Episode 18: A Luminous Spell
It was another typical day so far for Matt. He sat with his class, along with other classes that belonged in the same physical education period. Jen was talking to Stan, pointing at all the whereabouts nearby them. Jen whispered, “See that guy? I want to run just as fast as him. So far I’m almost through with eight minutes. Sometimes I get in the high seven minutes. You think I can catch up to him?!”
Stan sighed, “He is almost reaching five minutes, Jen.”
Jen pouted, “Hmph! I don’t care. He’s not faster than a Kenyan now is he?”
“Kenyan?”
“You don’t know? I barely learned that Kenyans run in four minutes on a mile. Actually, I heard it from Danny. Who knows where Danny gets his strange information. He just knows useless things.”
“It’s not useless to you.” Stan corrected.
Jen blushed, “Wha? W-Whatever, hehe.” After she looked around for awhile, she began to look up into the sky, “H-Hey! What is that?” She pointed. Matt turned his head with attention as he saw Jen pointing at the sky. He became very surprised.
Matt said in a panic, “What is it?! Stop!” Matt covered Jen’s eyes as he thought, “(Oh no. That can’t be. If she saw what was near the sun, then she’ll eventually get powers, making me become revealed. She’ll become super mad now-…)”
Jen grabbed Matt’s hand and swooshed them away, “Matt, what is wrong with you? I was talking about that pigeon. It has one leg. The other just looks like some peg of a pirate or something. What exactly was it?”
Matt gave a huge sigh and he answered her, “Heh… who knows? It’s not something you should be-… Huh?!” Something seemed to appear in his mind. The thought was shocking.
Jen tilted her head, “Hm? What is it now, Matt?”
Matt stood up, “That pigeon…” His eyes grew larger. He started remembering. “That pigeon is…”
“Is…?” Jen waited.
“My pigeon.” Matt said. Jen gasped in surprise.
Jen said with amazement, “What?! You can tell?”
Matt pointed at the pigeon that was sitting on the top of the large building now, “Yeah. Who can’t tell between a pigeon with one leg and another with two legs? And besides, the pigeons in this school are darkish gray, or almost black. The ones I had were white.”
Jen questioned him, “What do you mean ‘had’? It’s not your pigeon anymore or what?”
Matt looked down with a frown, “No… it’s a long story. Actually…”
~~~
Two years ago…
Matt was playing Final Fantasy X on his Playstation 2 that he recently received from the past Christmas. He paused the game so he can find some information on the website regarding the game. With the sound paused for the time being, he heard his parents talking. He saw his short mother, and his long-haired father in the backyard. They both looked serious. Matt came closer to his window, so he could hear them more clearly.
His mother shook her head, speaking in Vietnamese, “No, honey. We’re moving in a few months, AND our son is barely going to start his years in middle school. Let’s not trouble him as much because it only gets tougher from there. I want him to focus more on his homework and such. And with these pigeons, I don’t know.”
Matt’s father responded, “What’s wrong with them? There’s only about twenty-five pigeons.” Matt’s mother stared at his father with a serious face until his father decided, “Alright, fine.”
Matt watched them, blinking innocently, “Huh? What are they talking about?”
A few days later… Matt was happily picking the chili off his parents’ plants. He asked his mother, “I didn’t know they were finished growing, mom! They’re a bit small though.”
His mother smiled with sweat on her forehead, “Heh heh… yeah.” She went to his father as they started whispering.
Matt could still hear them. Matt pretended he did not notice. Matt’s father pointed at Matt, “What are you making him do? It’s pointless.”
Matt’s mother answered him, “It’s pointless to have our son pick the chili? He loves picking them. This will be the last time he gets to do that until we move away. Even if it’s not able to be harvested yet, we’ll just let him. There’s no use of the chili anyway. Now, next is the pigeon cage. Do you have the big box?”
Matt did not understand much of their Vietnamese but he knew his parents were talking about putting the pigeons in a cage. Matt watched as his father got a giant cage. His father opened the pigeon door as they were all flying everywhere.
His father yelled, “They’re out of control! Damn it!!” After a few seconds, he said, “There’s just one more! Hehe.” The pigeon instead flew towards the bottom and went through the cage, along with passing through his legs. He struggled with the cage, “Argh, damn it!” He closed the cage and looked up at the sky where that last pigeon had flown towards, “That’s only one pigeon. I guess it’s… goodbye.”
Matt’s mother placed her arms around Matt’s father’s arms, “It’s alright. You’re doing the right thing. We need to give them to the pet agency…”
~~~
Back in the present time, Matt said to Jen, “My dad really loved animals. He loved feeding chickens, pigeons, and dogs. I don’t know what happened to all of his chickens. He last had them when I was barely going to school and our dogs disappeared all the sudden. Now, he has to give up the last of his pets. That pigeon up there… It must have been following me.”
Jen gave a kind smile at him then she looked up at the pigeon, “I see…” She waved at the pigeon, “Hey! I am Matt’s friend! Hehe!”
Matt crossed his arms, “What the heck? Why are you waving and saying ‘hi’ to a pigeon? I was just kidding about it following me. It must be here for food just like the other pigeons.”
Jen gave Matt an annoyed expression, “Tch. How embarrassing.”
Both Matt and Jen were walking away from the pigeon’s view. The pigeon watched as Matt was leaving. It tilted its head as if it was confused.
~~~
It was lunch time for the first period. Matt was holding onto his lunch tray as he was heading towards the bulletin board where his friends were. He was peacefully walking until he suddenly tripped on a rolling ball. Matt fell to the ground with all of his food everywhere, “Ah! Ergh… is this what happens when I have to bring a tray of food outside for once just because the cafeteria was closed for some stupid food fight? Geez!” He looked at the rolling ball, “It’s a perfect circle. And it’s a bit shiny.” He picked it up and held it onto his hands, “It’s a perfect fit when I clench it too. Hehe.” He looked around as he placed it in his pockets.
Matt knelt down to get all of his food but the stone in his pocket was stopping him from easily kneeling down. He took the stone and placed it next to him. He started to put all of the food back together as he stood up with the tray, “It’s a bit dirty though…” He gave a pause then he suddenly decided, “Well, Danny will like eating this.” He was about to walk but he stopped to remember about the stone. He looked down but it was gone, “Huh? That’s strange… Did it roll away?” He looked around for the stone by rumbling through bushes, dirt, and plants.
ShirleyC kicked Matt on the face really hard. Matt fell over and he started to groan, “Nooo, ow! Ow, ow! What was that for?!”
ShirleyC threw her backpack at him, “Oh I don’t know. Just because of the fact that you are crawling all over the place for who knows what?”
Matt got up and he scratched his head, “Eheh, actually, I found a cool rock or something. It’s gone all the sudden.”
Shirley stared at him then she said slowly, “You’re… crawling all over the place… for a rock…?”
Matt stared at Shirley as well then he suddenly walked away with his food, “Yeah, anyway…”
~~~
In Matt’s sixth period class, Matt began staring outside the window while the class was watching a video. He had to turn around in order to look outside the window. However, Santi was disturbed to see Matt in the corner of his eye, looking as if he was staring at Santi. Santi looked at Matt as he thought, “(Why does he keep looking at me?)” He slowly moved his head away but Matt’s eyes were not moving. Santi poked Matt’s forehead, “What are you looking at?”
Matt pointed at the pigeon outside the window, “Look. That pigeon’s been following me all day. This is probably the fifth time or something. What is it trying to tell me?”
Santi looked at the pigeon, “It has one leg…”
The English teacher said kindly, “Oh my goodness. Matthew, please try to pay attention. Now’s not the time to stare at Santiago’s face.” She smiled at Matt so that Matt would not feel embarrassed.
Matt turned around, “But I wasn’t-…”
“Nuh uh uh!” Shirley said evilly, “Heh heh heh!”
Matt said quietly, “Tch, what’s your problem?”
Santi whispered to Matt, “Hey, hey, what was with the pigeon anyway? What’s the big deal?”
Matt had an idea, “Later, can you help me with something?”
“Something?”
“Yeah, um… I want to rewind the pigeon’s existence a little bit. I want you to vision me where it lost its leg.”
“You know I can’t do that. I can rewind on them but I can’t simply show you a vision of them.” Santi laid back on his seat.
Matt begged, “Aw, why not? Just try it!”
“I told you, I can’t.”
Matt became sad. He took a look at the pigeon again but it was gone. The stone was there instead. Matt got off his seat as he ran to the window, “There it is!” He took the stone.
His English teacher murmured, “Oh goodness. What is it now, mister?”
Matt chuckled a little as he put the stone in his pocket. Santi raised an eyebrow with uncertainty, “You’re going to keep a rock?”
Matt showed Santi the stone, “It’s no ordinary rock! It’s…” Suddenly, Matt was in shock, “It’s a stone that appears whenever the pigeon is not there…” Matt took a closer look at the stone. He poked it a few times as it started to shine. “Do you think this pigeon is trying to tell me something?”
“How should I know? You’re the one being obsessed with one-legged pigeons.”
“It’s not like that!” Matt yelled. He stared at the stone again, “Something… it’s something… Hey!” He smiled while looking into the stone, “You can faintly see my old house in this stone. This is where the pigeon used to live. I remember that it occasionally comes back to visit us.”
Santi joked, “Maybe it wants you to come back and live with it.~”
Matt clenched his fists with pride, “That’s it! Hehe, I’m going to visit my old house after school!”
“Old house? How far did you used to live…?”
Matt said bluntly, “Right across the park, which is less than a block from here.”
Santi scratched his head, “Ah… and how far did you move?”
“Oh I don’t know, probably like over a mile away.”
“WHY DID YOU MOVE THEN?”
The English teacher stood up, “Santiago! Please, not you too.” She gave him a smile.
Matt whispered, “Geez, I can never tell when she’s angry.”
“Same here.” Santi replied.
~~~
Matt, Santi, ShirleyC, and Yessenia stood in front Matt’s house. Matt told his friends, “It’s here. I’m sure it is.”
Shirley shook, “Uh, um… you should go. We’ll wait here. It’s kind of awkward for us to go with you. We never been here.”
Matt rolled his eyes, “(Excuses. I don’t live here anymore so even I don’t have the authority.)” Matt waved at them, “Fine. I’ll go see the pigeon for a bit.”
Yessenia yawned, “Blah… I am tired. Why am I here?”
Santi answered her, “He wanted to show us but apparently Shirley is too scared.”
Yessenia walked ahead, “Alright then, I’ll go.” Santi followed her.
Shirley stuttered, “Hah? W-Wait for me! Argh.”
Matt’s three friends hid behind a wall to watch him. Matt climbed up a ladder that he found against a wall, “How convenient. Maybe the new people knew you come here often and so they decided to use a ladder to come up here and feed you, huh? Well, I’m comin’ up.” He got to the rooftop and he thought in his mind, “(I hope the new people don’t see me. Hehe.)”
The one-legged pigeon stared at him. Matt spoke to it, “I know it’s crazy to talk to the pigeon, but here I am.” Matt placed his face near it, “You really do remember me, right?” The pigeon came closer. It rubbed it’s head on Matt’s cheek as it started shining. Matt peered away some inches, “H-Huh?” The stone flew out of Matt’s pocket on its own. The pigeon was vanishing as its soul was pouring into the stone, “No…”
Matt came back down and his three friends had a serious expression. Matt frowned, looking at the stone, “I guess it was time for it to go, but it gave me this as a gift before it passed away…” Matt washed away his tears. He poked the stone and a fireball came out of it. Matt watched in awe, “Look you guys, it gave me some sort of blessing!”
~~~
---- Next chapter preview:Matt: On the next chapter, Danny is treated like the bad guy! Even though he kind of... destroyed the school grounds awhile back when I first met him.
Danny: I'm serious! This is some scary stuff. Please help me!
Yessenia: I will. Matt is useless.
Danny: Y-YOU will...? That makes me feel so much better!
Matt: (What the heck?) Next chapter, The Accusation Towards Danny!
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