It Was Almost 4 in the Afternoon
This is a stitch of “The Tests,” an unbound story. Write the story with us.
It was almost 4 in the afternoon when Isaac got a call from the police station. Some incident involving his son Chris and some other kids. He told his boss he had to get out for a few minutes, because “the school called saying he’s not feeling well, so I need to go check on him, but I can surely stay working later to make up for it, sir”. A poorly constructed excuse, but enough for its purpose. He got into his car, a Honda Civic from the late 90’s, in quite a good shape, except for the fact the hood originally belonged to another car in another color.
Isaac parked his car and went into the station, practicing his pretend surprise looks and expressions, which were becoming more and more convincing on the past few months, by the way. Instructed by the reception lady, he went through some corridors and found a small room where his 12 year old son was seated, arms crossed, face to face with a police officer across an empty table.
“Hi, I’m Chris’s father”.
“Please have a seat, Mr. Hart. There was an… incident… and your son was involved. Chris, do you want to tell your father what happened?”
Chris remained drowned in boredom, just rolled his eyes and did not say a word. The police officer continued.
“Witnesses said Chris was walking home after school with his 2 closer friends, when an armed man came to assault them. They resisted, fought, and one of his friends was shot.”
“Oh my God, did he die?”
“This is exactly why you’re here, Mr. Hart. The witnesses said that the boy was hit in the chest, was bleeding, and fell to the ground apparently dead. According to them, Chris stood on his knees near the body, did something with his hands and after a few seconds, his friend was back on his feet like nothing happened. I’ve asking Chris to tell me what he did, but he refuses to do so.”
“Ok, let me see if I got this right: so, my son did not commit a crime, or a violation whatsoever?”
“No sir, he didn’t, but…”
“Please wait, I’m in the middle of a rationale here. So he didn’t do anything illegal. Did you or any of your trustworthy men see that?”
“No sir, there wasn’t any officer in the area when it happened.”
“So you’re taking all your actions based solely in what someone else said they might have seen. Tell me frankly, does this story make any sense to you? A boy resurrecting another boy in the middle of the street?”
The police officer took a deep breath, feeling kind of embarrassed. “No sir, it doesn’t.”
“Good, ’cause it doesn’t make any sense to me either. By the way, what about the actual criminal? Did you get him?”
“No sir, we’re in pursuit.”
“Oh how convenient! So you just leave the mugler for ‘when you have the time’ and detain a victim of a crime. How’s that working out? I really hope this does not have anything to do with our skin color. Right?”
The officer didn’t say a word.
“So, since my son is not convicted or anything like that, I may assume we’re free to go. Thank you and have a nice day.”
Isaac and Chris got out of the police station and into the Civic. Isaac drove a while and finally spoke to his son, as the adrenaline rush cooled down.
“Alright, now tell me.”
“Luke got shot, I got the bullet out and healed him. That’s it.”
Chris and his father had a good relationship. There just the two, since Chris’s mother died, and Isaac always made efforts to raise Chris the best way he could. He knew his son had some “special talent” or “superpowers” or whatever people decide to call it. Chris was not a very mature kid, and found that pretty normal and fun. Isaac, on the other hand, had some obvious concerns. Still, they always discussed that kind of stuff in an open manner.
“Dude, what the hell? Didn’t I tell you to be careful with that? There are people out there who will want to get you and do… I don’t know, experiments.”
“Nah, bullshit, no one can hurt me. And everyone knows that.”
“Hey, language! Besides, they may not be able to hurt yet. We don’t know how that goes, and you should try to keep it secret.”
“I don’t see reason for all this fuzz.”
“Chris, open your eyes, man! You’re putting people in danger! Your stupid friends think they can do whatever they want, because if something goes wrong you are there to fix their mess. They are not afraid of doing stupid things that will get them hurt.”
“Afraid keeps you from doing what you want.”
“Afraid keeps you alive, and someday something will happen and you won’t be there to…”
Isaac interrupted his speech when he noticed some people going around his house, looking for a way in, apparently. Didn’t look like police. Who are these people, what do they want?
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