughing as Chris hit the floor. Chris rolled himself out the blanket and sat in his boxers. He gave Wyatt a dark glare.
"That wasn't funny."
"Yes it was." Wyatt said turning and walking towards the stairs, "GET DRESSED!" he yelled. Chris stood up and threw his blanket back on his bed, and grabbed a towel and went into the bathroom.

Chris walked down stairs shaking his hair dry, wearing a blue diving shirt and warms ups. He walked into the kitchen still shaking his head. The water sprayed Wyatt who was sitting at the table reading the paper and drinking coffee.
"HEY!" Wyatt said, "Use a towel."
"And you could have woken me up like a normal person." Chris said taking the jug of Orange juice out.
"We're not normal." Wyatt said reading an article.
"What ever." Chris said drinking from the jug.
"It's called a glass." Wyatt said from behind the paper, "and don't try and defend yourself, I see all."

Chris rolled his eyes. He walked over and got a glass. And poured some juice into his glass, and picked up and motioned to Wyatt.
"Cheers." He said before drinking

"That's better." Wyatt replied, putting the paper down and drinking his cup of coffee.
"Yeah." Chris replied, the flicking Wyatt off.
"Awe….I love you too Chris."

Chris sighed, took some pop tarts from the cupboard and joined Wyatt sitting across from at the table. Chris grabbed a headline saying "New Look for Los Angeles." It showed a display of a brand new skyline for the downtown area. He read for a moment before Wyatt spoke.

"How long is practice today?"

Chris looked up and saw that he was hidden behind the business section as usual. "Umm…probably no longer than like 12 or 1 o'clock, don't worry I'll just orb there."

"No you're not."

"Yes,"
Wyatt put down the paper gave a look on his face don't fight with me, "No, you're not."
"Why?" Chris said putting more of the pop tart in his mouth.
"Cause the last few times, I've had to perform a memory correction on several people."
"So."
"So, I am not gonna do that anymore, I am driving you today."
"Lame."
"Yeah…just remember what happened on Halloween?"
"What?"
Wyatt lowered the paper and looked at Chris. "You remember."
"Oh the whole I orbed in the middle of the courtyard and moved everything and scared everyone!" Chris laughed, "oh that was great."
"No it wasn't." Wyatt replied drinking from his coffee.
"Yes it was…I mean come on…Jeff Borges had it coming."
"Having him sit onto of the flag pole was not funny-he fell!"
"In Miss Whitley's garden."
"He broke his entire arm."
"You healed it!"
"Christopher!"

"Alright, just chill, let me go get my bag." Chris said drinking from his cup. And then he sat in the chair for a few moments thinking. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach, that something wasn't going be the same as it was before. The house was finally big enough for just Wyatt and Chris, but just an emptiness filled him and it echoed throughout the walls. It wasn't the loss of his mother, it was something else. Chris couldn't put his finger on it, but the crumbling inside of him was slowly taking over. It was something…what he knew he did not.

"CHRIS!" Wyatt said loudly.
Chris jerked his head, and he looked at his brother. "What?"

"You've been staring off for like five minutes."

"Oh-sorry."
"Are you okay?"

"Peachy." He replied smiling, he threw the last part of his pop tart into his mouth. "Be right back."

Wyatt watched his brother walk away from the table. Wyatt's empathy was off the charts, the emptiness inside his brother was much worse then he thought it was. Something was bothering Chris, and he knew exactly what it was…Leo.

Wyatt picked up his cup of coffee and drank down the last part of it, and then put the cup in the sink. He heard orbs behind him.
"You should be ashamed of yourself!" Wyatt said, "You owe Chris an-Paige."

Wyatt saw his Aunt Paige, standing in her elder robes. She looked at Wyatt and smiled. "

"I owe Chris what?"
"A big hug!" Wyatt said with a smile, as he hugged his aunt.

"Awe, you know I do sweetie." She said hugging her nephew back and kissing him on the cheek. "So how was his party yesterday?"
"Oh it went by fine. I just wish he just hook up with Bianca already?"
"Bianca?" She said with a seductive smile, "Whose she?"
"This girl who is also a phoenix-she hasn't told us yet. But I know."
"Ahh." Paige replied. "I am sorry I couldn't be here yesterday, but I brought Chris a present." She then pulled a small silver box from inside her robes.
Chris walked in wearing his sun glasses.
"Okay, Wy, I am ready to go." He put his bag on the table.
"Well Hello, Christopher." Paige said. As Chris turned around, he lifted his glasses. "AUNT PAIGE!" He went up to her and hugged her.
"Well hello my darling." She said kissing him. "Damn, I am guess I am the short one now. You're as tall as me. Shoot."
"Eh, whatever." Chris replied.
"Well, I am sorry I couldn't make your party yesterday, but here's a present." She said handing the box over to him. "It's a little charm, think of it has I can watch over you with it." She said then she heard a jingle. "Well I got to go boys. Love ya." She orbed out quickly.

Chris took the white ribbon off the box and opened it. It was a silver necklace, with a bold silver "C" on it. "Nice." Chris said, putting the necklace on.

"Very nice." Wyatt said touching the necklace. "Well grab your bag, let's go." Wyatt grabbed the car keys and slipped on his sandals and left. Chris grabbed his bag, he felt much happier now.

"Thanks, Aunt Paige." He said, then joined his brother in the car.

(Author's Note: I want to take this moment and thank everyone for making this year an awesome one for me and publishing me work here on Fan you guys have made the world to me. And I hope to keep writing for you through out 2006. Merry Christmas you guys, Happy Hanukkah and a Happy New Year. Take Care!)