I opened my eyes, my body on fire. Not actual fire, not like the flames I once again dreamt of, but it felt pretty darn close.
Sitting on the edge of my bed, I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my burning palms before I turned towards my alarm clock. The angry, red digits told me that it was nearing six in the morning. After a short debate, I got up and began to prepare my breakfast. Two eggs and a few strips of bacon took their turns in the frying pan while the toast was baked. The fire I'd woken up with in my veins had dissipated, leaving in its stead the usual coolness that the warmth from the kitchen appliances could not combat. Even the first shot of whiskey didn't manage that task, so I took another - not that it helped much - before I sat down to eat with the TV on for some background noise.
I wasn't paying attention to whatever morning show was on, until one of the women on it said something about dinner. I turned my head to the screen displaying photos of someone who, given their expensive-looking evening dress, was probably famous.
I frowned.
I was invited to dinner tonight.
That wasn't a bad thing since the invitation had come from Kelly, but it had been sudden. I replayed the previous day in my head, trying to figure out what could've prompted it.
I'd been just about to leave the precinct on Friday when she'd approached me with a huge smile I'd assumed was lighting her face due to her shift ending. She'd pushed some papers aside and sat on my desk, her face radiant as she'd inquired if I'd had plans for the weekend. I recalled myself snorting, and then, still grinning, she'd asked "How 'bout coming over for dinner on Saturday then?".
A normal human being would've said "yes" or "no" and maybe thanked her for the invitation; I'd grumbled "What on Earth for?". She'd given me one of her eyerolls so I'd corrected myself with a "I mean, why?" to which she'd sighed and shaken her head.
"Can't I invite a co-worker for dinner?" She'd asked.
"I suppose," I'd replied.
"Is that a yes?"
After, I'd assured her that yes, I was going to visit her and Steve on Saturday at dinner time, she'd beamed at me and left.
Had I looked particularly lonely and pathetic that night?
I had colleagues occasionally ask me out for a beer, but none had been foolish enough to invite a grump like me into their homes. Not for years. I'd had a couple of open invitations from people my age with whom I'd been working with since I'd come to the precinct, but even they hadn't brought it up recently.
And then, there Kelly was, seeming ecstatic at the idea of spending a few hours with me outside of work. This young, vibrant person with sulky, old me.
Yes, I must've looked especially pitiful on Friday.
Unless Kelly was planning something.
But what?
A terrifying thought crossed my mind: Kelly had had the same giddy expression as my nieces when they'd wanted to set me up with someone.
I shivered at the thought of some single distant aunt of Kelly's batting her eyelashes at me from across the table as Kelly promoted her to me, occasionally asking Steve "Isn't that right?", prompting the hapless chap the awkwardly clear his throat and mutter "Oh, yes. Yes." before taking a big gulp of whatever beverage he relied on that night.
At least that was how things had gone when my niece Stacey had introduce some single friend of her fiancé's mother. Poor Todd couldn't look me in the eye when we were saying our goodbyes after that not so subtle and definitely failed attempt to match make me and... Whatever her name had been.
But would Kelly do that?
I stood up and carried my empty plate to the sink.
No, I told myself as I soaped and rinsed the china. She wouldn't.
First off, why would she want to match make me?
Second, if it was for the benefit of any potential female, then why would Kelly pick me, with all my bad habits and less than enviable social skills and someone who that (hopefully!) imaginary aunt of hers had never met and therefore couldn't have recognized as her mate?
So, no, this couldn't have been the reason. It was more likely that she'd felt sorry for me for always being on my own. Even though I liked being on my own. And in the rare occasions when I didn't fancy it, I could always go to the pub.
The foreboding that had temporarily taken over me was probably due to the lack of sleep, the vivid nightmare and me projecting my nieces' behavioural patterns onto Kelly.
It was probably going to be just her, Steve and me tonight, maybe Keri.
I dried the dish with a towel and put it inside one of the cupboards, eyebrows furrowed at the new set of nerves that had manifested.
Keri.
My mind flew to that sentence I had not dared to finish and did my best not to delve on, even though it had popped up in my brain a few times a day, each day since I'd been over to her house.
I sighed.
If I'd been younger, I'd probably ask her out.
There. I said it. In my head, but I said it.
I couldn't figure out why I was making such a big deal out of it; it was just a hypothetical situation that would never come to pass unless an apple fell on my head, the bump rewiring my brain and suddenly making me a genius who invented a time travel machine. But since there was as much of a chance of that happening as there was of me suddenly gaining superpowers and time travelling without a machine - that was to say, no chance at all - I had nothing to be anxious about.
I leaned on the counter and crossed my arms over my chest.
The Sentinels had some pretty impressive powers, but was time travel a possibility?
It sounded too farfetched to me.
Then again, before Kelly's father had introduced me to the supernatural world, shifters, vampires and psychics had all sounded the same way.
So was it possible?
I shook my head.
Probably not.
And even if it was, I didn't have that power. I didn't have any power... Any Gift, as they called.
But if I could have any, what would it be?
I pondered over the question for a few minutes, then pushed myself away from the counter with a sigh.
I couldn't imagine myself with any superpowers.
Sure, I'd want a Gift that helped me put the bad guys behind bars, but somehow... Somehow that wasn't me. I was an ordinary human being. I was a forty year old man who was good at his job and not much else, a person who had to slow down on alcohol and cigarettes, and probably consult - again - someone on his bizarre body temperature.
Have you been to a doctor?
Keri's words rang inside my head, her concern once again touching and puzzling as it warmed my chest.
I shook my head and snorted.
I was beginning to act like a schoolboy with a crush.
A crush that shouldn't be there because one - she was almost half my age, two - she was waiting for The One who most definitely wasn't me, and three - she was too good for me.
Feeling like this was silly of me. It was darn right idiotic.
But it wasn't the first time I did something dumb when Keri was concerned.
I'd bought that ring of hers. The one that she'd been looking at; the one that I shouldn't have bought when I was trying to save money; the one that I still had no idea what to do with now that I had it.
Why on Earth had I done it?
Why...
I groaned and ran my hand over my face.
It didn't matter. It was done. I had deprived Keri of getting the jewellery she'd desired and now I had a ring that had taken permanent residence in the top drawler of my wardrobe, never to be worn on the slender finger of a woman.
Deciding that I needed to clear my head and get off my mind the possibility of having dinner with a certain female shifter who was related to my host, I took off my t-shirt and pyjama bottoms to done on my jogging attire. The exercise in the cool February air would hopefully help me achieve my goal.
Hopefully.
What do you think of this chapter?
Too much of Callum being paranoid?
Is it even paranoia, if he got part of it right and Kelly is indeed planning to play matchmaker?
Do you think that's the purpose of the dinner and that Keri will be there too?
If you could have a super power, what would it be?
What superpower do you think would suit Callum?
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PS: I still don't know what to write for the Wattpad Block Party and I'm running out of time to submit my post. I want to give you something you'd enjoy, but I can't figure out what.
Do you want writing tips?
Wattpad advice?
A character interview (maybe with Callum or Horace)?
Something else?
Whatever it is, leave your suggestions in the comments!