Danny Flash and the Alien Crash

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

The man with the mole, AKA Mr. Not-So-Nice, was born Eugene Barstool. Don't worry, I'm not going to go into a long history of his life. I wouldn't know it even if I tried. I knew that his last name was Barstool because as I looked up at him, as he guided me down the hall, the word Barstool was imprinted on a nametag sewn into his shirt. As we passed a set of guards one of them nodded their heads, and said, "Eugene." And so, I was able to put the two together; Eugene Barstool.

Eugene Barstool had icy hands. He placed one on my shoulder, his thumb pressed up against my neck, sending shivers down my spine.

"Where are we going?" I managed to get out.

"You'll see," Eugene Barstool said, with a smirk on his face. His tone was light, almost parent-like, which made it all the more creepy. It reminded me of a time when I asked my Mom what was for dinner, and she had the same response, in the same almost sing-songy tone.

I glanced over at Penny, her eyes were glued to the floor. I diverted my gaze to Andrew, he fidgeted with his thumbs, pretending like he was peeking at something under his thumbnail. Neither looked ready to take charge of the situation, so I came to the conclusion that I would.

I racked my brain for the different magic words my little alien friend had taught me.

Zap-Zapple was the first word to come to mind, but that just meant apple as far as I knew, and I was pretty certain there was nothing magical about apples. I mean, a seed turning into a delicious fruit was kind of magic in its own way, but... I was getting distracted.

What else? Would I even be able to do magic without my magic wand? I quickly came to the realization that I'd probably have to use, as my dad would say, an old school approach to this problem. I simply stopped walking.

"What are you doing?" Eugene Barstool asked.

"I'm stopping."

"Why?" Mr. Not-So-Nice Barstool asked, his voice had quickly shifted from "parent" to "angry parent."

"Because I don't want to go to wherever it is you're taking us," I shot back. My voice sounded braver than I felt. I looked over to Penny and Andrew, who were now more interested in what I was saying and doing, than some imaginary thing on the floor or under their fingernail.

"Why must you think I'm brining you somewhere bad," Eugene Barstool said, trying to sound as smooth as an ironed shirt.

"I just want you to bring my sister here to us, then we'll go back and get my Mom and Dad and we'll leave."

"Just like that?" he asked.

"Well..." I responded. "Once you bring back my little alien friend as well." I glanced at Penny, to see how she reacted to the word alien. She seemed fine.

"I'm afraid that's not an option. Especially that last one." Eugene crouched down low, so his face was just a few inches from mine. His breath smelt like barbeque chips. "Here's how it's going to go down." He grinned now, but there was no happiness in it. "I'm going to bring you to your sister. You're going to have your happy reunion. Then I'm going to wipe your brains of the last 48 hours. It's not a very complicated procedure, though there are sometimes complications. Do you know what I mean by that?"

I shook my head, no, because that was the most honest thing I could do.

"Sometimes, we mean to wipe your memory for 48 hours, but sometimes, maybe it wipes more than that. Sometimes maybe 48 years. We're doing it to your parents right now. Hope it works out for them." His grin shifted now to a frown, which oddly had more joy in it than his smile. This man was creeping me out. "So, let's start walking again, and get this over with. There must be some comfort in knowing that you won't remember any of this, right?"