Internet 24

Through Adam’s Eyes

Here I am, holding a bat, looking at a gilled witch and his now ex-girlfriend as another witch argues with her boyfriend in the back. I thought I was going to be able to close early tonight.

The bat is cold, it makes sense as the room dropped a few degrees when that lady went Super Sayin Witchcraft.

Lou is sitting at the table, unable to look Kate in the eye. He’s not all tensed up, not that Kate is out of the room, but I feel if he could leave the chair, he would have.

ADAM

You can’t move, can you?

LOU

I can’t leave this chair or spot. Whatever she did to me, my body couldn’t disobey her.

I turned to Marcy's baffled stare. She’s trying to drink this all in, but she can’t. The way that all rolled out, thats an impact of a space shuttle. No one is expected to walk that off. Adam looks at Marcy, who is confused by the whole event.

ADAM

What about you? Have any magic powers I should know about?

MARCY

No... how is she able to do this to you? Aren’t you stronger?

LOU

My people are naturally attuned to magic. Just being us makes one 100 times better at magic than humans, but that means Kate must have worked much harder to get this spell down. It was through a dirty trick, but she got me. I can’t break the spell.

Marcy stares at Lou, wanting to say something, but she loses her nerves at the last minute. I know she is safe here, plus they need time alone. The person in real danger is the kid in the back. I open the door to the back, but before I step into the hall, I make sure to leave these two with some advice. There is no sense in letting them walk through the storm without a light.

ADAM

I’m going to follow the witch girl and the kid. I think it’s more likely she will kill him than a frozen mermaid killing you.

Plus...It looks like you two have some talking to do. Just make sure there aren’t any more secrets.

You don’t want to hide anything because they will always come knocking back when you least expect it.

I make it down the hall to my little waiting area, slash storage room. I crack the door enough to get a glimpse and an earful. Adam is pacing the room as Kate ignores him. Then I see it all.

The whole twisted interaction. I debate jumping in, but what can I do? If I ran in and hit her with a bat, all of this could be over, but do I really want to put myself in this. It's not my business. Well, this is my place of business, but thats not my business.

Kate walks out of the room. I press myself against the wall behind the opening door, praying she doesn’t see him. It didn’t work.

KATE

Good, he could use a distraction. This is all hard for him, and I would appreciate it if you weren’t out. However, don’t try anything stupid and mess with him, or you’ll end up dead.

I flash a smile, but I nearly shit myself. There is no quiver of her lip or twitch in her eye. She said that as if she was ordering food from me.

ADAM

Look at you, pretending to care about him.

KATE

Why do you think I am pretending?

ADAM

I hope that's you pretending.

I stepped inside and shut the door before she could respond. I got the last word, so that means I won that round. Luckey me, as I have a feeling I will lose the war.

Javier stays seated. He doesn’t turn to face me. I look over his shoulder to find him staring at a selfie of Kate and himself. He is wearing a stained black shirt. I know those stains. The battle scars of a working chef. Kate is in a hoodie and sweatpants. They are sitting at a table eating Chinese food in someone’s home.

My bat lays on the table as I join Javier. Not in hand but close incase someone barges in.

ADAM

Well...that hurt me, and I was just watching.

JAVIER

Of course, going to tell me how I’m stupid?

ADAM

Nothing I said could match up to what she did. I can still see the lashes from her tongue on your face.

He's about to burst. I brace myself, as I know he needs his. He twitches and then relaxes. His clenched fist on the table relaxes as he lets it lay there.

ADAM

There you go, holding it in.

Silence. We sit in it for a few moments. No one moves; we just sit in it. That is until I grow sick of it.

ADAM

What’s the point of this? Does she pay your bills?

JAVIER

It’s not money.

Javier returns to staring at the photo on his phone. It took me now to realize that it was the wallpaper on his phone.

JAVIER

It’s something more than that. Something real. It’s how I feel when I’m with her. Not tonight, but when it’s just us.

When we are alone, I think this connection is so strong that it lingers when things go wrong. Reminding me why I stay.

I stay for the fun, of course, but there's more.We have these mundane moments that happen every day, and that's what makes them great.

Something you wouldn’t understand.

He glares at me, the dark stare of someone willing to do anything to protect what he cares about, be it a person or reality itself. In this moment, a memory is awoken. One I tried to bury for years. I don’t know if it was the look in his eye at the words he said, but in a millisecond, a moment Javier didn’t realize what was happening. The past played out in front of me like a movie.