Demon
Chapter 54

Timothy

After Dad makes me some toast, which I eat even though I’m not actually hungry, I have to think of something else to do. I don’t understand what happened, and I don’t think that I should leave him alone. If I go back in my room, he might lie down and fall asleep again, and I think that might not be safe. I won’t know until I can talk to Natalie and Angel.

I asked Guardian to tell Angel that I’d really like Natalie to come by for a visit so that I can get an explanation of what just happened. I don’t know whether she will, though.

Until then, I have to come up with a plan.

Dad is sitting at the table with me, having some toast too. He still looks super tired and groggy. He hasn’t even changed yet. He is still just wearing pajama bottoms with no shirt.

I have an idea.

“Dad?”

“Mm-hmm?”

“Can we go to the park?”

He looks at me like I just said the strangest thing he’s ever heard.

“What?”

“Can we go to the park?”

“You want to go to the park?”

I understand why he’s confused. I have never asked for him to take me to the park. I’ve never had any interest in it. But I think it would be a good idea to move around, be outside in the fresh air. It would probably help him get over whatever his problem was.

“Um…”

“Please?” I ask. “We can walk there, right? It’s not very far. Don’t you think it would be nice to take a walk?”

He’s looking at me like he’s wondering who I am and what happened to Timothy.

“Um, yeah, I guess.”

“Thank you,” I tell him. “You should get dressed.”

I’m sure he’s going to get tired of me bossing him around, but I don’t feel like I can stop until after I replace out the details of what his problem was.

He shakes his head but shrugs. “Okay. Let’s get ready to go, then.”

Michael

I genuinely have no idea what is happening. This whole morning has been bizarre. I had a horrible night, and only managed to fall asleep when I took those pills I swiped from Ethan. They worked great, I didn’t have any more dreams or hear anything else. Until all of the sudden there was Timothy right in my face telling me that he is hungry.

And I realize that I feel awful, like the worst hangover ever. When I woke up I was so groggy that I could barely see straight. I feel more exhausted than ever, even though I know that I did get some sleep after I took those pills. I have a headache and feel kind of queasy, although that toast seems to have helped.

And now Timothy wants to go to the park? Has he been abducted by aliens and replaced by a pod person? He never wants to go to the park.

But, he claims he really wants to, and honestly, just sitting around inside does not seem likely to help me feel any better. Maybe a walk in the sunshine would actually help.

So, fine.

I go get dressed, and in a few minutes we are walking down the street to the park. I’m already feeling my head start to clear. This was actually a great idea. I’m glad we’re doing this, although I still have absolutely no idea what caused him to suggest it.

Timothy walks silently along by my side, glancing up at me several times.

When we get there, I’m surprised to see that there are only a couple of other kids on the playground. It’s the weekend, you’d think there’d be more people here. Then I realize, oh, it’s Easter, isn’t it? I suppose most people are at church or something.

“So,” I ask him, “did you want to swing or something?”

He looks surprised, like he’s suddenly on the spot. What the heck. He’s the one who wanted to come here, doesn’t he want to play?

“Um,” he says, looking around the playground like he’s trying to replace something fun to do. He focuses on the jungle gym, a big metal dome made out of bars. “I know,” he says, then looks up at me. “Dad, do you see that jungle gym?”

I look over at it. “Yeah.”

“Can you, maybe, teach me how to climb it?”

“What?” What kid doesn’t know how to climb a jungle gym?

“I tried to at school, that day that Gabe and Jonathan got hurt. Do you remember that? But I couldn’t figure out how to get up there. I think I’m not very coordinated. Maybe if I was better at it, I could have helped and they might not have fallen. Can you help me learn what to do?”

Uh, okay. It’s interesting that he’s looking at this so analytically. I guess it makes sense that he might need help figuring it out - he’s never really played outside, or done sports or anything. “Well,” I tell him, “I guess that’s what fathers are for. To help you with this kind of thing. Sure, let’s give it a go.”

He nods, and looks like he’s both relieved and nervous. Awww. The kid is nervous about it. I guess it isn’t instinctive for him. I can help him. We can just do it step by step.

“Okay, start by holding your hand on the bar here, just above your head,” I tell him. He reaches up, apparently taking this very seriously. “Like that, right. Now you want to take your foot and put it on that lowest bar.”