Story: Ending Part 5
[[Continuity Note: Alf has a D&M with himself. Realising that he's a different person.]]
The next day, the day before school started and a Thursday, Alf headed for Damien's house after breakfast. His spontaneous visit was temporarily put on hold when he found no one home. Not sure if he wanted to face Jessica or Rock yet, Alf returned home.
In the afternoon, Alf rang Damien's house this time, not wanting to run into the same problem he had earlier in the morning. Damien picked up and consented to meeting with Alf. They arranged to meet up at the corner where they used to meet before everything started.
When Alf arrived at the corner, Damien wasn't there yet. He sat on his usual step as he waited, wondering when the last time he'd been here was.
"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Damien voiced over Alf's shoulder, obviously thinking what Alf had been.
"I know what you mean," Alf agreed.
"Hey," Damien greeted him with a smile.
That smile was a relief to Alf. Although he'd suspected that things between him and Damien were okay since he'd agreed to meet with him, he hadn't been certain until he saw Damien then. "Hey," Alf responded.
"What did you want to do?" Damien asked as they began walking. Walking with no destination in mind.
"Let's just walk," Alf said. They used to do that. Usually they'd head over to the park and Damien would try to coax Alf into chucking a footy around. Or they'd attempt to go fishing in the stream. But all they had were lines with fake flies attached, no hooks. So they never caught anything. Often they'd just sit there and talk. They'd talk so much that Damien would feel like they were being too much like girls and so would tackle his friend. But other times, they'd just walk.
Damien nodded in response. "Something normal," he stated.
As they walked, Alf sometimes felt as small spray of water hitting him. Though it cooled him a little under the afternoon heat of an Australian summer sun, he wondered where it was coming from. Eventually he noticed that it seemed to be coming from Damien's fingers.
"Damien," Alf said, stopping his friend from walking any further. "What are you doing?" he asked accusingly.
"What do you mean?" Damien asked, hiding his hands behind his back. But since Alf knew what he was looking for, he could see the cool tell tale spray of liquid spurting from behind Damien's back.
"Are you using your magic in public?" Alf asked sternly.
Damien's expression quickly turned into a scowl. "So what if I am?"
Alf frowned. "What do you mean 'so what if I am'? You don't know who's watching. So stop it."
"No one would notice if you hadn't called attention to it," Damien shot.
"Why are you even doing it?" Alf asked. "It's not that hot."
Damien gave him a look.
"Okay, so maybe it is that hot. But it's bearable. And if you're really that hot we could have hung out at the gelato place instead."
"I'm doing it because I want to use my magic," Damien stated. "It's got nothing to do with the weather."
"You want to use it?" Alf was confused. "What happened to being the guy who would never use his magic ever again?"
"Are you that dense?" Damien asked his friend. "If I use up all the magic then it's gone forever. Then I can go back to being a normal guy again."
"Oh," Alf finally comprehended. He'd known that Damien didn't want to use his magic. But he hadn't realised that that's what he'd do to get rid of it. He hadn't really understood until now. Hadn't really understood how desperately he'd longed to be rid of it. Hadn't understood how differently the two of them thought.
"I don't understand why you're not doing it too," Damien said to his friend. "Don't you want to go back to the way it's always been?"
Alf shrugged. "Not really. I have more friends now."
"I forgot," Damien deadpanned. "You're not the one lying to his parents every time he goes out."
"I'm sorry you can't tell your parents, Damien. But you can't blame that on me. It's not my fault."
"No," Damien agreed. "But you could be a little more understanding."
"I guess," Alf said. "I don't understand why you don't like magic, even with that taken into account. And what if there does come that time when you want to save someone's life and you can't because you used up all your magic."
Damien frowned. "That won't be my problem. Because I'll know that there wasn't anything I could do to help them anyway."
Alf gaped as Damien stormed off. Why was his entire life falling to pieces around him?
[[End scene.]]
posted by Cedric @ 10:37 am
<< Home