A Touch of Madness (A Recipe...

Cassie and I went out for a quick stroll around while it was so beautiful out, it’d gotten cold but today was crisp without being painful. The kind of afternoon that warns you that snow is coming, but isn’t quite here yet. We sat at the outdoor gazebo near Mooney’s Bay and went over pictures that she’d grabbed. Some were of us as kids, some were from various events of us these past couple of years, and the rest were her friends and workmates. Cassie was always snapping pictures off on her cell phone or with her digital, but I never realized how many of those candid photos she kept. There was even one photo where neither of us could figure out which one of us it was. It was good picture, which made me think it was Cass; she was giving the camera an amused look, as if to say ‘as soon as you put that camera down, I’m smacking you.’ But for the arched eyebrow being up, there was laughter across her face. We argued over who it was for a little but then her cell went off and all humor drained out of her.

“That crazy Other that the news has been talking about, he’s at the hospital right now Cal.” She said voice a little shaky. Obviously they wanted to see if she could help, but she was scared.

“Let’s go then. I’m right behind you.” I said voice strong. She took my hand gratefully and we went to the hospital. My curiosity was piqued; I wondered what kind of Other this would be, none of the news reports had actually said yet.

Apparently between the time it took to call Cassie and the time it took for us to get to the hospital, the situation had deteriorated. Originally the Other had been brought in with a gunshot wound to the abdomen, his latest victim had been an undercover cop who’d just flat out shot him. Good for the cop. However, now the crazed Other was in the hospital, apparently recovered, and holding victims hostage. He was somehow causing select victims to go absolutely insane; they were harming themselves and the other patients. As soon as he was neutralized, they wanted her to go in and help heal the victims. “You want her to go in there, where a crazy man is. He’s done all this after getting shot and you assume that this time he’ll stay down once you get him down?” I asked, angry that they’d risk my twin sister that way.

“Cal, it’s ok. I want to help. You, of all people, understand I need to help.” Cassie said, almost begging me to not make a fuss. I did understand, but I also understood how she wouldn’t be able to help everyone and those she failed to help would cause the night terrors that made her scream in her sleep. She was escorted inside, to the supposed ‘safe’ zone while I was stuck outside. I waited until some commotion distracted everyone and then I strode up to the cop at the door.

“I’m doctor Cassandra Orenda. I was told to go inside and see how I can help.” I lied, the cop recognized the face and let me in without asking for any actual identification.

I reached the ‘safe’ zone, at the same time as the Other did. Without needing to be a sensate, I could feel the wrongness of him; my mind did not want to accept him as real. He looked normal enough to the eye, a little short, about 5’7 and he had bright gold hair. His eyes were a hazel that blazed with no sense of sanity whatsoever. He hadn’t spotted me yet, so I snapped a picture of him with my phone. And then I felt his gift wash over us, he was somehow able to target a person and lock them in an emotion or strong memory. They would inevitably go quite insane as I didn’t think he chose happy, loving memories.

“Where is she?” he demanded. I gave him a quick look with my magical sense and just got more confused; I couldn’t tell what he was. He wasn’t blocking me out like Edward did, but my gift somehow saw him as twisted; as if he was more than one thing at a time. He was human, a Caster, but at the same time he was a Demon. Which is impossible, even demon blood and devilkin show up as human with demonic influence. This man in front of me was just so impossibly wrong that I froze, unable to think of what to do. Then he spotted Cassandra and zeroed in on her. Guess he found who he was looking for because he snapped in behind her and grabbed her then snapped back near me at the entrance. Apparently he could only do short jumps so I grabbed his arm tightly as he jumped us outside. My unexpected action crash landed us out in a parking lot, maybe a block away. I could hear the hospital commotion but no one was near us. “There are two of you?” he demanded. He was holding Cassie by her hair, pressing her down against the pavement. She had the wind knocked out of her and looked terrified with silent tears running down her cheeks. I kept my grip hard on his arm so he couldn’t jump away with her. It seemed that two people were more than he could handle at once. “Well I’m in a pickle, Master needs her and I’m guessing he’ll want you too.” His voice had a singsong quality that was seriously creepy. “You’ll be an interesting prize won’t you?”

“You need a good dose of reality. That’s my twin sister you’re trying to kidnap.” I growled at him. He grinned manically at me and I felt power surge as Cassie screamed. I sent fire burning hotly down my hand and roasted a hand print into his arm as he snapped out of my grip. Cassie curled up on the ground, crying and sobbing. Not knowing what else to do, I held her to my chest and took us home. She wouldn’t calm down though so I called Zeke and told him to get his ass there now. Then I called Barry and asked him to come running, hell I even tried calling Edward but got no response.

I tried to touch Cassie’s mind but she bounced me out; I could feel her mind seething with madness though. He’d done it to her then. Anger swelled in me and poor Zeke walked right into it. I actually snarled at him and demanded to know what took him so long. By this time Cassie had stopped moaning in terror and was quietly sobbing instead. Zeke ignored me and ran to his fiancé, he scooped her up in his arms and tried to sooth her but he had just as much luck as I had had.

“Do something Callahan!” he demanded of me, tears crawling down his face. His dark eyes bled black with emotion and power. “You need to help her.” He ordered. I ignored him and ransacked my twin’s medicine bag. Yes, she kept an emergency travel bag, Cass is like that. I grabbed a needle and filled it with ketamine. What she was doing with an animal tranquilizer I don’t know, but I wasn’t complaining. When I came back down the stairs, Barry had arrived with a perplexed Alex in tow. I handed Barry the needle and was immediately grabbed by Zeke.

“Callahan, you help her now damn it! It’s killing her!” he growled at me. The little grip I had on my temper vanished so I snarled at Zeke and grabbed his shirt collar.

“Right now my twin sister is fighting off demonic influence and insanity. If she fails she’ll go down into screaming madness and she’ll take me with her. I’m doing what I can so back the fuck off Ezekiel!” I snarled and pushed him away. I knelt down in front of my twin, but I spoke to Zeke. “When I do this, you need to take her and get the hell out of here.” At his confused look I let out an exasperated sigh. “She’s a fucking amplifier Zeke, her gift is just going to make this worse.”

“You’re going to take the madness?” I heard Alex ask. He was one of the three people who knew my connection with Cassie so I nodded yes.

“So what am I supposed to do with this?” Barry asked, gesturing to the needle.

“It’s ketamine, I guessed at the amount so it’ll either knock me out or kill me.” I answered, giving a weak smile. Barry responded with a shocked look. “We don’t have time to argue! You all need Cass more than you need me right now.” I looked at Alex. “You, don’t let me kill anyone.” I flat out ordered him. I turned my attention away from them then. I could feel Cassie’s mind start to fracture so it was easy for me to slip in past her defenses. “Shhh Cassandra, I’m here.” I told her. I could hear myself say it out loud as well.

“Callahan, help me.” Cass whimpered, clinging to me mentally. “It’s too much. I can’t control it, I’m going to break.”

“No Cassandra, I’m here to take it from you. I won’t break. There you go love, see how much better you are now?” I could feel the dark insanity slide across from her to my mind and I had to actively fight the urge to resist. I wanted this, needed to protect my twin’s sensitive psyche; because of her job and her night terrors, she’s much closer to breaking than I am.

There were insidious whispers in my mind, and a feeling of being crushed. I locked it in and fought against it. I understood how this worked finally; the Demon Caster, Lucien, truly was speaking into my mind. He was digging through my memories, locking me into relieving the painful, most horrifying ones; mixing reality with fears and nightmares. He’d been doing the same to Cassie, but she had trapped him in. His body may be elsewhere but his mind had been locked in with hers and now he was in my mind, trying to shatter it, tearing it up with shards of power. My magic tried to lash out and find a way to protect me, but I felt a needle prick my arm. Weakness and lassitude washed over me, closing my magic down and provided a numbing layer between my damaged mind and his seething power. The longer I held onto his mind, the more I learned about him. Of course the reverse was also true so he winnowed through my own personal nightmares and paraded them across my mind.

But then Lucien decided to get creative; he found my hopes and dreams, those sweet delicate little fantasies that I cherished and he perverted them with my nightmares. Then horrific, grotesque parodies of my memories tore through my mind. I relived the memory of Darren nearly killing Cassie, only this time I arrived too late to help save her. I snapped in as his hands crushed her air pipe and I could hear her last breath rattle and wheeze through her broken throat. I watched the light slowly die out of her eyes. Then he rewound the memory and put me through a different version. This time I was there for the whole thing, watched as he strangled her. She called out to me, begging me to help but I just laughed and let him murder her. Another version had me strangling her myself. Eventually he grew tired with that memory and had a gleeful reaction of how I had brutalized those that had attacked Barry. I was forced to watch my actions without the benefit of being able to hide and deny what I had done; I couldn’t even claim that Lucien had altered them because I remember just how horrid I became that day. I’d simply gone over to Barry’s to hang out with my best friend and walked into his house like always to be assaulted with the smell of blood. A group of poachers had forced Barry’s family into Changing and then tranquilized them into senselessness so that they could skin the pelts off of them. Barry was a Bear, but his mother was a Polar Bear and his father a rhinoceros. When I saw what was happening, I didn’t even have time to think, I just lashed out. Vines ripped through the floor boards and wrapped around wrists and necks, hauling the poachers away from the Wesk family. But it wasn’t enough that I had stopped the torture, my rage emboldened the vines to twist and squeeze, crushing and tearing limbs off and pulling each person apart as they screamed. Then the fire came and I nearly burned myself and the Wesk family alive with it because I could not stop it, I could only drag them out. Lucien had a field day with that little gem; I blocked it out partially as I dove into his cesspool of his mind to find out as much useful information as possible.

His Master was the Demon Lord Marcus. Word of my father, Walter, had reached him and his uniqueness intrigued him, when news of our birth spread for some reason it was a major event. Walter had promised Sebastian one more year of service in exchange for his children’s freedom and during that year, Marcus raided Sebastian’s territory and captured my father. Over the next few years Marcus tried to break my father down slowly but Lucien has never been told what for. Lucien was born after the fact and Marcus put his full mental awareness into the infant’s mind and sanity never stood a chance. I didn’t understand all of the memories I viewed and some of the ones I did understand nearly broke me faster than the horrors Lucien was showing me.

I felt the foundations of my mind shift and settle. The gates of sanity were attacked and dented but amazingly held. Alien frustration burned my thoughts and a new tactic was tried. He pulled all of his essence in and tried to trick me into believing that he’d fled, but I could still feel his wrongness there, at the core of my mind. Again he rampaged and tried a combination of tactics, I felt like eternity was passing as Lucien took his sweet time torturing me. I could feel times where my energy would flare up as magic tried to burn through me, and other times where I am pretty sure he was in control of my body. But as depressing as that was it also gave me strength because I could feel him becoming truly desperate; he couldn’t break me, and he tried everything. So he stopped trying to break my mind and instead literally stopped my heart. I fought to take him with me; if he was shutting me down I’d drag his raggedy ass with me into oblivion. But as that last heartbeat faded away, I lost the focus and strength to hold him. He took the opportunity to escape and I was alone in my disheveled mind once more, just in time to feel my body die.

Hot, searing pain shot through me. With a rush of sound I could hear people yelling, a weird beeping sound and commotion. “Callahan! Don’t you dare die on me!” a familiar voice demanded, at the same time I could hear Cassandra sobbing. I was painfully aware of all the energy signatures in the room, there were too many people in this little space and I was still too raw.

I opened bruised and bleary eyes to see an unfamiliar face in hospital scrubs standing over me. The searing pain had been the defibrillator juicing me up into painful living but my body and mind gratefully let me slide into a healing unconsciousness. The annoying hum settled itself into the comforting rhythm of my heartbeat and I fell asleep amazed. I must admit that waking up some unknown time later was a real surprise to me. My brain felt like a metal garbage can full of glass shards, I felt raw magically and battered physically, and I loved every ache and pain; as the song said it lets you know you’re alive. And all that was with a lovely amount of drugs to keep the bulk of the pain away. It took me a few moments to realize that someone was holding my hand.

My eyes creaked open and I saw Cassie clutched to my hand as if she was the only thing holding me to life. “Boo.” I croaked at her. The brilliant smile that flashed across her face was matched only by the tears cascading down her cheeks. With a cry, she launched herself at me in a bone crushing hug which gave me a clue to just how weak I currently was.

“I felt you die.” She breathed. “Oh Goddess Callahan, I felt your heart stop. But you were right, you never stopped fighting. That son of a bitch didn’t beat you.” I wasn’t up to speaking very much, but I opened my mind to hers. She knew to be gentle and the comfort of her whole, healthy, sane mind was a balm against my still brittle self. She began to cry again as all that I learned about Lucien was made known to her. I held her weakly and tried to offer comfort.

“Shhh Cassie. No tears, not for him.” I commanded softly. “He didn’t choose to be made this way but he does choose to act this way. He could fight it, but instead he revels in it.” I explained. She still clung to me, weeping at the loss of even a stranger who’d tried to torture her mind. The door opened softly and I looked up to see the rest of my ragtag family shuffle in. Edward was openly crying, Barry looked splotchy and Zeke just looked grim. Behind them Alex stood watching me, face unreadable, Amanda grinned at me and Dominic flourished a bottle of wine. I had to smile at that. “I’ve been conscious for about a minute and Dom already has liquor for me. You truly are the very best.” I croaked. My voice was raspy and dry sounding. As I spoke, Cassie pulled herself together, wiping the tears off her face. Even sopping wet and wracked with emotion she was beautiful. Once she had a firm hold on herself she chased everyone out so that another Healer could give me a full look-see and deem if I was truly recovered.

It was from him that I learned that I’d been largely comatose for eight days. They’d had to restrain me from time to time when Lucien piloted me around, apparently all in the attempt to kill me. Other than bruises from the restraints and sore muscles from the enforced bed rest, I was physically fine. Psychically however, I was a long way away from the all clear. “But being surrounded by loved ones is the best way to heal what you’ve been through.” He said, giving my hand a comforting pat.

I got dressed slowly and moved very carefully, the world seemed to be in a slightly different location than I felt it should be. My equilibrium was all haywire and my mind was sorting all the jumbled memories and emotions back into place. As a sensation pulled for an associated memory, I’d have to try and push the memory down; it was very disorienting. I opened my room door to see a darkly grinning Barry holding a wheelchair.

“Oh hell no.” I said laughing softly. “I’m fine and I am not dumb enough to let you push me around in a wheel chair. You’d find the first convenient hill and send me down it.” 

He shrugged. “Too true but you have no choice, get in the damn chair.” I squinted at him and carefully sat in the chair. It bothered me to feel this weak but I’d look like a damn fool if I refused it and fell on my ass.

“Don’t worry Cal; I won’t let the big bad bear be mean.” Cass teased. I rolled my eyes at her. She gave me a peck on the cheek. “We’re all heading over to the condo. Barry said Alex will drive over with you. Micah, your Healer, said that you should avoid strong magic for the next few days as apparently it might hurt a little.” She warned. The group all clustered outside together and Edward took them away with a snap. I could actually feel it, it was sort of like pins and needles all over. As soon as they were gone, I stood up, getting out of the wheel chair.

Alex raised an eyebrow at me but said nothing. I waited at the curb while he drove his car around and then slumped in the passenger seat, trying to force my brain to get better already. I felt like a wind chime in a tornado. It started to rain softly as we drove; a soothing sound and I learned my head against the window, closing my eyes. Sleep sucked me under almost immediately but didn’t hang on too hard. I was vaguely aware when the car stopped and I even made an attempt to wake up. I peeled my eyelids open and blinked owlishly at Alex. I yawned and stretched, trying to wake up. It helped a little once I hauled my butt out of the car and tottered to the front door. Alex was a warm presence close behind me. Some of that was so he wouldn’t get rained on while I opened the door but I think it was so he could support me if I stumbled. I ignored him, trying not to get angry. They were being this nice and careful because they all thought I needed help. The irrational part of me wanted to shrug all that off and push the help away, but thankfully I’m a little smarter than that. Not as smart as I would like to be, as I automatically headed to the stairs. I didn’t even think about it really, I just started up them. I even made it up a few flights before dizziness hit. I stopped on a landing and clung shakily to the railing, hoping it’d pass quickly.

“Idiot.” Alex rumbled behind me. He picked me up easily but I struggled and demanded to be put back down. He set me on my feet and I leaned against the wall, angry and frustrated.

“I can do this.” I said hotly, glaring at him. He just watched me, amusement glimmering in his eyes. That did piss me off; I wasn’t here to amuse him, and I didn’t appreciate him laughing at me. Anger helped propel me up the last two flights of stairs to the condo door. I could hear music and revelry inside, it made me grin and laugh even as I panted to catch my breath. “Sounds like they started the party without us.” I joked and he gave me a funny look.

“We could always start our own party.” He suggested. I don’t think he meant it the way it sounded, but I had to tease him.

“Now don’t go offering to start something you won’t finish.” I replied smugly.

There was a startled look in his eyes for a second and then he leaned a little closer to me. “From what I remember Callahan, last time I did finish.” He replied and pushed the door open before I could reply. I couldn’t help grinning as Alex played along with my teasing. Ignoring the memory that flashed in my mind, I walked into the welcoming party.

It was obviously an impromptu party because they’d had no idea when I’d be coming home, but the bottle of wine Dominic had flourished in the hospital had been opened and poured. I could smell popcorn in the microwave and pizza in the oven; the Healer had been right, it all did help to make me feel better. Amanda pulled me down onto the couch close to her and started to pet my hair so I rested against her shoulder and enjoyed the sensation. Even though we were from wildly different lives, she’d become a surrogate older sister to me.

“Oh yes, I remember, cousin Jen wanted me to give you this.” She spoke up suddenly, pulling a letter out of nowhere; not actually nowhere, but she could store things in a place I couldn’t see, but was always with her.

I took the envelope and frowned. “Cousin Jen?” I asked confused, but then I remembered, “Oh you mean Jensen!” I exclaimed and happily tore open the envelope. It was a quick letter but it made me laugh. He’d liked dancing with me, was heartbroken by my rejection and begged me to write back because court was so boring and he could use a little excitement. By the time I was done reading it, I was laughing hard and everyone was watching me in confusion.

“Well what is it?” Cassie demanded. So I tried to explain who Jensen was. “So let me get this straight. You spent the bulk of the Faerie Ball dancing with an Elfin Prince, whom you refused to sleep with, and you two are now pen pals?” she demanded incredulously.

I grinned and nodded. “Now you see why I was laughing.” I replied to her bewildered look.

“Oh Cal, what am I going to do with you? I bought you that damn lingerie set and the condoms so you’d get laid!” she said in disgust. I buried my face in my palms because that just brought to mind how very close I came to using those items for that purpose.

“Cass, do me a favour and not talk about my sex life.” I pleaded.

“What sex life? Last I’d heard, you were still a virgin.” She retorted because Cassie loved to put me on the spot like that.

“Cousin Jensen would be more than happy to take care of that for you, by the sound of things.” Amanda quipped in.

“Why are all of you ganging up on me?” I demanded.

“Because you’re so cute when you squirm.” Alex replied meanly.

“Has anyone ever gotten close?” Barry teased, joining in on the fun. Fine, I can play that game just as well.

“Yes actually, he’s in the room now.” I replied honestly. Mostly everyone looked at Barry, as we had dated once but I was the only one who saw Alex jerk to look at me.

“Hey, all I ever did was kiss you and feel you up a little. If that’s the case then damn Cal, you need to get laid.” Barry patted me on top of my head as he sounded so sympathetic.

“You know what? We’re done this conversation.” I stated. “Why don’t we move onto discussing what I’ve missed these past eight days?” I requested.

Dominic gave me a smile and thankfully changed the subject. He served out the bowls of popcorn and handed out the wine; just a quick look at it made me squirm a little. Dom raised an eyebrow at my discomfort but thankfully said nothing. I don’t think that I’d ever be able to drink wine again, instead I quietly ate a slice of pizza when it was ready and munched on popcorn.

Cassie came over and curled up against me so I could hold her like a teddy bear. I let my weary mental shields down and relaxed against her. Magically she can’t help my physical body to heal but she helped with some of the mental trauma, mostly because the memories we shared helped my mind have a foundation and stability built up off of that. I wasn’t asleep, but in a relaxed trance like state when I realized that there was something different about Cassie. I let my mind wander to try and pinpoint what it was.

I bolted upright and stared at Cassie, jaw hanging open. “No way!” I exclaimed, completely shocked. She looked at my startled face and grinned shyly. “When the, how the, wait what?” I demanded.

Luckily my twin didn't need actual words to understand what I meant. “I was going to wait until you were better but I guess I don’t need to worry.” She replied ruefully. She winked at me and I knew that her pregnancy was to remain a secret for a bit longer. For one, she should be the one to tell people. For two, it was a little bit of impossibility. Once Zeke had been infused with demon blood, he became infertile to human women and despite her powers, Cassie was still human. At least as far as I knew we were human, no tests have proven otherwise. However, everyone in the room was looking at us waiting for an explanation so I ran with the first excuse that came to mind.

“The pictures of us are ready?” I asked, acting like I had forgotten about the eight day mini coma.

“Yes, and wait until you see the pictures of you dancing.” Cassie exclaimed, running with my distraction. I held in a groan, I’d done this to myself and I’d follow through on it. She bounced off of the couch and ran up to her room to grab the envelopes full of copies of the photographer’s reel.

The photos of Cassie were beautiful and stunning, even the ones that were horribly bad were still great to look at. We all picked favourites that were thought would be the best to publish and then we went through Zeke’s photos. It was weird to see him in those normal, geeky clothes, laughing and smiling and showing off his fangs as if they were nothing. It was a little creepy to me because I know Zeke tends to keep his fangs hidden, he looked good in the photos though the attention made him uncomfortable.

Cassie held up the envelope full of my pictures. “Your turn Cal, let’s see how you look.” I grabbed the envelope and went to run up stairs with it, laughing. An arm hooked around my waist as I made it to the steps. I felt myself pulled back against a chest that rumbled with laughter.

“Since when are you shy Cal?” Barry demanded, carrying me like a sack of potatoes. He plopped me down on the couch and took the envelope right out of my hands, passing the photos around so we all could see them. There were some spectacular blunders in there; I looked stoned, I looked crazed, there was even one that I was teased about because I looked orgasmic.

“I hate you all.” I said, laughingly. Everyone liked different pictures and none of us could agree on what ones should be used. I finally rounded the photos of me up and slid them into their envelope.

Amanda and Dominic had to go as tonight they were expecting big crowds. Mussing up my hair, Amanda told me that she expected me to take it easy; I could come to the club but I wasn’t supposed to exert myself. I fully expect to dance on the road to Hell when I die, a little hospital stay wasn’t going to stop me. About thirty seconds after they left, Edward got a call to go in to work.

“You’re really never not on call are you?” I asked, teasing him. He scooped me into a big hug. He didn’t try to kiss me or anything romantic, instead he just held me comfortingly. It just felt good and safe and I realized that maybe he wasn't as in love or lust with me as he'd been acting.

“Behave you five, and clean this mess up.” He ordered, snapping out. The place wasn’t really a mess, some glasses of wine and bowls of popcorn. There wasn’t a crumb of pizza left, only vague greasy marks on plates. That little run around earlier and the climb up the stairs had zapped a lot of energy out of me so I stayed at the sink washing the dishes as they were handed to me.

Cassie slipped upstairs with Zeke. Alex came over with the wine glasses and when he handed one to me I looked at him and burst out laughing. He started to chuckle as well and Barry just got confused. Not wanting to explain the real reason for the laughter, I offered a plausible lie. “You notice that somehow it’s just us three cleaning right?” I asked, jerking my chin at the stairs where Cassie and Zeke had vanished.

“Oh.” Barry caught on, then laughed his rumbling laugh. “I get it.” A wicked gleam shone in his eyes. “Let him come up for air Cass; he’s a vampire, not immortal!” he bellowed. Stunned silence followed for a second, then hysterical laughter from Cassie. I could almost feel Zeke blush from here.

“Cal, smack him for me.” Cassie’s voice drifted down. I gave Barry a smirk as he jokingly backed away from me, hands raised. I splashed water at him instead; I just wasn’t up to another run around. Luckily Barry’s seen me exhausted before, so he knew the signs that I was running out of steam.

“Alright, that’s it for us I think. You should get some rest Cal, I’ll see you on Monday for work but I recommend that you take tomorrow off.” Barry said smiling. He actually picked me up in a hug and gave me a kiss. “I don’t like it when you almost die on me Cal. Don’t do it again.” He ordered.

“I’ll do my best. Thus far I’ve just been in the wrong place at the wrong time no one is actually gunning for me. So if I keep my head down, I should be fine.”

“Somehow you and unobtrusive just don’t belong in the same sentence together Callahan.” Alex said dryly from the door. He already had his coat and looked impatient to be off.

“I might surprise you. And what’s the rush, you got a hot date or something?” I asked teasingly.

“Not quite.” He replied. “I’m on duty tomorrow morning, so I need to get what sleep I can.” I was a little touched that he’d stayed this long. It was 11 pm and the early shift started at 6 am.

“Thanks for the ride Alex. I’ll see you two trouble makers later.” I locked up behind them and made my weary way to bed.