The Otherworldly Minds Saga Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Deon’s body just disappears. It’s as though he was never there.
<It’s called disintegration and happens when the host body dies. Don’t worry about anyone asking about Deon. The memories will be erased as though Deon didn’t exist. It’s how the Upsetters stay hidden in society.>
“What now?” I ask.
<Now I’m going to ask you to do one of the hardest things you’ve ever done in your life: make friends.>
When I hear the voice I turn and see Cordae standing there holding this alien weapon in this moment of glory.
I turn off to the side and I climb the bleachers and sit at the top away from Justin, Jean, and Cordae. After they save me from Deon, or whatever was in Deon, we find ourselves in the gym cutting class. The gym is empty this period. There were no physical classes until after lunch. It’s Cordae’s idea. He’s standing there his beautiful light tan skin and these green eyes that almost look like glass. He is so light that he’s only a few shades lighter than tanned Justin. His eyes connect to mine.
“What is it?” Justin asks, “Looks like something from Battle Star Gallactica…”
“Battle Star what——?” Cordae asks, “Bro I don’t speak nerd. The voice in my head told me to make it yesterday out of some household items.”
Jean and Justin are both impressed. They pass the weapon around that Cordae made. The weapon isn’t made from a mind from this world. I could imagine what my father would say if he knew that Cordae of all people was responsible for saving me.
“You almost done sucking your own dick?” I ask Cordae as he continues to show off the weapon.
“Guess I don’t get a thank you for saving your life——Princess?”
I cringe at the title as he mocks it.
“You must want a round 2,” I state getting up and taking a step towards him.
“If you didn’t have the princess in you I’d beat that stupid ass smirk off your face once and for all, Hassan.”
I hear the way he uses the name Hassan. It wasn’t just me he was talking to. He was talking to my father. He was talking to my brother. I knew that the family rivalry in us went a lot deeper than just what I knew about. That was the thing about Cordae, he liked to act innocent but I knew what he was up to.
“Not looking to Cordae Harris for a damn thing...”
<Why not? He’s a good looking human, isn’t he?>
It seemed like his attractiveness stretched even intergalactically. I stare at him and have to admit he does look good. His hair is this dark brown hair color that looks like chestnuts highlighting his emerald green eyes and these thick lips. He stands off to the side with his masculine frame whispering to himself the same way that I am. I wonder if the Warrior in him was having a conversation with him.
He was the one who had this alien-like weapon. The others gather around him looking for an explanation of what the weapon is.
I whisper back to the alien princess, “Whose side are you on?”
“What was that?” Justin asks me.
I shake my head, “Nothing. Why are we here anyway? I have to get to class.”
Cordae gives me this look, “None of us want to be here Nairobi. We were brought here for a bigger reason. Regardless of what you think this isn’t all about you.”
<He has a point…>
I slap myself a little bit hoping that even for a moment the voice in my head feels the pain that I feel. I’m not sure though when the stinging pain carries throughout my body whether or not that is true.
“So all of you are hearing voices too?” I ask.
Justin nods his head, “Cool isn’t it?”
I look at him as though he has three heads. I knew Justin was used to probably getting picked on and even more used to being ostracized. I knew more than anyone else how it feels to be alone but having someone in my mind was completely different.
<I like this Justin guy. You do too. I can tell. He can be your friend if you weren’t so opposed to everything.>
I give Justin a look. He wasn’t as bad as the other two. Maybe my first impression of him wasn’t as bad as the other two but in the end, I had a feeling I’d have to deal with both of them.
“You all think this is a joke. I just had one of my brother’s friends try to kill me. I want an explanation.”
“I think…” Jean interrupts, “I think I know more about what is happening…”
For some reason, I have the feeling that perhaps the other spirits were telling Justin and Cordae the same thing because we all turn to Jean. As far as I knew Jean was never someone who shied away from talking.
As we all stare at her she starts explaining things, “My spirit wants you all to know that they are spiritual beings from far away. They are from an evil race called the Upsetters. The King of this planet is evil, harsh being who known only as the King Destroyer who goes from planet to planet-destroying planets. His daughter, the princess was convinced by her lover to turn away from her father’s ways. Together they formed a new group known as Druids. The Upsetters have already destroyed this world but we came back in time to prevent King Destroyer from building the weapon that can destroy this world. That’s what we have inside of us. Four druids. The Princess, the warrior, the historian, and the technician. There is a fifth...or there should be a fifth.”
“Where is the fifth?” Cordae asks.
<Tell them the fifth is a prisoner. I’ll give you access to some information I acquired before we came on this mission.>
All of a sudden my mind is filled with these thoughts. There was a place in Trenchtown. It was a place that wasn’t too far from the crash site at the junkyard. I see the place and all of a sudden my mouth gets dry. Sweat starts trickling down my forehead. Something crawling. Something inhuman. Something dangerous. It gets so bad that I feel dread staining underneath my shirt. This dreaded fear almost paralyzed me. It gets so bad that I have to sit down.
“You OK, your majesty?” Justin asks.
Justin comes over to me. He damn near catches me when I stumble over a little bit.
“He’s fine, stop babying him,” Cordae states.
I start breathing hard and heavy. The weight of this place starts to get to me.
“There is this place. It’s under us. UNDER Trenchtown. It’s been here for a while. Years. Generations. Trenchtown was built over it as a way to hide it. There is this place that the Fifth spirit was taken,” I shrug, “Taken to the same place the bodies of the druids were taken. to. It’s where the weapon is being created. A scary place…”
I don’t know why the last part comes out.
The vision of this place leaves me soaking in sweat just imagining what this place is like.
“They want us to go there...don’t they?” Jean asks looking at me and then Cordae but then settling back to me as though deciding I’m the one she needs to ask this question too.
I am quiet. Cordae is quiet. The spirit in me is silent.
“No way… hell no!” I jerk up at that moment.
<Calm down…>
“Fuck calming down! I’m not going there…”
Justin reaches out at that moment. He does it almost in a gentle way saying, “I’m scared too but if half of what these Druids are telling us is true then——“
“You didn’t fucking see what I saw Justin…”
“So what happens now, Princess?” Cordae asks, “The other option is to go home and pretend like none of this ever happened.”
“Stop calling me that,” I tell him, realizing from this mischievous smirk he has on his face that he enjoys mocking me in this way.
“Stop acting like a little—-“ Cordae stops.
“Say it. I dare you——“
I don’t know what gets into me but I get in Cordae’s face and I push him. I push him so hard that it flings his body clear across the room! He lifts off the ground, weightless as though he was a stuffed toy.
“Holy fuck…” Jean says with that corny ass smile she wears, “Are all of us that strong?”
The answer comes in an attack from Cordae when he comes at me pushing me back. He gets to me in no time. Not only are we strong but we are so much faster too. The force he hits me almost caved in my chest and I feel my entire body lift the ground. I’m thrown back a couple of feet like a rag doll but in midair, my body somehow recovers, these inhuman reflexes kick in and I land squarely on my feet.
“We can go there now. Look how strong we are,” Cordae says smiling at me as though giving some sort of peace token in our pushing match. It seems like however mad he was had been completely overshadowed by the power these aliens had added to our bodies.
I shake my head, “You guys didn’t go up against Deon. He was stronger. Those things the princess knows about they aren’t a joke…”
<You’re right…>
It wasn’t my fear that I felt when I talked about this place under Trenchtown. It was the Princess’s fear. I’d only caught a glimpse of the horrible things underneath this city and it was enough for me.
“I’m out,” I tell the others.
I stand up. The princess tries to say something but I start singing out loud. It doesn’t just block her out but it blocks out the calls from Jean and Justin.
It’s Cordae who says silently, “Let him go. We don’t need him…”
And I was going to walk away, happily at this point. I’d seen what the Druids were up against. I’d seen the darkness that was underneath this city.
Maybe Cordae did think I was some asshole who only cared about myself. That’s probably what he was telling them right now. But the truth was I had seen the darkness and I’d seen how horrible it could be.
I didn’t want anything to do with it.
~
I get home that night. Even though it was late I still had to cook. I realize the Princess was quiet, unusually so. I figure maybe it has something to do with me refusing to go on her little mission underground.
Even after all I did, I still had to cook. I had two grown men who depended on me to do that, alien attack or not. A part of me wonders if I could ignore what the Princess was saying. For all I know it was a bunch of fake bullshit. For all, I know this was some weird hoax experiment I was a part of. I was still spending every day waiting for some joker to walk in and maybe sounds of hearing the studio audience laugh at me.
That doesn’t happen.
I’m not receiving a logical way out of this. So I do the only thing I can do. I ignore it.
“So,” Zaire states, “The Biggest football game of the season so far is tomorrow. Dad, I was hoping you can come.”
We are all sitting at the table. My dad never smiles. It’s as though a part of his smiling functionality had completely been stripped away. It wasn’t even just that he didn’t smile but it was the mean scowl he wore all the time. He’s had it since mom got sick.
My dad doesn’t even give Zaire the least bit of respect to answer him back. He goes on chewing the food ignoring his son. I look over at Zaire. I was tough when it came to Dad. I was used to not getting any attention. After all these years it was still tough on Zaire.
“I’ll come,” I tell Zaire.
He gives me a half-smile. A part of us having a shitty father was him knowing that his big brother had his back even if we were just a year apart in age.
“You better not let him show you out again…”
<Hes horrible…>
No shit alien, no shit.
My father didn’t even need to say the name. We all knew he was talking about Cordae Harris. Cordae and Zaire both played wide receiver. They were both going for the same ball and they had both became stars in their own right.
“Zaire is gonna kill it,” I assure my dad.
I wasn’t just saying it for support either. Zaire’s stats were just as good as Cordae. It was that close.
“I’ll come…” my father states out of nowhere.
When my father says that I am so shocked that I turn to him and almost snap my neck.
“The game is tomorrow…” I state, “You work late tomorrow…”
“He says he is going to show out on Cordae so I’ll come. It’s the biggest game this season. I’m sure Cordae Senior is gonna be there.”
That’s why my father was going. It had nothing to do with being supportive of his son. This had gone beyond that. This was worse. It was about milking even more of the rivalry between our two families and I knew even before the day started that this had the potential to go all the way wrong.
~
The football game is crowded. I arrive with my father. The other team has on black and orange uniforms but our home team had on white and silver with the comet uniform on it.
Comets. What a dumb ass team name.
My father is there like he promised. He sits a few seats up from me, not bothering to even speak to me. It is almost like clockwork when Cordae Harris Sr. finds us. This wasn’t one of the first run-ins that we had with Cordae’s dad. All through middle school and high school, there had been interactions and it seemed like every time they got worse and worse.
“Well if it isn’t old man Hassan,” Cordae Sr. states, “How are you, man?”
My father doesn’t respond. He acts like he doesn’t hear him which is a hard thing to do because the Harris father was almost as stunning as his son. It was clear where he got his food looks from.
“Just came here to wish you luck is all.”
“Save that for your son.”
“Oh, he doesn’t need it. He has skills. You Hassans remember what that is right? Your wife remembered…”
Hearing Cordae Sr. comment on my mother causes me to jerk up. I look over at my father's face. He doesn’t say anything he just stares out pretending as though he didn’t hear it and I watch Cordae Sr. give him a rude laugh.
<Seems like some history here...you should stay out of it…>
I didn’t need the Princess’s advice but in this she was right. I needed to stay out of it. I don’t know why Cordae Sr. would bring up my mother. My father went out of his way to avoid school events and now I think I had an idea why. He was still intimidating only now he was intimidating in a low almost faint way. There was such a thing as a healthy rivalry and then there was something much more sinister and personal. The kind of stuff going on right now seemed deep and personal.
“Hey, you…”
I’m annoyed when I see Jean and Justin sitting next to me.
“We came to support our—-“ Jean starts but then looks around, “Druid brother at his football game. Just thought we’d come to sit by you since you were here by yourself.”
“I’m here with my dad,” I motion a few seats up at the burly man who had a mean mug sketched on his face.
Jean has to open her mouth and say in her snarky irritating way, “Who sits that far away from their dad—-“
“Jean, mind getting us something to eat?” Justin asks.
Jean seems to know Justin is just trying to get rid of her for a minute but she’s so damn nice that she jumps up nonetheless and does what he says with a peppy, “Sure. Some popcorn on the way.”
As soon as she leaves Justin shakes his head at me, “Jean is a lot, I know but she’s a sweetheart. Kinda think she has an eye for me.”
By eye, I’m assuming he was saying that she liked him. I look over at Justin and could almost throw up all over the idea.
“That’s weird.”
“Why weird. She’s a cool girl. Give her a chance. Maybe give Cordae one too. He said that he wants to get to know you.”
“I’ll pass…”
<Could you be any colder?>
I don’t answer the Princess. She had access to my thoughts. She knew the answer to that.
The game was already starting. I see my brother go out there. Then I see Cordae. There is a huge difference between how Cordae’s dad acts vs how my dad acts. Zaire turns out into the stands looking out for my dad. When he sees him I can see his eyes almost reflect a sense of dread right before he puts his helmet on.
The game starts with the Quarterback throwing the ball to Cordae. It’s just a minute into the game and Cordae does this amazing catch. Almost immediately he swerved through two defenders taking off at amazing speed to get a touchdown.
My mind is blown as Jean and Justin jump to their feet cheering Cordae on.
I just don’t get it, “What the—-“
I feel this churn in my stomach. I am looking at Cordae the whole game even when he isn’t playing. My mind can’t take my eyes off of him. The way his muscles flex as he catches three gravity-defying passes in the 2nd quarter or the way he scores another pass in the third quarter. By the fourth quarter half, the stadium has erupted into a chant of “GOOD PLAY, CORDAE!”
I look over at my brother. He’d been benched after missing a pass in the 2nd quarter. This was supposed to be his game. By now he would have at least caught a few passes but he was being totally and completely outshined by Cordae.
<He’s amazing, isn’t he?>
“Not you too.”
<I’m sorry… but I mean look at him.>
And for some reason, I was looking at him. I didn’t understand why. Why was I paying attention to how his ass was round and perky in this football pants? Why am I noticing that he wasn’t wearing a cup and I can see the outline of his dick through the white linen? He pulls up off his jersey at the end of the game after leading the team to victory. He did so well that his team goes up behind him dumping an entire thing of water on him. It ripples down his hair and his cascading abs. I stare at his body watching the water ripple down every part of his body.
And then I realize it. My dick is hard. I’d been forced to sit through this game over and over and have never felt this way.
Was I attracted to Cordae Harris?
~
We are in the parking lot after the game. A bunch of the players was taking a victory lap. That’s when I see my dad with his hand gripped on the neck of Zaire. He doesn’t look happy. Football was the one thing that my father never blamed me for.
“Everything good at home?” Justin asks at that moment.
“Of course, why would you ask that…”
“Your brother looks...I don’t know, scared…”
Justin definitely was peering over at my brother who was walking towards my dad. There are tears in his eyes. My dad is saying something to him. I’m not sure what it is but knowing my dad it must be the worst thing imaginable.
“I’ll deal with it.”
That’s when Jean has to overstep her boundaries as usual, “Listen we’re all friends. If something is happening like maybe some abuse I think we need to—“
“Mind your fuckin business,” I utter back.
“Whoa—-“ Justin interrupts, “She’s just trying to help.”
“By talking about my father’s abuse?” I state before turning away, “Have a nice night.”
The embarrassment runs through every part of my veins. I walk away from Justin and Jean with Justin calling out, “Nairobi! Hey! Don’t be like that!”
I ignore him and keep walking. No one else was paying attention to Zaire and how scared he looked. Everyone was so focused on Cordae. Zaire’s face was red as he is was standing there.
“Dad...wait.”
His face says it all as he walks him to the car growling at me, “Hurry the hell up and get home, Nai. This one is going to be doing drills all night.”
“It’s not his fault!” I jump in.
I don’t know why I do it. I guess a part of me just wants to protect my little brother. I realize the way his face is horrified about the punishment my father had for him after he flat out embarrassed us out there. Whatever his coach put him through would be nothing compared to what my father was going to put him through.
And that's when my dad asks, “Then whose fault is it?”
I turn at that moment and see Cordae standing there with the crowd around him.
“Exactly…” my father responds.
It was Cordae’s fault. It was all Cordae’s fault.
<Dont do it, Nairobi.>
“I’m not listening to you…”
Someone had to tell Cordae about himself and that person was going to be me.
<Wait, before you go. There’s something you need to know. Something you need to know about why you were feeling so aroused earlier——>
I ignore the Princess. She was just trying to get in my head and right now the last thing I needed was another voice in my head. I walk up to him as he’s surrounded by his little friends. The only thing I can think about is how pissed off I am about what happened at that game.
I finally push my way to him and say, “You cheated…”
Didn’t know aliens believed in God. There is an awkwardness around me saying that. It’s not just the alien princess either. It’s awkward with these people. I want to embarrass him. I want everyone to know the sneaky piece of shit he is.
“Excuse me, everyone…”
He grabs my wrist and pulls me back towards the bleachers. We are under the bleachers alone when I shake away his hand from around my wrist as hard as I can.
“What the fuck is your problem….”
“You fucking cheated…”
<He’s so handsome…>
I don’t know what she’s saying but I had to admit she had a point. The aggressive way he pulled me behind the bleachers. He’s standing there at this moment still sweating a bit and smelling so masculine and raw. His face is flushed as he looks at me but he still manages to be more handsome than 90% of the boys in my high school.
“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”
“So you didn’t use your Druid at all to outshine my brother?”
“Of course not.”
“You’re bullshitting…”
“What’s your real problem with me because I’m tired of you and fucking attitude.”
“My issue isn’t that I’m tired of your cocky —-“
For some reason, I’m no longer talking anymore. For some reason, my lips are PRESSED up against his lips. It was me. I lean in and kiss him. And what’s weird is he kisses me back. We are standing there for a moment kissing and I have no control of my body. I can feel his tongue sliding in my mouth, I can taste his sweat and for some reason, we are locked into each other.
Our bodies weren’t just kissing as though it was the first kiss. And I felt something. It was something more than a kiss. I felt that this was love. Not just any sort of love. This was a love that stretched through space and time. This was love, unlike any love I could ever imagine.
And when I take control of my body I push him away.
“What the fuck was that?” I ask.
“I don’t know. You kissed me.”
He wipes his lips furiously and I’m doing the same. This wasn’t just some straight guy, he was my arch-nemesis.
“I didn’t fucking kiss. YOU kissed ME…”
<You both kissed each other…>
He backs off away from me. He is almost as angry and embarrassed about the kiss as I am. He is pacing back and forth and the truth was that so was I. I can’t ducking believe I just kissed Cordae Harris.
And then I realize it. I didn’t kiss him…
And that’s when I realize what’s happening.
And by the looks of it, Cordae realizes it too.
“It’s them isn’t it?” He pressed both hands off his head, “The Druids.”
She was responsible for me kissing my worst enemy.
And that’s when I hear the Princess explain.
<He can’t be your enemy. Because the Druid living in him is the love of my life. He’s my soon to be husband.>
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