The Talon Family
The Kiss of the Witch Doctor
February
Draft_2
By: Chase L. Currie
“You almost kill that man,” Gabriel yelled at Michael standing in the private jet their father built. The jet was high over the ocean now heading back home with Gabriel mad at her little brother. They had to pick him up from the police station. Raphael took a picture of him behind bars and made jokes about it all the way to the airport until Gabriel told him to be quiet.
No one else said a word the whole ride. Sesily held his hand but wouldn’t look at him. They all filed into the plane as it took off. Once it was in the air, Gabriel came out of the cockpit and started yelling at Michael.
“What were you thinking?” She asked, and the giant of a man wouldn’t look her in the eyes like a puppy who ate something he shouldn’t have. He stared down at his feet while the love of his life sat across from him balled up and silently crying. “You should've known better.”
“How bad is the man?” Michael asked.
“His name Andrew,” she said, “never forget his name.”
“How bad did I hurt him?”
“Well,” Raphael said, “he won’t be taking any photos for a few years and will be in the hospital for a few months.”
“But he is alive?” Michael asked. “No permeant damages?”
“As of right now,” Raphael said, “no.”
“Thank the Lord.”
“Damn right,” Gabriel said. “You are very lucky that man is not dead. You know you can’t lose control you are too powerful to do something that stupid. What if you hurt Ses?” Gabriel asked thumbing back at her.
“I won’t d---”
“What if she tried to stop you and you pushed her out of the way?” Gabriel asked with her hands on her hips. “You could have hurt her as well.”
Michael didn’t say a word and stared at her green eyes. Did she try to stop him? He couldn’t recall. He remembers her yelling, but that was about it. He saw red and didn’t come to until he heard his name being called by her sweet voice.
“I didn’t think about that.”
“You didn’t think at all,” Gabriel yelled.
Michael went back to staring at his feet.
“I can’t bel---” Gabriel started to say, but Helbis voice cut her off.
“I need you in the cockpit, we have a call,” Helbis said from the overhead speakers.
She pointed right at Michael and order, “Don’t move.”
He didn’t move and didn’t look up from his feet. All he could think about was what if he killed that man. What if he didn’t stop punching him? What if he didn’t stop in time? He could still see the blood on his knuckles and wonder why they didn’t hurt. He could always recall before he gained his power how fighting hurt his hands. Sometimes he even broke bones without knowing it until days later. He like fighting, feeling the pain, and the rules of it all. He boxed and did what other martial arts his family was into for the time and love it all.
Now, he could fight for hours and not feel the pain. His bones had to adjust to his unbelievable strength making them almost unbreakable as well. He didn’t hurt anymore when he hit something, but that man’s face would hurt for years to come.
He hates he could have killed him, but there was a part of them that knew he did the right thing. He was doing what was asked of him being a gentleman. They were going to hurt Sesily, and he couldn’t stand there not doing anything. No, he knew he did the right thing, so why did he feel so bad about it?
“You know,” Raphael said, “I would have done the same thing.”
Michael looked up at him.
“I think you did the right thing,” he said heading for the cockpit trying to give his little brother some time alone with his girlfriend.
Before Raphael was out of the room, Sesily was next to him warping her arms around him and putting her head on his shoulder. “You okay?” She asked.
“I don’t know,” he said.
She took one of his hand rubbing them and telling him, “It was really brave what you did for me.”
“I wasn’t going to let them hurt you.”
She kissed him on the cheek. “I know.”
“But I could have hurt you,” he said.
“I wasn’t going to let you,” she said. “That’s why I yelled and didn’t try to touch you.”
“At least one of us was smart,” he said. “I have never been that angry before in my life. It was scary.” He bites back some tears knowing if he killed that man he wouldn’t have felt bad about for years. He started to bounce one of his legs. “You were screaming, and I came too to see your face. I stopped because the look in your eyes, but Sesily,” he stared right at her, “I wanted to kill that man for touching you.”
“I know.”
“No, I mean it,” he said. “It was taking everything in me not to break his neck.”
She didn’t say a word to him.
He looked away and said, “I believe I, we, got these powers to do some good in the world. I want to help people, save them if I could but not that man.”
“It’s something I like about you.”
He told her letting one tear run down his cheek, “I didn’t want to be good anymore. I want to rip that guy head off, and the terrifying thing is I knew I could do it without any problem.”
She garbed tight around his hand and said, “But you didn’t.”
“Because you were there,” he said. “What if I get that mad again and you are not around?”
“You will do the right thing,” she said, “because you are a good person. The best person I know.”
“That is really sad, you know?”
“No, it is no---”
Gabriel came back out of the cockpit stopping her some saying anything else. She stopped right in front of them staring right at Sesily. She was mad, but something else was going on now.
“We have a mission,” she said. “But I don’t have time to take you home.”
“Okay.”
“You are going to be okay with staying on the plane?” She asked. “Not going to try and follow us?”
“No,” Sesily shook her head. “I’m good here. I don’t want to get into a fight.”
“Good,” Gabriel said and turned to face her brother. “That means she will be safe and you can focus on the mission.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said.
“What I like to hear.”
“So, what is the mission?” Michael asked.
(Writer’s Notes: I find myself in these kinds of problems when writing stories close to my life. Not saying I have super powers or that my family saves the world daily, we don’t, but the events over the last couple of parts of the story are something I have dealt with in my life before. I am a big man and I am a calm man to boot but when I get mad … well, I don’t turn green, but I do see red. So, I asked myself what would happen if I got mad and had super strength? I believe, it would be along the lines of what has happened to Michael and I know, some of my family would have handled it the same way too. I like how close it is to my life but at the same time, I don’t want people to read me into the story. I am not Michael by any means and yet, part of the writer must be in their work. I guess, there is no way around it.
It was pointed out to me the other day when I was telling my best friend Amber about the Talons, that my family is what I have based them off of without knowing it. Amber is like a sister to me and my family has accepted her into the fold like she was one of us. Sometime, the to point where my mother will call me wanting to know what to get her for Christmas before she asks me what I want. It is funny to pick on her about it, but I never mind. It shows me how much my best friend is a part of this family.
And it also shows me how much I have based the Talons off of my family. Amber is the adopted sister while everyone else is easy to see where I got the ideas. Gabriel is my sister. Raphael is my brother and Michael is me to some degree, even if I don’t like it. The truth is the truth no point in hiding from it.)
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