Spritely Fellow Ch. 02

I managed to store all the energy in the tree in a minute with incredible speed that direct contact induced. I could feel my Dad begin to come out of his meditative state. I got back to the position I was in the beginning and did my best to look like I was just getting up as well. I kept my eyes closed as I slowly got to my feet and started to turn towards the door. I opened them and looked up at my Dad.

"What did you want to talk about, Dad? You seemed really serious before." I said as he turned to look at me. He screamed out and fell on his back completely mortified. He just sat there mouth hanging open as he looked at me. Looking at my hand quickly I saw nothing was wrong with my look. I turned to check myself in the mirror and immediately saw the problem. I had my extrasight active for most of this hour long session. My pupils were dilated to almost half an inch wide with light pouring out of them, and the rest of my eye was completely red. "Oh..." I uttered slowly looking back at him, "Right."

I spun around to hide my eyes from him and covered them with my hands. Dad got up behind me and I felt him move. I thought he was heading for the door to go tell mom and just that thought started getting me to tear up. My mind started going into overdrive as it considered all the horrendous things that would happen when I felt my Dad's arms around my chest. He pulled me close until all I could hear was his heartbeat. It's amazing how that sound calmed me down so fast. I could feel him trembling; He was crying. Today I had seen both of my parents cry. It was not a good day.

"I'm so sorry son. I was just surprised, that's all. Listen, I need to tell you something. Your mother and I, we have dealt with these things before. We just didn't...things might get confusing from now on son. Just remember that we both love you very much. You can't show that ability of yours to anyone alright? Not your mother or Aurora ok? I need to talk to your mother and that will take time." He spun me around and kept talking with his hand under my chin so I looked him in the eyes. "This world we live in is a lot bigger than you think. There are so many things you don't know. You might not understand now, but when you grow up this will make sense. Your mother and I belong to a group that doesn't have people like you in it. Despite what you might hear for the rest of your life, even if your mother and I say it, know that we still love YOU no matter what you are."

Still stunned by the sight of my Dad this way, one question managed to float to the surface. "What do you mean 'no matter what I am'? What am I? I'm just me, right?" His breath caught in his throat at that. His eyes grew wide and he just froze. A smile slowly formed on his face as tears began to really pour from his eyes.

"That's right son. You are just you. You are just Mykris Hale, son of your cool Dad and awesome Mom. Don't ever lose that. Don't you EVER lose that outlook." He grabbed my head and buried it in his chest and I felt the trembles form earlier become jerking shakes as I heard him begin to openly cry. "I love you son, no matter what, I will always love you!" I was crying the same as him. I didn't know what was going on exactly, but I was scared and really needed my Dad right now. We sat like that for god knows how long. He finally stopped crying, but I was nowhere near finished. He just held me as the tears continued to flow.

When I finally stopped crying, he put his hands on my shoulder and pushed me back a bit. He wiped my face a bit before getting up and going to the mirror. He had just finished wiping himself off when Mom threw open the door and stormed inside.

"I have been calling you for 20 minutes! I've told you time and again to put a damn speaker in here- don't repeat that word Mykris- so that I don't have to come stomping up the stairs every time!" I looked at Dad from the center of the room. I could see the look on his face, but my mother couldn't. He still had a very serious expression, but his eyes had a darker look to them.

"I'm sorry honey, I just finally got through to him with meditation and wanted to have a father son chat with him," he said in a voice that didn't match his face at all, "you know guy stuff." He turned around after snapping facial expressions to the cheery one I was used to seeing. "We'll be down shortly. I hope you made some of your famous pancakes for me because after that I could go for some real food!" Although I witnessed him change expressions, this didn't feel fake. Looking back, it was more like a switch he had to change to a more cheery emotion no matter what. He looked at me and gave me a good natured wink. "I'm sure a growing boy like you can go for a big meal after all that focus."

I was a little emotionally fried after that experience, but that wink of his always cheered me up. It reminded me of the cartoons I would watch. "Yeah I'm super-hungry! DO I get to have butter with it?" I looked expectantly at my Mom.

"You know I make it with butter, right? Don't look at me like that. You know the rules." I intensified the puppy dog eyes. "Stop iiiiit... God, can your eyes get any wider? FINE you can have ONE piece of butter." She put her face in her hand and walked out the door. She yelled form the hallway, "What am I going to do with you. Come downstairs NOW if you want the offer to still stand." I jumped up and started for the door when I felt my Dad's hand on my shoulder.

"Before we go down there let me give you a quick lesson on lying. Always base it on some amount of truth or something they can't know. Pay attention to who you are talking to and what sort of things they would and would not be aware of. Use that to form something that is believable and will hold up for as long as you need it too. Keep it simple and keep it short. Vague is good as well. Keep all this in mind and you'll do just fine. Also for your next step in your training..." My Dad then proceeded to give me a short lesson in cursing and which ones apply where. He even gave me a short course on creation of cures. He then made me swear that I never told Mom about these lessons.

"Remember what I said earlier, too. Hide your abilities, even from your mother. I'll talk to her eventually about it, but until then lay low. I love you, son." He pulled me in for a quick hug with a warm smile on his face. I pulled back and looked him in the eyes.

"I love you, too Dad." I said before heading downstairs for some pancakes. Then I got in trouble for calling Chad Evergreen a dickhead for the first time.