Dance With The Devil

I

I don't remember much from my childhood. It's all a vague blur.

One of the things I do remember, however, is that I really wanted a puppy when I was five, but my parents said no, for reasons I have yet to understand.

I mean, yeah, I was five, but still... I would feed it... Mom would help me take it for walks and clean up after it... It can't have been that big of a deal, right?

Also, I remember when I was three and I ate radioactive toast. Never went there again... Hence why I now hate toast. As far as I knew, I was vomiting from here all the way to England. Damn food poisoning...

Yeah, my parents were and still are basically mad scientists... They believe in the existence of ghosts and intend to hunt them down and, I quote, "Tear them apart, molecule by molecule".

My parents honestly thought I was going to die. My sister told me that Dad had broken down and Mom was the one with the panic attacks, paramedics and anaesthetics.

It was weird considering I imagined my parents' roles in that event being the other way around.

They were beyond shocked and relieved when one day a month later I came trotting down the stairs, all happy-go-lucky, asking for cereal.

After that event, the rest of my childhood was really fuzzy and I just can't picture it... My parents never told me about my childhood... They would willingly tell me how beautiful of a baby I was, but they would never explain anything beyond the toast incident. Not even my sister would pitch in, like she always does, 'cause she's a know-it-all. I could tell she was holding back though. Biting her tongue or running out of the room to prevent herself blabbing.

I even used to wait outside her bedroom door, pleading with the puppy dog eyes and my bottom lip on the floor, but she wouldn't give in. I also tried that on my parents. I could tell Dad was so close to falling for it, but then Mom would enter the room and stop him in his tracks.

I just don't get it... What about me could be so bad that they wouldn't tell me anything about my childhood?

I sighed as I pulled my pant leg up, shoving the other leg in the other pant leg. My life had always been confusing...

I sat on my bed, pulling my red and white trainers on and tying the shoelaces. Grabbing my phone from my bedside table, I spotted the cup of water that I left there last night. I pondered whether to take it downstairs as I obviously wasn't going to drink it.

I gave a shrug and grabbed that, too.

Shouldering my backpack and pocketing my phone, I opened my bedroom door, turned right and began my descent down the stairs.

Hopefully today, of all days, they will give in and tell me something... Though I tried not to get my hopes up. These were my parents I was talking about here. They were ruthless ghost hunting scientists, as well as the most embarrassing parents ever. Probably because of my constant pleading, they had strengthened their resolves over the years, so I doubted there was a good chance they would tell me anything.

I reached the bottom of the stairs and headed to the kitchen, where my sister, Jazz, sat, reading a very boring looking, very large book. This wasn't unusual for her - she always had her head stuck in a book, so I wasn't in the least bit surprised.

She looked up from her book for a split second, acknowledged my existence with a welcoming smile, then dipped her head down again, processing the tiny printed words on the page.

I smirked and rolled my eyes with a small chuckle, reaching up to the top shelf and grabbing some cereal. My hand didn't even go near the bread... Or the toaster. I was glad the toaster was on the other side of the room.

I poured the cereal into a bowl, then traipsed tiredly over to the fridge. Pulling out the milk, I went back over the bowl, poured it on my Cheerios and returned it to the fridge.

I sat down opposite Jazz, who's eyes once again looked up from her book. I was surprised, to say the least. She never, ever had her eyes off a book for this long.

She smiled at me brightly, "Happy Birthday, sleepy head."

I chuckled, "Thanks. I'm surprised you remembered." As for the "sleepy head" part, my exhaustion was most likely written all over my face. I was up most of last night cramming for the Physics test today... And playing Doomed with Tucker. Mostly playing Doomed though.

It was a huge surprise that I even tried to study, but Physics was pretty much the only thing I was good at. There was no way I was getting a D on the subject regarding the Life Cycle of Stars. No way, uh uh. I knew the space section of my Physics textbook off by heart. There was no way I was going to fail it just because I didn't know the rest... Like momentum and forces... Static electricity and radioactivity.

Okay, radioactivity... I wasn't too bad at. I knew the principles and stuff, and I knew the structure of an atom and the charges and masses of protons, meutrons and electrons, and I pretty much understood the principles of static electricity, like only electrons could move... and about charging by induction.

Yep, I was pretty sure I had this test in the bag... Or at least I hoped so.

The last spoonful of Cheerios reached my mouth and I soon found myself dumping my empty bowl in the sink and grabbing an apple out of the fruit bowl on the kitchen table. Jazz was once again engrossed in her book. She had probably noticed I was in a world of my own and just let me go on in the little Physics fest I had going on in my mind.

I pocketed the apple and turned to her, "Hey, do you know where Mom and Dad are?"

She nodded, not looking up from her book. Now, that was the Jazz I inew. "They're in the basement."

"Oh," I replied. "Working on their new invention?"

She nodded, then looked at her watch. "I don't know why they even try, they're embarrassing enough as it is! Oh, crud! It's nearly seven! We should get going."

I moved over to the front door obediently; she shouldered her backpack and took another bite of her toast. I shuddered visibly, and I could tell she had seen because she quickly shoved the toast into her mouth and ran over to join me.

"Do you wanna ride to school, birthday boy?"

I turned back to her with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. "Thanks, Jazz, but no thanks. I'm gonna go meet Tucker and Sam."

She shrugged, putting her book in her backpack. "Alright, good luck on your test."

"Thanks Jazz. See ya!"

And without a second thought, I was out the door.