“Is he ok?” a voice asks.

“I think he's waking up,” another voice says.

I groan. My head is throbbing.

“Mom…” I groan. Slowly, I open my eyes and let them come into focus. I’m laying in my bed with my parents standing over me.

“Kal! Kal can you hear me?” Dad asks me, his voice filled with concern.

“What happened?” I ask. I can’t think straight. My mind is fuzzy.

“You fainted in the shower! Are you ok? Did you hurt something?” My mom says all panicky.

“My head hurts a bit.” Ok, it hurts a ton. But I don't say that out loud. My mom would have completely flipped out. That would be bad. Like, really bad. Mom has always been very overprotective of me. For example: If I get a small paper cut, you'd think I just had my arm chopped off. That's how panicky she will get. If it weren't for Dad getting her to calm down, I would’ve had the paramedics called on me numerous times for things like the aforementioned paper cut. She keeps asking me if I’m okay.

“Mom relax, I'm fine, really.”

Am I really fine though? I just wrote in a language that I didn't even know was real AND I knew what it said!! This just got freaky.

I hardly register the fact that I’m still naked. Luckily I have a blanket over me, covering the lower half of my body.

“Are you sure Kal?” My dad says.

“Yes. I'm sure.” I say, getting annoyed by her constant asking.

He nods. Mom sighs with relief.

“That's good,” she says. They stay for a little longer to make sure I’m fine. I keep telling them I’m fine. But they fuss regardless.

Eventually, they leave the room so I can put on some pants and go to bed. I lock the door to my room and close the window blinds so no one can look inside my room. I quickly change into pajama pants, green camo style, and go to bed.

The next morning is a Saturday so I sleep in and wait for my parents to go to work.

I immediately think of Hametsu and wonder if he got his cards and two fruit arrangements.

I look over at my clock on my nightstand. It's 10:42 am. My head still hurts a little bit, but my thoughts are clear as day. But my back, MY BACK, is killing me. Probably due to my fainting the night before. That message still haunts me, but I decide that it isn’t worth pondering over at the moment. I want pancakes and some pain killers. I grab my phone and go downstairs.

The first thing I do when I come down is take some ibuprofen. My head and back stop hurting in about twenty minutes. Then I make food. I made strawberry-blueberry pancakes. Pancakes with fine strawberries cut strawberries and small blueberries in them. Add boysenberry syrup and it’s like I’m eating a slice of heaven.

I'm only allowed to make them if I make enough for my parents too, which, of course, I do.

After I pile up five pancakes on my plate and douse them with boysenberry syrup, I devour them. Then I go back into my room and fool around on my laptop. It’s only for about thirty minutes before I receive a call on my phone.

“Hello?” I ask.

“Hey,” The person on the other line says.

I can tell immediately that it’s Hametsu. None of my friends sound like him. His voice is calm and cool and actually really soothing and soft. But not extremely soft. Moderately soft. His voice sounds slightly hoarse too. He clears it before talking again

“I'm extremely bored. Help me out here Kallan.”

“Call me Kal!” I exclaim. He sighs, annoyed.

“Sorry. Right now I'm pissed because I'm bored,” he says clearly agitated. “Amuse me.”

“I'm not your servant,” I say defensively. He really is a pessimist.

He laughs.

“I know I'm just kidding! Take a joke,” he says. Hametsu laughs more, this time, a very slight hint of cruelty.

“Dude that's not that funny,” I tell him. He's kinda mean and I tell him so. His response?

“Psh I don't really care. I'm an asshole. Well at least I can be,” he says. “I do have the capability to be nice when I want to.”

“That's good. So what are you doing?” I ask.

“Sitting in bed watching some horrible movie.”

“Ooh, a movie! What kind?”

“A really bad kind.” He says, being very vague.

“Genre?”

“Can terrible be a genre?” He asks, clearly enjoying this conversation. I roll my eyes.

“Quit it Hametsu. Seriously what type of movie is it?”

“Rom-Com.” He says, obviously disgusted at the movie genre. Rom-Com is short for Romantic Comedy. I take it that he hates Rom-Com.

“What's your favorite genre of movie?” I ask him.

“Horror. My girlfriend doesn't like it though. So I steer clear of it when we go out. She likes romantic dramas. I, personally, don't care for any romance, but I endure it for my girlfriend’s sake. What's your favorite type of movie?” He s.

I think about that for a moment. I can't really decide.

“Well, I definitely don't like horror.” I tell him. “I like fantasy- action, and romance. What movie are you watching?”

“I don't even know what it's called. But it's terrible. I hate romance movies. It’s all mushy and soft. Not enough action,” He complains. Clearly, he's a little ball of hate towards romance movies.

“Do you like action?”

“Very hard core. The ones that give a rush of adrenaline that makes you lean on the edge of your seat and has some death in it. I like the excitement it brings,” he tells me. “But I usually watch it with my other friends.” Wow. Hametsu is, uh, interesting. Ok, he's kinda weird, but who isn't? We all have our own degree of weirdness. But some people take it too far and they end up on the wrong end of the social ladder.

“You told me you liked to bully people?” I ask.

“Where do I start? What do you want to know?” He replies.

“How did you treat the students at your old school?”

“Like crap,” he says.

“Why though?”

“Listen here Kallan-”

“Call me Kal!!”

“I don't care. I ruled my former school. Everyone was practically at my beck and call. I targeted a few people, and was a total jerk to them,” he says. I can just feel the smirk on his face. It sent shivers up my spine. I think he knows it too because he laughs a bit.

“I'm sorry. Did I send shivers up your spine?” He asks way too sweetly. His overly sweet voice sent another wave of shivers up my spine.

“Twice,” I reply.

“Hah okay. I like teasing my friends. Sorry if I came off kinda psycho,” he says.

“Do you have any friends?”

“I mentioned it earlier, remember? When I was talking about my favorite kind of movie,” he says. “I think you didn’t catch that,”

“Do you think I can meet them?” I ask.

“They’re coming to visit me today for a short while. I don’t know if you’re going to see them today. They’re busy with school and other activities. One is in college taking animation and graphic design courses,” he states. “Is your girlfriend coming to visit me?”

“Hametsu for the last time Roxy isn't my girlfriend. We're just friends!!”

This time, he laughs hysterically. I eventually laugh a bit too. He then fell into a coughing fit. The cough sounds raspy. He put me on mute for a moment then comes back on. He clears his throat.

“Sorry about that. my cough still hasn’t gone away,” he starts. “Like I said, I like teasing my friends. It's a lot of fun. They don't seem to care unless I take it too far; then they get pissed. I won't even begin to tell you how mad one of my friends gets when I tease him too much. My other friend doesn't care that much,” he says.

“On another topic, what do you do for fun?” I ask.

“Play a bunch of video games like Fallout and Call of Duty. Even though it's nothing but data, I still have fun with the combat elements. I'm also extremely competitive, so don't try to compete with me Kal,” he spat. Then he sighs, kinda annoyed. “I hate it when I sound like that. Sorry. It just comes out.”

He’s crazy. I think I just pissed him off. He sounds pretty angry.

“You sound pissed. Are you ok?” I ask.

“I'm fine, don't worry. I'm just upset that my girlfriend can't visit me today,” he says. “Her parents want her to finish her homework first.”

“I still can't believe that you have a girlfriend. Is she coming to our school?” I ask.

“Yes, she is!! I'm so happy that she's coming with me to a new school. I won't be so lonely,” he says. Then he goes on and on and on about how amazing and wonderful and beautiful his girlfriend is.

“She's just, oh my god she's just perfect in every way. Well in my opinion. But she's mine,” he says. Then his tone gets very dark. “No one can have her. If I find anyone flirting with my girlfriend, I’ll rip them to shreds with my bare hands. That includes you,” He says with that very dark voice. Then his voice gets all peppy and light. “Well, I have to go. My friends are here. And so is a girl with dark brown hair. I’ll talk to you later Kal!” He hung up after that. I'm left speechless. He's weird and he’s crazy. Although he did say that he likes to mess with his friends. So I forgive him. I call my mom saying that I’m going to visit Hametsu. She says it's fine just as long as I'm home before dinner.

I rush to get ready and shoot a quick text to Hametsu, saying that I'm coming for a visit.

He replies “whatevs” and I continue to get ready. I call Roxy's parents and tell them that I would take her home.

Once I finish doing what I need to do, such as covering up the enormous stack of pancakes I made, I hop into my car and drive to the hospital where Hametsu is.

“Excuse me, what room is Hametsu Yamashi in?” I ask the receptionist lady. She hands me a slip of paper with the room number on it.

“It's on the second floor. He’s having quite a parade today,” she informs me. She must’ve assumed that I'm here for Hametsu, to begin with. How else would she have the floor and room number written down already?

“Thank you,” I say. I go to find the elevator and press the button for the second floor. Two people come out of the elevator, talking, cursing, and laughing. A super pale dude with black hair covering his right eye, wearing a black hoodie with the hood partially on his head. When I mean pale skin, I mean pale, like, almost completely white. He caught me looking at him. His left eye is light grey, probably a color contact.

“Birth defect,” he says in a cold voice. He looks me over.

“I see,” I reply.

The other guy, who is very tall, is wearing a dark blue jacket, has light blue hair, and some piercings on his ear and one on his lip, looks at me and gives a nod hello. They both seem unsettling. I give a hello nod back. They both walk away, resuming their conversation. I think it's about a random person they encountered. They sound super condescending. I go into the elevator and go to the second floor.

I spend about ten minutes looking for his room. When I finally find it, I go in. They seem to be having a pleasant conversation about fruit.

“Oh, Roxy, look it's your boyfriend!” I hear him say, when he notices me.

“Hametsu. For the last time, Kal and I are just friends,” she says.

“Sure, sure. Whatever you say,” he says.

“Don't you have a girlfriend?” I ask.

“You already know. Also, she said that she can visit and is coming over now. She finished her homework on time.”

Hametsu is sitting up on the hospital bed wearing that gown thing. His pale green eyes have a weird look to them, as if he isn’t quite right in the head. But who am I to judge a person?

No sooner had he said that a girl with pink hair and rosy pink eyes, again, likely color contacts, skids to a stop. She is wearing a maroon sweater and flower print yoga pants. Hametsu immediately becomes flirty with her.

“Hey baby,” he says to her.

“Hi Hammy!” she exclaims.

“Hammy?” Roxy and I say.

“You two even think about calling me that and I will make you regret it,” he says defensively. “And Sakura you know I don't like that. Please don't call me that ok?” He tells her, suddenly very sweet.

A shiver runs up the spines of both me and Roxy. He smiles.

Sakura pulls up a chair and sits down next to Hametsu. Hametsu begins hugging her. Sakura leans into his embrace.

“Sorry honey, ” she says.

Hametsu takes her hand and kisses it.

“You're forgiven,” he tells her.

They kiss. Then they begin to make out, apparently forgetting that we are standing right in front of them.

“Ahem,” I cough. They stop.

“Whoops. Sorry.” Hametsu says, a bit annoyed that we interrupted his make-out session with Sakura, and embarrassed that he forgot we are there.

“Exactly how did you two meet?” Roxy asks them.

Hametsu looks at her dreamily.

“We've been friends for a while. Then we just fell in love with each other,” he says. “That's the reason why I keep asking you two if you're dating,” he says with a smirk.

“Well, we're not,” I say awkwardly.

“Well not yet anyway,” he says with this mischievous smirk. My face flushes red when he says that.

“You're blushing Kallan,” Hametsu says teasingly. My face gets even redder. He laughs.

“I'm kidding, relax. Sakura and I make a better couple than anyone in the world,” he says. He kisses Sakura on the cheek and whispers something in her ear. She giggles a bit.

Roxy looks at her watch. She flinches with a bit of surprise.

“Oh shoot I have to go! My mom is taking me for a mother-daughter spa day at one o’clock. Hey Kal, can you take me home?” she asks.

“Ooh a spa day that sounds fun, and... with your mom,” he says, his voice trailing off a bit. He gets a bit sad but then quickly covers it up.

“You okay?” I ask him.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Nothing to worry about,” he says with a smile.

“Kal I really gotta go. Can you take me home?” Roxy asks again, a little more urgently.

“Yeah, I promised your parents,” I reply.

“Well it was nice talking to you Kal,” Hametsu says, not spitting out my name as if it's contaminated. Then he smiles a nice smile. “I’ll see you on Monday. And thanks for the card and fruit arrangements,” he says.

“Sure no problem!” Roxy and I say in unison. We look at each other and blush. Hametsu chuckles a bit.

“Bye guys,” Sakura says.

“Bye,” we respond.

“See you,” Roxy says. We leave the hospital building shortly after that and head to my car.

When we get into the car we sit in awkward silence. I want to talk with her the way I normally do. It gets so awkward, I just had to break it.

“So. Hametsu. He's interesting,” I say.

“Yeah. I found out that he has a twin sister,” Roxy says.

“He never said anything about it to me. Is she coming to our school?”

“No. Hametsu told me that she goes to an all girl’s private boarding school,” Roxy explains. “He talks to her often though.”

“Hmm. Interesting. But doesn't he have an older brother?” I ask. Why I didn't bother to ask Hametsu about his family will always be a mystery to me.

“No. His legal guardian has been taking care of him ever since his mother became an alcoholic after his father died,” she tells me. I feel pretty bad for him. But he never said any of that to me. Why did he tell her?

“Why did he bring this up to you? I was talking with him on the phone this morning.”

“It probably didn't occur to him at that time. After that depressing conversation, he proceeded to explain, in detail, why he hates romance movies. He cusses a lot. Then he told me why he loves horror movies,” she says, somewhat appalled. “I’ll never figure out why. He noticed my discomfort and decided to talk about fruit. He likes tangerines. He knows a lot of things about fruit. It was a very engaging conversation.”

Apparently, Hametsu loves talking about random things and not so appropriate topics. He catches himself then changes it to a more appropriate topic.

After discussing Hametsu for five to ten minutes, we turn on the music. The song that is playing is so depressing, we had to turn it off after two seconds. I decide to turn on my playlist.

We talk about stuff that we normally talk about, such as animals and ecology, bacon, a banana’s color, and zebras.

Don't ask about the banana thing and the zebras. We just somehow end up talking about them. Then again we end up talking about a lot of weird things. We debate about the difference between a crocodile and an alligator a lot, even though we both know the difference. We just do that for fun.

“I just don't get why they're called crocodiles,” she says.

“They are from the family of Crocodilia.”

“But alligators are in that family too. So are caiman and gharials. It makes no sense.”

I shrug.

“I swear science is made to confuse us. But ecology is one of my better subjects. I suck at biology for whatever reason,” I say. “And MATH. That is the creation of the devil himself.”

“Kal it's not that bad. Who's your teacher?”

“Mrs. Mackey.”

Roxy cringes. She pats me on the back.

“I see that you switched teachers. I heard Mrs. Mackey is relentless with homework.” Roxy says.

“No. That's Mr. Bane. Mrs. Mackey is strict and the most serious person alive,” I say. “Why did they make me switch teachers in the middle of the semester?”

Roxy shrugs. We sit in silence for the rest of the car ride home.

About twenty minutes later I drop Roxy off at her home, just in time for her spa day with her mom.

“Thank you, Kal for taking me home!!” She says happily. Her parents thank me too.

“it's my pleasure! See you on Monday!” I call back. I go back into my car and drive home.

I walk into the house and see a package on the table. It arouses my curiosity. I see that it is addressed to me.

The package is a small cardboard box that fits in the palm of my hand. I take a small pocket knife and open the box. Inside is a necklace with a dragonfly charm on it. I take it out and put it on. It looks pretty cool on me. I take it off.

I look into the box again and see a note. I can’t understand most of the note because it's written in that weird symbol like language. But it said something about protecting the necklace from the forces of darkness. I don't know how I’m able to understand some of it.

The note and the package don’t say who it’s from. But I don't want to worry about it right now. I put the necklace back in the box, go to my room, and put the box in one of my snack drawers.

My thoughts soon turn to Roxy. My face turns red again. I keep pondering what Hametsu kept telling us on how we should start dating. The thought has a unique way of both scaring me and exciting me. I know I can't deny it any longer.

I'm in love with Roxy. My childhood friend since we were babies. Hametsu's right. He knows that I'm subconsciously in love with her and decided to bring it up.

My mind can't stop thinking about her for two solid hours. I kept thinking about how I'm going to ask her out.

I push that thought out of my mind, which takes me longer than I expect.

Then the thought of Roxy being my WIFE pops into my head. I'm mortified and completely embarrassed for some reason. I run up to my room and lay face-first on my bed.

I suddenly begin to cry. I don't cry very often. I grab another pillow and cry into it. I cry myself to sleep.

I have the most disturbing dream that I think I have ever had in my entire life.

In the dream, there is a war going on. The soldiers have swords and shields. They have fairy wings. WINGS!!! Some are black, others are white. The white wings are fighting the black wings and losing. I look up. In the air, there is a figure with black dragonfly wings. He is holding a scythe and looking ahead. I turn to see what he is looking at. In the distance, there is a large castle. The guy is smiling cruelly.

“FAE WILL BELONG TO THE DEATH FAIRIES!!!!” He shouts. The people with the black wings cheer and overpower the white wings.

The person who shouted laughs an inhumanly cruel laugh. I don't think I have ever heard such cruel laughter in my life.

I wake up with a start. Cold sweat is rolling down my face.

I text Roxy as fast as I can about the dream.

“That’s so weird,” She replies.

I call her.

“That was the weirdest dream I ever had,” I say.

“Sounds like it,” she replies.

“Sorry to disturb your spa day,” I tell her.

“It’s fine,” Roxy says. “I gotta go. Talk to you later,”

“Alright. Enjoy.”

“Thanks,” she says.

As soon as I hang up, I suddenly receive another call.

“Hello?”

“Hi Kal.”

It's Hametsu. He spits my name out again.

“Will you stop spitting my name out as if it's contaminated.”

“Sorry. I’ll stop. Maybe,” he says. “Sooo whatcha up to?” He asks.

“Nothing much. Just woke up from a nap.” I reply. “What are you up to?”

“I'm getting out today,” he says. “Jeez, my clothes reek. They need to be washed. I don't want to catch another cold.”

“Please don't.”

“I won't. Don't worry,” he says.

I want to ask him a few questions.

“So Hametsu, I have a few questions I want to ask you.”

“I may or may not have answers to your questions,” he says.

“How long have you lived with your guardian?”

“About, uh, I wanna say, 10 or 11 years. For a while.” He replies.

“I don't mean to be all personal and all up in your business, but, can I ask what happened?”

“I saw my dad get murdered and my mom died of alcohol poisoning. She had too much to drink at once. I saw that happen too. When I was seven.”

I'm speechless. I didn't know what to say.

“Dude- I- uh- I don't know what to say,” I say like an idiot.

“Don't pity me. I hate it. I hate being known as the poor little boy who saw his parents die in front of him,” he spat. “I have no innocence left in me. That's why I like seeing horror movies. The most terrifying horror movies out there. It distracts me from my emotions. I don’t mind watching bloody stuff either. If anything, I somewhat enjoy it,” he says. I can sense this crazy grin on his face. He definitely has a major screw loose.

“Uh, dude are you, like, literally insane?” I ask.

He starts laughing. Then he composes himself.

“Sorry about that. I've been tested. I'm partially insane. 70% to be exact. I have some sanity. That sanity is my awareness of my insanity therefore I can control it… Sort of. It comes out on its own sometimes,” he rambles. “I hate it when that happens.”

“I have one more question to ask,” I say. That is the dumbest, most idiotic thing I have ever said because the answer he gave me is completely insane.

“What do you like most about life?” I ask.

“Death.”