Different Strings, Chapter 2

Different Strings

Chapter 2: Control

"Damn my lack of endurance" I thought, as I walked up to Neil's front door. Thankfully, I made it back to his house before my mother came. But I didn’t even have time to catch my breath. About thirty seconds later she pulled up on the side of the street. Close call.

I bid farewell to my friends, got in the car, and waited for her to drive off to our secluded house. My mom and me had the same conversation as we did everyday on the way home.

"How was school," she asked

"Fine," I replied unenthusiastically.

"Just fine? Not good or great or super-fantastic?" She asked

"No," I said, slightly annoyed. The joke was funny the first few times, but after that it was just annoying.

"Did you fail any tests?" She would ask.

"No," I would say, annoyed. I hated how she thought that I was dumb just because I wasn’t a "perfect child" like my sister, who got hundreds on every test, quiz, homework, everything.

We got home fifteen minutes later after the onslaught of a million pointless questions. I went into my room, hooked up my iPod to my stereo, and took control over the one thing I could: music. Everything else was decided for me. Who my friends were, who my enemies were; what my future would be, what my future wouldn’t be. When I could leave, when I would get home. I had no control over anything…but my music. Music was just pure expression. I loved all aspects of it. Listening to it, playing it, writing it. Music was everywhere, and it was just waiting to be manipulated. I held all the cards when it came to music. I could create any riff, improvise any song, sing any lyrics. I had complete control. And I liked that.

Which brought my mind back to that costume shop. The owner made such exotic costumes. Maybe he made my favorite animal…a bat. Bats were common enough to find near Halloween, but they were all Dracula-ish. Some had a satanic look to it and others just weren’t realistic. Most people thought bats to blood sucking demons from hell, but the truth was that most bats didn’t even eat any kind of flesh. They ate bugs and berries and such. There was nothing to be afraid of.

As for the reason it was my favorite animal, it was their ability to create sound. They had their sonar, which was used as a form of communication and radar. But I always thought of it as a different sound. Music. Frequencies so high that the human ear couldn't decipher them. It was music operating on different strings. I wish I could make that music and spread it across the earth in permanent waves.

But what didn’t make sense to me was the fact that I felt like I needed that costume. I knew it wouldn’t let me experience that music, but I wanted to feel like a bat, for an unknown reason. I would love to be a bat, but I knew that a costume would just be a hassle to put on, and wouldn’t really "feel" like a bat. But, I wanted that costume so bad, I couldn’t explain it. Maybe it was the quality? I looked at the clock. 6:20. Gary should be home by now.

"Maybe I'll call Gary and see how he likes his costume" I thought, as I started to dial his cell number. He picked up.

"Hey, what's up Snake?" Gary said, obviously after ready the caller ID.

"Hey, I was just wondering how your costume was." I said into the phone.

"You have good timing, I was just about to try it on. Now lets see here…" He said, as he was putting his feet into the costume.

"So how is it?" I asked.

"It's kinda tight, but other than that its…whoa…Uh…what? How is this...? The costume…? Uh…S-sorry, I gotta go…" He said frantically, as the line went dead.

"Wonder what that was about?" I thought, as I hung up the phone. "The costume? What about it?

Drethan was upstairs, frantically waiting for his latest customer to put on his costume. He wondered what this subject would think of him: A kind deity whose soul purpose is to fulfill people's wishes, or a corrupt madman that just cares about his research and not about the lives of the people he uses. It did not matter what people thought of him, though. He did it for his research and to fulfill people's wishes. This one seemed to hold on to his childhood and was so carefree, so he guessed he would be a deity in his mind. But he didn’t have too much time to ponder, as the phoenix costume just made its move. It wouldn’t be long now…

A few moments later the boy, or rather, the phoenix walked into the small shop, with a head full of questions.

"What did you do to me?" Gary asked savagely, the flames on his back grow in size and heat.

"I made your wish come true. Isn't this what you wanted? You see, I am a wizard experimenting with wish energy, as for why, that is none of your business. All you need to know is that I gave you what you wanted, and in return, I want you to give me what I want. Now lets move to the back room," Drethan said monotonously. He had done this speech many times and it was getting tiresome.

"And what is that you want?" He asked, still as savage.

"Just a few moments of your time each week, for me to ask about your costume. Lets start now. Have you experienced anoth-"

"I still have questions! How am I supposed to live like this? People wont exactly take kindly to a flaming bird!" The phoenix interrupted, his flames now white hot.

"Most of my customers can take off the costume and become human again, and vice-versa. To determine if you can, I need to ask my questions," Drethan answered

"Fine" Gary said, defeated.

"OK, lets get started. Have you experienced another presence in your mind?"

"No, am I supposed to?" Gary asked nervously.

"I doesn’t really matter on your end, most of these questions won't" Drethan replied, while scribbling something down on a peace of paper.

The questions continued for a good half hour. It was determined that Gary could take the costume off, but not until around 8:00, an hour later. He now trusted Drethan, but still wanted to get it off. But for now, he flew off into the night to test the limits of his new form, leaving behind a vapor trail.

Back at my house, around 8:15, the phone rang. I picked it up, read the caller ID, and found that Gary was calling back.

"What's up, Gary? What happened with the costume before?" I asked.

"Oh, just tripping over it and stuff. It was hard to balance with one hand, so I had to hang up. Sorry about that." Gary lied. He would find out soon enough. He wanted to tell the truth, but Drethan specifically said for him not to.

"Oh, so they're not to good." I said, kind of depressed. I really wanted it to be good quality so I could get one. I still didn’t know why, though.

"No, actually they're great! They form fit, in a way. It just needs to get used to your body. You have to get one!" He said excitedly.

"I was thinking about getting one. I just wanted to know if they were good quality. Thanks, you've convinced me. I'll probably stop by tomorrow. Bye" I said, as I hung up the phone.

Tomorrow was the day I got my costume. But little did I know, it was also the day my life took a turn for the better…or maybe the worst?

And tomorrow came at last. School was the same nightmare, and soccer was the same relief. And on the way back to Neil's house, we took another detour, back to "The Second Identity"

"Ah, your back!" Drethan said enthusiastically to the three boys. "Now what costumes would you two like?"

"Hi. Do you have any bat costumes?" I asked eagerly.

"Oh, sorry, I don't. But I can make one custom for you. Do you want anything specific about it?" Drethan replied.

"Oh, OK. Well, one thing I would like would be four fingers and a thumb. And five toes. Oh and black" I explained. I really wanted one now, but I guess I can wait.

"OK" Drethan said as he scribbled down the description. "It should be ready in a week. Now let me get your measurements."

"One week! I expected over a month! This guy works fast" I thought, as he took measurements.

"Would you like something?" Drethan asked Neil.

"Ya, kind of. Could you make me this dragon?" Neil asked nervously, handing Drethan a drawing

"Well, two out of three ain't bad" Drethan thought. Dragons. Always dragons. So many possibilities to pick from, millions of creatures, and they always picked creatures that didn’t even exist! (anymore, that is) But alas, it had to be done. He took the drawing and the measurements. The dragon was odd though. It was very short, had stubby legs, and a very long body. But the oddest part about it was its wings. There were four of them, and instead of flesh, it looked more like a bug's wings. Interesting.

"Ok, I'll see what I can do. It should be ready in a week." Drethan told him.

"Oh…OK…thank you" Neil replied.

"Ok, then. I'll see you two in a week then." Drethan replied, sending us on our way.

The week passed like any other. School was torture, Soccer was relief, and home was boring. Day turned to night, and night turned to day. Everything was normal. But little did I know, it would be the last normal week I had for a while.

I walked into "The Second Identity" with Neil and Gary, ready for my costume.

"I've been expecting you, I have your costumes right here." Drethan said, as he came out of the back room with two boxes.

"Thanks, How much do we owe you?" I said, fishing out my wallet.

"For now, nothing. Try them on first. I know I took measurements, but I get paranoid when it comes to my work. I always feel as if I made a mistake. So try them on and get back to me about the price." Drethan said, handing the boxes to the boys.

"Wow, you must really care about customer satisfaction!" I exclaimed

"You could say that" Drethan said, smirking. His customers always ended up satisfied.

"Ok, thanks!" I said.

"Thank you, sir" Neil said meekly.

We rushed out the door and headed for Neil's house. And for the first time in my life, I couldn’t wait to be picked up. I hid the costume in my backpack (mother gets worried about my "spending habits") I felt in control. I finally had control of my money, of my goals, of my thoughts. I was in control.

I got home, stripped down to my boxers, locked the door, closed the window, and opened the box. It was magnificent! Black fur everywhere on it. I felt so real. If I didn’t know any better I would have thought it to be a giant bat pelt. It didn’t even have a visible seam. I eventually found it on the belly of the beast. I put my newly acquired costume on. The legs felt a little loose, but if what Gary said is true, it should form fit. It felt like it was working already. I could feel it tightening. Maybe even a little to tight. It was odd; it felt like it was gluing itself to me. I looked down in curiosity to see a shocking sight. It was gluing itself to my skin! I started to feel the individual furs attaching to my feet! I started to freak out. It was bonding to me!? How is that possible!?

"Relax"

Someone was in my room. But how is that possible? I did everything I could to get privacy "Whose there!? Where are you!?" I said frantically

"I'm on you and I'm in your mind. You don’t need to make such a racket. Just 'think' at me. I'm the costume. Now relax. It will the transformation easier on both of us" It said.

"I didn’t ask for this! Why are you doing this!? Stop!" I thought even more frantically, with a hint of fear thrown in.

"I'm doing this for you. This is what you wanted. Now if you would relax, this coul-"

"This isn’t what I wanted! Not like this anyway! I want to be in control. And being forced to change takes all control away. Now, get off!" I "screamed" at it in my mind. And with that statement, the suit started to "un-bond" from me and the voice in my head started to fade away.

"How can this be!?" Drethan thought, still peering into his scrying pool. "Never has anyone been able to take off the costume mid-transformation (and everyone tried.) But wait, this might not be such a bad thing. This could really help my research. But the boy won't be able to come to my shop now in his current form. It's been so long since I had to make a 'house call', but it has to be done." And with that, Drethan transported to a secluded house in the mountains.