Daemons in the Mist

Chapter 23 - In over My Head

23

In over My Head

Sunday, January 22nd

PATRICK

                        

The truth sat there on the screen, burning a hole into me.

I was fucked. I mean royally, totally, fucked. My marriage to Nualla wasn’t and had never been legal. And worse of all, no one in Nualla’s family had figured that out yet. Then something even worse occurred to me; I was a dead man. I was pretty sure that if the Grand Council found out I wasn’t legally married to Nualla they would have me executed. This was bad; this was way beyond bad.

And so as a normal, rational teenager, I did the first thing you do when you realize you’ve just royally screwed up. You curse really loudly, and then call your best friend.

Connor picked up on the second ring sounding distracted. “What’s up, Patrick?”

“I’m fucked,” I answered, leaning back in my chair and swinging it back and forth.

“How so?” That got his full attention. When I fucked up, I usually did it spectacularly.

“I majorly fucked up and—”

“Patrick, what on earth is the matter?” my mom asked from behind me.

I turned around to see her standing in the doorway of my room. I had been listening to music and had not even heard her come home. Crap, I needed a lie quick; I sorted through possible reasons why someone would yell expletives. “Nothing Mom, I just whacked my knee on my desk.”

“Oh, okay.”

I couldn’t really have the conversation with Connor I had intended on having, with my mother within earshot. I needed to get out of here. So I did the next thing you normally do when you’re a teenager who has just screwed up. I lied through my teeth. “Hey Mom, I’m gonna run to the convenience store, okay?”

“Alright, but don’t be out too late, it’s a Sunday,” she said in a typical motherly fashion, which coming from her, was a tad weird.

“No problem,” I said with the most reassuring voice I could muster. As she walked away, I whispered into the phone. “Meet me at the store in ten, ‘kay?”

“But it’s Sunday. The store is closed on Sundays,” Connor pointed out in a confused voice.

“Yes I know Connor, but does your mother know that?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“Well probably not, but—”

“It’s not even eight, Connor. Your mom won’t care if you go one block down the damn street,” I spat into the phone as quietly as I could.

“Good point. See you in ten,” Connor said quickly before hanging up the phone.

I took a deep breath as I descended the stairs. My mother had gone back to watching TV and probably wouldn’t notice how wound up I looked. Still, I tried to exit my house as casually as possible.

***

A little over ten minutes later I walked up to find Connor leaning up against the wall in front of the closed store. He pushed off from the wall as I arrived. “So what exactly did you fuck up this time? Last time I checked your life was looking peachy.”

“You’d think that, wouldn’t you,” I said sourly, leaning my head against the cold wall of the building behind me. “I just realized something tonight I should have realized a fucking week ago.”

“What?” Connor asked curiously.

“That my marriage to Nualla wasn’t legal,” I admitted with complete despair.

Connor looked confused. “Wait, how was it not—oh, right ‘cause your birthday’s not till next month.”

“Exactly,” I said, closing my eyes. I couldn’t believe I had been this stupid.

“So just tell her. If she didn’t really want to marry you, she’s off the hook. And if she did want to marry you, then you can just marry her again in a month. Girls love weddings.”

“I can’t.”

“Patrick—”

“No, I mean I can’t tell her,” I said, looking at Connor.

“Why?” he asked, looking confused.

“It’s…complicated,” I answered, avoiding his eyes.

“What is it, her family or something?”

“No, they know.”

“Your family?” Connor asked, arching his eyebrows.

“No, there’s no way in hell I would tell them about this. But no, that’s not it.”

“Then what?” Connor asked, sounding exasperated.

I opened my mouth to answer then realized I couldn’t tell him the truth. If I did, they would have to kill him. As it was, they would probably have to kill me. I was going to have to lie. And I really sucked at lying, especially to people who actually knew me as well as Connor did.

I slammed my head back against the building and stared up at the cloudy sky. It would probably start raining any minute, and I had left my umbrella at home.

Great, just great.

I settled for a believable lie, if I strayed too far from the truth he would spot it. “She’s everything I’ve ever wanted and now that I have her I…I don’t want to lose her.” I looked back over at him. “I’m afraid that if she knew the truth she wouldn’t have a reason to be with me anymore.” It wasn’t a total lie, but I hoped it would fool Connor.

“Dude, why do you think she wouldn’t want to be with you?” Connor asked, looking genuinely concerned for my mental state.

I pushed off the wall and practically yelled, “Have you seen her? She’s gorgeous and smart and…and perfect. And there’s no way a guy like me gets this lucky twice.” I leaned back against the wall again, dejected. Even I was starting to believe my own lie. But it hadn’t really been a hard sell; why would she want to be with someone like me in the first place when she could have anyone?

I slid down the wall to sit on the ground. Seconds passed in silence and sure enough, big fat drops started to fall from the sky.

Finally Connor spoke. “Patrick—man you are way too hard on yourself.”

He had believed the lie, hook, line, and sinker. But I guess it was easy to lie when it was mostly based on the truth. Aside from the supernatural stuff and my impending death what I had said had been the truth, really.

“You know you have to tell her, right?” Connor said, his hands in his pockets.

“I know. I’m just not ready yet,” I answered as I looked away from him back down the street. “I just want to stay in this dream as long as I can.” Even if it was a hopeless dream.

After a few minutes of silence, Connor looked at his phone. “Look Patrick, I have to get back and finish that paper for Miss Desborne’s class. Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” I lied. It was starting to rain in earnest now.

“You sure?” he asked mostly unconvinced.

“Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow, ‘kay?”

“‘Kay,” he said reluctantly, and then he turned and ran back down Mission Street.

Eventually I got up and started my walk back home, but not before I was soaked to the bone. I felt worse than I had before, if that was possible.