Give Me Your Understanding

Chapter 12: The Warmth That Connects Darkness

"I'm upmost apologetic about yesterday's events." the man-no...Kevin stated.
"No...I mean, I'm fine now." I said.
"Are you really?" he asked as he pointed to my bandaged hand.
"Tis only a scratch." I remarked.
He laughed and explained to me that Hipster Guy was no longer working. Well...didn't Jett kind of kill him?
Who's the real monster in this little upset?
"We'll provide you with many free products from now on." he stated as he sat up from his leather chair.
"Oh no! No need to do that!"
"The man almost took your life and you're still as gratifying as ever, Lavender Watts." he said as he got up from his chair.
I nonchalantly laughed. Honestly...this guy was making me a little uncomfortable.
"If you need to take off more time before your schedule starts-"
"I'm really okay." I assured him.
He nodded.
"Well if there's anything you need to mention with me-"
"Can I ask you a stupid question?" I asked in a wary voice as I got up from my chair.
"Go ahead." he insisted.
"How old are-"
"I'm twenty and three months."
I looked at him, extravagantly suprised.
That's not true. That has to be a lie.
"I know I look rather young for my age."
No kidding.
"Oh no! You look fine." I stated, lying.
He smiled comfortably.

Once I had left Le Petit Ami, I found Jett on one of the benches not too far from where I was. I walked over to him and said "Yo, broski."
I scuffed his hair up.
He turned around, a hurt look covered his face. He wasn't even trying to hide it.
"Today." he stated.
"What?"
"I'm going to teach you today."
I still didn't understand.
"Three miles from here...something is about to happen there."
"What are you talking about?"
He kept his cold look.
"There's a connection between the guy who hurt you and another guy who lives in the area three miles away?"
"What connection?"
He stood up.
"You believe in the world of the supernatural, right?" he asked.
"Like witches and werewolves?"
"No" he said as he pointed to himself.
"Like shapeshifters and demonic possessions." he clarified.
I shook my head 'no'.
He came closer and scuffed my own hair up.
"You will."
"So you're basically trying to get me killed here." I said.
He leaned down to get level with my face.
"Listen, Lavender. You need to be able to see things like this...no matter how terrifying."
"You're kind if scaring me." I said.
"People are gonna try to do bad things to you from now on. This is to finalize it."
"Finalize what?"
"Your learning abilities." he answered.

I looked at the clock engraved just below my GPS; 1:40 pm.
"How long til we get there exactly?" I asked. I was getting super curious and nervous at the same time.
"Exactly forty seconds." he stated.
I looked out my window and stared for any off-looking sights. Surly enough, an odd-looking farm house peeked from above the rolling hills.
"Fancy." I remarked sarcastically.

As we pulled on to the gravel driveway, I got chills. Jett unbuckled his seatbelt and so did I. He looked over at me with intensity.
"Stay with me throughout this. It'll be over before you know it." he said with a steady voice.
"I kind of regret coming here." I said, honestly.
He smiled.
"Just don't close your eyes."
As I stepped out of the van, I realized something almost on cue; it was dark outside. I took a look back at the clock.
8:17. Pm?
Am I on drugs or something?
"How-"
"Time-manupulating shiftees."
That's not english.
"In forms of shifting, there are the shifters, like yours truly, and the shiftees."
"In short, shiftees have more power towards the shifting of inhuman ideas and mediums-such as time." he explained.
I guess I kind of got it.
"We're dealing with a powerful one." he said as he started walking around the iron gate fencing.
"We?" I asked. Frankly, I didn't want to have anything to do with Doctor Who two-point-0.
"Yes, we", he confirmed.
I groaned and followed. This place was a lot more freaky than any of my nightmares. The paint job on the house was completely annihilated. The window sills were bent and tilted outward, obviously the wrong angles. Grass wasn't mowed in the slightest. I could hardly see anything other than those few little details of the house.
I turned on my phone and used the bright screen as a light source.
Suddenly, Jett stopped, making me push into his stiff back. I felt more chills. He turned me around and hugged me.
"Don't be scared, okay?" he said.
"Oh yeah! Sure. No problem, broski."
I became tense too.

I heard something. An echo. My heart dropped. It was laughter.

"Jett?"
"Only you can do this. You're the only thing that matters to them." he said.
"Jett, tell me what this is."
"You don't have much time." He said as he shifted so that I lead the way. The tall grass making me unexpected of each step. The laughter became more frequent and loud.
"I'm right here." Jett said, his voice soft next to my ear. I'm not in the mood to be seduced.
My footsteps became slower and slower until I felt numb. I saw something grimaced in the tall, uncut grass. A person. Hunched over. No eyes. A smile that, literally, reached from ear to ear.
I tried turning around. Jett didn't let me. I was frozen.
"This isn't like an exorcism where you force the bad outside of it. You have to persuade him to let the good take over." Jett whispered.
"H-ow?" I shook. "Is this some kind of medieval torture or something?!"
"He'll listen to whatever you have to say. Just speak!"
I spoke. I can't deal with this.
"You okay, bud?" I asked. Obviously, he wasn't. However, he stopped laughing. I saw his moonlit frame moving closer. I shifted back only to be shielded forward.
"I swear, I am going to kill you once we're done here!" I snapped at Jett.
"Yeah, yeah." he was fixated on the demonic-looking guy infront of us. Well...how could you not be? I directed my body and started slowly towards the creature.
I'm asking for a freaking death wish.
I raised my hand slightly.
It came slightly closer. I realized that it looked slightly human and slightly not. It had the right composition of a human body, but over exaggerated features.
"Mam?" It scruffed.
"Hm? W-hat?" I'm not gonna lie; I was slightly terrified.
"Ma-ama?"
I looked back at Jett. He had another bright smile on his face. Either he's the biggest sadist on the planet or he just had a warm thought.
"It's true. Lavender Watts is the receptacle for shapeshifters." he was in awe.
"What?" I didn't know what was going on.
"You're connected to us. Someway, somehow."
"Wait, so what that guy's trying to say is-"
"Mom."