Average Joe (2018)

20

July 13th

"Take your time, Bryan," I grumbled at my phone. "It's not like we have plans or anything. No bad guys to catch or nothing." After the incident with the Chronicle, I woke up in the hospital. My arm was pretty banged up but Dad had it worse. He had broken ribs and several, almost fatal, lacerations. As soon as they let me have a phone, I called Bryan and informed him - I was in. I wanted to find and stop the Chronicle. Bryan also broke up with Tori, which crushed her. I didn't tell her the real reason why Bryan was with her. It felt cruel.

I walked back into the living room, where zombie Dad sat.

Over the past month and a half, the ghost of Ted Knight sat on our couch, his stumble grown to a full beard, a half bottle of beer growing stale in his hand. He's always like this when he's away from work. I swear our vacation was the most miserable I've seen him. He's been okay this past month, but he healed too slowly, and by the time he was out of the hospital, summer break had started and he was miserable. Right now, he's been focusing on his other job.

I sat next to my Dad on the couch.

"New game?" I asked.

"I think. I haven't had a chance to watch anything but bad guy surveillance and history audio journals in so long..." A knock at the door came.

"Mr. Knight!" Called a rough voice. "Are you okay in there!"

"I'm fine, Ross!"

I rolled my eyes. Darwin's uncle worked for a security service that provided bodyguards. My Mom hired Darwin's uncle to look after me after the police retracted their officers who stood outside the door of my mother's and father's houses.

Ross had served in the military and Darwin's dream was to be just like him. Darwin had taken sharp shooting and boxing classes in hopes of skipping college and going straight to the military. I tried to respect his dreams - after all, Tori's dream was to be a professional singer and mine was to be a cop, so who are we to judge - but I kept picturing Darwin about to die in a trench while cracking jokes.

Summer passed in a dull haze. Kids are supposed to enjoy their summer like it was their last one. I didn't.

Over the past month and a half, my nightmares increased. Surprisingly, few of them were about the Chronicle. Most of them were of some dude I kept calling 'Nightmare man'. Though what I saw could barely be classified as a man. It was like half T-Rex, half shadow demon. It had silted eyes like a lizard, but the parts of the eye that should've been yellow were red. A deep red, that matched the blood of an innocent man. When I was around the Nightmare man I knew things I shouldn't have known... what it's like to be burned. What it's like to drown. How it feels to kill your child. Horrible things.

Each night we talk to each other. Sometimes like old friends, sometimes like bitter enemies. The thing knew me. It knew facts about me and things... things I haven't told anyone else. I know they're just dreams. I can only hope.

Other things haven't gotten better either.

No signs of the Chronicle have appeared but I have this feeling... that I'm being watched. Even when I lock all the doors and pull curtains over the windows. I can't go anywhere without Ross following me. Bryan and Cora told me to 'wait for the call', but I haven't spoken to either of them since.

Bryan has dropped out of school and broken up with Tori. I should've been happy about that last part but I wasn't. She's depressed about it, and I almost went to the clock tower to beat down Bryan over it. One time at school I caught her crying but she denies it.

When Bryan and Cora didn't call after the first month I started calling them, but they wouldn't answer. Finally, I saw Bryan at the grocery store. "Just wait for the call," he had told me.

Eventually, paranoia started setting in. I questioned if Bryan and Cora were really going to help me and eventually assumed they were working with the Chronicle.

The poster board on the wall of my bedroom at my Dad's house was covered in details about the Chronicle. Two more victims were found. A middle-aged man and a little girl. His audio journals were found in both scenes. Neither of them mentioned me.

My powers still weren't developing and I was getting mad.

I became so closed off that I started practically ignoring Darwin and Tori. My phone kept buzzing with missed calls, voicemails, and texts from the two.

And on top of the crappiest summer in existence, Darwin's mom - a sweet lady who was always kind to me - was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Darwin, his brother, and his Dad, along with his uncle Ross, were all trying to scrape up enough money for the bills. But it didn't look good.

So yeah....

This summer was especially sucking...

My phone buzzed.

"What's that?" Dad asked.

"Probably just another text from Tori or Darwin." I opened my phone and smiled. "or not..."