Chapter 5
Maybe You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone
The next day at school felt like an eternity for Chris. All he could think about were the visions Shyra had showed him. He had always been considered weird, and people thought of him as a freak, but he knew better. He was about to save the world. In his mind, he was the ultimate galactic defender. He ignored the usual harassment he suffered at the hands of his peers with a smile on his face. Finally, the school bell rang, and Christian ran home too excited to remember he took the bus to school. It was his senior year, and he didn't have any friends, so there was no one to say good-bye to.
Hours later, he arrived at his front door winded. He came from a small, overprotective Spanish family. His mom stayed at home to look after his brothers and sisters, while his father usually got home around eight-thirty in the evening. He still wasn't sure how Dimitri was going to pull this off, but he had no choice but to trust him. He stepped through the door and greeted his mom, Gabriella, with a kiss on the cheek.
"Hey, Mom," he said.
"Hi, baby. How was school? Make any new friends today?" she asked. "Something like that," he said to her. "I have a lot of homework to do, so I'm going to go upstairs for a while. Okay?"
"You mean you're not gonna head to the comic book store first? You feeling okay?"
"Yes, Mom, I feel fine," he responded back to her as he sprinted up the steps. Carlos and Mary, his little brother and sister, ran past him down the steps as they chased each other. Christian also had an older brother named Pietro, but they couldn't be more different from each other if they tried. Pietro had his choice of any girl at school and was one of the best defensive linemen on the varsity football team. It wasn't that Christian really cared about being the middle child, but he hated living in his older brother's shadow. It was a very simple formula to Christian—whatever Pietro did, Christian did the polar opposite.
It was a miracle Christian had his own room when he thought about it. He used to share a room with his older brother, but Pietro wanted more space so he moved into their over-sized attic. That way, he could have some privacy and leave Christian to his own devices, which suited Christian just fine. Tonight is the night my real life begins, Christian thought. He could hardly contain himself. He went straight to packing the essentials. He grabbed a few clothes, underwear, a toothbrush, and, of course, his first-edition comic books. There was no way he was going to leave those in the destructive hands of his younger siblings.
After an hour, he was all set, but his father, Isaac, had not yet come home. Time never moved so slowly for Chris. What was the point of doing homework if he was leaving to go fight evil aliens? Slowly but steadily, time progressed, and his father arrived home. This was also about the time Dimitri said he would come back. Christian could feel the knots in his stomach getting tighter.
Christian ran downstairs to greet his father. His dad didn't speak perfect English, so he always spoke to him in Spanish.
"Bendiciones, Papá," he said.
"Dios te lo bendiga, Christian," his father replied. "¿Como estas?"
"Estoy bien, Papá. ¿Y tú?"
"Bien bien."
It was a very subtle greeting and exchange, asking for the day's blessing between father and son, and yet the love came across clear every time. Christian had a lot of respect for his father who had come to the United States with nothing but made something with his life and now supported his wife and four children. Christian headed back upstairs to wait for Dimitri. He passed the time by reading one of his favorite comic books, but not long after, he heard a tap on the window. Chris sprang up and unlatched the window only to receive a pebble to the forehead.
"Dammit. Ow! That freaking hurt!" he shouted. All the way from the ground he heard a faint, "My bad."
"Whatever, just come up here." Dimitri climbed the fire escape and entered Christian's window pane dressed in a ridiculous outfit.
"And who are you supposed to be?" Christian asked.
"I'm the army recruiter here to take you away, so you can better serve your country." Dimitri must have found some costume store, because he was dressed up in Army fatigue and donned a fake mustache with a five o'clock shadow.
"You're joking, right? That's never going to work. They're already super pissed about the broken window from our fight. I'm grounded."
