The TALONS Files: the chronicles of telepathic agent Ryan Dart

Super Hyped...But Wait...

25

Martial Arts class was fun, and Ryan remembered much from his childhood. He was beat by Phong and Gunner during most of the sparring. However, he did earn a few points now and again.

After they were finished, wiping their faces with towels, Gunner said,

"Hey, you want to get a nice dinner. We can all go and eat and enjoy the evening. It is, after all, Saturday night."

"Sounds cool! Where are we going?" Ryan couldn't contain his excitement.

"The Walnut Room at the Northland Hotel."

"Whoa," Ryan said. "Isn't that pricey?"

"Yeah," Phong interjected, "but you were just paid two thousand dollars."

"I already spent most of it."

Phong laughed politely, "On what?"

'cool watch and flying hoodie' "Uh, I'd rather not say."

Phong studied Ryan suspiciously. "How much do you have left?"

"Four hundred."

"Still enough." Phong reassured. "You'll just have to not spend anymore. The meal shouldn't be much over a hundred. Heck, this Monday, you'll have another $4,000."

Ryan shrugged. "It just doesn't seam real."

Gunner showed off his electric smile, "Yeah, TALONS treats us like kings. Even if you didn't get paid Monday, IGTR and cafeteria food is not bad. But remember, there's a reason for that. Scam Likely is not a push over."

Phong nodded in a agreement, with raised eyebrows. "Definitely not."

"We'll meet at seven. Wear something nice." Gunner slapped Ryan's back.

Ryan checked his watch. It was 5:10, "Alright cool!" He said, trying not to look over excited.

* * *

As Ryan rode the elevator towards his apartment's floor, he couldn't help but let a tickling emotion take over. He was actually going out to eat with a group of friends. That never happened.

In school, while standing by his locker, he remembered how he enviously listened to classmates as they talked about their weekend plans. He hadn't dared showed interest, fearing how those people, who thought he was a psycho, would react.

He just payed attention to baseball, football and basketball games, hoping one day, those kids would see his worth and maybe, just maybe, they would invite him along.

Today, finally having the opportunity to do something he longed for, he was nervous. He didn't want to say the wrong thing, or do something stupid. With that in mind, he just wanted to have fun. He wanted everything that was going on, seeing how weird his life was, to melt away for and hour or two.

He didn't want to think about Scam Likely stabbing a gigantic Python in the head. He didn't want to think about Mai's disappointment in him. He didn't want to think about the rumors his former school was spreading about him.

He simply just wanted to joke around, eat good food, talk about his favorite bands, compare favorite movies, plus, maybe, some sports talk. He just wanted to be....normal, if just for a moment. As he practically pranced across the hall to his apartment, he realized that he was craving something that maybe never existed to anyone. Chloe's words came to him, What is normal?

Yet, before he was initiated in TALONS, Ryan felt that somehow he was left out. God left him out in the dark. Today would be different, he actually had more than one friend now. What's more, they were part of a cool secret agency that American's have been oblivious to for the past sixty years. Who needs normal, this was pretty awesome!

As he caught sight of his apartment door, those cheerful thoughts haltingly screeched, like tires on pavement, as if just before colliding with a semi-truck.

The opening to his home was not completely shut. There, with the sun glinting through a crease, Ryan sensed an intruder. As he assessed the entrance, uncertainty clouded his mind. Possibly, not likely, but possibly, he had absentmindedly left the door ajar.