Warlock, page 15
Fred smiled:
“They do not know him. Besides, does it need to tell you about people behavior? If a mob doesn’t understand something it rather claim this thing as bad, and then take a closer look”
Alex saw a park that Fred told about and turns wheelchair to the walkway. Jim took a panoramic shot of the park. It was nice and quiet. A person who had created this place done a good job – here was strange, but nice connection of an old trees and nature as it is with a nice benches and walkways.
Barns slowed down a little and looked around himself:
“I can’t say better. Nice place you have here.”
”Yes, I like to take a ride here,” answered Fred. “Here’s quiet place. Without a crowd, you know?”
“Totally,” said Alex. “So, where do we start? You said that people around do not know Antony. Help us to know him better.”
Fred crossed his fingers on his belly:
“Huh. In that case you need to have a couple of spare kilos in the school, or move to other school, or to other country.”
“Antony had problems with weight?”
“No,” Fred laughed. “I have, but other things – about him. All that things makes you an outcast. In addition, if you remember your school – this group is pretty small. So there is no surprise that people doesn’t understand much of things.”
They rolled to the bench that was under the great oak. Alex purposed to shot a little here, and Fred agreed cheerfully. Helper make a nice frame to his camera, and they continued their talk – Barns, sitting on the bench and boy – opposite to narrator.
“So,” said Alex. “Let’s begin from the start. You met Antony…”
“Yeah, I met him at his first day at school, and he was introduced to our class by Ms. Prey, and the brightest thing that I remember even today - I thought that he would be an outcast forever.”
“Why do you think so? And why do you remember this?”
Fred smiled a little:
“I was happy, because that was my role. I thought that he would take it. He was not a sporty but rather strong guy and his glance… I saw similar when I once run with a broom after rat that I saw in a basement. But when rat was in corner and turned to me – that small eyes was the same that Antony had at that day. He was ready to fight, and he hates everyone and everything.”
“Hate is a little bit strong world, why…”
“He told me that,” answered Fred before the question. «Later, when we became a friends. He said that he wanted to beat shit out of everything. Oh…”
He looked at Alex and Jim and said with a shy smile:
“Sorry for this word…”
Jim smiled and Alex answered:
“That’s fine. We knew what we got with teenager case. So, he was angry. At whom?”
Fred took a pause, looked to the oak crown, and then answered:
“I think that there was no person at whom he was angry. Obstacles. Circumstances. Life position, maybe. Something like this. You know – like that rat in a basement – it was angry at that fact that I close it in corner. He was crooked,” boy nodded. “That’s a perfect word.”
Alex noted something in his notepad, and then said:
“I see. How do you find mutual language? What was that thing that make you friends?”
“That was old games. You see, as I’m not a very popular guy in school – my free time I spend in net and playing games. And I’m little bit strange in that ways – I like good old games. No matter what – PC or console. Antony was on my side – graphics and great number of polygons not interested him. He, as I am, liked gameplay. That was lunch break. He sit at the table alone and played a game on is a table. “Some browser shit” I thought, but passing by I saw that he played “Heroes 3.”” Fred looked at the guys. ”No?”
Jim and Alex waved with their heads.
“Ok,” said Fred. “In a two words - it’s a legend. And launch it on a tablet – not an easy thing. I asked him about this thing and word by word – we talked all break. That crooked glance disappeared from his eyes, and then I stopped being afraid of him.”
Fred dropped his head a little, and his voice changed to more calm:
“And at that same moment happened one of the important thing that connected with Antony. When we entered to our next class one of the bullies talked to him. He said something like “very poor choice of friends, newbie.” He mentioned me, of course.”
A boy put his hands on the wheels, and then, after a second close his fingers again:
“And then Antony did a thing whereby I understood that he might be a real friend. He said. « and you are representing?” Bully smirked and said – “myself”/ Antony looked around and answered that he knew such a guys and groups from his own class – first, who come to a newbie placed on the lowest stair of group hierarchy”
Fred laughed a little”
“I bet that he doesn’t know this word, and you should saw he’s face. He said, “What do you mean?” Antony turn to his copybook and said – “I would talk with alpha, not omega.” That was knockout for the bully.”
A boy on the wheelchair looked to the Alex and Jim:
“You can’t believe in anything that people said about Antony. He was normal,”
Alex noted something, smiling, then asked:
“You aren’t firs who told this – which he was normal, but something happened with him, right?”
Fred looked at the ground:
“Set of things happened. This… A little bit complicated if I would tell about all this like a list. You… You know about ancient wars? Hannibal?”
Alex frowned:
“Only things that I remember from school”
Jim waved with his hand showing “So-so.”
“Ok,” said Fred. “You read in a school book that Hannibal led his army through Italy to fight with someone. However, you do not even imagine that this was during ten years. Ten years of life, army things, surviving, changes of nature and landscape.”
Alex nodded:
“I saw your point. Can… Huh. How can we show to our viewers that little things that you told about Antony? Maybe there was some points? For example – a car crash. Everyone told about it. But no one knows details.”
Fred became silent for a couple of minutes, and then in a voice full of grief said:
“This has a simple reason – Antony doesn’t talk much about it, and other two participants of that evening had died,” boy become a little quickened. «That’s why I told you about the Hannibal. A lot of things happened before the crash.”
Barns looking at Fred said:
“Ok. Told us about them. Let’s make an exposition,”
Fred smiled.”
“As a movie geek, Antony would like your way for sure,” he thought a little then began. «A bullies. That’s a main part of a crash story, because after the conversation that I told you about…”
“First day? About alpha and omega?” Clarified Alex.
“Yes. At the same day, after school they beat Antony. Not hard, as I can saw. Antony said that he had a much rougher fights at his former country. He said that that bully, omega, wanted to teach him manners. Also, Antony mentioned that one of their gang stayed aside of fight. That was alpha, said me Antony later, smiling. I asked him that day – why do you so happy about this? He answered that he had a two reasons – first – he read them right, second – he heard that they talk about buying a grass, and now he knew more about them then they about him.”
“Grass? You mean a cannabis?”
Boy look at him with one brow frowned:
“You know a lot of teenagers, who use this word with a lawn context?”
Alex smiled and waves with his hand, asking Fred to continue. Boy looked at him a couple of seconds, and then said:
“I almost forgot about this case, because of time that had passed, and set of other things that happened. I think that would be right to left bullies story for a while as it was then. I introduce Antony to my friend – to Mary Root.”
“He…” Alex does not finish his sentence, Fred say all by himself:
“Killed her. Yes. But then she was a nice shy girl. Pretty too,” Fred stopped for a second. “I liked her, but… Hope she knew it…”
He signed.
“If you want to stop…” begin Barns, but again, boy do not let him to finish:
“No, it’s all right. Despite… Oh, you know what I am saying about. She was nice to Antony and me like that a lot. I thought he liked her too, but was not interested in her too much. Besides, he saw my feelings to her. Therefore, there were three of us. His English became much smoother, but his pronunciation still was awful, as his grammar. But he accepts our laugh and even lead jokes when talk gangster’s lines with his Russian accent. You know that grotesque bad guys in movies. Especially that was fun when he talks like this in a mall or other crowd place. You know, I thought that person isn’t bad when he or she can laugh about herself.”
“That’s true,” agreed with Alex.
“Maybe, that month or two. Two actually – they were perfect. Three friends, one of us – Antony, was absolutely unique and interesting. Even for his last days, he wondered wits small details of this new world. He was new and unknown to him. Without such a people with view like theirs, you don’t thing about small things around us. He made us see them. Interesting experience, anyway.”
Fred looked far away, and dreamily said:
“I can’t recall what happened first – that thing that I saw Antony talking to himself, or his bullies’ last fight… All the same, let’s pretend that fight. This case let me saw Antony in a little bit scary way,”
Alex frowned:
“Scary?”
Fred smiled with a corner of his lips:
“Not in that way that you think, but… Let’s me explain. Here Antony on his first day – fight’s with a dork. Next, he asks me about grass sellers nearby. And a two month later he makes his revenge using grass. Two months without a word between. I don’t know what you think – such things scare me a lot.”
Barns appraisingly waved his head:
“Yeah, that means that Antony was a serious guy”
Fred nodded with compliance:
“Yeah. And when you add here his serious face without a smile – you even can be wondered, how we were friends.”
Alex writes something in his notepad and asked:
“Serious face? What do you mean?”
Fred smiled a little:
“Antony said that this a topos of all former USSR people. They do not smile on the street, with strangers, etc. It’s one of those small details that you aren’t think about before you meet one of them. Without a smile you think that person ahead of you is ill, or sad, or continuously think about something. But Antony said that young people haven’t this feature. So we don’t pay much attention to this.”
“I see,” said Alex. “And what about bullies’ fight? Do you know how it’s happened?”
Fred waved his head:
“Nope. This was another feature of Antony – some things that he doesn’t want to tell he keeps deep inside of him, no matter what. He can keep secrets, and his own secrets was sacred.”
Alex looks disappointed, note something to his notepad, when Fred added:
“But I can guess by what I heard about that case from different people”
Barns lift his head from pencil to Fred:
“I’m listening,”
A boy smiled:
“Something I heard from a girlfriend of one of the, something from a guy, who selling weed here…”
“Can you say their names?”
“A girl was the one who Antony killed and guy…” Fred thought a little. “Why not? But I ask you to delete his name from this record, ok? He’s a nice guy, and pretty careful, but I do not create a problem for him. His name is Joe, and he work in local grocery store. He told me that Antony came to him once, and asked for a grass. As I had said, Joe is a careful guy and said to come after a two day. He checked Antony, asked about him, and when he assumes that Antony is ok, two days after sell him a little. Then Antony asked about other customers, the bullies. Joe tells him all that he knows about them – which twice a month they came to him for the goods.”
Alex frowned:
“Just like that?”
“Excuse me?” do not understand Fred.
“Joe told unknown boy everything about his business?”
“Huh. Two facts. First – Joe knows someone in a local police, and if he agrees to work with you that means that, he checked you there. Second – Antony proposed to use weed that he bought for two of them.”
“Local police. You know who is it?”
“No. Absolutely. But I know that Joe from time to time spend a night in the department, but never got any serious problems.”
Alex nodded.
“So, Antony proposed him next thing – he’ll buy all that bullies buy for one and a half prices”
Barn’s eyebrows jumped.
“Yes,” nodded Fred. “Antony’s father has some money, and Antony has too. Later he told me that all his money for the two months goes for this case. But it was worth for it. They did that a job, and next time, when bullies goes to the Joe for a grass, he told them that new Russian guy bought all stuff for the highest price.”
Fred smiled:
“Do I need to tell you about their reaction? Next day they met Antony at school, took him to the backyard and told him that he has a choice – weed or everyday beatings. Antony said, ok I have everything here, in my bag. I don’t know how he performed all this, but I’m only tell you a gossips. He took a couple of gloves from the bag. Then pick up a 60 oz. bottle with a dark liquid and squeeze all to that dorks. Then he run. Only thing that he told about that case – that that was his fastest run in a life. I do not know how that happened, but that crowd collided with a patrol car and officer hold them. Antony dropped his gloves early, and what policeman saw? A group of bullies run after a guy, and all of them in liquid that smells like cannabis.”
Alex asked, writing something in his notepad without looking in it:
“What was that liquid?”
Fred jerked his shoulders:
“I do not know. Joe said that maybe that was an oils that left after smoking grass with water. But as I had said – Antony doesn’t tell anything about this case.”
“If you’re right,” begin Alex pointing Fred with pencil. “That means one of two things. Antony must smoke all of weed, or he just… Just spoil it all for oils.”
A boy shrugged:
“Do not know. I know guys who like this stuff,” Fred showed international sign of cannabis smoking. “And I can say for sure that that wasn’t Antony’s business.”
“Ok. Other stuff?”
“Huh?” do not understand at first Fred, but then he said. “Oh, yeah. Approximately at that time when Antony close his case with a bullies I begun to see Antony talking to himself. It wasn’t one of that funny episodes from serials like “Quantum leap” when someone arguing with an air. No. It was… Weird. Too weird, maybe. Every time when I saw him in that state his head was bent low, and his eyes was squinted.”
Another note and another question from Barns:
“Do you ask him about it?”
“Oh yeah,” nodded Fred. “But you do not know Antony if you think that that was an easy thing. At first, he refuses all my questions. He said that I saw something wrong, etc. But then I made a record with one of these… episodes”
Alex’s eyes blinked:
“Do you have that video?”
“Unfortunately,” said Fred waving his head from side to side. “Lightning fried it with the video. It wasn’t too valuably anyway – you may think that it’s just a sad or sleeping boy. But for Antony it was an evidence, so I made him to talk.”
Alex can’t stay in a couple of seconds of silence: “And?”
“Let’s ride a little,” said Fred and rolled by the walkway.
Guys looked at one another, and went after him.
---
When Jim catches a frame and they can continue an interview, Alex said:
“Fred, I understand you, but…”
A boy stopped for a second:
“I’m afraid that I do not believe you, Mr. Barns,” he looked at Alex for a second and continues rolling. “You do not understand me. It’s not a pain to talk about this… Painful, but not too much. I can’t place details in my head to talk about them slightly. I’m afraid that you’ll understand nothing.”
“Look,” said Alex heatedly. ”We went too far to stop…”
Fred’s laugh interrupted him. He even stopped his wheelchair to stop laughing. At last, he whipped tears with his sleeve and said:
“It’s just a start, mister. Say, what do you know about tulpas?”
Alex, not expected previous reaction of a boy do not find what to say, and just lifted his shoulders and dropped them with a light grimace. Fred nodded:
“I thought so. Hey, I know something about creepy things that “ABnormal” creator doesn’t know.” He smiled and pulls a chair a little. “Tulpa – it’s an imaginary friend. But you make it real by your own mind. You can hear its voice, feel it’s touch, etc. Say, it’s a controlled mental destabilization, made by your own efforts and your own will”
Fred looked at Alex:
“Understand?”
“Hardly,” honestly said narrator. “You say that it’s an imaginary friend.”
Fred nodded, and Alex continues:
“But, as I can see, it doesn’t look like that one’s that kids have?”
Fred thought a little, and then slowly begin:
“Lo-o-ok. Ok. I think I know,” he looks on Alex. “There are two of us. Here comes a magician and told us to imagine… a chicken in our hands”
Boy look at the empty palm:
“It only depends on my imagination how detailed it would be. But then this magician hypnotizes you, and say that chicken is real. And there two of us again – I am, who can only imagine chicken, and you – under the hypnosis that can touch a little furry ball”
