As they entered the volcano it was getting hotter and hotter. Morty's clothes were sticking to him as he was drenched in sweat. His skin felt as if it would melt off. He struggled to carry the heavy bag full of supplies.
"H-how much farther?" Morty asked his grandpa.
"We have to go much deeper if we want to reach the metal I'm looking for" his grandpa responded.
"If we go any deeper I-I just might melt" Morty whined.
"Stop whining, we drank our potions of heat resistance, now keep a lookout for the metal, it's going to be a really shiny white gold color" his grandpa said.
There were lava falls and pools of lava everywhere. Morty gulped, imagine what horrible death awaited anyone that fell in that lava. Finally his grandpa stopped.
"Alright, it should be around here somewhere, start mining" his grandpa said.
Morty set the bag of supplies down and picked up his pickaxe. It was heavier than he had anticipated. He found a good spot and started mining. But he found it very difficult to handle the pickaxe and thus wasn't making much progress. Morty was also nervous that they were in a volcano. What if it erupted? They would be roasted. If they weren't crushed by falling rocks from the resulting earthquake. What if they got trapped under some rubble? There were so many ways this could go horribly wrong. Plus he didn't know if they were on Earth or another strange planet, what if a lava monster came out of the lava to kill them? What if the lava itself came to life and tried to kill them? What if this volcano had a guardian that was sworn to stop miners from mining its precious metal. He could see it now. It would be a giant fire bird that had fire breath and huge sharp talons that would rip them to ribbons.
"Morty! Stop imagining something probably really stupid and start mining!" his grandpa's shout tore him from his thoughts.
"Grandpa, i-isnt there an easier way to do this?" Morty asked. He was already fatigued from swinging that heavy pickaxe.
"There is, but given the volatile nature of this volcano I don't want to take any risks using powerful equipment on it" his grandpa said.
Morty started looking for a better spot to mine. Something shiny caught his eye, he picked it up. It was an orange heart shaped crystal. It was pleasantly warm to the touch.
"Grandpa look what I found, i-it's so pretty" Morty showed the gem to his grandfather.
"Stop messing around Morty! We're not here on a gem hunt, find that metal!" his grandfather shouted before returning to mining.
Morty stuffed the gem in his pocket. He was definitely keeping it. He went off searching for this shiny metal. But he found nothing but lava and rock. Which is funny because lava is just molten rock. There were no signs of any metal. He saw what appeared to be the entrance to a cave up ahead. He went inside and was on a giant heap of gems. The walls of the cave were covered in gems. It was so dazzlingly beautiful. It was as if he was in a pool of gems.
He stuffed his pockets full of the gems. They were so pretty, he'd give some to his mom, to his sister, and his friend Abigail. He gasped, in the sea of gems he found a black opal, he picked it up and inspected it. Black opal was one of the rarest gems in the world. In fact he heard you could only find it in Australia. It was stunning, the colors against the black background made it look like the northern lights. He found a red beryl which was another rare gem. Suddenly the sea of gems started moving. On no! It was the earthquake he feared would happen while they were down here.
Out of the gems came a red dragon. His eyes widened in terror. It had red irises that burned like fire. It had red and orange scales and wings that had spines on them. The dragon wasn't as big as you would think a dragon would be. Maybe it was a baby or something. It saw him and let out an angry roar. Nonetheless it was an angry dragon therefore Morty was afraid of it. Morty ran but his gem stuffed pockets made it awkward to run. The dragon was pursuing him.
"Grandpa!" Morty ran over to his grandfather.
Morty what's wr-
His grandpa didn't finish his sentence as he saw the red dragon in hot pursuit of Morty.
"What did you do!?" his grandpa quickly got to his feet and started running.
"I-I found this place full of gems, so I-I filled my pockets full of them, they were so pretty, I-I just had to" Morty explained.
"Morty you moron! That was clearly a dragon's hoard!" his grandpa yelled.
"H-how was I supposed to know!" Morty teared up. They were going to die and it was all his fault. Maybe he could fix this.
"I-I'm so sorry! I-I'm sorry! I didn't know they were yours, here you can have them back" Morty apologized.
But the dragon didn't seem concerned with his apology. It shot flames at him, he ducked. He felt the hairs on the top of his head singe as the flames shot over him narrowly missing him. The heat the flames were giving off was enough to leave him with some burns. He ran whilst emptying his pockets of the gems in hopes that the dragon will take the gems back and leave him alone. But the dragon just ran over the gems and kept chasing him and shooting flames. His shirt caught fire, he quickly took it off and tossed it aside. He was now shirtless leaving his skin that much more exposed to the intense heat.
"Morty, why do you have to get into trouble all the time!" his grandpa shouted as they ran for their lives.
"I-I didn't kno-o-o-w" Morty started crying.
As they ran from the dragon, its tail was slamming into the walls causing the whole cave system to shake, rocks were coming loose and falling. So now they had to dodge falling rocks.
"Morty I hate you! If we survive this, remind me to kill you!" his grandpa dodged a falling rock.
They were running and had to jump over a puddle of lava. A big rock fell on part of the dragon's wing crushing it under the rock. The dragon was stuck.
"Ha! Take that scale for brains!" his grandpa taunted. Morty looked at the dragon it tugged over and over again trying to free its wing. It let out pained roars.
"Grandpa, I-I think it's hurt" Morty couldn't help but take pity on the dragon.
"Good, let's go before it frees itself and incinerates us both" his grandpa turned to leave.
"Wait, w-we can't just leave it like that, we have to help it" Morty said.
"Only you would have compassion for a dragon, in case you've forgotten it was just trying to kill us, and it will continue to do so should we free it, assuming it even lets us get close enough to free it" his grandpa huffed. Morty started slowly walking towards the dragon.
"I-its ok, it's ok" Morty said in a soothing voice as he slowly moved closer. The dragon roared and snapped at him.
"Shh, it's ok, I-I'm not going to hurt you I-I promise, I just want to help" Morty soothed the dragon as he got closer. He was close enough for the dragon to attack him so he kept a wary eye on the dragon.
He rolled the rock off the dragon's wing. It quickly got up. Morty was expecting it to attack him. Instead it stood there giving him an inquisitive eye. Then it reached its snout towards him and gave him a sniff. He remained perfectly still so he wouldn't scare it into incinerating him. It paced around him sniffing him. Then it grabbed him and took off running with him. He screamed in terror. It was going to eat him! It ran back to its hoard and dropped him on the gems. It dug a little clearing in the gems, it laid down and patted the ground next to it with its tail. As if it was beckoning him over.
"Uh I-I" Morty had no idea what to do or say. It let out a roar.
"Ok, ok" Morty sat on the ground next to the dragon. It pulled him up to its belly with a sweep of its tail.
It then rested its head on its leg much like a dog would and fell asleep. Morty can only assume that he's been added to this dragon's hoard. How was he ever going to get out of here? He hoped his grandpa would come rescue him soon. Weariness overtook Morty, he was sleepy and the dragon's warm body and the rising and falling of its belly was lulling him to sleep. He closed his eyes.
When he awoke the dragon was still sleeping. What if dragons slept for hundreds of years? He would be stuck like this for a looong time. His grandpa still hadn't come to save him. If he wasn't mistaken it didn't seem his grandfather was even trying to rescue him. Maybe his grandpa was onto something, maybe he depended on being saved too much. Perhaps he should try and help himself for once. He slowly and carefully wriggled free of the dragon's grasp. The dragon growled and lifted its head, its blazing eyes were on him.
"Uh, I-I wasn't trying to escape, I-I just have to use the bathroom that's all" Morty smiled sheepishly. The dragon growled in response as if it was acknowledging what he had said.
"Wait, c-can you understand me?" Morty asked.
"Of course I can, I am a mighty dragon after all" Morty heard a voice in his head, he looked at the dragon absolutely stunned. The dragon was speaking to him telepathically.
"I am Inferna, and you are?" Inferna asked.
"I-I'm Morty, I-I'm really sorry I stole from your hoard, I didn't mean to" Morty said.
"I know you didn't mean it, you are just a silly human, I apologize for my anger, us red dragons are famously known for our tempers" Inferna said.
"You are a part of my hoard now, so everything here is yours as well" Inferna said.
"I-I appreciate you showing me kindness, but I-I can't stay here, I have a family and a home, plus I-I wouldn't be able to survive in this environment, how would I eat? Or hydrate myself?" Morty asked.
"Don't worry, I will take care of your human needs" Inferna said.
"I-I just want to go home and be with my family, this environment is too harsh for a silly human like me, look" he showed her his increasingly burned skin.
"I-I can't stay her much longer, I'll die" Morty looked at Inferna with pleading eyes.
"I'll tell you what silly human Morty, I'll do what no dragon has ever done before, I will release you from my hoard, but please don't ever return" Inferna said.
"T-thank you Inferna, I promise you won't ever see my face again" Morty said as he left. Who knew dragons could be so reasonable.
Morty heard the sound of a pickaxe against rock, his grandfather must have been mining. Which means Morty's suspicion was correct, his grandpa hadn't been looking for him at all. As Morty was walking towards the noise he noticed it was getting much harder to breathe. He could feel nausea roiling in his gut, something was wrong. He had to hurry and get to his grandpa. Morty's skin was blistering as burns formed on his exposed skin. Morty felt a stabbing pain in his lungs with every wheezing breath he took. He let out a violent cough. He gasped for breath as he struggled to get air in his lungs. He was approaching his grandpa, he tried to tell him he needed help but his throat felt constricted, he was unable to make a sound. The room spun around him and his vision faded to black.
Morty was back on Earth. He was standing near a church. Morty wondered how he got here, and why he was here by this church specifically. Morty had secretly always wanted to go to church. Morty couldn't help but feel like there was more to this universe than meets the eye. But his parents were strongly atheist and would be furious if they knew that he was interested in religion. So he knew they'd never take him to church. Maybe this was his calling to finally go to church.
He headed to the church. He noticed it was very busy, was it Sunday? Everyone that entered the church was wearing black, a funeral? But whose funeral was it? Morty was about to go inside but he stopped himself. What was he thinking? This was none of his business. He had no right to barge into a funeral. He turned to leave, but something caught his eye. His family's car was parked in the parking lot.
His family was here? But why? Did someone they know pass away while he and his grandpa were gone? Speaking of, where was his grandpa? Why wasn't he with his family? Now he had to see what was going on. He entered the church. The strange thing was nobody seemed to notice he was there. People were bumping right into him or rather passing right through without a second glance. His family was in the front row pews. His sister was sobbing, his parents both had a mix of sadness and anger on their faces. His grandfather sat a few rows back, his arms crossed. His face did not betray his emotions. What was going on? Why was everyone here but him? In front of the stage was an open blue casket. He slowly approached to see who had died. He gasped in shock and horror when he saw who was lying in that casket. It was him! He was staring at himself. Maybe this was another dimension, another Morty. His grandpa had said that there were many different dimensions with many different versions of him.
That had to be it. This was another dimension. But why was he here? He ran home, he had to confirm that this wasn't his dimension. He reached for the doorknob but his hand went right through it. That's when he noticed that he could see right through his hand. It was as if he was…a ghost. So that means this is his dimension! That was him in that casket! But how!? When did he…wait a minute. He thought about what happened directly before he woke up here. He had passed out at the volcano. Except apparently he hadn't passed out. He had…..died. Panic set in. no, he can't be dead. He ran or floated back to the church. He went to his family.
"Guys! I-I'm right here! It's me!" he shouted whilst waving his arms. But his family did not react to him.
"Guys…..please acknowledge me…..I-I am here" Morty felt his heart crack as he fell to his knees. Tears were streaming down his face.
There was so much he hadn't done. He wanted to become a pastry chef, get married, start a family. He choked on a sob. All his hopes and dreams were gone. He would never get to do any of those things. But mostly he was afraid. What was going to happen to him? Was he going to Heaven? Was he going to hell? Was he going to forever roam the earth as a ghost being forever reminded of his shattered dreams?
Despair overtook him and he curled up in a ball and cried. He reached out towards his family. He desperately longed for them to hold him and acknowledge that he existed. Suddenly he was floating in an endless black void. Where was he? What was happening? Morty was so scared. He didn't want to be stuck forever alone in this void. It was cold and seemed to be pulling him in one direction. Almost like being in outer space. Minus the stars. So this was his eternal destination? Here alone in this black nothingness. He didn't want to be here anymore. He wanted to go home.
beep*
*beep*
Morty don't give up!
*beep*
S-Summer!? Where are you!? I-I can't see you!
*beep*
Morty squinted against the harsh light as he came into consciousness. He saw his sister's concerned face staring at him. Was this real? He looked at his hand, he couldn't see through it. He gripped the blanket that was over his body. He could touch solid objects. And his sister was looking directly at him.
"Morty you're awake! Oh thank goodness!" his sister made a fuss over him. That had all been a horrible nightmare. He was here. He was alive. He burst into tears he was so relieved.
"Shh, it's ok Morty, you're ok baby brother" Summer hugged him and was stroking his hair. Morty winced as his scalp had a couple of burns courtesy of Inferna. But he didn't stop his sister. He was just happy to be being loved and comforted.
"I-I had a nightmare that I died! It was s-so scary!" Morty sobbed into his sister's chest.
"You very nearly did die, but it's ok, you're safe now, you're ok" Summer soothed.
Morty laid back on the hospital bed, he swallowed thickly and tried not to think about all the needles that were jabbed into him right now. He looked around the room and it suddenly dawned on him that Summer was the only one here.
"W-where are mom and dad?" Morty asked.
"Oh, um, mom had to work and dad was getting ready for an interview" Summer offered.
So in other words they couldn't be bothered to show up. Morty tried to push away the growing hurt he felt. Morty knew his parents despised him, so he's not sure why he still gets hurt when they make it blatantly obvious that they don't care about him. Maybe it's because he desperately wished that they did.
"What about grandpa?" Morty's voice quivered as his throat got tight with emotion.
"I don't know, he said he had to go find something and then he portaled away" Summer said. Did his grandpa really go back to the volcano to look for the metal and leave him here in the hospital? Wow his sister really was the only one that cared for him.
"Look Morty, I wish our family wasn't such sh- crap too, but I'm here, I love you" Summer seemed to sense why he was getting emotional.
"Thanks Summer" Morty smiled gratefully. Just then his grandpa came in through a portal.
"I finally found it, I found a cure all burn cream on Firaxus 4" his grandpa grabbed a little tube and squeezed some orange cream out of it.
He started rubbing the orange cream on Morty's burns. They instantly healed, Morty was relieved that the pain was gone. Ok maybe his grandpa cared about him….a little.
"There all better, now you can stop caterwauling like a baby, now let's get the heck out of this hospital before they charge us an arm and a leg" his grandpa said.
They left the hospital and went home. Morty was so happy to be back in his house. It was nighttime. He could hear his parents having a screaming match as he exited the garage. He and Summer were headed to their rooms.
"Are you sure you're going to be ok Morty?" Summer asked.
"Yea, I-I'll be ok, thanks Summer" Morty said.
"Of course" Summer winked at him.
Morty was sleepy and ready to go to bed. But first he was going to take a shower. He felt disgusting after all the sweat and soot that he was covered in. He turned on the water. There was nothing like a nice warm shower. He just stood there for a few moments letting the warm water run down his back.
He reached for his three in one soap shampoo and conditioner. His sister had three separate bottles: one for soap, one for shampoo, and one for conditioner. Why didn't women just have a three in one like men? In Fact there were several bottles in the shower and all but one of them were his sister's. He saw a clear bottle with pink liquid in it. He grabbed it and read the label. It was Zit Happens strawberry scented face wash. Did women need a separate soap for their faces? He wondered what the difference was, surely his sister wouldn't be mad at him if he tried some. He squeezed some of the pink liquid into his hand. He rubbed his hands together and then rubbed it all over his face. He finished his shower. He wrapped a towel around his waist. Once again on the sink he just had one bottle of lotion. His sister had two, one said lotion, the other moisturizer. Weren't they the same thing? Wasn't lotion supposed to moisturize your skin? His sister wouldn't mind if he tried her moisturizer right? He squeezed some into his hands and massaged it into his skin. He wiped the steam off the mirror and looked at himself in it. No difference. So why did women need extra products?
He went into his room and changed into some pajamas. His belly growled with intense hunger. He realized the only thing he had eaten recently was half of a pudding cup. But he was more tired than he was hungry, he'd eat in the morning. He climbed into his bed and sighed in relief as his head hit his soft silky pillow. He instinctively rubbed his hands against his silk sheets. He doesn't know why he always has the urge to do it. But they were so soft he couldn't help it.
As Morty was falling asleep. An overwhelming sense of fear and dread came over him, he felt like he was dying rather than falling asleep. Panicking, he aborted that fall into dreamland. His eyes fluttered shut before he snapped them back open. He was so tired he longed to sleep. He was overreacting, it was just a one off thing. He laid back into his silky heaven and pulled his soft and cozy cotton blanket over him. He shifted over onto his side. He closed his eyes. He could feel that dreadful feeling again. He forced himself to think about good things like baking. How he loved baking. He smiled as he drifted off to sleep.
Morty was in a log cabin. The decor was all fire themed, he could hear a woman's singing voice coming from the kitchen. He got up off the couch and slowly started towards the kitchen. He peered inside the kitchen. He saw a woman about five feet tall, with fair skin and fiery red hair and red fairy wings that looked like a raging fire was reflected in them. She was wearing a red, orange and yellow tulle dress. She had on a gold circlet with a tear drop cut amber in the middle of it. She turned and looked at him with gorgeous amber eyes.
"Hey Morty, come bake with me, I'm making your favorite, strawberry shortcake" she said in a high pitched girly voice. She winked at him and beckoned him over with a seductive flick of her whisk. He just stood there staring wide eyed.
"Come on Morty, don't you remember me? You used to pretend I was your girlfriend, It's me Fireblossom, come here baby and let me love on you and feed you strawberry shortcake" Fireblossom said.
"I-I haven't watched Rainbow Fairy Princesses since I-I was eight years old" Morty was so confused right now. What was happening?
"Oh so now you're a big boy and you're too good for me!" Fireblossom's amber eyes blazed with anger. She let out a scream as heat expelled from her.
Suddenly the scenery changed to a volcano. Fire knives appeared in both of her hands. She threw them at Morty as he ran. They flew past his head and dug into the cave wall ahead of him. He could feel that choking burning sensation in his lungs again. He wasn't watching where he was going and before he could stop himself he ran right off a cliff. Below him was a lake of lava. He screamed. No no no no no no, as he plummeted towards the lava. Just as he was about to take a fiery dip, he jolted awake. He was alone in the darkness of his room. No crazy fairy princess, no volcano.
What in the world was that about? Morty had a feeling that his trip to the volcano will not soon be forgotten. It was more about that horrible dream he had where he was dead. It felt so real. If Morty was ever afraid of death before he was that much more afraid now. Morty knew he wouldn't get back to sleep anytime soon.
So he decided to bake as a way to calm his nerves. He tiptoed past his parents' and Summer's room. Then he went downstairs to the kitchen. He quietly as he could got out all the things he would need to make some pumpkin muffins. He knew it was super white of him, but he loved everything pumpkin, he loved fall when pumpkin spice everything was available. First he preheated the oven to three seventy five. Then he grabbed a whisk, he loved whisking everything by hand instead of using an electric mixer. It just felt more personal that way. He mixed together one and three fourths cup of flour, two teaspoons of cinnamon, two teaspoons of baking powder, a half teaspoon of salt, and one tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice as his dry ingredients.
In a separate bowl he mixed together a fifteen ounce can of pumpkin puree and one stick of melted butter. Then he added in three fourths cup of light brown sugar and three fourths cup of white sugar, he whisked it until there were no lumps. Then he added two eggs, and one teaspoon of vanilla. Then he mixed in his dry ingredients until his batter was smooth. He poured the batter into a twelve cup muffin tin. Filling each cup about halfway so it wouldn't rise too much. He put his muffins in to bake for fifteen minutes. He just kept track of time himself so an alarm wouldn't go off and wake his family. Once they were done he took them out and set them on the counter. Now in the morning his family would have some muffins to eat. He went back up to bed. Feeling much calmer now. Baking always does the trick.
The next morning Morty slept in, it was spring break so he and Summer wouldn't have school for two weeks. He planned on doing plenty of baking. He was currently reading about baking for charity. It says that they needed someone to bake six dozen snickerdoodles for the local first responders. He signed up for it, he knew just the person to help him. He pulled out his phone.
Hey, want to help me bake six dozen snickerdoodles?
Yea! That sounds like fun
Ok, can you come over in an hour or is that too soon?
An hour will be fine
Thanks! See you then
Morty got everything he would need for his charity baking. A while later the doorbell rang, he answered the door.
"Hey Morty!" Abigail hugged him.
"So this is the girl eh? You always had a thing for redheads didn't you Morty" Summer came out of the living room.
"Oh he does?" Abigail asked.
"Oh yea totally, from the time he was five until he was eight he loved to watch Rainbow Fairy Princesses because he had a huge crush on Fireblossom" Summer teased him.
"Ok w-we better get started on the cookies!" Morty said in a squeaky voice as he pulled Abigail to the kitchen. They both put aprons on.
Morty tripled his snickerdoodle recipe so he would have enough dough to make six dozen cookies. Then he set up an efficient system. Abigail was responsible for scooping the balls of dough onto a baking sheet and Morty was responsible for baking them and getting them out of the oven. They put parchment paper down so they could just take the cookies right off the baking sheet and put more dough on the sheet.
"So is what your sister said true? Do you have a thing for redheads?" Abigail asked shyly.
"Um, I-I'm not sure, a fictional character was the only redhead I've ever had a crush on" Morty really wished Summer hadn't shared that information.
"Oh…." Abigail looked struck. Morty realized what he had just said.
"I-I mean not that you aren't pretty or anything, it's just…" Morty scratched the back of his head awkwardly. He felt like anything he said at this point would get him into trouble.
"E-except you of course, so maybe I-I do have a thing for redheads" Morty tried to salvage this situation. The light returned to her eyes.
"Really Morty!? You really feel the same way!?" she seemed like a kid in the candy store.
"Yea, totally" Morty smiled. She hugged him tightly.
Morty didn't have the heart to tell her the truth. Don't get him wrong Abigail was a sweet and kind person. But he only liked her as a friend. He knew it would hurt her if he told her the truth. But then again maybe it would hurt her more to lie about it. It seemed there was no winning in this situation. He quickly got to work packing the cookies into containers. Maybe if they kept busy it wouldn't be brought up again. Morty isn't stupid, he knew that Abigail had a crush on him, but their relationship had been friendly up to this point. Now that she thinks he feels the same way he wondered how the dynamic of their relationship would change. Whatever happened he would keep up the ruse. He really couldn't stand the thought of hurting her feelings. Morty couldn't help but feel like he was getting himself into a crap storm that he would have a very hard time getting himself out of.
He and Abigail finished the baking in silence. Then they delivered the cookies to the drop off location. He thanked her for helping him and said his goodbyes. He had to put this whole ordeal aside, for now he had to have a conversation with his grandpa. He found him in his usual place, the garage. His grandpa was looking at a map and furiously crossing off locations. He let out a frustrated sigh.
"I don't get it Morty, I've looked in all the places that this map says the metal should be, yet I still haven't found it, we have to go back and keep looking" his grandpa said without taking his eyes off the map.
"Actually grandpa, t-there's something I want to talk to you about" Morty began.
"Yes? What is it?" his grandpa still didn't take his eyes off the map.
"I-I'm not going with you back to the volcano, o-or anywhere else for that matter, grandpa I-I'm done I can't go with you on these missions anymore" Morty said. His grandpa finally looked at him.
"Are you still whining about the volcano? You really need to get over that Morty, it's pathetic" his grandpa sighed.
"I-its more than that grandpa, the things we see, t-the things we get caught up in, it's become too much, you know I'm not at all cut out for that kind of adventure, grandpa sometimes you rely on me to commit acts of violence, you know I-I abhor violence a-and I've let you down because of my inability to commit violence, even against those who wish to harm us, grandpa I-I guess what I'm trying to say is you should find someone else who can be the partner you need" Morty explained. His grandpa sat there in silence for a moment.
"Fine! I will! Screw you Morty! I show you things you would never have gotten to see otherwise! I've been a friend to you because everyone else thinks you're a loser! And you just QUIT! Fine! I will find someone scores more loyal than you!" his grandpa lashed out. Morty flinched.
"I-I'm so sorry grandpa, it's not that I don't want to spend time with you, it's just…couldn't we bond over something less…risky?" Morty asked.
"Oh sure Morty! We can totally just scamper off to rainbow lala land and dance around in freaking tutus all day! Oh oh oh and then when we're done dancing we can frolic through fields of rainbow flowers and sing about how much we love each other all night! How does that sound!?" his grandpa snapped at him.
Grandpa I-
"Just go Morty, you said you were done so leave already" his grandpa turned his back on him.
Morty felt incredibly guilty, he hadn't meant to hurt his grandfather. Maybe he was being hasty, he should just apologize and…..no, he knew his grandpa was angry with him. But he had to stand firm on this. He was done almost getting killed. He was done watching his grandpa commit often unnecessary acts of violence. He was done getting treated cruelly by his grandpa. He was ready to go back to being a regular old teen. Back to before he met his grandpa. He left the garage without another word. Now that he wouldn't have to worry about his grandpa dragging him on adventures he felt like he had all the time in the world to practice his hobbies.