Chapter 2
The following morning, Matt felt something on his side move. But very rapidly, almost as if someone was urging him to get up. Matt woke up quickly, thinking that Tyrone was trying to wake him up. But he turned his head and saw Tyrone's body shake very violently in bed. He was having a seizure. Matt screamed for Natalie and quickly hugged Tyrone. Natalie came running in, with her curlers still on. She quickly went over to Tyrone's side and dried up the blood from his mouth.
"He bit his tongue. Oh that poor boy." said Natalie, shaking her head.
"What can I do?" asked Matt.
"For now, let's just wait until the seizure stops," said Natalie.
After a few seconds, Tyrone's body stopped shaking and it took a moment for Tyrone to open his eyes slowly.
"Tyrone? Can you hear me?" asked Matt.
Tyrone nodded, very slowly. He didn't quite process what had happened, but he knew something was not right. But at the moment, he was still collecting himself.
"Matt honey, go get a towel and place some warm water on it." instructed Natalie. Matt did as he was told and returned with the towel. Natalie placed it on Tyrone's forehead and explained gently to Tyrone.
"Honey, you had a seizure just now. Please be honest, did you take your pills last night?" she asked gently.
Tyrone hesitated, but shook his head.
"I see." replied Natalie, massaging Tyrone's head softly. She stood up and quickly went over to the bathroom to get the shower ready.
"Can you stand?" she asked.
Tyrone tried to stand, but it was Matt who helped him get up.
"Matt honey, can you take it from here? I'm going to make breakfast. I'll make something warm for Tyrone." said Natalie.
Matt nodded and helped Tyrone up.
"Let's go to the bathroom. I'm with you." said Matt softly. He and Tyrone slowly walked over to the hallway while Natalie walked on ahead.
"Are you able to do this on your own?" asked Matt as he walked inside the bathroom with Tyrone. He simply nodded and Matt got the message.
"Got it. I'll be in the hallway if you need anything." said Matt with a determined look. He was trying to act brave and tough for him. But Tyrone knew that underneath that tough guy exterior of this boy, there was fear and worry. Tyrone smiled, patted Matt's head and locked the bathroom door while Matt waited in the hallway.
Matt simply sat down and folded his arms. He was waiting for anything. Anything to happen at all. He then heard a noise. A very soft and wimpy voice. Matt at first didn't recognize it, but he traced the sound to the bathroom.
Tyrone was sobbing softly in the shower, covering his eyes in shame. How could he have missed his meds? His dosage? Why? He had to get his act together, he thought. He couldn't put Matt nor his newly fostered mother Natalie through this. Matt had already seen him have seizures before, but Natalie and Sam were new to this. The night they settled in, Tyrone broke the news to them gently, but they were understanding. This seizure marked the second one that Natalie saw. The first time it happened was outside, while they were cleaning the fall leaves in the backyard. Tyrone's emotions were all over the place and he just sobbed more and more, but very softly.
Matt on the other hand felt very guilty. He wanted to help his brother. But there was so much he could do. All the boy could do was help him when he fell. "Marcos. How ever did you do it?" asked Matt to himself.
Matt remembered years ago, when he still had his older brother Marcos. He was a healthy fellow. Very athletic with a strong build. His dark brown hair was always a mess, and he reeked of BO after he worked out. Matt always saw him as the protector. The one who watched over him. And Marcos was kind to everyone, especially people with a condition.
Marcos would tell Matt about a classmate he had that had down syndrome. He described him as someone very cheerful and very outgoing and he was a big fan of baseball and basketball. He even took his cards to school and would show them to Marcos at lunch. Marcos was the only one who would ever speak with him with a lot of patience. Matt remembered when he asked Marcos how he felt around his friend. All Marcos replied was this: "Do you need a reason to be friendly with someone?"
Marcos died months after he told him this. Beaten to death by the cruel boyfriend of their mother. He died defending Matt, keeping him safe. Now, it was Matt who took charge. He remembered Marco's face every time he helped somebody. He smiled. Matt looked at the bathroom door and imagined being the one to protect Tyrone from a lot of things. Tyrone was his big brother now, that much is true, but Matt felt it was his responsibility to save him. To help him. To comfort him. He had to be the man of the house, now that Sam was away.
At breakfast, Tyrone sat sadly on the table, eating his cereal with marshmallow shaped rocket ships. Natalie added some powdered sugar to the bowl.
"I'm sorry that cereal was all I could do this morning guys. I forgot to go out and get some eggs." said Natalie.
"It's okay Mom. Cereal is good! Muy bueno!" said Matt.
"I'm glad." said Natalie.
Tyrone smiled weakly and continued eating his cereal. He tried to act normal but the pain of the seizure was still there. He felt very lightheaded and his body ached very hard.
"You'll be fine my dear. You just need to relax. Can you call in sick today?" asked Natalie.
"I can. But I'll have to do it now." said Tyrone looking for his phone.
"Here!" said Matt, giving Tyrone his phone.
"Well, thanks. You had it with you?" asked Tyrone.
"In caso!" said Matt with a wink.
Tyrone smiled and tickled Matt on his side. "Suspicious looking kid! Are you sure you didn't hack into my phone and downloaded… I don't know. Babes in bikinis at palm beaches!?" said Tyrone.
Natalie clenched her teeth awkwardly. "Ty honey… that was a little insensitive." she said softly.
"Don't worry Mom. We're family. I'm okay with jokes like that." said Matt.
"I know dear, but still…. It was a little….." Natalie was saying.
"Mom is right. I'll go easy on you, chamaco." said Tyrone.
"Hey, you got that word right!" exclaimed Matt happily.
"You should teach me some Spanish too Matt. That way, I can speak fluent Spanish when I go to the Mexican store in Hillsboro." said Natalie.
"Sure thing Mom." said Matt.
Just then, the front door opened and Sam came in. He was wearing his long black cape which was flying dramatically in the living room. In addition, he was also wearing his old fashioned white shirt with the long sleeves and the curly tie with an aqua blue gem on it. His hair was combed backwards and he was wearing his black leather gloves.
"Daddy!" cried Matt. He got up and ran up to Sam to hug him. Sam smiled warmly and hugged Matt in return.
"It's good to see you too kid." said Sam.
"You're home safe and sound! Thank goodness." said Natalie.
"Hey Dad." said Tyrone softly. He was still sitting on the table and tried to get up. Sam saw how he got up and walked up to him.
"How are you?" he asked quickly.
"You know. Hanging in there." said Tyrone.
"He had a seizure this morning." said Natalie.
"Sit down. Eat your cereal. I'm going to sit with you all. I have a lot to talk about." said Sam.
He pulled his chair and sat down, still wearing his Bogey Man outfit. Tyrone felt a little uncomfortable seeing him wear that. It was the outfit he saw when he first met him a couple months ago. When he attacked him and Matt. But that was over. This was now and Tyrone reminded himself that Sam was now their foster Dad and Natalie was their foster Mother.
"When I arrived at Rood Bridge Village, the Mothman and I went to greet the Queen." said Sam.
"Imani?" asked Natalie.
"Who's she again?" asked Matt.
"The Queen of Rood Bridge Park." replied Natalie.
"The village is under quarantine right now," said Sam.
"Quarantine?" asked Tyrone.
"There is a plague that had arrived in the village and the Queen sent a young herbalist to find a red flower in the wilds of the forest, a day before we arrived. It's going to be their medicine. But more on that later. I already gave my report and told the royal Sword Warriors everything they needed to know. About the Germ, our lives, and what happened the past months. It turns out that the Dark Master is still at large and the Sword Warriors are hunting him down." said Sam.
"Goodness." said Natalie.
"There's more. The Dark Master is Rood Bridge Park's problem. We have nothing to do with that, which is good. This means there is nothing we can do. However, the Mothman had a vision the day I gave my report and he told the Queen about it. And this does have to do with us." said Sam.
He stood up and cleared his throat. "Children have been going missing in different towns. Human towns. Hillsboro, Beaverton, here in Garibaldi, Tillamook. Children ages five to seven are mysteriously vanishing. And to make matters worse, the memories of the parents and guardians are then erased. This has been going on for months, even before we started to live here!" said Sam.
"Missing children? And magic memory loss? This is some weird Dungeons and Dragons stuff going on." said Matt. Only he didn't say stuff. Natalie shot him a look, Tyrone chuckled and Sam laughed.
"Yes Matt! This is some weird shit. Anyway, the children that have been vanishing are children of different races as well. No specific ethnicity is being targeted. The Sword Warriors have very little to catch up on. Even Gannon and Garret, your friends, were scratching their heads with this mystery." said Sam.
"They were there with you?" asked Tyrone.
"They were. I gotta say, they are a noisy bunch. But they are good kids. So, they are currently with the Mothman himself, trying to find the missing children in the human towns. In the meantime, he suggested that we stay indoors for the time being. I'll use my cloaking spell to cover the house." said Sam.
"Any idea why the children are missing? How do they vanish? And why?" asked Natalie.
"All we know is that they disappear without a trace and the memories of their families get erased. That is all that we know." said Sam.
"This sounds terrifying." said Natalie.
"I'll say. They could take Matt away and our memories could get erased! But it's not such a bad idea now that I think about it." said Tyrone, teasing.
"What do you mean by that you numbskull?!" said Matt with a loud voice.
"Tyrone, call in sick to work. If they fire you, don't worry. I can make them rehire you." said Sam clenching his fist tightly with a wicked smile.
"That was what we were about to do. Ty honey. Call in sick. And I'll handle Matt's school. It's better to have him home schooled for the time being." said Natalie.
"I get to stay home?! Yeah!" cried Matt.
Not far from where Tyrone and Matt lived was another house with a family of four. The two kids were outside playing tag in their backyard. Then suddenly, they heard music. Soft soothing music. Music that soothed their heads. The music made them see visions. They saw unicorns, dancing ballerinas, polar bears on large red and white balls. They all looked so exciting to watch. The kids followed the kind and friendly looking characters. They went farther away from the backyard and they ended up following them into the forest.
And then, behind the hypnotized children was a shadow. A large dark shadow with a black cloak. A hand was pulled. A hand with long purple fingernails and the shadow spoke in a soft voice.
"Go to sleep. Go to sleep. Go to sleep little angels from heaven. Very soon, you will all be dancing in the great field of flowers beyond." And with that, the children fell to the ground, in a deep sleep. They snored loudly and their captor simply smiled.
