Wizards, Swords, And Hoverboards

1 WIZARDS, SWORDS, AND HOVERBOARDS

The large back windshield of the Crown Vic he drove exploded from the gun fire showering him in glass. Johnny Boy The Loser held the steering wheel in a death grip. Less than a half hour earlier he was waking up from a dope nap in a house somewhere on Indiana avenue in North Philly.

He'd arrived on a sunny bright afternoon but awoke days later to an early autumn monsoon. It was the torrent of rain and the nearby wails of a baby that brought him out of his sleep. The house was without electricity, the floor of the room he laid in was lit red by a battery operated space heater sitting in a corner. In the sinister looking red light he saw a man laying shirtless and still on the floor just a few feet away.

Johnny Boy sat up and because of his gift knew the man was dead. He stood on jelly like legs and felt as if he'd run a marathon. He looked out passed the horrible red glare of light towards the doorway and saw a white fog rolling in low on the floor. It was dark but Johnny Boy The Loser knew it was an aura, he could see them no matter how high he was.

His hand found his chest and he could feel his heart pounding through his dirty fingers. The aura was almost a pure white and was coming from the baby. The fog pulsated and emitted sparks of bright neon green as the baby cried and wailed.

"The baby's a wizard." Johnny Boy whispered to the dead man on the floor.

Without thought he slowly followed the aura with timid steps. In another room he heard voices, one of them sounded agitated. He leaned through the door way and looked down a pitch black hall, at the end of the hall was a room that had lighting, where the large shadows of at least two people moved about.

"The fuck, I can get five easy for him. I just want a fair cut my man." said someone.

"Yo don't be commin up on me like we friends." said the agitated person.

"Fuck we could just take the kid and sell it on our own. The fuck would you do about it, pig?" asked a third voice.

Johnny Boy stood a dozen feet away and saw the aura coming from down the hall but it turned off into a dark room beside the one where the argument was happening. The men were talking loud and not in view of the doorway. All Johnny Boy could see was shadows cast on a brick wall.

2 WIZARDS, SWORDS, AND HOVERBOARDS

He didn't think about what he was doing as he crept down the hall, knowing they'd be armed and that even if he did escape he'd never be able to come to this neighborhood again to score. It was easy to get out of the house though, he was on the front stoop with a baby in his arms that was probably a year old already.

The baby, wrapped in a yellow blanket adorned with little pictures of Felix the Cat and his magical bag of tricks, was quiet until they were on the front stoop and rain pattered its soft little head.

"What the fuck!" shouted a voice from back inside.

The street was deserted thanks to the rain, and was void of working street lights. Johnny Boy held the baby close to him as he ran down the steps into the darkened street and was stopped cold at the Crown Vic with its door open and the key in the ignition. In the back seat was a car seat for a baby that appeared to be broken.

Johnny Boy put the baby on the floor of the passenger side and went across the seat to start it up. He felt his heart take a giant leap when he saw the police radio on the dash. Without a second thought and glass raining down on him he drove. His head was filled with noise from the now shrieking baby, the static wailing of the police radio and the roar of rain and wind, all the racket left him disorientated.