The Angel Awakens

Chapter 10: A Day Full of Surpises

Daryl sat alone at the dining room table, staring at the crumbs of the toast he just ate.
He had woken up early thanks to the pain on his back and because of Buddy licking his face. He tried to go to sleep afterwards but he couldn't.
So he decided to get ready for school, even if it was five in the morning.

During all the time Daryl got ready, his back was hurting. He suspected it wasn't the mattress that was causing his backache, else his dad and brother would be complaining too.
Now the pain was dull, just enough for Daryl to know it was there.

Alfonso descended the stairs, startling Daryl out of his thoughts.
"What the hell are you doing awake?" Alfonso asked, cranky as usual.
"Buddy licked my face and I couldn't sleep again." Daryl said, deciding not to tell his father about the pain.
"Mhm. And you did all this?" He asked waving his hand over the table.
Daryl shrugged, "I had nothing better to do."

Alfonso didn't ask any more questions, he just sat down and drank his coffee.
Daryl watched as he sipped away his coffee, the steam fogging up his glasses. And his crankiness slip away, Daryl always wondered how coffee did that to his dad.

"Maybe you should wake up earlier more, this coffee is better than mine."
Daryl smiled. Now would be a good time to ask his dad.

"So, dad, a friend asked me if I wanted to go over his house this afternoon. Can I?"
Alfonso looked up from his toast, a surprised look on his face.
"A friend." He said curiously, "So my plan to embarrass you and end your life didn't work?" He continued sarcastically.
Daryl sighed.
"Okay. I might have exaggerated on that."
Alfonso kept staring at him.
"Okay, I exaggerated a lot. Can I go?"

"Alright you can go," Alfonso said after a moments silence. "But the moving van gets here today and I'm not putting away any of your things."
"When I get back I'll put them away." Daryl said, trying to hide his excitement.
"Any other requests you'd like to make from out of the blue?"
"Yes. Can I drive to school?"

The question earned him a glare. He could only imagine what his dad was thinking. Most likely "*Like hell am I going to let you drive my car.*"
"Never mind." Daryl said.

The rest of breakfast was silent, until Lars got there of course, and they quickly got in the car to leave.

~

The day passed quickly and soon school ended and it was time for the sports tryouts.

Daryl was putting things in his locker and arranging them.
When he was about to leave Owen got there.
"Daryl wait." He said
"What is it? I have to go try out for swimming, can it be quick?"
"Yeah, yeah. I just have to show you something," he said looking for something in his locker, "I was going to show you earlier, but I put it in here since you weren't at your locker when I arrived."
"What is it?" Daryl asked curiously, he wondered what Owen could possibly want to show him with such enthusiasm.

Owen closed his locker and shoved a photo in Daryl's face. He took it and looked at it.
It was a photo of two kids standing next to each other, arms over each other's shoulders. He instantly recognized one of the boys as himself when he was around 5.

"What is this? Where did you get this?" Daryl asked, confused at why Owen would have a photo of him.
"Okay, so you remember when your dad said the Crawfords were his parents?" Owen asked, then continuing when Daryl shook his head, "Well every time my mom and I used to pass their house she would always remind me that I was best friends with their grandson. So I did some searching in the photo albums at home and found that photo," He finished saying pointing at the photo. Owen took a deep breath, the explanation having been told in two long breaths.

Daryl was shocked, what a huge coincidence it was. He guessed that would explain how they got along quickly, like a subconscious part of their mind reminded them of their past.