Shot in the Dark (book 2 of the Storm Chasers series)

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Crow almost dropped his backpack, tired from the trip.

"When will we be back, Raven? Ayyyy, I'm tired," Crow whined.

"It's not that much longer. You'll be ok," Raven nonchalantly said.

Crow huffed, looking up. He could see their apartment building in the distance. Crow ran, excited at being so close to their destination. When they got there, he jabbed in the key and flung open the door.

"Mi casa! Oh, I missed you," Crow exclaimed, tearing up. "My guitar!" He ran to his room and threw his bag on the floor. Crow lovingly patted his guitar, before lightly putting it on the floor and throwing himself onto his bed.

"Ayyyyyy, this is paradise," Crow sighed. He closed his eyes in relief, glad his aching bones could have some rest. He glanced at the calendar on his wall, and saw that it was Stormsday. 'It took over three days? Dios Mio..' Crow threw his head back down on his pillow.

He closed his eyes, breathing the air. This moment felt oddly calm to him. It reminded him of something.

"I am so proud of you, hijo. You never stop amazing me," his mom complemented, her hand on Crow's cheek.

"Thank you, mom. I'm going to make dad proud," Crow said, tearing up.

"You always did. Now go and finish that lazy man's job, ok?"

"I will, mom. Thank you for being there for me."

"Thank you for being a good son. Now go scare some storms, bien?"

"Si. Te amo."

"Te amo."

Crow came out of his memory. He sighed, getting up and opening his diary. He pulled out a sloppy drawing he made of his mom when he was younger.

"Me haces mucha falta. I'll see you again some day, mom. I just have to get some money, first," Crow whispered. He got up and went to the kitchen, heating up something to eat.

"How am I supposed to help shut down the power grid? I'm nowhere near smart enough to do this. How is mom going to see me for this?" Crow's guts hit the floor. "Is she going to hate me? No, she never would. Worse, I'm going to disappoint her. Aye, no..."

"I think you'll be fine," Raven said, scaring the lights out of Crow. "She probably cared about you a lot if she told you stories."

"Yeah, but she wouldn't want me getting in trouble."

"Then you can gloss over those details."

"And lie to my mom? That's even worse!"

"You have to choose one."

Crow looked down in thought. He breathed in deeply and suddenly was brought back to reality by the smell of smoke.

"DIOS MIO, no no no no- Porque no, no-"

"And I still let you near the stove," Raven sighed.

"Look, hombre. I can cook if I want to!"

"You said that a few times ago. Let me help clean that up."

"Fine. But only because you said that politely."

"I didn't really."

"Don't make me rethink this."

"And let me get off the hook from doing work?"

"Yes!...I just realized how faulty that is."

"And you got there. I watched your brain cells compute that to each other."

Crow huffed and started scrubbing the pot furiously. He occasionally glanced at Raven angrily, who was calmly pulling food out of the fridge. Crow rolled his eyes, calming himself down. He finished cleaning the pot and put it away, grabbing some plates for the both of them. He set them on the table, when he heard a furious knock on the door.

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Raven jumped slightly, then he took a deep breath. Crow answered the door, fist balled up.

"I am assuming you boys took a trip, huh?" Felidae asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Look, man-" Crow tried to explain.

"No, I get it. I used to do it in my days. Although, I didn't end up unscathed. Where did you two go?"

"Hydrosteel."

"Nice. Exploring your roots and stuff."

"Why are you here?"

"Seeing if you guys want to get back to work tomorrow. We need your help, you know."

"Aye! We will. Sorry."

"I'm not mad. Just disappointed you didn't tell me. Either way, get some rest. I better see you two early tomorrow."

"Yes, Felid-"

"Call me Feli. I'm tired of the formalities. I may be old, but I appreciate efficiency."

"Ok, Feli. Goodnight."

Felidae nodded and left, and Crow slowly closed the door.

"What-" Crow asked.

"Was that? I don't know," Raven finished.

"Wow, you don't know something for once."

"What can I say? People confuse me sometimes."

Crow nodded slowly, still looking at the door, before sitting down in his chair. He looked up at Raven as he put some reheated omelets on his plate. Crow gave a questioning look.

"It was all I could find, Ok? Besides, you ate the rest of the fruit on the trip back," Raven chided.

"It was good fruit! It would've gone bad if I didn't eat it!" Crow exclaimed.

"An excuse. Eat up, you won't sleep well hungry."

"You're not my dad."

"Do you even have one?"

Crow gave Raven a look of hurt. "I do, thank you very much."

"Or you did."

"Why are you bringing this up?"

"You kept referring-"

"You keep my dad's name out of your rusty mouth, Bien? I don't want to hear you talk about him ever again. If you do, estás muerto."

"I don't even know-"

Crow glared at him angrily, and Raven decided to keep his mouth shut. Crow scarfed down his omelet before storming to his room and slamming the door. Raven cringed at the sound.

"And yet, you can be the most difficult to talk to," Raven said to himself. He finished eating his omelet, before going to his room to sleep for the night.

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