Elementals
Chapter 9

Tyler was in his room. It was dark out. All the clocks were frozen but they said it was midnight. Something didn’t feel right. The colors in his room were distorted and everything was too quiet. Feeling uneasy, Tyler got up from his bed and slowly went over to the door.

The doorknob was unusually cold. Shivers ran through his spine, but Tyler forced himself to open the door. It creaked loudly as it opened, revealing a pitch black hallway. Tyler grew more anxious and afraid as he left his room, cold air hitting him and making him long for the warmth of his bed.

“H-Hello?” he called out.

“We’re in the kitchen,” his mother responded.

Suddenly feeling safe and happy, Tyler ran down the hallway. It seemed to grow longer as he tried to get to its end, but he eventually made it. He exited the dark, gray, cold hallway, and entered its polar opposite: the warm, brightly lit kitchen. His mom was at the kitchen table, along with his dad. Tyler’s mom’s back was to him, and his dad had a newspaper covering his face.

Tyler walked over to his mother, standing behind her. “Good morning,” he said happily. The radio was playing lively music and the room was painted vibrant shades of gold. When his mom didn’t answer, Tyler walked around the table to see what was wrong.

“Mom?” he asked, looking at her face. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. Her throat was sliced apart and her mouth hang open with blood spilling out of it. Tyler stumbled back, bumping into his father’s arm and causing his newspaper to fall.

Tyler turned, hearing the noise of the newspaper hitting the table, and saw his father with stab wounds in his neck and chest. Tyler stumbled and fell beside the table, looking up at his parents. Their eyes were cold and their skin was colorless. The music on the radio sounded distorted and wrong. The bright colors melted away, turning to morbid shades of green and gray, still growing darker and darker as the sound of rain and wind outside blared like a jet engine. Lightning flashed with a horribly loud crack of thunder and everything became black.

Tyler was shaking and hyperventilating. His heart was pounding in his throat. A drop of water hit his head, then another and another until the dark abyss surrounding him became filled with rain. Tyler looked closer at the raindrops to see that they were red like blood. They pooled up on the ground, filling the empty space around him. Tyler began to panic as the bloody water rose and rose, until it reached above his head.

Tyler couldn’t breathe. He tried to swim away, but he couldn’t. There was a chain on his leg that held him there, with its other end trapped in that box that had been dug up from his yard days earlier. He screamed for help, but the bloody water entered his lungs and he gagged uselessly, drowning in it. He tried to scream for help again, but no sound could be heard. Just then, he saw someone with a black hoodie.

They had a shovel in one hand and a dagger in the other. “Sorry, kid,” the person said in a faint and distorted voice. They swung the shovel at Tyler, who closed his eyes, anticipating the blow to his head.

Tyler jumped up in bed, gasping for breath. He was sweating and shaking. He looked around his room to see that it was normal, not like it had been in his dream. He began to calm down, when he noticed a sickening feeling in his stomach. He jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom, immediately throwing open the toilet lid and losing his dinner from the night before.

After a few moments, Tyler didn’t feel quite as sick. He closed the toilet lid and flushed it, staying on the floor and catching his breath. He waited and made sure he wasn’t going to get sick again before slowly getting to his feet. He washed his hands and splashed water on his face to cool off and wake up. He then exited the bathroom, stumbling a bit, and made his way towards the living room.

Sitting on the living room floor was Evan. He was surrounded by old boxes, looking through dozens of documents. He had bags under his eyes that made him look like he hadn’t slept in days. He ran a hand through his hair, pushing it away from his eyes. Evan yawned and rubbed his eyes, spotting Tyler.

“Hey, you’re awake early,” he said, forcing a smile.

“Yeah, bad dream,” Tyler mumbled, “What time is it?”

Evan checked his watch.

“It’s just after six,” he answered.

Tyler nodded and sat on the couch. “Hey,” Evan said after a minute, “Go down into the basement and get anything that looks like tax returns.” Tyler didn’t speak, but instead quietly made his way to the basement.

Tyler noticed several old, dusty boxes stacked up in the corner. He went over to them and tried to pick up one of the boxes near the top of the pile, but he slipped and they all came crashing down on top of him. Tyler hit his head on the concrete floor, but wasn’t hurt too badly. He groaned as he sat up and pushed the box off of himself, still covered in folders and loose papers.

Tyler sighed and put some space between him and the pile of files as he began to sort through them and get them put away. It was a pain in the neck trying to sort all of the papers into their correct folders, but after nearly an hour, all that was left was a rubber band ball, a box of paper clips, and a small, brown, leather journal. Tyler tossed the rubber band ball and paper clips into the box, but looked more closely at the journal.

When Tyler picked up the small book, it was heavy as lead. “What the…?” Tyler sat on the ground and tried to open the journal, but it was stuck shut. He could sense something in it, metal, that was threaded between every page, essentially turning the book into a brick. “Hey! You’ve been down there a while,” Evan called down the stairs, “You still alive?” Tyler heard Evan’s footsteps heading down the steps, so he hit the journal behind the water heater and picked up a box.

Evan saw Tyler and smiled. “So, it lives,” he said sarcastically. Tyler faked a laugh. “Yeah, I’m fine. I knocked over a box, but I got it sorted up now. I was just bringing this upstairs,” he lied, smiling. Evan believed him and helped him get the box to the living room. After they set it on the carpet, Evan rubbed his eyes and sighed.

“I’m staying here to look after you, so I’ll be taking online classes instead of going back to college,” Evan explained bluntly, “I’m filing papers and taking care of things so we should be getting their life insurance payments and the money from their wills. It should be enough to live off of until I can finish school and get a job. So, no worries, okay?”

Tyler could see that Evan’s smile was fake. It pained him to know that his brother was going through so much for him, but it wasn’t like he could do anything about it. So, he nodded and thanked him. Evan stretched, several of his bones and joints popping and cracking. “I’m ordering a pizza for lunch,” he sighed, “You want pepperoni and bacon like usual?”

After lunch, Tyler decided to go for a walk. Out of all places, the park that they go to for training was the only place where someone had actually made him feel better. So, he went back there. Tyler sat in the swings, alone, for just about two hours. He had sweat running down his back and soaking his T-shirt. At this point, he really regretted not bringing some water or anything to drink. Just when he was about to go home, he heard shouting.

“Leave me alone!” yelled a boy’s voice. Tyler recognized that voice; it was Leo, the boy he had talked to nearly two weeks ago now, who had helped him feel much better about his predicament. He jumped up from the swings and ran towards the sound of the yelling. It was coming from the trail, so that’s where Tyler went.

As soon as he entered the trees, Tyler saw why Leo was yelling. He was on the ground, getting kicked repeatedly by two other boys who looked a few years older and were much bigger. “Wanna yell for help again, fag?!” One of them spat. Leo placed his hands on the ground and tried to push himself up, but he was knocked back down by a swift kick to the ribs. He didn’t fight, but laid there, taking it.

Tyler felt as though his blood began to boil. Despicable excuses for human beings, he thought. He clenched his fists. He was scared of these bullies, but he couldn’t just walk away. “Enough!” he screamed. His voice cracked when he reached high volume, which only made him seem even less intimidating. The two boys ceased what they were doing and looked back at him, laughing.

“Aw, what’s the matter, Shortie?” one laughed. Tyler refused eye contact. “Leave my friend alone,” he commanded. “Or what?” the second asked, stepping closer. Tyler didn’t have anything to say, but he wanted to protect Leo. He swung at the nearest bully, who merely stepped to the side to avoid it, then used Tyler’s own momentum as help in throwing him to the ground.

“Hey,” Leo spoke up, “Don’t try and fight these guys. You’ll only get hurt.” Tyler began to get up. “How sweet?” one of the bullies asked sarcastically as he reached around and punched Tyler in the gut. Tyler felt all of the air get knocked out of his lungs. He collapsed back onto the ground, gasping for air while the two laughed. Leo laid still, playing possum, looking at Tyler in concern. His face was bloodied and covered in bruises. This only enraged Tyler.

In a rush of adrenaline, Tyler threw himself up, off of the ground, and at one of the bullies. He put his hand behind his back and faked reaching into his pocket. He summoned his gun. He drew it from behind his back and aimed it at the larger bully, who seemed to be the one leading the other around.

The bully’s eyes filled with fear and he froze up. He put his hands in the air as a form of surrender. “Hey, easy now,” the he stammered, “Joey and I were just playing around. Besides, this guy started it.” Tyler glanced down at Leo, who was using a tree to push himself onto his feet, trusting that Tyler had the situation under control. Leo stood with his back to the tree, leaning on it for support.

“Did you start it?” Tyler asked sarcastically, humoring the bully. “Chuck said the only reason I like guys is because no girl would want me,” Leo explained, “I said that his mom sure did.” Leo chuckled. Tyler held back laughter, turning his attention to the boy he was holding at gunpoint, who must have been Chuck. “It sounds like you started it, actually,” Tyler smirked.

“Alright, just put the gun down,” Chuck pleaded. Tyler finally had a bully under control. He was enjoying it. Then, he felt a large rock smash against the back of his head. He dropped the gun and it landed in a bush, hidden by the leaves, and disappeared. Joey laughed as Chuck punched Tyler in the gut, causing him to double over. He then hit him in the face, knocking him to the ground. Joey raised a foot to kick Tyler, aiming for his head, when he was stopped by the feeling of a cold, metal blade against his throat.

Leo was behind Joey, holding a spear to his neck. “I wouldn’t do that,” Leo said quietly into Joey’s ear. “First a gun and now a spear?! These guys are crazy,” Chuck yelled as he ran, leaving his ‘friend’ behind. Joey started to panic, so Leo released him and kicked him in the butt as he tried to run away, causing him to stumble as he bailed.

Tyler got to his feet, facing Leo. “Are you alri-” he began to ask, but stopped mid-sentence when he saw that half of the bruises on Leo’s face and arms were gone, and the others were fading fast. Leo just smiled. “I’m healing, so I think I’m fine,” he laughed. Though, when he saw Tyler’s expression of shock and horror, his smile changed to be more calming.

“I’m an Elemental,” Leo explained, “We heal fast. Your face is looking better, too. I saw you conjure your gun, so I know you’re one, too. Samuel said there were others.” Tyler quickly processed this information, getting happy and excited. “You’re an Elemental, too? That’s so cool,” he exclaimed. Leo laughed.

“So, what’s your element?” Leo asked. “Earth,” Tyler answered, “I control rock, metal, and Samuel says I might be working my way towards magma. What’s yours?” “Water,” Leo said simply, “I have training tomorrow with Nathaniel and Jack. You should come by. You practice in the area across the pipe, right?”

Tyler nodded. “Cool! Are there any others that you know of?” Leo asked. “Yeah,” Tyler answered, “I usually train with two friends of mine. Their names are May and Rosalie.” Leo’s eyes widened and he smiled. “There are girl Elementals?! Yes! Alright,” he shouted, “I figured there were, but Samuel wouldn’t say a word about the others. I bet the girls can kick butt!”