Days Gone By

Day 1 The ever-burning sun brightly lit up the hallways of the simple public school in which youthful children filled with hustle and bustle of a typical day. Friends congregated, girls gossiped, teachers took the time after classes to rebuttal students amongst themselves, and also… bullies were taking this chance to enliven themselves and hone their craft of mistreatment of others, to have a bland sense of authority in a world they truly have no control over. However, for the time being, it seemed like the only way to have some type of ‘real power’ so they ensued, and pursued the acts of small-time violence upon the typical ‘fly on the wall’ types of other children. The ones that were different, the ones like Danny Hues and his very few friends. You know the type of kids, the socially awkward types that delve into the pieces of society that humans as a whole find unusual and strange. Pen and paper games, computer games, those types of kids that don’t take well to the outside world because they are busy exploring it through all angles on the outside looking glass. You see it all over and yet, this typical setting has a much deeper filling that just the casual crust most look at. “Hey, punk!” Danny’s ears would hear just before his head was slammed into the locker he had just closed. With a grunt and a strain on his eyes, he would peek over his shoulder to see the voice did match the schoolyard bully James Tessel. “You forget you owe me that ‘protection money’?!” A gapped tooth smile was all Danny could see as he was being shaken around. “I keep you safe in these mean halls and this is how I get repaid...” When saying the word this, his victim could feel spittle moisture flair out from between the bully’s teeth. Cringing he awaited the next move. Danny’s mind flooded with wile thoughts of this whole school charade. The mafia-Esque shakedown approach that James took to justify taking money from fellow students. These thoughts abruptly ceased after he found himself on the ground with the bully atop him holding him, knuckle up fingers pursed on Danny’s shirt collar. “I don’t have any money James, just beat me up or get outta my face!” Danny snipped off with a scowl, this was uncharacteristic of him and set James off guard. His fingers would unfurl from Danny’s shirt collar. “Tomorrow I want double the money! Five dollars!! OR.” James gathered himself up off of Danny keeping constant eye contact with him, index finger pointed at his victim. “I will beat you up after school!!” The bully would take his leave of him with his small crew of cronies. Danny’s eyes would count three other heads leaving with James as he got up from the cold tile floor. Danny would find himself paused for a moment, looking back on the scene that just occurred. He had never reacted that way before to James and all the usual threats. However this time Danny felt anger. Something that was new and exciting in a dark way. Danny almost felt an inner voice break free within him. With this, he smiled and return to his route towards the exit to meet up with, “Danny over here!” Speak of the devil… Danny thought as his brown eyes rolled left to see… “Gordon!” Danny would exclaim in a retort with a small joy. “You comin’ over man? I got this new book!” Gordon would enunciate his words hand gestures and head bobbing. “It is going to blow your mind when you see it!” “Yeah man! I’m coming over right now if that’s cool? I told grandma I’d be at your place as is, I need to learn more about that new DMs guide. I’ve barely read that and it’s given me quite a few good concepts.” The two would prattle on about Dungeons and Dragons material and new music they’ve both come to enjoy as they made their way to Gordon’s house. From school they made their way across their small town, passing the local gas stations and small-town blocks of houses and various other old vendor shops. They approached the old three bedrooms single-story house with a recent garage attachment and cement driveway. “Here let’s go around to the back door it should be unlocked mom and dad are out for the moment.” Gordon would say as he opened up the gate on the fence looking around for their small dog Mollie, a somewhat excitable rat terrier that was terribly overweight given her athletic aptitude. “Here comes Mollie,” Danny would exclaim as he watched the speedy terrier make a mad dash towards them. With swift haste, Danny would brace for the doggy assault of jumping, barking, and those dull dog claws scratching away at his denim jeans and loose t-shirt bottom. Arms up, muscles tensed the only defense Danny had was repeatedly telling Mollie over and over again to “Stop, get down Mollie.” As he awaited Gordon to successfully shew her on towards the house and inside where cool water and wet dog food awaited her on a cool hardwood floor. “Mollie! Inside let’s go…” Gordon would wave his arm towards the house to try and corral her to going towards the back door. Mollie would gladly listen for it was her draw from being outside in the afternoon heat and back to her food bowl. She ran up to the screen door scratching away at its base and jumping wildly awaiting the two boys to meet up with her. “That dog is WAY too hyper for me.” Danny would confess to his friend as they caught up to Mollie and opened the back door, the rat terrier bolting into the kitchen her nails tapping rapidly upon the floor. “Best part…” Gordon would say just as Mollie smacked into the refrigerator per usual. With a small chuckle, Gordon would continue into the house through the kitchen into the living room. Here he would unload his school material, backpack would be hung up beside the front door. Shoes would be kicked off on a small rug on the other side of the front door. After this small daily ritual was complete he would head down the hallway past the bathroom into his domain. “Ahh yes.” he would say as he looked around his room. Danny’s eyes would lock onto the large five shelf bookcase that was filled with fantasy books, novels, and other assortments of reading material. “This is what I needed to see!” Danny would exclaim as he lunged and grabbed the Dungeon Masters Guide 2 for Dungeons and Dragons. His hands and fingers would fidget to open the cover to read the intro materials. “Come on man, that’s old stuff, I know you’re the best dungeon master but still check out,” Gordon would reach to the top shelf and he would retrieve Heroes of Horror. “This’ll make you better! I know how much you like to do dark, gritty, undead, demon style campaigns that usually end in our characters deaths!” Gordon would hand the book to Danny with a look of excitement as he watched his friend's eyes raise from the book he was currently glued to. “Oh, snap…” The eager young lad would swiftly replace the book back to the shelf and then he would take hold of the book Gordon was offering to him. “Man, I wish I could get stuff like this for myself.” Danny’s eyes would come to meet Gordons. “You always get the latest stuff and can buy stuff from all over the place.” His hands would run across the sleek cover of the book feeling the design details of the letters and graphics. “Dude, the only reason I can buy these things is my mom lets me work with her and I get paid to mow the yard and do dishes and so forth.” Gordon would retort in a sigh of annoyance would follow as he thought about those chores briefly. “Danny don’t worry about those things man, we’re teenagers! Who cares who’s got what and can get this or that?” Gordon would point about his room to various things. “These things don’t mean anything without buddies like you, Kyle, and John to enjoy them with.” “Yeah, your right man, sorry I just get a little carried away with my thoughts from time to time I don’t want to feel like I’m a mooch or a burden to you guys.” Danny would admit his feelings of guilt about the whole subject. “Thanks for cheering me up on it all.” “Don’t worry about it bud, just enjoy what I have to offer.” Gordon would place a hand on Danny’s shoulder then he would gesture at a small table with a couple of chairs around it. Note pads, pens, pencils, and dice would adorn its surface. “Let’s get started. Kyle and John have characters made already they want you to view them to see if they’re acceptable for this new story your working on.” Gordon would pull up his pants before taking a seat at the table and grabbing up a pencil to begin writing. Danny would give a small laugh to himself as he remembered the several times he and the others would haze Gordon by dropping pencils and various other objects down the back of his pants. Gordon was slightly overweight for his age but his height made up for it given he was six feet tall at the age of sixteen. Being a year older than Danny meant nothing to Gordon. All it meant to him was he could work to provide fun times for his friends and that’s what mattered to him most was keeping his friends close and keeping them happy. “Hey, I’m going to the kitchen to grab a drink and some chips you want some?” Gordon would say after he did a small amount of work on his character sheet. “Yeah sure, I’ll take some. I’m pretty thirsty actually,” Danny claimed as he realized he hadn’t had anything since lunchtime at school and that was just a small box of juice. He stopped taking money to school but instead has been putting it up and saving it. “I stopped taking money to school cause of that jerk bully James Tessel.” He would roll his eyes and sigh in disgust at the mere thought of him. “Yeah, he’s a real d**k. Somebody really needs to beat him down, maybe then he will learn respect for others.” Gordon would announce as he left the room. Danny’s eyes would widen as he heard Gordon's response to James being mentioned and briefly thought to himself, yeah somebody should. Danny would keep his pencil to the grind on writing up a small story scenario for his fellow players after he reviewed the two characters that were submitted for approval. Gordon would take several minutes to return as his drink and chips turned into using the microwave to make some pizza pockets. The drinks turned into him walking down the road to the convenience store and grabbing some cold two liters of Mountain Dew. Danny would hardly notice the length of his absence given he was buried in writing up material for their gaming session for this weekend which was coming up in a couple of days. If there was one thing Danny knew he was good at that was writing up stories for him and his friends to enjoy. That was his contribution to them and himself as well and it made him feel great about himself. Gordon would return with the goodies in the room he would place a small bag of chips and a pepperoni pizza pocket on one side of Danny and then the two-liter on the other side of his notebook. “There ya go, buddy. So! Whatchu got planned for us?” Gordon would ask as he took his old seat back and began working further on his own character. Looking up to see his friend enjoying the bag of chips, Gordon would tear into his food as well. “Well, you know how John is,” Looking over at the two character sheets from his other friends. As he finished up the pizza pocket he would c***k open the two-liter drink and guzzle some of it down. “He’s trying to do his usual strange overpowered nonregulation race stuff. And Kyle like normal is pulling out a divine spellcaster pally.” “OH boy what’s John trying to get away with now?” Gordon would say as he took a bite of food. “Lizard-folk Barbarian.” Danny’s eyes would come up to meet with Gordon as he gave a smirk. “I already got plans for him, I’ll allow it… This is going to be too good! He’s trying to be the O.P. person in the group and he will end up looking quite the fool after he falls into his own traps!” Danny would give a diabolical evil play laugh as he steepled his fingers together. “That’s the scary thing about you, you know that right?! You always give people enough rope to hang themselves! You never hang them yourself.” Gordon would exclaim as he finished up writing his character sheet out and slid it across the table to the Dungeon Master. “Here nothing fancy just your average greedy rogue dwarf that backstabs with a two-handed hammer!” Gordon would pretend he was holding a two-handed hammer hitting imaginary foes. “Nice, I’m going to be throwing my own character into this to make a nice full group, well actually all people in-game are my characters but that is beside the point.” Clearing his throat he would review Gordon’s character sheet and place it with the others. “Well done man, great stats on this dwarf. You should do nicely.” Scribbling down more information in his notebook, then review the book before him, rinse and repeat. “Learning anything from that new book Danny?” breaking his concentration on writing he would look up at Gordon playing on his cell phone, most likely trying to reach John and Kyle to see if they will be coming over this weekend. “Oh yeah I got plenty of stuff for you fellas this weekend.” His eyes would go to meet the clock beside Gordon’s bed. Seeing that he had already spent a few hours here already he would have to take his leave soon to get home do his homework and eat dinner. “I’m about to leave its getting late and I told my grandma I’d be home by six.” With that Gordon would give a nod. “Alright man, I gotta get in the garage and cut some 2x4s for dad so he can get to work on his new shed stuff.” His hand would play with some of the sweat on his two-liter. “This is what I am going to be doing here soon.” Remarking that he too shall be sweating it up shortly. Danny would close up the book and place it back on the shelf behind him. Finishing up the food and grabbing the two-liter he would make his exit from the room to the living room. “Thanks for the food, drink, and awesome new book surprise Gordon. I’m heading out now, I’ll see you at school tomorrow alright? You take it, easy man. Thanks again.” They would say their typical goodbyes and Danny would leave to head three blocks down the road to get to his grandma’s house, his house. Upon arriving home he could hear the homemade wind chimes clanging gently in the breeze. Coming up to the front door to the large old house he would look at the front of the tan house at the wrap-around porch. His feet would press against the old wooden steps as he made his way up to the door. Being met by his grandmother and the smell of something cooking on the stovetop. “Hello Danny did you have fun at your friend’s house?” her voice soft and genuine, he would walk into to a tuft of smoke from her cigarette. She was sitting in her recliner that was close to the door. He would look to the table in front of her to see it covered with various herbs and plants. Having a Wiccan-type grandmother was odd but at least it made her happy, Danny thought to himself as he looked around the living room. Viewing her various old pictures that hung upon the walls, her shelves containing various Knick-knacks. Pulling his eyes away from his surroundings he would answer her. “Yes I did, he’s got this awesome new book! I can’t wait for this weekend me and the boys are going to have a blast.” Extinguishing her cigarette in an ashtray she would slide her table out so she could get up to hug Danny and go and check on the food she was preparing for them. “That’s great dear! Dinner will be ready in about an hour, we’re having chili cheese dogs and tater tots.” Heading into the kitchen along with her Danny would savor the hearty smell of her home-made chili simmering on the stovetop. “Hey, Danny… I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” Her long black hair would be pulled away from her face by her dainty fingers as she looked at him getting into the refrigerator. “You seem to be having trouble sleeping lately, are you having nightmares?” Danny would sigh softly and give a nod after getting his head out of the refrigerator for a bottle of water, then taking a seat at the kitchen table. “Yeah but it’s nothing major.” Slowly he would shake his head from side to side. “Just stupid dreams.” His grandmother would set adjacent to him after opening up the window above the sink. Lighting up another cigarette that she pulled from her shirt pocket. “These dreams, is there someone talking to you? Someone asking to let them in?” As she watched her grandson tense up as though she were a mind reader she pried further for inquiry. “I can’t tell you the setting of the dream, but I can tell you this for certain… It’s not just a dream Danny, this means much more than you realize.” She would sigh as he let out a puff of smoke almost as though a heavyweight had lain upon her. “Danny there’s a lot you need to know, I’ve hinted around and shown you the lifestyle of our people with subtlety but it sounds to me that you are ready for a truth that will be very hard to swallow, at least for most it is.” Her words were unusually stern and serious which to Danny seemed out of place, his eyes narrowed wondering what madness she was attempting to lay upon him…. The cigarette in her hand would shift around in her fingertips as she sought the words to tell him about the situation and how she knew about his nightmares. “Danny, you know all that stuff I do.” She would look to the living room at her table with herbs and other mundane materials. “That stuff is quite real, the power of the spirit is an amazing thing.” Danny could see she wasn’t quite finding the so he would try to help her out with being bold. Julia, his grandmother would take a drag off of her cigarette and audibly exhale. “Yeah grandma, I can’t say I don’t believe in that I was raised with it being around you my whole life.” His fingers would tap on the tabletop. “I’ve been to stomp dances, I’ve seen medicine men with you, and I have seen some questionable things happen in life.” His eyes would bounce left to right as he thought back to those events and times. “I believe in ghosts, all that ethereal supernatural stuff.” “Oh I’m not saying you don’t, I’m just saying there is a lot more to it than that.” Julia would respond to him afterword she would give a small pause. Danny would go silent as well, the only thing that could be heard was the simmering of the chili on the stovetop. “Look Danny the best way I can put this is that here soon, your world is going to change for the better.” Her words would continue after she took a moment to enjoy her cigarette one last time before putting it out. “It will be for the better once you understand what is going on is in fact a good thing. I wish I could explain it to you but I think it will be better for you to see for yourself in due time. Remember Danny I’m always here to help you out.” she would arise from her chair reach across the table and pat him on the hand. Afterword she would make her way to the stove to stir up the chili and taste test it for flavor. “So, how was school did you learn anything good today? Did that James boy give you any trouble?” She pressed the conversation to something a little more manageable, she sensed she may have overloaded him so suddenly. She could see on his face he wanted to understand the gravity of what she was talking about but at the same time she could see something in his brown eyes… a fear that he already knew what she was speaking of. She decided not to push matters any farther with him and simply guide him as he needed it and when he needed it. Their day would ensue per normal with dinner, enjoying some company outside together doing yard work, and indoor chores. They never really spoke of it again, Julia felt as though she had gotten through to him and his silence about the topic enforced her to think that. As the sun began to dusk on the day the bright blue sky and turn it into a much deeper purple. Stars could be seen with ease on the clear night sky, no moon hung in sight. It was getting time to retire for the evening and call it a day for them, this was something that Danny wasn’t really looking forward to. He had grown tired of his strange dreams that he just couldn’t seem to shake. Waking up in sweats, having aches and pains, and mental drain. This night would hold no different cards for him.