Ryan's Magnificent Secret

Ryan's strange behavior just got a little more normal? Draven is also about to discover something he thought Ryan could never have been involved in.

     After a horrible night of trying to sleep without much success, I eventually dozed off right around five-thirty or six in the morning. Then I was suddenly aware that I wasn't alone. I smelled something that smelled very good and reminded me of being home with my mother on Sunday mornings. I opened my eyes slightly and saw a figure standing in my doorway. Seeing this caused me to to jolt straight up in bed. As my vision cleared, I could see it was Ryan in my doorway, holding a cup of coffee, smiling like a jackass. I half sleepily asked "Why are you just standing there watching me sleep?" He replied, "I find you so damn sexy in the morning, I can't take my eye's off of you." Then he just roared with laughter. He then took a few steps closer to my bed and held out the coffee. He lowered his eye's to the floor and softly said "A peace offering from an extreme a*****e." I didn't know what to think at first. Last night he was ready to take my head off, and now he's giving me coffee in bed? Was it poisoned? Maybe I was just dreaming. Then he backed away a couple of steps and said "I have made some breakfast. So when you're ready, it's all in the oven. I thought maybe we could hang out together today...if you don't have any other plans." I just stared at him, blinked a couple times, and stuttered "y...y...sure. Sounds good." He smiled, said "Great", and walked out to leave me scratching my head wondering what the hell was going on?

     All day we hung out together. First we had breakfast, then video games, then we went out and got lunch at the Chinese buffet, and we wrapped up the afternoon at the theater watching "The Witch". After the movie Ryan made some unusual conversation. He started saying things like, "Could you imagine if someone you knew happened to be a witch. What do you think you would do?" I just shrugged, not really knowing how to answer him. Then he said, "You know that the goat speaking to the girl in the movie was complete crap right? Even if they thought the goat was the witch, she wouldn't have been able to meta-morph into an animal. It doesn't work that way." This roused my curiosity so I had to ask "How do you know what a witch can or can not do?" He just glanced at me sideways, and stated that he'd been doing some research lately into witchcraft. I asked why, and he said "Don't ask questions that you're not ready to hear the answers to Draven." "What does that mean?" I snapped. "Just what I said. You are not ready to hear the truth. When you are, it will be revealed. Until then, lets just enjoy the rest of our day out." I just stayed quiet the rest of the way home. The rest of the day, and all that night was a very pleasant one. Ryan was acting more like the guy I had grown up with and the man he was before the past couple of weeks.

     The entire week went by without incident. Ryan was back to his usual self. He was being sarcastically funny with everyone. One night, after work, Sam came over to hang out for a while. She asked if we had anything with alcohol in it. Ryan said "Yes we sure do. I'll get it for you." He left the room, a couple of seconds later he returned with a bottle of rubbing alcohol and placed it in her hands. She threw it at his head, narrowly missing her target, and he just chuckled at her. He then got her an actual drink.

     

     We didn't have an investigation planned for this Saturday, so Ryan made plans to take Emma out on a special date. I invited Sam and Tyler over to hang out for a while. We listened to some music, played video games, talked, ate pizza, then Tyler asked if I had any spare batteries for the stereo remote control. I told him that I thought there were some spares in the kitchen. We went and looked, but didn't find any. Sam told me it was my turn on the game, so I told Tyler to check in Ryan's room. I said he usually kept batteries in his night stand for his remote control to the t.v. in his room. Tyler went to see if he could find them. A couple of minutes later, he returned with a strange look on his face and said "Hey Draven, um you might want to come here a minute." I was into my game with Sam so I just asked if it was really important, he said "Yes. Very." I looked up and saw the concern in his face. I paused the game and asked Sam to come with us.

     We walked into Ryan's room and I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. So I looked at Tyler and asked him "Well? What was so important?" He pointed to the night stand and said "It's in there." I walked over and opened the drawer. Inside was a black candle, a pentagram necklace, and a crudely made Ouija board. Not the kind you buy from the local toy store, or novelty shop. This one was hand drawn onto cardboard with a pentagram drawn in the middle. I shut the drawer quickly, and whispered to myself "It all makes sense now." Sam must have heard what I said, because she asked "What makes sense?" I turned and looked at them and told them about the conversation Ryan and I had on the way home from the movie last Sunday. Sam wasn't very happy about the conversation. I didn't know whether or not to confront Ryan about the items in his night stand.

     In the end we all decided it was best not to confront him with what we had found. After all, we had entered his room without "permission". Tyler, Sam, and I discussed how, if he started exhibiting odd behavior again, I could barge in and pretend to need something from the night stand. Then "discover" the artifacts in that way and confront him about them then and there. Their only concern was about Ryan possibly becoming violent at the discovery. I put on my sternest, bravest face and boasted "I can handle myself where he is concerned." Little did I know that Ryan had walked in at that precise moment. Thank God we were all back in the kitchen by now. He asked who "he" was. I quickly exclaimed "Chuck Norris!" Ryan laughingly asked "What?" I said "We were talking about who would win in a fight. Me or Chuck Norris. I said that I could handle myself where he is concerned. Meaning Chuck Norris is getting to old to fight." Ryan laughed all the way to his room. I just looked at the other two, made the pretending to wipe sweat gesture, and we called it a night.     

Reviews

[Stanley R. Teater]

Very good work, Jenny. I'm curious... how deep are we into the story so far? Or do you know yet? The way I write I probably couldn't answer that question.

[Jenny Leigh]

Like you Stanley, I'm not sure. I told my little fan below...Poopewpachoo, that I let my characters decide their own fates. I know that sounds weird, but sometimes I'll have the plot and everything picked out, then as I'm writing, it will change own it's own.

[Poopewpachoo]

...umm...
Is Emma a witch?

Anyway, this was actually a pretty funny chapter.
~"Was it poisoned?"
~"...a couple of seconds later he returned with a bottle of rubbing alcohol and placed it in her hands"
Two sentences that gave me a good chuckle.

I also really enjoyed this sentence: "...reminded me of being home with my mother on Sunday mornings."
It made me feel so relaxed and nostalgic remembering the delicious breakfast my mom used to cook on the weekends for my brothers and I. It was a nice comparison on your part.

Overall, I enjoyed this chapter as always. I'm looking forward to the next one! ^_^
Keep up the good work, Jenny!

[Jenny Leigh]

Yes. Good. I was trying to give everyone a look into the type of person Ryan really use to be like. Before he became super freaky.

[Jenny Leigh]

Also I'm not telling you who is or is not a witch...just going to have to keep reading to find out where this is going. :D

[Poopewpachoo]

Oh, I'm definitely going to continue :) I'll be sharing my theories throughout the chapters, though. So far, I'm sticking with my "Emma is a witch and Ryan knows it" theory.

[Jenny Leigh]

We shall see.