Games of the Children

by Brandi Nicole

  

Part 2

  

Brad rolled over in bed, the sun again providing an unwelcome morning greeting. He stretched lazily for a moment then put his feet on the floor and lifted himself out of bed. Shuffling to the bathroom, he gazed drearily into the mirror, looking at his familiar face and confirming what he suspected. His eyes were red. He had expected that, considering the amount of sleep he had gotten the night before. His sleep was fitful, made so by a dream that disturbed him greatly, yet remained slightly out of reach during the waking hours.

After a quick shower and a bowl of cereal, Brad strolled out the front door and down the street, his pace noticeably quickening as he passed Angela's house. He quickly arrived at his destination two blocks away. It would be a welcome change to work through some batting practice with his unofficial baseball mentor. Jimmy would have balked at being considered a mentor at his fifteen years of age, but there was no question that Brad's skill had improved after practicing this summer with him. Brad rapped at the door. Jimmy opened the door and grinned at his "student".

"Couldn't wait to get started today, huh?"

Brad grinned. "I'm ready to knock a few out of the park, Jimmy!"

Jimmy scratched his chin, the gesture seeming a bit forced for a fifteen year old. "I think you need a park first, pal. Anyway, we have to cut this one off about noon. I have a date at one o'clock."

Brad made a face. "A date? Instead of baseball? What's this world coming to?"

"Well, not just any date. I promised Sarah Little I would take her to the park downtown today. Even you have to admit she's a real hottie, dude."

"I guess I can get over it today." Brad stated with mock reluctance. "Let's play some ball."

After a spirited practice, Brad thanked Jimmy and returned home to get some lunch. With practice behind him and a full stomach to boot, Brad felt much better. Perhaps he had just let his imagination run wild the last few days. Full of new energy, he bounded across the street to Daniel's house and knocked. Daniel came to the door moments later and invited Brad in. Daniel looked as tired as Brad had felt this morning. Brad scrutinized him carefully. "Are you okay, Daniel?"

"Yeah, I just couldn't sleep too good last night. Weird dreams."

Brad's head snapped around. "Weird dreams? What about?"

"I don't know, I couldn't remember them after I woke up."

Brad felt the now familiar chill beginning again, then shook it off. "Hey, maybe we should all hit a movie. Get dressed and we'll go get Craig." Daniel agreed and soon they were knocking on Craig's door. His mother opened the door and directed them upstairs to his room. They could already hear the sounds of the Playstation as they entered the room where they could see the television screen displaying a road race game and the back of the big office chair given to Craig when his father bought a new one. Presumably slouched down in the chair was Craig, immersed totally in the race. Brad cleared his throat. "Craig, get off that game, man. We're going to a movie"

Okay, dude, I can go for one." Craig's hand reached out and turned the console off then spun around to get his shoes.

Brad blinked several times and tried to reconcile with what he was seeing.

Craig hadn't been slouching at all. He was just shorter. Slimmer. And his usually ear length, messy brown hair was almost to his shoulders. Brad sipped quick breaths of air and glanced at Daniel for some kind of validation. Daniel was standing there patiently, looking for all the world like there was nothing at all amiss.

Craig stood up and walked past them to his bathroom. Where he had been two inches taller that Brad's 5'4" height, he was now at least two inches shorter than Brad.

Craig didn't seem to notice, as he was busy brushing his hair until any bit of unruliness was tamed. "Okay, let's go." Brad was feeling his world about to turn black when Daniel's voice interrupted his descent. "Brad, are you okay?"

Brad collected himself and nodded. He was able to manage a terse "I'm ready to go."

The experience at the movie theater was not much better. For some reason, Craig was interested in seeing Sweet Home Alabama, which detailed a fashion designer's return home only to find herself in a love triangle with her husband there and the man she wanted to marry. Brad was fit to be tied at this point and absolutely refused to watch it. They finally decided on The Ring, which Brad regretted after the movie began to revolve around a little girl's demonic spirit haunting the world of the living. More frightening than anything was Craig's little scream when the girl's spirit finally made its appearance. As the lights came up, Brad made for the exit quickly. Outside, he was able to catch his breath before Daniel and Craig caught up with him. Craig touched Brad's arm with his fingertips. "Hey, are you okay? I didn't think it was THAT scary!"

Brad recoiled slightly and nodded his head. "Yeah, I just need to get home. Mom wouldn't want me to be late for dinner."

Craig smiled sweetly. "Yeah, I have homework to finish tonight. I guess I need to get home too."

The trio began the walk home with Craig slightly in front and Brad lagging slightly with Daniel glancing over at him, a slight frown crossing his face. Brad was sure that Daniel also didn't notice that Craig's shirt had become tight and light blue with thin satin trim at the neck and sleeves or the fact that Craig was now wearing flared Mudd jeans with leather lacing running up the sides. As Craig reached his walkway, he turned and gave a little wave to the two. Smiling, he said "Bye boys. See ya later." Then he strolled through the front door. Brad couldn't help but notice the slight wiggle.

Brad looked at the closed door, then at Daniel, who was still unaware of anything wrong. "Well," he thought, "I can at least warn Daniel and maybe together we can do something to stop this."

"Hey Daniel, lets go to your house. There's something I need to tell you."

"Okay, come on over."

They walked in and secluded themselves in Daniel's room in the back of the house. Brad took a breath. "I don't know where to start, dude."

Daniel grinned at him. "Hey just take your time. We're best friends. Nothing comes between us."

Brad felt a little relief in spite of himself. At least Daniel would always be there for him. "Have you noticed anything strange about Craig?"

"Now that you mention it, something seems a little wrong, but I can't put my finger on it."

"Oh, I think there's a lot strange going on."

Daniel frowned. "I see. Well, hold that thought I need to go take a whiz."

Daniel left the room and Brad sat on the bed, feeling better than he had since lunch. Maybe everything would work out after all. He noticed Daniel's bag from the toy store on the bed and idly opened it while he pondered what to do next. His fingers went numb and he dropped the bag on the bed, spilling its contents.

A Barbie Doll.

Blond with a sparkly white dress.

Brad almost ran out of the room, nearly knocking Daniel down as he returned from the bathroom. He mumbled that he had to get home and that he would see Daniel tomorrow. He refused to look at anything but his front door until he was inside the sanctuary of his living room, but the voice followed him still. Giggling.

"Did you and your FRIENDS have fun Brad?"

 

Brad took his seat on the team bus for their trip to Chesterfield to play their school's top rival. He sat heavily in the seat and pulled his cap down over his eyes to nap on the way there. He soon felt the lurching motion of the bus starting forward and allowed it to lull him into a lazy half-doze. Knowing that he would wake up when the bus stopped, he resolved to nap all the way.

He was just dropping out of consciousness when a giggle brought him back to a waking state. With a strange sense of doom settling at the bottom of his stomach, he slowly lifted his cap from his eyes and looked into a pair of sparkling green eyes that did not belong on his bus. Those eyes were set below a mane of long red hair that framed a pretty face sprinkled with freckles. The girl was looking directly at him and giggling, as were a number of other girls who were dressed in ball uniforms and peeking over and around seats at him. The doom in his stomach turned into white hot panic as he began to sit up and opened his mouth to question the interlopers. "Why are you girls on our bus?"

Red eyebrows furrowed downward as the girl considered this. "You're on our bus! I think you're in the wrong place, unless you want to play softball with us. But I'm not sure you're eligible for the team…" With that, the redhead began giggling again, joined by more hearty laughter from the other girls.

Brad was close to panicking. He was missing the biggest game of the year because he was on the wrong bus! Worse yet, he would have to ride with the girl's softball team to their game and then ride back home before he could let anyone know where he was. Brad's mind raced to process those fears and seek a solution when he felt a hand touch his shoulder. He looked up and saw a pretty girl with long brown hair and light green eyes wearing a cheerleader outfit attached to the hand on his shoulder. She smiled as she spoke. "It's okay, Brad, you can sit with us at the game."

Brad bolted upright in his bed and nervously scanned his room. No cheerleaders or redheaded girls in sight. He realized that he had been dreaming and breathed deeply, trying to still his heart from jackhammering his ribcage. He looked at the clock. 5:15 am. He had barely gotten four hours of sleep after tossing most of the night and finally settling into a fitful sleep just after one o'clock. He knew that he couldn't take much more of this. His mother had been concerned when he returned from Daniel's house and went straight to his room and stayed there the rest of the night, even foregoing dinner. He resolved to confront Angela the next day but even that did not make his stomach stop doing gymnastics. In fact, it made it worse. Brad resigned himself to wakefulness and walked downstairs to spend the next couple of hours before school watching television and formulating his plan for the day.

 

She stepped out of the bus onto the sidewalk at the front of the school, looking for all the world like someone's precious little angel. Brad snorted. He doubted Angela was anywhere near an angel, but was more likely just the opposite. He trotted up to her before she could get to the front doors.

"Angela!"

She turned and saw Brad, a sly smile crossing her delicate face. "Why Brad, what are you doing here? Don't you have a game to play or more important people to hang out with?"

Brad frowned. She was playing with him. "That's enough, Angela. What did you do to my friends?"

That infuriating smile again. "Why Brad, what are you talking about? I haven't seen your friends."

"You know what I mean. How they are changing and acting different."

"Maybe they are just growing up…"

"Stop it! You know what's happening! I want you to change them back and leave them alone."

Angela pushed past Brad headed toward the door as the bell rang. "I don't know what you want me to do, Brad. Sometimes friends just find other interests and leave you behind." With that, and one last victorious smirk, Angela disappeared into the hallway and left Brad smoldering and shaken.

 

The day at school went well, considering the circumstances Brad found himself in. He didn't see Craig and Daniel too much during the day, but wasn't surprised to see Craig wearing khaki slacks that looked a bit tight and hip-hugging paired with a striped stretchy polo shirt with cap sleeves. He noted that Craig seemed a lot more popular with the older girls. As for Daniel, he mainly looked wide-eyed and confused all day, as if he was out of place all day. And neither met him at the end of the day at their usual spot to walk home. Brad felt suddenly very alone. He began to wonder how he was going to cope with his situation when he had and idea who he could talk to about what was happening. He began the short walk to Jimmy's house and hoped his mentor would have some ideas.

 

Brad approached Jimmy's house after an uneventful ten minute walk and stepped up on the porch. He knocked on the door and waited patiently. Soon the heard the door unlatch and Jimmy's mother opened the door. She seemed surprised to see him.

"Brad! It's a little early in the week for lessons isn't it?"

Brad smiled. "Yes ma'am I guess it is."

"Well, you're going to be disappointed. Your "mentor" had to go over to the Porter's house right after practice today."

Brad frowned in confusion. "Okay, I'll just run over there then. Thanks ma'am."

"Okay Brad, good luck with your math."

Brad started toward Daniel's house wondering what Jimmy was doing there and why he had told his mother that Brad was having problems in math class…

  

  

  

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