The Khalanium Blades

One-Shot: Lasting Friendship

Ray still couldn't sleep after the day's events, as his much needed sleep was constantly interrupted by numerous thoughts and possibilities pertaining to the good or bad. Now he knew what would happen if he slept on a long flight for almost nine hours, ruining his sleep schedule. But then his mind wandered off to a memorable event in the past. In fact, a quite traumatizing encounter, when he had only been twelve years old on his way to school—the day Jane and Sam became his two best friends.

"What about Jane White and Sam Rook?" Ray asked his mother, packing up his bag. He could be late for school, and he definitely did not want that on his record. "They're just two ordinary students in my classroom."

"I'm just saying it'd be nice to make a strong friendship with them, you know? You three could band up and help each other find ways to avoid the bully," Ava Pierce rationalized. "Besides, I think it's about time you find a close friend." Ray just nodded, not wanting to hear the whole speech again, and raced for the car. Mrs. Pierce followed, pressing the gas pedal.

As usual, the car avoided the front entrance as Ray had requested, to avoid Derick and his ruthless actions. The back doorway was safer, and Sam and Jane thought so too. The three mothers left quickly for work, and the three sixth-graders said their hello's. But not long after their late arrivals, two thugs, muscular and threatening, approached, a warning sign of imminent danger painted all over them. "Why don't you come with us," the bigger one said, trying to sound as aggressive as he possibly could. But Ray was quite frightened.

Three twelve-year-olds were about to become ransomed children, and their parents would be in total panic when the horrific message was sent. Ray didn't want that to happen, but he was powerless against two kidnappers, who wouldn't have come if they weren't highly qualified for the job. The second one pushed Sam back. "This could be easier if you surrender, and if you say a single word—" he reached in and pulled out a gun.

Ray's face fell, and shortly after, he was in a black van, sitting beside Jane, and across him was Sam and the second criminal who spoke to them. The more muscular one was revealed as the reckless driver, while his partner, taller but weaker by appearance, positioned as the watcher of the kidnapped children.

They each had a dirty handkerchief tightly wrapped around their mouths. Ray wasn't all that hopeless, since he could hear his "conscience" telling him they could easily beat up their guard.

Also, earlier when he had his hands tied together with a quite thin rope, Ray made sure he had secretly generated as much space between his two wrists while it still being unnoticeable, therefore he could possibly slip his hands out. The man staring intensely at them, and had a gun ready, fingers ready at the trigger, though it was probably just to scare them, since the bait shouldn't be significantly harmed or found dead.

Then, around fifteen minutes on the road, Jane started to look queasy and nauseated. Ray had no idea if any of it was real of not, but the driver, who most likely didn't have a driver's license, was driving rather mad. The taller man seemed to notice, since he had a worried expression. It was quite new to him.

"Oh, please don't tell me you're going to throw up here," he said. And he muttered under his breath, "Boss is going to be furious when the new van gets puked on." He quickly scoured his backpack and handed Jane a plastic bag. He looked away and yelled at his partner to drive like a normal human being. He also temporarily freed the girl. Then Jane took action.

The brave girl spit at the man's face and used the bag to "capture" his head. It did its job as a distraction, and after slipping through the rope, Ray lunged for the gun He twisted the man's wrist first, then snatched the bullet-shooting weapon. Sam had gone nuts beating the kidnapper without his fists, until he was kicked back. Ray immediately raised the gun up to the point where he could easily end their captor's job of kidnapping forever.

The driver had soon taken notice of the chaos happening in the back, but still kept focused on the wheels. By now Ray had aimed the gun at the bigger man through the square hole in the wall that split the van into two. But the driver disregarded the threat altogether, decisively knowing a twelve-year-old wouldn't dare shoot a gun, and drove even faster.

"Stop the van, now!" Ray ordered, holding the armament more firmly. He wasn't afraid to shoot, but he wasn't going for a living target either. He was waiting for the perfect road to stop on, where help could be found in the vicinity. Jane freed Sam, and the boy whispered to Ray that a hospital was on their left. Ray nodded and winced before he shot the windshield. The recoil made him fall into his friends' arms, but the reverberation in his ears was unshakable.

When the all the glass had finished shattering, the driver slowly and painfully got out of the vehicle. The three stayed inside with an unconscious man until a muffled conversation outside ended with a supposed police officer saying, "Take him away."

The back door creaked open, and a group of four young men entered, asking the children questions like, "Are you hurt?" or "How may we help?". But only one of them didn't ask a question, instead complimenting them with a British accent saying, "Wow, you three are good at these stuff. In that case, I'm willing to bet the next time I see you, you'll be fighting bad guys."

Ray smiled, and thought it wasn't impossible. He just had the most intense moment of his life, and without Sam and Jane, he might as well be a goner. But thanks to Jane's bravery and their combined courage, they had turned over two kidnappers to the police. Just before the medical team left for the hospital, the young man looked over his shoulder and said, "Thanks for your help, and by the way, I'm Borris Dome."

The next few hours were a cloudy memory to the trio, having to report to the police and sign some random papers, ride a car to each home, and call their parents to return home instantly. But though the single hour was nothing but an impactful event, Ray had a strong feeling deep inside that he would be experiencing something similar—soon.

Ray sighed then chuckled at how his guess seven years ago came true, and that he did see Borris again. And they did fight "bad guys", only with extraordinary powers he now still had in his possession, though it was going to be another long while before he could use them again. He grinned as the room glowed with yellow light at his command. He turned on his phone and spoke into it. "Hey, guys, you remember how we became best friends?"