Heart Pangs

Chapter 11 - The Scorpion

Felix waits until it's nearly lunch to go downstairs and face his parents. It's enough time to feel confident in his story that he was able to digest the man overnight. No way in hell is he ever going to tell his parents he let the man go. But it's agonizing sitting in his room with an empty stomach for several more hours.

His father goes wide-eyed when he sees Felix. His mother's mouth falls ajar.

"That's very unusual," his father comments as Felix makes a sandwich with shaky hands. He barely has the patience to assemble meat and cheese on top of bread. He wants to devour everything in the kitchen, but he's supposed to have just finished the most filling meal of his life. Looking too hungry too soon will definitely rouse his parents' suspicions.

"It's amazing," Felix's mother gushes. "I always knew you'd take after your father." Then she looks to her husband. "Don't you think he'd do well working in the Facility with you?"

Felix nearly drops the knife he's holding. Working at the Facility? With his father?

Felix's father looks at him with a calculating gaze. "He'd make a star disposer, that's for sure. And if he can learn enough control, an extractor too."

Felix keeps his eyes down. He's finished making his sandwich. Now all his concentration goes into taking slow, normal sized bites.

"If you enjoyed that, perhaps you can order your prey legally next time," Felix's mother tells him.

"I thought you had to be eighteen to do that," Felix says between bites, trying to keep his voice as even as possible.

His mother waves a dismissive hand. "Yes, I meant we would order one for you and once we have the prey, you can consume it legally with our permission."

Felix's next bite goes down like a lump in his throat. "I wouldn't mind waiting until I'm eighteen," he manages, keeping his voice as pragmatic as possible. "It hurt a lot more than I was expecting. Besides, I don't think I should do it again so soon after snapping down that random prey man from the street. It might look bad."

Felix's parents grow very still.

"Prey man on the street?" Felix's mother repeats, her voice an octave higher.

"Yeah," Felix says slowly. He's playing dumb. "Who else would it be?"

Felix's mother blinks several times. His father is stony faced.

"No— no one, of course," Felix's mother finally manages. "I shouldn't make assumptions like that."

Felix's father leans forward. "Felix, did anyone see you consume that man?"

"No," Felix answer comes out sounding surprisingly confident.

"And is there any way someone could trace this prey man's disappearance back to you?"

Felix hopes his voice sounds just as confident when he replies, "No, of course not."

His father considers him for a long moment. Finally he eases back and says, "Most likely, this won't be a problem. At least as long as this is a one-off situation. And if anything comes to light, I'll make sure it gets shut down quickly."

Felix flickers a small smile. "Thank you," he says.

That's one thing he can check off his list of 'things he does not want to do.' There's only one item left on that list and Felix already knows it's going to be much harder to check.

Benji tries to contact Felix later that day, but he ignores his calls. He doesn't know what to say to Benji yet. He doesn't have an excuse to give him if he wants to hang out again. And Felix doesn't yet know how he's going to explain everything. It seems unreal that they had been together less than twenty-four hours ago.