Chapter Text
“Look Sean! We made it! Sean… Sean?! NOOO!” The boy, who was forced to grow up faster, should have yelled. As he noticed his older brother, the brother that gave him Chock-O Crisps despite barely having enough money to feed them both, the brother that was also just a kid himself, he was breathing his lasts breaths. Blood dripped down his neck, his hands trying to stop the bleeding to no avail. Tears filled both of their eyes as they both knew the older brother was going to die and die, he did.
Then Daniel opened his eyes, he was on the beach again. The sand was hot between his toes and the sun set below him, casting an orange glow that reflected against the waves, bouncing of them so beautifully. Daniel listened to the crashing of the waves, and the swish of the air as the boy with the bleached blonde hair took the last sip of his beer. He was tired of thinking of that day; of his second biggest mistake he has made. Daniel wishes he could just forget everything. wishes he could forget the sounds of the bullets, the tired of his legs. The hope of a new beginning that was almost immediately replaced by fear and anger. Anger at himself for killing his brother, his Sean. he subconsciously reached up and wiped a tear he hadn’t even noticed was there. Then Daniel layed down and closed his brown eyes. This way is the best way he felt he could rest, the only way he could, really. And it’s drinking beer until he can’t form coherent thoughts and it works. It helps him feel fine. He stands up and stumbles back onto the porch and finds his way into the comfortable home his late father once owned that is now his. Daniel’s dad often talked about that house with such appreciation. Talking about his dream of retiring and going back to live here. He would talk about all his memories he once had here, and he made it sound like a home Both Sean and Daniel could live in. But in Daniel’s foolish hands, there is nothing that feels like home here. When he first got here the place was fine, it was alone dusty and needed maintenance, but it was fine. There wasn’t much he needed to do to make it livable, he just fixed the water heater and the air conditioning, and anyone could live in it. Besides that, Daniel couldn’t quite change anything else. He kept the old wooden chair and table set, the couch and most of the other furniture. It reminded him of dad, of better times. He walked over to the kitchen and grabbed his fourth beer of the day, opened it and sat down on the couch as he lazily turned on some shitty telenovela, that he couldn’t care less of. Not even 10 minutes after turning the TV on he was already drifting into a soft sleep. The type of sleep he never managed to get sober.
Chris woke up, a stream of light sneaking into his room and highlighting his freckled skin and his blonde eyelashes that fluttered, revealing his icy blue eyes. He sat up and stretched. He sat up and immediately headed to his coffee maker in his kitchen. He made himself some coffee and drank It while scrolling on his phone. It was 8 am and he had nothing to do for the rest of the day. So, he decided to go for a walk around his city. He headed to his bathroom, brushed his teeth and took care of every other basic hygiene necessity he needed to, not wanting to stay inside any second longer. Chris wasn’t usually the type of guy who’d need to go out every day to get some fresh air or socialize with people. Yuck, the idea of just having to do that bothered him. But today he woke up feeling like he was drowning in an ocean and the only way he’d be allowed to breathe was by going out. Chris put on his scrappy old shoes, grabbed his messenger bag and headed out. He felt the cool breeze Oregon often carried during the Spring. The sun was nice and the day looked perfect. It made sense why his body was aching to go out. The clouds were fluffy and comforting above him, the sun peeked through them casting beautiful shadows. Chris took a deep breath and smiled. He felt like he was going to have a good day today. The blonde boy grabbed a digital camera out of his bag and pointed it up at the sky, then he snapped a couple of pictures. As he tried to take another picture a soft and raspy voice interrupted him.
“Oh… Hey!”
Chris turned to look at the source of the talking. A lanky boy with brunette hair kept inside a beanie. He had a skateboard in his hand, and headphones hanging around his neck. Chris had seen the guy a couple times before, skating around the town.
“Good morning.”
Chris responded, putting his camera down.
“My name is Eli, I have seen you around town a couple times. I’ve been wanting to talk to you, just wasn’t sure how to. Heh.”
Eli responded, letting out an awkward chuckle at the end of his sentence. Chris chuckled a bit as well. Chris was very awkward when it came to talking to new people, so he didn’t often do it. And well, other people never seemed to be too interested in talking to him, so he was always surprised when anyone came to talk to him.
“I’m Chris it’s nice to meet you”
Chris introduced himself. Chris waited for Eli to say something else, but he didn’t. Was he supposed to say something else first? Or should he wait for Eli to say something? Chris decided to take initiative and continue the conversation.
“What’s your favorite smell?”
Eli looked at Chris amused, he blinked a couple times his mouth slightly open. His eyebrows were slightly furrowed and his eyes narrowed. This reaction made Chris blush a little and he felt the palm of his hands getting sweaty.
“Oh, sorry that was kind of a weird question.”
Chris said hurriedly, itching the back of his neck and looking to the side. Eli chuckled a bit but soon responded.
“It’s okay, Chris. I just wasn’t expecting that question. I guess if I had to choose a favorite smell it would probably be something like cedar, or pines or I don’t know…”
Chris listened to what Eli was saying for a second until something in the woods behind Eli caught Chris’s eye. Eli kept talking as Chris tried to discretely look at the mysterious figure until he could figure out what it was. He squinted his eyes in an attempt to see better and the blurry figure hiding behind some trees seemed to be a wolf. This was odd. Yes, there were Wolfs in Oregon, but you would almost never catch them in the Suburbs. That wasn’t the strangest thing about this peculiar wolf. The wolf seemed to be staring right at Chris. The blonde boy interrupted Eli’s story about some scent he smelled when he was child or something like that to point out the wolf.
“Hey, look behind you.”
Chris stated almost whispering, as if anything above would scare the wolf away. The brunette boy turned back to see what Chris was talking about just to see nothing. Chris frowned slightly and curled his brows in confusion as the wolf ran away as Eli turned to look at it.
“What is it?”
Eli asked still searching for something worth being interrupted for.
“There was a wolf, but it’s gone now. “Chris said in a slightly confused tone.
“Damn” Eli replied.
Chris realized that he wasn’t really wanting to talk anymore and made up some excuse to head back to his apartment he was eager to get out of in the morning.
“So, I should head back. I left my stove on and well, I don’t want to be homeless”
Chris said putting his digital camera back into his bag. Eli stood there a little confused, probably wondering if he did something to cause Chris to make such a lame excuse.
“Oh, okay nice to meet you, Chris.” Eli said
“Yeah, same here”
Chris said as he started walking back to his apartment complex. Once he made it back to his apartment he couldn’t help but think about the wolf. Chris had seen that wolf before, and it was starting to feel like it was stalking him. Every time he tried pointing out the wolf to anyone, it would leave before anyone else had a chance to see it. Upon thinking of the wolf, memories of his old friend, Daniel, and his brother, Sean, came back to him. Daniel was to Chris what peanut butter was to jelly. They were best friends. Chris had barely known Daniel for two days and he felt as if he had known him his whole entire life. When he first had met Daniel, he had found out he had “Powers” which he then found out weren’t his but Daniel’s instead. He was devastated when he found this out. Not only because he had lost his powers, something he had always dreamed of having. But he also lost his best friend, something he always yearned for, and to this day he still does.
Chris still thinks about Daniel and Sean till this day. He often wonders if they made it safely to Puerto Lobos, if they’re happy now. If Daniel still thinks about Chris, like he thinks of him, or if he forgot all his memories of him and his old life. Chris wished he could see Daniel again. In a way Chris was selfish about wanting to see Daniel again. He knew that he was probably different now and with all the stuff that has happened in his life it is very likely Daniel doesn’t even spare a second of his time thinking about Chris. But Chris likes to think he probably does. To Chris, Daniel wasn’t only his closest friend, he was also kind of a symbol. A symbol of his life before it all went to shit. Because after he left it felt like everything else changed too.
Daniel was sleeping deeply and soundly, snoring as if he was some kind of lion. His body felt light in his sleep and he felt rejuvenated, something he wouldn’t be able to feel unless he was drunk. Until something pulled him from his comfortable sleep. Daniel heard knocking on his door, and he flinched sitting up from the couch immediately, in an anxious matter, he jerked up and looked around. “Quien es?” (Who’s there?)
Daniel asked while approaching the door, he hunched over himself brushing his hair with his hands making himself look as presentable as possible in his current situation. He felt the usual pounding in his head that was present after going on a drinking binge. He, however, did not care. As he approached closer to the door, the person behind the door knocked once again this time more urgently. “Hay voy!” (I’m coming!)
Daniel called out annoyed now, as he opened the door, he saw a tall, muscular man. He had dark curly hair and dark skin. “Eres Daniel?” (Are you Daniel?)
The man asked, his arms were crossed over each other, and he had a straight posture making himself seem taller. At that point Daniel finally recognized who the man was. It was Ynez’s husband. Ynez was this woman that gave her number to Daniel when he was at the bar. She was older, and married, so Daniel wasn’t planning on ever calling her. But boredom can get the best of people, so disregarding his best judgement he called her one night. One thing led to another and they basically hooked up. Not only did this happen once but they kind of had a routine now. That is until now. Daniel just looked at the man’s face who he now recognized as Ynez’s husband, Daniel’s eyes were narrowed as if trying to find out what to say to get himself out of this situation in the easiest way possible. “Si, soy Daniel. Y tu quien eres?” (Yes, I’m Daniel. Who are you?)
Daniel asked in the raspy voice he usually had after waking up. The man’s face immediately shifted into anger. “Te acostaste con mi esposa?” (Did you sleep with my wife?)
The man asked, approaching Daniel intimidatingly. Daniel decided on a strategy; it might work, it might not. He just wanted things over with. “No se quien es tu esposa.” (I don’t know who your wife is.)
Daniel said, crossing his own eyes. He was tired and more sober than he’d want to be so he needed things to wrap up. The man was clearly getting more irritated, running his tongue over his teeth and clenching his jaw. “No seas payaso, cabron. Se que te acostaste con Ynez!” (Don’t be a clown. I know you slept with Ynez)
The man said lifting his chin and shoving Daniel slightly, pushing him by his shoulder. Daniel also felt his own pride get in the way. But he just wanted a peaceful day off from work. “Bueno, si, me acoste con Ynez. Perdon guey.” (Well, yeah, I slept with Ynez. Sorry dude.)
Daniel responded, clearly not meaning his apology. The man seemed to have reached his limit, or maybe now that Daniel had confirmed it, he just did what he planned to do since the beginning. The man threw his arm behind him then swung straight at Daniel’s face. The punch caused Daniel to recoil back. In return the man grabbed Daniel’s collar and pulled him outside the house. Daniel could easily use his power to drive the guy away, but he felt to exhausted to do that, not having any will, or want to fight back and cause bigger problems then necessary. The man pushed Daniel against the wall next to his front door, and leaned in real close, making sure he was looking at Daniel’s eyes. “Escuchame, pinche, gringo, piojoso. No quiero Volver a escuchar de ti! Comprendes? Y si de casualidad descubro que otra vez te metiste con mi esposa te va a ir muy mal compadre. Okey?” (Listen to me, you damn lousy gringo. I never want to hear from you again! Do you understand? And if I happen to find out that you messed with my wife again, things are going to go very badly for you, buddy. Okay?)
The man pulled out a knife in the middle of the sentence and placed it right on Daniel’s throat, making sure to draw some blood, but not enough to hurt him to much. Daniel just looked at him back in the eye with a bizarre calm in his person. Daniel just nodded. And the man just pushed in farther into the wall then he walked away, knife still in hand. As soon as the man was out of view Daniel got up, he walked towards the edge of his porch and sat down. He pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one, he placed the cigarette in between his lips. As he took a drag of the cigarette and blew out a cloud of smoke, he felt a cool liquid running down his nose. He reached up and felt blood. As Daniel wiped the blood, he noticed something squirming around his trash bins. Upon closer inspection, he realized that it was a raccoon. The furry creature grabbed an apple core, then started going away. Before he vanished, he turned to look at Sean, then it just disappeared. This was bizarre, not only are there not any raccoons in this part of Mexico, the way that raccoon looked at Sean was so odd. It felt as if it was staring not only at him but straight into his soul. For some reason the trash bear reminded him of his old childhood friend, Chris.
Chris grabbed his freshed brewed coffee from besides his computer and took a long sip of it. He looked at the time in the corner of his computer, 3 am, it read. He had spent his day researching on any way to find Daniel, because he had to. He had to find something, anything, about Daniel and Sean. And he found something. He managed to contact Jacob and from Jacob he found that they where headed to Puerto Lobos and without anything resembling a plan he booked a flight to Mexico, Puerto Lobos.