“Jude’s out front. When you get back, come grab me. I’ll be in the garage training,” Caleb said.
“All right. See you soon,” I said, heading out the front door.
I stepped out onto the porch. The sun had almost finished setting and the streetlight in front of the house had illuminated. In the street, I saw Jude, stretching his arms and legs as if he was about to go for a run. I strolled down to the street.
“Hey,” he said with an upward head nod as I walked up. He wore basketball shorts, a sleeveless shirt, and worn-out tennis shoes. With his arms exposed, I was able to see he had almost every square inch of his skin covered in tattoos.
“Hey,” I replied, continuing to survey him.
“You might want to stretch. The training we’re going to do can be intense,” he said, avoiding eye contact with me.
I followed his lead and did a couple of stretches, then waited for him to finish.
“All right,” he said, “I think we’re ready. What is your trigger word again?”
“Excuse me?” I asked, bewildered that he would be so brave as to provoke it.
“What word makes your shadow appear?” he asked calmly, “Since you can’t bring it out naturally, we’re going to force it out, then work on bringing it back in.”
“No, we’re not,” I shook my head.
“Why not?” he asked.
“Because you may not be my favorite person, but I don’t want it to hurt you,” I said, stepping back and crossing my arms.
“I’m not afraid,” he replied.
“Well, you should be,” I said, taking another step back.
“I’m not, because I have this,” he said as a hazy red figure stepped out from his body. I jumped back.
“What the fuck is that?” I asked.
“Oh, you can see it? I thought you might be able to. That’s my alter,” he said.
“What does that mean?” I said, continuing to move back as his alter surveyed me with anger in its eyes. “I didn’t know parasites had shadows.”
“Not all parasites are the same. Some are internal, some are expressed. I am the most extreme form of expressed, meaning I have a full-bodied distinction of my gift.”
“More like flaw,” I muttered under my breath.
“You judge me,” he said, shaking his head with a smile, “but it exists in me the same way it exists in you.”
“I’m sorry. I’m trying not to judge you, but it is very difficult for me. a parasite hurt someone I care about very much, in an unforgivable way.”
“Nothing is unforgiveable,” he replied.
“Well, this was,” I replied defensively.
“I understand your current perspective. You know how dangerous a parasite can be and you know how dangerous what’s inside of you can be. I know how to discipline it, I know how to wear it out, and I know how to control it. Is it always easy? No, of course not. It takes routine, it takes concentration, and commitment. Now, I know that those things do not happen overnight, so I’m going to teach you one of the simplest techniques I used and continue to use to help gain control over it.”
“What’s that?”
“Simply exhausting it,” he said. “You bring it out of you and you physically exhaust it. Physical and emotional exhaustion can go hand in hand. When you’re emotionally drained, your body becomes physically drained. This is the same thing, except in reverse.”
“You think it will work?” I asked.
“I know it will,” he said, looking me in the eye for the first time.
“Why aren’t you afraid?”
“The parasitic nature of my alter- or your shadow- was created as a defense mechanism. When we’re hurt, scared, sad, or- of course- angry, it acts as our protector. It was made to handle the stuff that we couldn’t handle. Though it doesn’t always choose the most healthy of methods, it was created out of some necessity of that time. I know that since I am a parasite you cannot hurt me, and now you can understand why, if you are willing to try.”
I watched his shadow pace around him like a guard dog as it kept its eyes locked on me, “What if I hurt someone?”
“That’s not going to happen,” he replied.
I shook my head, worried, “You’re going to have to say it. I’m too fuckin’ nervous.”
I pulled out a post-it that had the word scribbled on it and handed it to Jude. He glanced down at it, nodded, folded it up and handed it back to me.
“All right. Take a couple steps back and be sure you’re ready to run,” he said.
“Run?” I asked.
“Christian.”
“Wai—” I tried to stall, but it was too late.
An explosion of energy erupted from me and red drenched everything immediately. It knocked Jude off of his feet, but his alter remained posed in front of him, arms stretched out. Like a ravenous dog, thirsty for blood, I lunged at Jude.
His alter grabbed me, just as I was about to reach him, and threw me backward. I attempted to attack again and it shoved me harder, causing me to lose my footing and further enrage my shadow as my elbow crashed into the asphalt on the street.
I recovered immediately and engaged his shadow. It attempted to wrestle me to the ground. Every time our beings collided, red illuminations materialized as bright red smoke. I elbowed his alter in the face. It gripped my shoulders from behind, immobilizing my arms. I grinned, remembering Caleb’s move last time I did that very thing to him. I slung Jude’s alter over my back, slamming it’s spine into the street. As it struggled to get up momentarily, I pounced at Jude. He attempted to crawl away, and I grabbed him by the back collar of his shirt and pulled him toward me. I wrapped my arm around his throat and put him in a chokehold.
Just as I felt life draining from him, I was grabbed from behind and cast aside once more by Jude’s alter. As I began to get up, Jude’s alter
