A Mythichaotic 90s Tale

XXVIII. The Research

Meg

"Ho ho ho!" I greet everyone once I enter Cafe Julita. Standing there were my friends, including Kevin's parents, Sol's guardian, and the Christmas tree.

I hug them one-by-one.

"Do I see gifts? Yes, I do!" Zack stated showing his excitement. When there are gifts, there's Zack.

We arranged the chairs in a circle for the gift giving. Since Zack can't wait for his, I brought out a pair Nike socks that I bought on sale for him.

The next wrapper that I grabbed from my bag was the smallest. I handed it to Robyn and she squealed once she opened it. It was a Fetish Lip Gloss that she always borrows from me. She can totally afford it but as she says, 'enjoy more if you have more.' She only buys the expensive kinds.

"This one, I totally went to find." I said while handing Kevin the Space Jam vinyl. I didn't get to give him a birthday present so I had to give him something special.

"Last but not the least." I smiled as I gave Sol the heaviest one. Her lips parted as she opened the scrapbook. On the first page, I pasted a film of the five of us that was captured during our day in the beach.

They all thanked me but I couldn't forget the adults. I baked each of them a box of cookies.

"Food's gonna get cold, kids." Kevin's mom said as she went out of the kitchen holding a pot of pasta.

The adults were on a separated table from us. We had two bottles of beer that they agreed for the five of us to share.

I grabbed a cup and filled it before distributing to them.

"Here." I gave Sol who was beside me.

"I don't need it right now." She smiled. I smiled back since I thought not to ruin the mood by talking to her. At least for once, we can act normal like there's no problem at all.

"But you do." She added. I followed to where she was looking and there was Halle outside the window, without Red nor Stan beside her.

I looked at Papa at the other table and he also glanced at her way before mine but immediately shrugged. He didn't want me being associated with them, and by them, I meant other people who are not normal, like me, at first.

When he found out that she killed my dad, he didn't care. He didn't say nor do anything. Heck he didn't even tell me to unfriend her. I did that on my own. Papa never liked my dad after all.

I sighed before standing up to go to her, "I don't want to ruin the Christmas Spirit."

"So do I." She said looking down on the floor. I sat down beside her on the bench outside the cafe.

"Remember Christmas two years ago?" She asked while I nodded silently.

"I miss that." She said, "Last year, I just stayed home reminiscing about my first sixteen Holidays. Well, technically, not the very first ones because I can't remember baby memories."

I laugh shortly.

"I'm sorry." She finally said. It was the first time I heard it from her.

"You don't have to be." I said. It's the truth. It's just both of our prides in the way.

"Seriously?" There goes the real, sassy Halle the I know.

"I'm sorry if I was waiting for your sorry. I mean, I knew how to live without a father but to lose one in front of you and it was your bestfriend who did that? It was too.... overwhelming." I explained.

"I know. I didn't know how to control myself." She defended and I knew it was the truth.

"At least now, we're okay." I told her which made her look at me and smile. She waited for seconds before hugging me tight.

"I miss you." I said.

"My dad left my mom when he knew that she was a witch. He never accepted her and days later, when he was to divorce her, he found out that she was pregnant. I can almost hear him in my mom's tummy saying that his blood is running in a monster's body." I told the story that I kept to myself in a long time.

That's the reason he started using drugs and my mom was sick, as well as my grandpa. My father never did anything. When I was born, she died.

"He's a dick. You're not a monster." She comforted.

"He proved one thing right though, people go crazy because of creatures like us." I said while remembering what I found out earlier in my book, "Like the Perturbateurs."

A long time ago, there was a scientist who was offered by a lone wolf to an Alpha. Offering was a way to get into a pack. The scientist didn't want to die and he sold his life into doing anything for the Alpha. Wolves hated witches. The only magic that can strife supernatural magic is through Science. Perturbateurs are servants to the wolves.