Psycho Gem

Chapter 4: Investigation

I decided to go back to realm: 30072 to dig up some more info on Tracks. His family background could give me more insight as to why his brain is mixed with someone else's. We teleported into another alleyway and Tracks did his best to suppress any grunts from the sensation like I told him to. Luckily no one noticed and we walked out into the town by his neighbourhood. We were walking down the main street when a girl started calling at Tracks.

"Oi, Tracks! Where the bloody hell have you been off to? Word 'round the block is you got taken to get exorcised in Italy!" she practically yelled at him.

'Goddammit. Can't this bitch just go away?' I thought to myself.

"By the way who the hell are you?" she said, turning to me.

I was completely caught off guard by the question as I hadn't come up with a believable alibi yet, but then Tracks cut in. "He's my spiritual monitor. He'll be sticking close to me for a spell to see if I have any more 'demonic outbreaks'." I was immediately impressed by this kid's quick thinking.

The girl squinted at me. "Oh... right then. Anyway, your parents have been worried sick. They certainly haven't been keeping quiet about it. Everyone in the town knows about what's goin' on with you!"

'You've gotta be fucking kidding me. EVERYONE is aware of Tracks' supposed "exorcism"? How stupid were those parents?' I said in my head. Tracks sighed and started walking away.

"I'll have a chat with my folks and cool 'em down. See you around." he said back to the girl as I began to follow him.

"Who was that?" I asked him as we were walking. "Your girlfriend?"

"No. She's just a friend of mine."

"Judging by what she said it'd seem you're pretty well known around these parts."

"Well, my dad's the chief of the bottle 'N stoppers, so yeah I'd say I'm pretty popular."

"Your tone says that you're not happy about that."

"Never been much of a goody two shoes. I've been caught in the act on more than one occasion. My pot n' pan's a tight-assed wanker and my finger 'n thumb's a fuckin' religious hack. So I'm-" Tracks was about to go off on a tangent before I stopped him.

"Look I know it's a habit but ease off on the slang I have no idea what the hell you're saying." I said, popping a piece of gum in my mouth.

Tracks scoffed and pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. He was about to light one when I pulled the cig and pack out of his hands.

"Kid, you're 15." I said as I tossed them into a trash bin I passed. "Your lungs are kind of important."

I could hear Tracks curse at me under his breath

"By the way, that was some quick thinking back there, covering our asses. Why did you do that?" I asked.

"Well, with how secretive you were when you first came here and what I've seen you do, I take it people aren't supposed to know about what's really goin' on?"

'He deduced that? Clever little bastard.' I thought to myself. "Yeah that's the simplified version."

We arrived on his street and started walking towards his house. Tracks knocked on the locked door but nobody answered. Tracks pulled out his key and opened the door, calling for his parents.

"They're probably out for the day. What exactly are we looking for?" Tracks asked as I began searching through the house.

"I don't really know. I guess I'll know when I find it. Something that connects to what we've seen. Maybe there's some underlying cause we can find insight to." I said as I went through Tracks' stuff, making a mess of his room.