When my mom finally got home I was back on the couch. As soon as she walked in the front door she kicked off her work shoes, and undid the bun her hair was in. She shook her hair loose with a single motion. When she noticed me she leaned down and kissed my forehead. I pretended not to notice, and kept my eyes on the tv.
“Should I be concerned that you haven’t been to school all week?” She asked in a friendly way as she walked off to her bedroom.
“Do you want the right answer or the real answer?” I asked.
“How about both?” She replied from the other room. I could tell from the way that she said it that she had a smile on her face. As much as she wanted to tell me to go to school, she’d really been enjoying me being home all week.
“Well the right answer would be: ‘oh dear mother, I’d love to continue my studies for as long as possible, I am however feeling under the weather at this particular moment and need time to recover. I hope you can understand.’” I said with mock politeness.
“So what’s the real answer?” She asked as she walked back into the living room wearing sweatpants, and a grey t-shirt.
“I just didn’t want to go.” I shrugged. She let out a sigh and then a little chuckle. Then she decided to snatch the remote out of my hands and sat down in the recliner.
“Promise me you’ll go tomorrow. The school doesn’t really care whether you go or not, and I love having you around, kiddo. But keeping up with school was your idea in the first place, and I want you to be able to stay in touch with your friends.” She pleaded with me.
The past few weeks have shown me a whole other side to her than I’d ever seen. The mask that was the strong independent business woman I’d known my whole life had been shattered and what laid before me was someone washed up in a storm of emotion clinging to anything for survival.
“I promise.” I said with a smile. I looked her straight in the eyes and saw only sadness. Big cloudy grey orbs of defeat. She flipped the tv onto some dumb show about polygamy. I used the moment of distraction to grab my bag and make my way to my room.
Once I had the door shut, I pulled the suit and mask out. The repeated gunshots had damaged the fur, and large clumps had fallen off. It wouldn’t immediately be an issue, but if someone managed to shoot me just right it’d pierce through the weakened layer and kill me. Besides that, the excessive force to the shoulder area had damaged the exoskeleton.
The damage wasn’t severe, just a part of the frame that had been bent. I’d have to replace it, and it wouldn’t be a problem anymore. Until then I’d just avoid wearing it. I checked my phone and saw that I now had five texts from Danny and thirteen from Mar, and a solid one text from Emily.
I started with Danny’s:
Dude, we need to talk about what happened.
Come on Jacob.
Stop being like this, just talk to me.
It’s been almost six days, are you ready to talk yet?
Okay. Fine. Whatever. I checked your notebook and I have a solution to your problem, but it might be a little impractical.
That was promising. I’d been wondering if he’d looked through there. The exoskeleton is made of a lightweight metal that becomes strong and rigid when powered. The problem being that I can’t move my body when I turn the suit on. I’m just not physically strong enough to move the exoskeleton. So instead I put tiny sensors all inside the suit that stick into my skin and read my nerve impulses directly. They send these to the suit and move it around.
I wondered what his solution was as I checked the texts from Mar:
Get back here right now.
What’s wrong with you! Get back here.
Okay. It’s been a week. I’ve cooled down. We need to talk.
Come on.
Jacob talk to me.
We’ve been best friends for three fucking years, you need to talk to me about this.
Jacob… Come on.
You really hurt her.
You can tell me what you’re feeling.
Jacob.
Jacob.
I swear to God, once this stupid bell rings I’m marching to your front door and dragging you out of there.
You little shit.
Maybe I can lay out snacks? My fingers started shaking as I was about to check the text from Emily. I could feel my heart beating in my chest like a punch from the inside. I could feel it getting hard to breathe.
I’m sorry.
…
“Jacob! Your friends are here!” My mother yelled from the living room. I threw the intricate parts of the exoskeleton into my bag, not caring much about damaging them.
The frame had taken bullets, I was sure it could survive being stuffed next to my books for an hour. Once I was done, I slid my bag under my bed. Mar popped the door open just in time. She was wearing a bright pink summer camp t-shirt, and skinny jeans.
“Hello, Margaret the second.” I said with a smile. I could see Danny in the hallway behind her, with his hands in his pocket. There was no Emily, fortunately. I saw a fire burning in Mar’s hazel eyes.
“Not funny, Jacob. Definitely not funny.” She said while walking towards me. Once she was close she stopped and put her hands on her hips and stared. “Do you have any idea what you’ve put us through?” She asked.
I slammed my book shut. “Enlighten me.”
“Last week you came back, and you told us that you have a secret mad scientist lab that you go to. Then Emily kisses you and you freak out and run away. Then you totally disappear!” She got slowly louder as she spoke.
As she talked she paced back and forth in front of me while moving her hands for emphasis. Danny walked in from the hallway. He looked around my bedroom like it was his first time being in there. He was wearing his usual black jacket. Mar calmed down and sat down next to me on my bed.
“We’re just really worried about you, okay? Work with me here.” She said. She gave me a little side hug.
Danny continued to check out my room in a very methodical way. He grabbed a rubix cube off of a shelf and started fidgeting with it. While he did, he looked over my bookshelf. It was incredibly awkward having three people in there, as my tiny room could barely fit me, my bed, the bookshelf, and the desk with my computer.
“Yeah, okay.” I said, and laid my head on Mar’s shoulder. Danny put the rubix cube back on its stand, after solving it while scanning my bookshelf. “Show off.” I told him. He glanced over at me for the first time.
“Oh. Hey Jacob. What’s up?” Danny responded. I chuckled a little. He seemed to take that as an invitation to sit in the empty space to my left. We sat there for a while before I heard faint sounds coming from the living room. My mother was talking to someone.
“Who else is here?” I asked, turning my head towards Danny. He gave me a concerned look.
“Gary for one.” He said, slowly. I squinted my eyes at him.
“You guys are hanging out with Gary Shyamalan now? Since when?” I asked him with my eyes all squinted.
“You know that’s not his name.” He replied, smiling.
“He says ‘plot twist!’ all the time. How am I supposed to remember him any other way?” I blurted out.
“Mar invited him. They have some weird drama kid thing going on, I didn’t pry too much into it.” Danny said. Mar leaned forward and shot him a judgemental stare. I turned towards him and did my best to mimic it. “Then there’s Emily.”
I immediately turned around and crawled up to the headboard of my bed. Right above it was the window leading outside. I unlocked it and started fumbling with lifting it open when I felt forceful hands grab both my arms and shoulders and throw me onto my back. I slammed against my mattress. Mar pinned the right side of my body down, Danny held the left. I felt more threatened by Mar.
If only they could’ve seen me shatter those handcuffs earlier today.
I looked up at my two best friends and gave them a big innocent smile.
“Jacob.” Mar growled.
She pressed her hands hard against my shoulder. I heard footsteps right outside my door, and I tried to position my head so that I could see whoever was marching in. I knew they had entered the open doorway when both Danny and Mar looked over at it.
“Is this a bad time?” I heard my mother say from the doorway. Danny shook his head. Mar let out a little laugh and let me go. Danny took a few seconds longer to let go, but once he released me as well I jumped back up to a sitting position between them.
“I didn’t know you had any friends coming over today.” My mom said. She didn’t seem at all disappointed by this, in fact the smile on her face seemed to show relief.
“We just wanted to visit our best bud, since he’s been sick all week.” Danny said in a playful tone. He rubbed my hair and messed it up.
“Oh, I see. Well, don’t hurt him too bad. I’m making lunch if you want to join us in the living room.” Mom said, then closed the door.
Danny looked at me. He tilted his head down a little so his glasses slid down his nose just a tiny bit. He held his hands in his jacket pocket. I looked at him in return and squinted.
“I figured it out.” He said. “I’ll tell you. But first you have to say ‘Danny, you’re a genius.’” Mar looked over at us.
“What is he talking about?” She asked. I ignored her.
“Danny, you’re a genius.” I said sarcastically. “Now what’s your solution?”
“Well the problem that you were having is that all the needles were causing pain, and if used enough, permanent damage. Well the solution is simple: instead of reading the nerve impulses from the nerves, read them from the brain.” He explained.
“That would have a pretty high chance of killing me.” I responded.
Mar threw her hands up into the air. “What are you two talking about!?” She asked again, louder. I waved my hand in front of her face in a dismissive motion. She grabbed my fingers and twisted. I yanked my arm back and she let go. “Don’t make me hurt you, Jacob.”
“It’s an invention he asked me to help him with, and yes I realize that Jacob. Which is why I don’t want you to do anything more than design the machine. Actually testing it would be stupid.” Danny responded.
“What would be the point in designing it if I don’t test it?” I asked.
“Patent it. Sell it for billions of dollars. Maybe pay for surgery from better doctors.” Danny responded. “That’s not the problem. My surgeries are all paid for, and I have the best doctors available.” I replied.
“What-ever.” Mar sighed. She stood up and walked out.
Danny and I silently followed her. Waiting for me in the living room was Emily, who was sitting on my couch watching tv with a bowl of ramen noodles. And Gary who was chatting with my mother over the kitchen counter. Mar sat next to Emily, and tried to talk to her. Danny was standing next to me with his hands still in his black jacket.
Should I walk over to her? Should I apologize? What would I even apologize for? She’s the one that crossed the line…
The world started to drift beyond my control. Before I could bring myself back, Emily was in front of me. Standing there in front of me, she seemed so scared. Nervously tapping her fingers against her pants and trying to avoid my eyes. She always seemed so scared.
She deserves someone that will live for her.
“Hey.” She said timidly. I couldn’t control the smile that grew on my face.
“Yeah.” I said. Danny walked off and I could feel Mar’s intense eyes watching me from the couch.
“Plot twist! You two finally admit your undying love for each other and kiss.” Gary exclaimed loudly from the kitchen counter. Mar stared at him with furious dagger eyes. I cringed hard at his ridiculousness.
“Go away, Gary. Who invited you anyway?” I retorted. Gary was a fat obnoxious slob with glasses. He looked shocked that I would dare say such a thing to him.
“Mar did. We have a drama project to work on together.” He said, while looking towards Mar for her to defend him. Her eyes still looked furious.
“Maybe we can work on it after I’m done here.” Mar said. Gary gave her a hurt look, then grabbed his bag and walked out the door.
“Wow. Way to be a jerk to your friend, Mar.” I said as I walked over to the back of my couch and threw myself backwards over it.
“Oh hush.” I heard her say.
Danny made his way over next to me and sat down. He grabbed the remote off the arm of the couch and started flipping through channels. I tried to watch the shows the best I could while upside down. I heard Emily and Mar talking to Mom in the kitchen. Danny eventually stopped on some show about people making robots and fighting them.
“We should make a robot and try to get on this show.” Danny said. “We could make these pieces of junk look like roombas.”
“Maybe. I don’t have a lot of excess materials at the moment.” I said. Suddenly I saw an upside down Mar standing in front of my tv looking at me with her arms crossed in disappointment while smiling.
“You’re so ridiculous.” She chuckled.
“I know you are but what am I?” I said.
“Wanna go to our hangout?” Mar asked me.
“I don’t know.” I said. “Hey Mom!?” I yelled.
“You don’t have to yell, I’m over here in the kitchen!” Mom yelled back at me.
“Can I go hang out with my friends!” I yelled. I heard her walking over to me.
“Sure, I don’t care!” She yelled right above me at the back of the couch.
The noise startled me and I flopped onto the ground, igniting furious laughter from my friends.
…
Jones had found himself unable to sleep. It wasn’t the uncomfortable motel bed, though that didn’t help. He just hadn’t been tired since the procedure. He walked over to the dirty bathroom, and took his shirt off in front of the mirror. The injection hole in his spine had turned a black color, and the veins around it were all dark. It looked like a giant bruise. Everywhere else on him was pale white.
Is this infected? Am I gonna die? Jones thought.
He walked over to the bed and turned on the tv. The news was reporting on a terrorist attack. It had been committed by a group of young ‘revolutionaries.’ Jones scoffed at the stupidity. It had been stopped halfway through by a figure in a monkey suit.
Jones flipped the tv off. Jones looked at his hand. The dust started to billow out from the hole in his back as he commanded it with his mind. The dust moved along his arm and covered his open hand to the point that he couldn’t see it.
Jones closed his eyes and clenched his fist. When he looked down his fist was a gauntlet covered in thick concrete.
…
Once we got to my hideout I noticed a lot of changes. More furniture, a tv with video games attached, a table in the center of the circle of furniture, and lots of musical instruments.
“I see you’ve been busy.” I said mockingly.
“We kept coming here in the hopes that you would someday return to us, like a lost puppy.” Mar mocked me.
“It kinda became a thing. We came here for a study group, we played games, practiced music, I even started working on some of your projects.” Danny finished.
“I made and set up new traps. And put an updated map over on that table.” Mar said.
“You realize that this is a huge invasion of my privacy, right?” I said with a hint of annoyance, but mostly just disbelief.
“Yeah yeah. Not like you were using it.” Mar said.
“Come check out my upgrades to your robots, and your A.I.” Danny insisted, then grabbed me by the shoulders and took me over to a table. There were now two different varieties of robot on the table. My small little smiley faces were still there, but now there was a bot a little larger than them. They were slightly larger than a baseball and were all black except a skull painted on them.
“What have you done to my babies?” I asked.
“I improved the little ones. Now they’re connected to the computer system and they do a little bit more. I’ve made it so they can turn the lights on and off, set off certain traps, and control the tv. The big ones I’m planning on setting loose in the field as extra traps. At the moment all they do is a little flashbang, but I’m figuring it out.” Danny explained, emphatically.
“How about an electrical shock?” I suggested.
“Oooh. That might work. Really, I don’t know how you haven’t done all this. All the stuff for it is here already.” He remarked.
“Well, I’ve kind of been in and out lately.” I replied.
“Jacob! Look! Look!” Mar yelled for me.
“What! What!” I said, mocking her excitement. She was standing a little bit away from their couch, and video game setup. And she was holding a guitar.
“Look at our instruments!” She said with stars in her eyes.
“I don’t know how to play an instrument!” I said in her exact same tone. She gave me a frown.
“Well you can be our biggest fan because Emily plays drums and Danny plays bass.” Mar replied.
“Fine by me.” I responded.
“I said I have a bass, not that I know how to play it well.” Danny chimed in from behind me.
“Psh.” Mar waved him off dismissively.
“How exactly do you plan to get my drumset here?” Emily said from her position on the couch reading a book.
“Same way I got the furniture and tv.” Mar replied.
“How did you do that?” Emily asked.
“Don’t worry about it.” Mar deflected. Emily just shrugged and went back to reading her book.
I sighed and watched my friends with a smile.
