The End

2. Well, Fuck

Dan's POV:

I surprise them. My mum almost jumps out of her skin. My dad's eyes widen. Guilt is plastered on both of their faces.  

"Oh my gosh, Dan!" says my mum, putting a hand to her heart. "You could have given me a heart attack!"

"Dan, what did you hear?" my dad asks warily.

"Mum, dad, what symptoms? I only heard the last bit. What were you guys talking about?" I ask, starting to get suspicious of them.

Mum and Dad glance at each other. 

"Daniel, its complicated. We-" my dad starts.

"Just tell him. He needs to know even if he isn't one. We can't keep hiding this from him," whispers my mum with a sigh.

"Fine... Dan, there is a big probability that you're a Protector," he says simply.

"Which means...," I gesture with my hands for him to elaborate.

"A Protector is basically like a guardian angel, sort of."

"So I'm an angel is what you're saying?" I ask trying not to laugh at how absurd what he is saying sounds.

"Dan, this is serious. Those dreams you're having are probably about the person you're suppose to be protecting. Everything that you're dreaming about has happened to that person," says my mum, giving me a disapproving look.   

That shuts me up completely. "You're kidding righ?"

They just stare at me. They're not joking.

"W-what? How... how am I going to help him? I can't. I mean, I can't even take proper care of myself and I have to protect another person who I don't even know!"

To be honest, I'm freaking out. There is a guy out there who actually got the shit beaten out of him by three other people just because they were homophobic. And I watched all of it—through a dream!

How am I going to find him?! He could be anywhere!

"Don't worry, Dan. Its almost like an instinct. Once you meet the person you'll know what to do. The only reason why you started having the dreams now is because the person is close. Maybe they'll go to the same school as you or live near us," says my dad calmly. He puts a hand on my shoulder.

"How do you even know about this?" I ask in disbelief.

"I know because I am one," he says proudly with a smile as he looks at my mum.

I am so confused right know. I-

My mum interrupts my thoughts. "Anyway, we'll come home extra early from work to explain more. Sorry, I didn't get to make your food. We have to go now or we'll be late. Goodbye, Daniel!" She comes over to me and kisses my forehead. Then, she picks up her business portfolio and pulls my dad out the door. "Love you!"

"See you later, Dan," says my dad before he closes the front door.

"Bye..." I say to the empty room.

I just stand there. All of this new information is making my head hurt. I didn't understand anything.

This is probably just another weird dream.  

I walk back to my room and decide to go back to sleep. It's too early in the morning for me to function.

I fall asleep wishing that this wasn't real.

***

I wake up to the sun shining through a small crack in the curtain and onto my face. I squint my eyes and get up to close it all the way. On my way to the window I grab my phone to check the time.

11:47 am.

I want to sleep more, but my stomach growls loudly.

Instead of closing the curtain I open it more and walk to my closet. I change into black sweatpants and a gray V-neck. Its not very hard to decide what to wear, considering that my wardrobe only consists of black, gray, and white. I don't like to call attention to myself.

I go to the restroom once again and brush my teeth.

I walk down the stairs and into the kitchen to make myself breakfast. I settle with just eating cereal since I'm too lazy to make anything else. I take my bowl into the living room and start watching some random cooking show.

When I finish eating, I decide to go back up to my room and unpack the rest of my boxes. There aren't very many left. My parents have been preparing to move for almost a month so the only things that need to be unpacked are my books and the little things like decorations.

We moved to London so my parents could be closer to work. They got 'promoted' or whatever. They never talk about their job, though. They say it doesn't matter. When I was younger I used to think they sold drugs because of how much money they were making. I laugh every time I think about that.  All I know about their job is that they help people.

Once I get to my room, I go to the corner where all the boxes are. Time to get unpacking.

Ugh.

***

"We're home!" I hear my mum say from the front door.

"And we have pizza!" adds my dad.

As soon as he finishes saying pizza, I run down the stairs to meet them. My mum doesn't like it when we order pizza. She says our refrigerator is filled with food, we just have to cook it.

"Pizza?! What's the special occasion? " I ask with a huge grin on my face.

She laughs. I follow her into the kitchen where they set the two boxes down and turn to me. "The special occasion is that there's a huge probability you're a Protector!"

"Oh," is all I say. My smile disappears.

I almost forgot about that.

"Cheer up, Dan. Being a Protector isn't as bad as you might think. Lets sit down and eat so I can explain everything," says my dad.

After about 30 minutes he finally finishes talking. He basically told me that I have to protect 'The One' even if it costs me my life. He said that Protectors are usually guys and the One is usually a girl, but in some special cases, like mine, they are not. He also said to be careful in who I trust because there are 'Wanderers' out there who want us, the Protectors, dead. These people were Protectors that have never found or lost the One so, they go crazy with envy and pain. Overall, it was all some creepy shit.

Well fuck.

I guess all I have to do now is find him. Easy, right?