On the dawn of my thirteenth birthday, I didn't sleep that night of course. Truthfully, I sleep maybe a couple of hours nightly. Tei said it was just another thing that separates us from them. "The older you get, you'll need little to no sleep."
We were finishing the last Indiana Jones movie after watching them all in order. Ever since my dad made us watch Star Wars for the first time when we were younger, I grew an attachment to one Harrison Ford. He is an incredible actor. The reason we were watching Indy and not Han, is because they are releasing a new Indy film later this spring - something about a crystal skull. I can't wait to see it.
"Angel bug," Tei's dark but always calming voice crept through me. "The sun. It's time to get the little brats up."
"They're not 'little brats'," I laughed, stretching before I climbed off my bed. Tei leaned back comfortably in JD's green gaming chair he'd gotten last Christmas, but now he's switched to computer games, which he plays in his swivel computer chair. Now the gaming chair has been indefinitely located to my bedroom as Tei's seat.
"Do you feel like a teenager yet?" Tei asked me, watching me carefully. I knew he was, I could feel it. I didn't need to actually look at him to know... and that was strange.
"I don't know," I admitted. "I've always felt like just... this."
Tei went to reply, but there was a knock on my bedroom door. I widened my green eyes and for real looked back to Tei, but he was already gone. "Come in," I spoke aloud.
It's my dad, with one eyebrow raised. "Who are you talking to?" he asked me.
"HUH-?" I asked back nervously.
"I thought I heard..." Dad casually looked around my bedroom. Immediately to the left on the wall is my vanity, right of that is my closet. My bed hugs the wall on the left side in the middle of the room, sideways. My dresser with my TV on top is across from my bed on the opposite wall side. It's a smaller room, but at least I've got two windows. Dad sees the movie credits rolling. "Must have been your TV I heard."
"Probably," I agreed, full of relief.
"Well, anyway, come here." Dad fully enters my room to give me a hug. "Happy birthday, Little Logster."
I never understood that silly sounding nickname. I'd rather have Tei call me angel bug in public.
Wait- what? I think about the idea of being out in public with Tei as I pull away from Dad. "Thanks," I tell him. That's never happened before. Tei's never left the house, he's hardly even left my room-
Where does he go when he disappears? How does he know when to come back? Why am I thinking about this now?
Is Tei truly real? He told me so. But... is he? What if he's just been in my head - like I used to think as a little kid, the entire time? I'M GOING CRAZY THINKING ABOUT THIS.
"Are you okay?" Dad asks me.
"Dad," I sputtered. "Can I stay home from school today?"
"It's your birthday, Little Logster. You can stay home. I'm gonna wake your brother and sister up, and then let your mother know. Go back to sleep if you're tired," Dad explained, turning around completely to leave my room.
"You're not funny Dad, you know I don't sleep," I remarked with a grin.
I saw him shred a very quick and faint frown before he smiled. "I know it."
He closes the door on his way out. Now I can get dressed. After, I finally let out a sigh and plop myself down in the gaming chair, using the remote from my bed to switch the TV off. I sit in silence and let my thoughts of Tei trouble my mind for the first time ever.
Now that I've thought this, what if he doesn't come-
No.
Stop.
JD comes in my room first. "Happy birthday, Lynn."
"Thanks, bro," I mumbled my reply. He nodded at me, a spitting image of our father, before he left. Nat came in a few minutes after that, followed by my mom who gave me a bunch of birthday loving before she left to take JD and Nat to school.
Dad was already gone, so the house was empty. Just me. I can't remember the last time I was home alone. I sighed heavily before I stood up from the gaming chair. I gulped, lightly trembling. I've never felt like this before.
"Tei?" I called out as normal as I could sound. "Tei, come back to me please."
I heard the familiar flap of wings, followed by, "What's bothering you, angel bug?"
How does he know something's wrong? Because he's not-
"Tei," I yelped. "Are you real?"
My best friend looked completely dumbfounded. "What?"
"How do you know everything?" I demanded. "You're always here, Tei. You're always here with me-"
"Is there anything wrong with that?" he interrupted me with that question.
"No-" I answered a little too quickly. "I mean, yes. You're not real," I proclaimed.
Tei now looked a little offended. "You're going to upset me," he uttered next, and it spewed great fear in me, because what he said and the way he sounded terrified me. His orange eyes almost started glowing.
No, I have to stop doing this to myself. "You're upset because I'm upset," I started. "I'm upset because you're not real Tei, you're not... you..."
Tei approaches me. "Stop," I blurted out, and he was quick to obey. "See?" I cried out. "YOU'RE NOT REAL!" I fled my room. Tei screamed at me to come back, and I kept going. I made it down the stairs when Tei appeared in front of me, opening his arms for a hug.
Not this time. He can read my thoughts by touch because he's just a part of me, not because of any special power he has. I dashed around him and went for the door. I heard him spin around but then he was once again in front of me - blocking me from the door. I grit my teeth. If he can disappear and reappear, then so can I, right? I clenched my fists and closed my eyes, thinking of going outside. When I reopened my eyes, I was in my front yard. "Whoa," I spurted, feeling just a bit unusual. I heard the door to my house open behind me.
Tei stood there. "I did it!" I shrieked, twisting around. I then remained still to see if Tei would come outside and expose himself. "If you're real, you'll come out," I decided.
"Prepare to be amazed," Tei said in complete annoyance, stepping outside. I widened my eyes just a little at that. "Satisfied?" he asked me. I shake my head. "Lynn, I'm not playing any more games with you," he announced.
He disappeared, then was behind me, grabbing me quickly. I screeched and actually tried to get away. "Why are you fighting me?!" Tei yelled angrily. "Stop this, Lynn! I'm real! I'M REAL! My love for you is REAL!"
That made me stop. "What-?"
"If I'm not real, then tell me something," Tei went on. "What's my full name?"
"What-?" I repeat.
"Tei is only half my name," he admits to me. "You were much too little to say my whole name, even though it's not difficult. You coined the name Tei for me."
"I don't remember this," I remarked.
"Still not enough?" Tei releases all but my arm, and then we're not in my front yard anymore. I gaze around, trying to familiarize myself with my new surroundings when I see my other best friend, Alice. She's alone at her bus stop.
"Did you bring me here?" I asked Tei. He nods in response, and I frowned at him. "No you didn't. Maybe I... just wanted to see Alice, and now I'm here."
"You have never been this stubborn before," Tei muttered before he let go of my arm and began to walk towards Alice.
"What are you-?" I started to ask.
A deep wind blows by, causing Alice to brush back her long brown hair as Tei was nearing her. She turned- she turned- towards his direction. Was it me she saw? "Hello, Adelina Walter," Tei spoke to Alice.
"How do you know my name-?"
Tei continued with, "This is will be unpleasant for you."
I was screaming inside my entire body. Tei spoke to Alice, and she spoke back to him. Tei is real. I began to sprint towards them, screaming as Tei used his holy powers to send Alice into the air, landing against a nearby tree. She landed a little harshly, crying out. "ALICE!" I was horrified, I couldn't believe this just happened.
"Do you believe me now?" Tei asked me. "Did you throw her, or did I?"
I ignored him as I ran right past him, diving over to Alice. "Are you okay?" I asked her, helping her sit up straight.
She rubbed the back of her head. "What just happened? My head hurts."
I gulped. I definitely did not do this. I've grown to love Alice as my loyal best friend for years now... just like Tei, who's just as real as the rest of us. I put my hand over where Alice hit her head, and there was blood. Oh my god, she was bleeding. I turned back to look at Tei. He simply stood there, as if he was testing me.
I scowled at him before I returned my attention to Alice. I want to help Alice. I have to help her. I have to-
My hand started glowing, and the energy I felt rumble in me constantly felt a sudden urge of relief. "Lean forward," I instructed Alice. She obeyed, and I'm pretty sure I was healing her head wound. When I was confident the evidence was gone, I pulled my hand away and the glowing aura was gone. "Does your head still hurt?"
"No," Alice replied in a minor shock. "Lynn, did you just-"
We could hear her school bus coming from down the street. I hurriedly got up and helped her up. "Please don't tell anyone, Alice. Please! I'll have to erase your memory or something."
She stared me dead in the eyes, even as the school bus rolled to a stop by the curb nearby. "You're serious, aren't you?"
I nodded in panic.
"Okay, I won't tell." Alice held up a pinkie finger. I rolled my eyes and followed through with her. We were thirteen now, not seven again. I stepped back to let her run for the bus. Tei poofed, literally, and reappeared by my side.
"That was really mean what you did to her," I say to him quietly, watching the bus drive away.
"Well, that was really mean of you to say I'm not real," was his shunt reply.
I frowned, staring down at my yellow tennis shoes. "You're right, I'm sorry Tei. Can you forgive me?"
In an instant, the angry demeanor he'd held since he first said I was upsetting him, vanished. He was suddenly my ole Tei again as he said, "Of course, angel bug."
What a heck of a birthday morning.
Tei gets us back home our way, and I make straight for my bed upstairs in my bedroom. "Using your powers can and will exhaust you," Tei educated me.
"I can tell," I groaned, getting under the covers. Dad did say I could go back to sleep if I wanted to - maybe I will. But first... "Tei?"
"Yes, my angel bug?"
Luckily I was facing the wall in bed, because I'm pretty sure I was blushing. He'd never said 'my' before. Earlier, he said his love for me was real. This... this is MESSED UP.
"What's your full name?" I asked him sincerely, turning over in bed to face him, who was already sitting back in the gaming chair.
He appeared very amused. "My mother named me Teivel."
I repeated his name aloud before I dozed off into a forced sleep. I'm not sure how much time passed, but I later woke up to the sound of the fourth episode of Star Wars main menu screen on my TV. "More Harrison Ford marathon?" I asked aloud.
"You also have a letter from Megan in the mail today." Tei handed me the envelope he held while sitting in the gaming chair.
"Oh!" I exclaimed, snatching the letter. "I was wondering if she would be too afraid to write back after what I asked her."
"About her powers?" Tei asked, and I nodded while opening the letter. In my previous letter to my old pen pal I still write, I asked her if she ever felt any different, or had any unusual experiences. I gave her a couple of examples of myself to help her understand - like how I don't feel the effects of the weather, make doors and stuff open. Or maybe she'll think I'm crazy and it's gonna say to never contact her again. I gulped and started reading.
Megan wrote me happy birthday, first of all. That was so nice of her. Then she writes about when we first met on our pen pal field trip, how she remembered running the race with me, keeping up at inhuman speeds. She didn't dwell into that, just that nobody to this day's been able to keep up with her, just me. What she writes next is more interesting, but it was vague. She tells me about one time her brother made her very mad so she ran into her room, and her lamp bulb shattered. That was literally how she left it.
She finished the letter with asking me WHY I was asking these kind of questions, and hoping I'm well and to hear from me soon. Signed, Megan. "I'll work on writing back later," I decided. "I'm so ready to watch these movies." I get out of the bed and set Megan's letter on my vanity before going about enjoying the rest of my birthday. When school's over, I'm going to call Alice and check on her. I hope she keeps to her promise.
I'd be afraid of what Teivel would do.