Chapter 13

Tuesday 22nd September 1998

It was the usual gloomy overcast September afternoon, and school had just come to a close. Unusually, I was hanging around outside the school gates by myself, when normally someone would already be there with me. More often than not, it was Kendal. I’m starting to think she can teleport…

As I waited around idly with only my bike for company and worried over whether it was going to start raining, Harriet leant into my field of vision.

“Hey, have you seen Bao around?” she asked innocently, stray hairs atop her head blowing in the breeze while the rest remained tightly bound by her braids.

“Not since lunch,” I replied. “He should be here any moment, probably. What has he said this time…?”

“Hm? Oh!”

Had she seriously forgotten? It had only been a handful of days since that got resolved…

“No, I just need to return something to him.”

“Gotcha!”

I forced back my curiosity, since it almost certainly wasn’t my business, and instead resorted to trying to make conversation.

“I’m surprised he’s taking so long. Maybe something distracted him?”

“Does that happen often?”

“Remember that one time in English back in Year 10, when he got distracted mid-presentation because a butterfly flew into the classroom?”

Back in the days where he was just a classmate and passing acquaintance, when life was simple and admittedly less exciting.

On her part, Harriet giggled a little.

“I’d forgotten that. He was way into bugs then, wasn’t he?”

“And then a month later he couldn’t have cared less,” I nodded. “Then he was really into geology.”

“Then it was old horror movies, right?” Harriet smiled fondly. “He was desperate for us to watch the original Mummy film at the end of term.”

“Yeah! And then Mr Clarke wound up putting on The Fox and the Hound instead…”

“And Amy cried for, like, half the film,” the freckly girl chuckled. “Oh, speaking of, are you and Dakota going out?”

… I’ll put this to you since I didn’t get to ask Harriet. How does our classmate crying at a Disney classic connect with the possibility of me dating the most beautiful girl to ever be part of my life?

“Whaaat?!”

I screeched. Honest-to-goodness screeched.

“No! No! No way would she- who said we were?! Was it Bao?! Bao lies! All the time! Biggest liar!”

“Volume!” Harriet began, wincing at my outburst. I shrunk back like a snail retreating into its shell.

“It wasn’t Bao. I just… figured maybe there was something between you.”

“R-Right…” I wheezed. There’s me jumping the gun as usual… “Why did you think that…?”

“From the way Dakota talks about you in class, really.”

“… she talks about me?”

“Yeah, at least once every Dance lesson,” she smiled at me. “If you’re not dating, you really should be.”

I’m pretty certain I heard my brain pop at that moment.

“Sorry to keep you waiting!” Bao’s voice called out, saving my consciousness from completely collapsing. “I had to take some forms to the Sixth Form Reception and-”

“Basically,” Zahid interrupted, “I saved him and Kendal from the jaws of procrastination.”

“Excuse me!” Kendal spoke up, rising up on her tip-toes like a cat puffing its fur up to appear bigger. “We were on a quest! I can keep Bao’s impulses under control if we’ve got things to do!”

“I found you both peeking through the staff-room window.”

“That was a side-quest,” Bao assured him.

Harriet stepped forward at that moment, swinging her backpack off of her back and unzipping it.

“Speaking of which…”

After a moment of rummaging, she retrieved a SNES cartridge from the bag and handed it over to Bao.

“You were right, Kirby is super-cute!”

“Told you you’d like it!” he grinned triumphantly. “I’ll bring Dream Land 3 tomorrow! It’s pretty different from Super Star but it’s got new friends for Kirby.”

“Kirby’s Kirby,” she smiled back at him, a non-gamer’s gaming priorities shining through. “I really owe you for this.”

“Then I’ll think of some way you can repay me, if you want.”

Brazen. I knew damn well what he was alluding to. Harriet seemed to as well, as she blushed a tad.

“Aha, well, I’ll see you tomorrow and stuff, bye!” she buzzed, slinging her still-unzipped backpack back on and darting away. For whatever reason, she realised that the backpack was open pretty quickly, stopping and revolving on the spot while trying to seal it where it was positioned.

“Nice work Bao. You turned her into Alex,” Zahid quipped.

“Hey! When do I act like that?” I asked, trying my best not to replicate Kendal’s tip-toe stance (especially as it wasn’t needed when he was maybe two inches taller than me).

“Aaand Dakota makes five,” my favourite voice cooed right next to me. I hadn’t noticed her approach at all, and jumped from being startled and totally not from her sudden close proximity.

“H-Hi!” I spluttered to her smiling face.

She’d received her Junior Certificate results last week, sent over from Ireland by her mum. Rather than opening them immediately, she waited the whole day until school finished and we could be there with her. Thankfully, the results all came out well for her. Packed alongside the envelope with the results was a letter from Dakota’s mum; unsurprisingly, Dakota quite literally kept that close to her chest. Since then, she’d had an extra spring in her step that was frankly too cute.

Oh! And Kendal’s birthday! That went well too, and we did end up buying her a board with a custom pink “Radical K” on the bottom. She was incredibly happy with it, and promptly dragged us back to her place to have some cake. We met her parents, her older sister and her little brother, who all seemed nice (though her brother was a mischief-maker, getting on his parents’ nerves). The cake was… interesting. Not quite sure what Kendal’s mum cooked into it. But the aftertaste was better than the… during-taste. The normal taste. That was hard to place, but the aftertaste was more than pleasant.

Kendal was riding on her new board as we made our daily trek back to Dakota’s.

“So, are you trying to flirt with Harriet through video games?” she quizzed Bao, travelling right next to him as if to intimidate him into telling all.

“Maybe I am…”

His grin was practically audible.

“The tried-and-true method of flirting,” Zahid grunted. “‘Here, play this game, this pool of lava you have to jump over is hot like you.’”

“Hey, that’s a good line!” Bao enthused.

“I still can’t believe this is happening…” I spoke up. “This all started with you joking about Dakota stealing her uniform and now you’re suddenly...”

“What can I say? She’s actually pretty cute.”

“I meant more on her side…”

“I’m pretty cute too…?” he proposed with more than a hint of uncertainty.

“Obviously it was a subconscious thing. You liked the idea of her getting stripped,” Kendal teased.

“And it’s not subconscious anymore,” Dakota added. Oh, that tone. Actually, it was weird to hear it being used towards someone else…

“Now that you mention it,” Bao began, “how much would it cost for you to actually strip Harriet?”

“£300,” she responded almost immediately. Something Bao could feasibly scrape together if he was that desperate, yet would still be worth her doing it for. Dayum.

“I might be able to pay that…!”

And he was genuinely considering it!

“I get the feeling Harriet would charge a lot more than that…” Zahid mused.

“Nah, she said she owes Bao,” I pointed out, before turning to the man himself. “You’ll probably try and catch her on that, right?”

“Good idea!” and two thumbs up was his response. “Still… dunno if she’d be interested in me. Maybe I won’t ask…”

“Awww, Bao…!” Kendal cooed, patting his back (or at least his backpack).

“We can just talk games or whatever. It’d still be cool!” he insisted. At least I could understand that feeling, even if I couldn’t ever imagine myself being as forward as he’d been.

We were practically at Dakota’s now. If not for the tall bushes enclosing the driveway, we might have seen him sooner.

As we turned into the drive, he greeted us.

“Hey there, kids.”

A total stranger in a creased black suit was stood on the doorstep. His face was rather gaunt, but his cheeks were so sharp that he came across as dangerous rather than withered. Despite all the menace of his appearance and his presence, his smile seemed warm and welcoming.

“Let’s cut to the chase. I’m Nick Riley, and I’m here for my weapons.”

Almost immediately, Dakota stepped forward, putting on the sternest of fronts.

“I’m Dakota Radley. Stay the hell away from my house.”

“Nice attitude,” Nick sneered, “but I don’t think a child like you is in any kind of position to tell me what to do.”

He stood his ground, looking down on her with piercing eyes.

“Hand them over. It’ll make things easier for all of us.”

Dakota said nothing for a few moments – I could only assume she was weighing up the situation and choosing her words.

“What are you gonna do with them?”

“That’s not your business, is it?”

Immediate, as if he’d prepared for every possible question we could ask.

“Look, mister, if you haven’t seen the news, we’ve got monsters to fight,” Kendal spoke up, clearly agitated. “The world needs saving and the weapons are the only thing that can stop them.”

“Frankly, I don’t care,” he snapped back. “I saw the news. How do you think we knew where to find you?”

“We?” I spoke up now.

“My people. The ones who spotted the five of you while scouting the area and considered you a match to the so-called Painters. The best bit was digging up information on this place.”

He leant back against the front door for emphasis, smirking now.

“Neil Henderson’s house. Right under our noses. Don’t tell me they’ve been here the whole time? We could’ve come and got them as soon as he moved up north!” the man concluded with twisted delight.

I felt my blood run cold. Not only had Nick’s lackies been following us for potentially a month or more, but they had been keeping tabs on Neil too. For ten whole years.

“He’s probably told you I’m a villain, hasn’t he? Well, there aren’t heroes and villains in the real world. Just self-righteous people and the people they decide are in the wrong.”

With that, he stopped leaning on the door, standing firm on the doorstep again.

“Don’t be like him. Give me the weapons.”

“You want the weapons?” Bao yelled: almost in one movement, he summoned his blades and brought them forward, unleashing a momentary torrent of yellow that left him in his familiar costume as it dispersed.

“Come get them!”

“Bao!” Dakota immediately snapped at him, panic behind her eyes.

Just as quickly as Bao had acted, Nick reached into his jacket, pulled out a gun, and fired in Bao’s direction.

Bao dropped lifeless to the floor.

For a moment, everything seemed to be in slow motion. Kendal and I both raced over to him – to his body – as if on instinct. I heard Dakota’s anguished wails and caught a momentary flash of red in the corner of my eye.

A bullet wound off-centre on Bao’s forehead. Yellow oozing out. His eyes still open. Chest raised up as he lay on his backpack. No breath. No pulse.

I couldn’t do anything. My friend had died in an instant. Tears began to flood my vision.

“What the fuck did you do?!” I heard Zahid bellow.

The response:

“I shot him.”

“Don’t fuck around with me!”

And Dakota’s raw distress.

And Kendal grabbing Bao’s shoulders, whimpering “come on, buddy… please…”

And Nick, smug as can be:

“This isn’t a game, boy. And you have no idea what you’re messing with. Look.”

Then.

As if on cue.

More yellow – yellow blood – burst from Bao’s ruptured forehead.

Oh so suddenly, he gasped in the biggest breath, chest rising up, eyes alight.

Kendal and I both jumped in surprise, jolted back, and he sat bolt upright, filling the space we had just abandoned.

“Bao…?” I uttered shakily, barely able to see through the tears.

“What… what just…?”

He spoke, slowly, softly.

Dakota quietened down, but didn’t stop crying.

Zahid must have moved away from Nick – I assume he had been confronting him – as the sharp-faced man walked past us all, off down the driveway.

“Just remember,” he called out, “I gave you a chance.”

His footsteps, his voice, grew faint.

“I’ll be seeing you.”

It took us all a couple of minutes to recover, with Bao almost being crushed in teary hugs. Eventually, Dakota composed herself just enough to unlock the door; she went upstairs without a word while the rest of us filed in.

“I’ll get you some hot chocolate,” Kendal assured Bao with a sniffle, her arm still around him.

All the while, I looked up the stairs. Should I go and see to Dakota quickly? Would it seem insensitive to do that when Bao had literally just died? But then we’d all be leaving her alone, and…

“It’s fine,” Zahid told me with a hand on my shoulder, evidently reading my mind. “Go on.”

“… okay…” I replied, before setting off up the stairs. I could already hear Dakota sniffling in the master bedroom, and thought it best to knock gently on the door before entering.

“Dakota…?”

I was already regretting this decision. She probably wanted to be alone.

“C-Can I…?”

No response. But after hearing another few moments of her sobbing, I couldn’t bear to leave her like this.

I slowly entered the room, and found her standing, facing away from me. I was struck by the fact that, once again, I was useless here. What could I possibly do?

“Are you okay…?” That stupid question you ask even though they’re very clearly not okay.

“I… I can’t do this…” she managed to say past her sobs. “He died, Alex… he died…”

“I know, but he’s alive again, somehow. We just have to be thankful-”

“I can’t… I just can’t…” she insisted, emotions swelling once more. “Even if… if… I still… I can’t…”

That was the last thing she managed to say before breaking down again. I moved forward, stepped to her side, and took her into a hug. She grabbed on, clutching onto me as she cried, and I held her tight. Once again, my eyes began to well up. I wasn’t entirely sure why she was so shaken up by what had happened, but seeing her like this upset me.

I know, that sounds selfish…

Eventually – I’m not sure how long it took – Dakota calmed down. She broke from the hug first, and took some tissues from the bedside cabinet.

“Thank you…” she said hoarsely while drying her eyes and wiping her nose.

“You’re welcome,” I replied gently.

“Sorry, I probably snotted your blazer…”

“I’ll survive,” was my stupid response, and I caught it only after it had already filled the air. “Sorry, I-”

“Idiot…” she murmured, before looking at me with faint smile. I guess she forgave me. Regardless, I still felt incredibly guilty. She was right: idiot.

We headed downstairs, where Bao was sat on the sofa with a blanket and Kendal’s arm both around him, and a large mug in his hands. His forehead was now clean of the yellow-hued blood, and there was no sign of any wound. Zahid was sat on the opposite side of Bao (though giving him more space than Kendal was). It was rare to see him on the sofa instead of on one of the armchairs.

“I… didn’t see anything,” Bao was saying. “I just remember painting up, then I was on the floor and my head hurt.”

“I knew it,” Zahid grumbled. “No heavens and no gods.” The venom with which he said it suggested a lot of animosity towards religion. So much I still didn’t know about my friends.

“Playing devil’s advocate – appropriately,” I noted, sitting down in one of the armchairs as Dakota took the other, “maybe there is a god, or gods, and they just knew Bao would come back to life…”

“Yeah. Lokonessence made us immortal,” Kendal pointed out, in mild awe. “Maybe God’s kind of… giving us a free pass?”

“Did… did he know? Did Nick know?” Bao asked us, looking around.

“Seems like it,” Zahid answered. “I don’t think he was trying to kill you.”

“Like Neil said… Nick took over a group that was researching Lokonessence…” Dakota reminded us. “He knows it better than us. He knows the weapons better than us.”

“And he’s coming back for them…” Kendal sighed.

“So… what do we do now?” I threw the question out there in the faint hopes that anyone had scraped together a plan.

“… pass me my backpack, please…” Bao spoke after a brief silence. Kendal quickly grabbed it from next to the sofa, and handed it to him. He thanked her as he rummaged inside, and pulled out his mobile phone.

“Bao…?” I asked. No response; he simply turned the phone on and began navigating. Beep, beep, beep, and then he held it to his ear.

“Hi,” he spoke into it. “Wanna go out sometime?”

Several seconds of silence, save for the faint sound of the voice on the other side.

“Yeah. Sounds good. Bye.”

Bao smiled lightly as he hung up.

…

We didn’t figure out what we could do that evening. Bao shrugged off our concerns, insisting that he felt fine other than a headache. Dakota told us that she would phone Neil after we left and seek his advice… I’d asked if she was okay being alone and offered to stay over if she wanted, but she assured me she would be fine. Part of me doubted it but I decided to take her at her word.

The whole way home, I felt paranoid that I was being watched. What would happen if someone shot me while I wasn’t using the sword? Would it be fatal? I could potentially be killed at any moment… not just now, but for the foreseeable future. Nick was right. This wasn’t a game.