Chapter 6: Flashes from the past

“Sooo… when you say that you didn’t read my bio, because you’re not a part of my demographic target, what did you mean exactly?”

Shannon watched the minor very closely, while still trying to play it cool. She hadn’t expected it. Okay, Old Creek was backwater, but Alejandro’s had had superior education; well for a Minor, especially one as sheltered as he. Surely, he hadn’t had a MAJOR for a tutor, because he would have been too afraid when he was younger. And she couldn’t picture a Minor knowing enough to teach High School and College courses. It had to have been online studies, so he had to know how to use a computer. Searching to learn her past would have been easy! Then again, he probably had to resort to his family’s computer, so perhaps he hadn’t had the opportunity to be alone on it.

“Well… you’re only doing things for MAJORS, right? I mean, your ads ARE more than a little on the nose… what was Fire-Brand first one already… “There is only MAJOR stories in your life” or something right?”

The Minor sounded rather bored and Shannon felt a little hurt. She had devised this ad herself! Sure, it was a little rough on the edge and had not subtlety but still, it was really catchy. Simple, direct and speaking to every MAJOR in age to go to the internet alone. And her latest one, “Make even the smallest idea BIG” was great, right?

“Well, yes, okay… I get that you could feel a little excluded from it, but really, my sites and apps are for everyone, you know” she said, a little nervous. She pushed back one lock of her hair behind her ear and begun to spin it around her fingers. “It’s just that the market for a Minor audience is… a little small?”

Alejandro’s cocked an eyebrow but remained silent. Either he was convinced or he simply didn’t want to waste more time on it. Shannon’s indulged herself with a mouthful of champagne while preparing a huge portion of liver to be put on this special bread, filled with figs in it that Jules had cut. She was still unable to understand how her childhood friend couldn’t have been interested in the slightest in her biography. He was even mentioned in it!

“Okay, I get it; you don’t think that it’s interesting to learn more about someone whose business create products you don’t use. That’s actually great, it shows you aren’t just a sheep following the herd. But why weren’t you interested in what I did since the last time we saw each other? I mean, not every people you know as a child get to becomes crazy rich, if you allow me to say this! And we were always such great friends, Alejandro!” pressed Shannon.

“Yeah, that’s right!” almost screamed Lindsey, clearly exited. “How come you never told me you were friend with THE Shannon Matthewson, ‘Rando!? Mom had to tell me who she was when she was preparing for their visit! All you ever do is talk about Al’ and mommy and daddy, and your trips in the region!”

To the MAJORS’ surprise, Alejandro visibly lost some colors and winced. He suddenly looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but there. Shannon almost assumed he would go for a dash and free fall over staying put and leaned toward the edge of the table,preparing herself for a catch. If he jumped from here, he could get hurt really bad, and she didn't like how pale he had become. Instead, the little thing sipped his cup in one go and shook his head, before mumbling something inaudible.

“What? Speak up sweetie” said Auntie Ofelia, clearly interested by what was going on.

“I don’t remember you, okay? In fact, I didn’t even remember your name” he gestured at Shannon, “until you introduced yourself!”

The Minor looked agitated, and his family’s faces had gone from curiosity to nervousness. Clearly, something wasn’t right here. As for Shannon herself, she didn’t know how to react. She knew that Minors hadn’t the same memory’s power than MAJORS, but still, she had never assumed that he would have forgotten all about her. How was that even possible! They had spent most of their early childhood together! Truly, the only one who could claim that he had spent more time with Alejandro was his twin. Even Mac Ferlan, for all his bullying , hadn’t spent much time with Alejandro, he was too preoccupied with clobbering and kicking any and all other young MAJORS trying to get their hands on the kid he proclaimed was his.

“What are you talking about, bro? Shannon was always with us, Jeff, Elie…” said Alaric, while leaving his chair to come near his twin.

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“Who? I don’t remember any of them… I remember playing with you Al’, sure, but…”

Alejandro grunted and clutched his forehead in his hand. A sudden headache made him wince. He had never experienced such pain without a sudden warning. He couldn’t understand from where this sudden suffering came, it made no sense. If I’ve known those guys, why can’t I remember them? How come I only have faint memories, and not happy ones at that? I would never have spent all days with people I didn’t like; I remember doing my best to avoid Joseph, after all…The minor closed his eyes, concentrating hard, trying to remember.

“Alejandro…”

“Bro, what’s happening?”

“’Rando, you’re okay?”

The voices of his family and their guests seemed to come from far way, slow and weak. What the fuck was…Alejandro tensed up and felt nauseous. He felt as if something was blocking his memories. If his mind was a medieval castle, kept shut and barred so nothing could get in or get out, he suddenly discovered a hidden donjon, a vault of a sort where even he couldn’t enter. Trying to force it open  was a torture. I’ve to get back to my room. I can’t endure it here… Alejandro battled to get enough of a grip on reality to get his butt out of the open. Whatever what happening, he refused to have a seizure of something in front of all those MAJORS.

“I don’t feel too well” articulated the Minor with some difficulties. “I think that the champagne was… a little too strong for me. Can I…” he paused, taking a deep breath. “Can I get back to my room a little mom? You’ll just have to call me back for dinner proper, okay?”

“I… Okay, right, sweetheart. We won’t eat before at least one hour, so you can go and get some rest. Alaric, can you take your brother to his room?”

“Sure thing mom” answered the MAJOR with some nervousness.

He took his diminutive twin in his hands and in three great strides, he was back into the living room and then on the stairs.

“What’s happening bro?”

Alejandro whined as the pain continued to mount. His mental barriers were under siege like never before. It almost felt worse than when Joseph had tried to bond him forcefully. But he wasn’t a kid anymore, he had to endure it and get rid of it. Perhaps, if he managed to let it rage long enough, he would get it out entirely from his mind, kind of like the pus in a button, where you had to expel it all out or it formed again.

“Bro?” asked Alaric with more urgency.

“Tell you later” growled the Minor between his gritted teeth. “I’ll be fine; I just need to clear my head a little.”

“You don’t have to play the lone warrior, Alejandro! I’m your fucking twin, I can help you!”

“I know you can, but… that’s something I need to deal with alone, I swear I’ll be okay.”

Alejandro managed to get a look at his brother’s face. Even in the barely lit stair landing, he could see clear as day the concern on his MAJOR of a brother’s face. Alaric wasn't liking what he was hearing, but the Minor knew he would respect his choice. That's why mom had picked him over Lindsey to bring him back in his room. His little sister would have tried to convice him to let her stay with him for like ten minutes and would have then attempted to bring him back willingly to the diner. If he was being honest, she would have succeeded, she was really good at playing him when it suited her fancies.

“Fine… just remember that everyone here want to help you. Even Shannon, I’m sure.”

“She wants a piece of my ass, that’s what she wants!” grunted the minor.

“Shouldn’t you be proud of that? I mean, I would kill to have Shannon freaking Matthewson wanting a piece of my ass” said Alaric with a huge smile while dropping his brother before his door and opening it. "Plus, don't tell me she doesn't make you hot, right?"

“Yeah…” The pain made it quite difficult to think but Alejandro managed to put some snarky vibe in his answer. “Tell me how hot she makes you feel after she’s groped your dick as if by accident, with finger fatter than your arms…”

“Oh…”

“Yeah, oh, indeed… Now, if you excuse me…”

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Alejandro collapsed on his bed. He hadn’t even the courage to go and forage in his medical supply. He probably had some pills for headaches, and some ice to put in his head, but what was the point? His suffering came from inside his head, not some physiological reaction. Somehow, he knew it was all psychological or something of the sort. Perhaps his body was reacting to it nonetheless, but, overall, it was just some sort of barrier in his mind that was hurting him because he was trying to get over it. All he had to do was to keep trying to go beyond it and and the pain would ease quickly, after some time, right?

He closed his eyelids and tried to get back to his earliest memory outside his home. It was as good as any other choice to see what would happen.

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The kid was walking on the pavement in his house’s street. Everything was so huge! It was the first time that this idea struck him. How come everything and everyone was so tall while he was the only one so small? A huge shadow fell over him, and the temperature seemed to take a dive. He wanted to get back to his home; he had to get back to his home. It was dangerous outside, he could be snatched up by anything, a bird, a kidnapper, anything. He had to go back, had to be where it was safe, had to… That’s not what happened, keep walking said a distant voice, his own but coming from so far that it was barely a whisper. Still, the three years old Alejandro listened to it and ignored the shadow. He felt an atrocious pang of pain, as if his head cracked open and then it vanished, as suddenly as it had came.

“Ullo!” screamed a very loud and very high pitched voice somewhere on his left.

The small kid turned his head. A girl his age but looking at least twice his size was approaching him. He was a little nervous; his parents were at least twenty meters (65 feet) away, behind him and his twin had stayed with them while they were talking with the neighbors. He had been the only one who had continued to walk, but he wanted to explore his surroundings and he really hated waiting. Everyone was extra cautious around him, it was so tiring! Nonetheless, he was a little worried, but he didn’t run away from the girl. She would catch him quickly anyway. Plus, he was quite curious; it would be his first time talking to someone who wasn’t his family.

“’Lo” he answered back, rather meekly.

“How come you’re so small? And why are you afraid of me?” abruptly asked the black little girl, with an incredible lack of tact.

“Uuuh…? Why are you so tall?” he answered, a little annoyed. “And I’m not afraid!”

“Yes you are! But you don’t have to! I’ll protect you, nobody will hurt you, I swear! By the way, the name’s Shannon, Alejandro!” chirped the girl. The young kid was surprised, because he hadn't said his name to her, but clearly, she knew it. It was strange, but also funny.

The scene had changed. Now, he was six years old and in Shannon’s arms, trying to get out of here.

“I don’t wanna! Why am I always the damsel in distress!”

“‘Cause you’re small, dummy” answered his friend with too much contentment for his taste. “And I get to be the dragon which hurts you so much that you do everything it says” she added with a strange, deeper, colder, voice. Colors where waning from the world around him and it disturbed the little boy. There was something wrong; Shannon’s was hugging him too tight, he wasn’t able to breath! She’ll kill me! he panicked. Then the voice from before came back, stronger this time.

That’s not how it happened, come on ! Our parents wouldn’t have let her get away with it, they were the only ones actually voicing their concern when Mac Ferlan was allowed to say that we were his! And it was when we were already eight, they wouldn't have let Shannon hurt us that way!

Once more, he felt a pang of pain, but lesser than the former. Either there wasn't much to still break in his head, or the strenght of his mind snapping back at itself was getting weaker. Hopefully, it was the latter. He wasn't certain that he wanted to see what would happen of him if it was the former.

“Lemme go! I don’t want to!” screamed the minor when the scene came back to normal.

“Nah, A neva let you go!” sang the MAJOR girl. “You be the damsel, and I’m the knight in the shiny amo, and I save you!”

“But it’s always the same! And then you say that you’ve a wish that I alone can make true but you never tell me what it is!”

"That's because you must figure it out alone, silly!"

Now, he was eight years old, just one day before Halloween. Jefferson, Elie, Al’ and Shannon were all surrounding him, looking at him from above. They all seemed rather embarrassed. And Alejandro himself was really angry.

“Why can’t you play with me!” he stomped his foot.

“Joseph said…” begun Elie, but he interrupted her.

“Who cares? He’s not my dad! He’s not even my friend, you are!” roared the Minor.

“Look, calm down, okay” shouted Al’. “I’ll go treat or tricking with you. Happy, now?”

“Yeah, yeah… But you guys are really strange… you used to clobber each other’s in the face all the time to play with me. Now Mac Ferlan’s come and said I’m his, and you all agree?”

“You can’t understand, it’s a MAJOR thing.”

“More like it’s a MORON thing, Jeff!”

All the MAJORS had groaned and left him alone. Only his twin had continued to play with him. That’s it. That’s what made me forget. It was so obvious! His friends had given up on him, putting Alaric as his sole defender against Joseph Mac Ferlan. One paltry day later, the sanctity of his mind was violated, his arm was crushed and then amputated, and he had killed someone and almost lost his twin. It was this moment where those supposedly superior beings had left him to face all of this horror which had let him to chase them from his mind, to put all those happy, precious, memories in a place where he couldn't remember them, a way to rptect himself from suffering. Had they persevered, he wouldn’t have been alone with Alaric that Halloween. He wouldn’t have been abducted and tormented.

 All the horror was still avoidable when those kids had turned their backs on him, following some primitive instinct instead of actually using their brains. For all their talk about their supposed genetic superiority, the MAJORS sometimes conducted themselves more like great apes than civilized beings. Realizing that was strangely liberating. His pain had dissipated, sent away by the flood of memories, the happy ones, he had forgotten for ten years. All tension left his body. He felt himself go limp, and could only yawn. In less than a minute, he had fallen asleep, a serene expression on his face for the first time in a decade.

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“But I couldn’t really tell him what it was, right? Plus, it was really silly” said Shannon.

The atmosphere around the table had quickly returned to a jovial one once Alejandro had departed. It wasn’t the poor Minor’s fault, but his presence did amped up the tension. Unbounded minors had that effect everywhere they went, it was beyond their control. And Alejandro was really a quiet one, so he wasn’t driving everyone around him crazy as some could. Among the handful of Minor she had encountered, he was the only one she couldn’t even pick superficial thoughts.

It made her interaction with him all the more harder, especially when she remembered how he had been. As a kid, his mind was incredibly loud, broadcasting his feelings, be they happiness, sorrow or fear, for everyone to hear. That’s why all the MAJORS his age or slightly older were crazy over him. As the sole representative of his kind in Old Creek, his loneliness and constant search for companionship was obvious. Even when they had been too young to truly understand it, all MAJOR kids had felt it at an instinctual level. Still, Shannon had always liked the way he laughed by then. His voice, coupled with the vibrations from his mind, was delicious to feel.

The fact that he had forgotten her, that he had admitted that he had even forgotten her name... It broke her heart. And yet, she felt bad for feeling so sad about it. This poor boy had suffered terribly and then her family had left Old Creek when he was still in the hospital. It wasn’t so surprising that he had chosen to remember happier memories, instead of those times. I’ll just have to make new memories with him. I’ve one week, I can do it. And if he resists me well… won’t he makes him even more desirable and unobtainable?

“But what was your wish?” asked Lindsey, preventing Shannon from moping around. “What could he do that others couldn’t? ‘Rando is great but everything he can do, I can… well, most of it anyway” chirped the younger MAJOR.

“Well… if I have to say this out loud… I wanted a kiss from him!” laughed the behemoth, while blushing.

“No way!” screamed Alaric between two loud fit of laugher. “And he never got it? We guys were all heels over heads for you, you know!”

“Never! I don’t want to be rude Auntie, but your eldest his incredibly dense at times!”

“Oh, Don’t worry, I agree with you! You’ve no idea how hard it was to make him understand that boxers were meant to be on the butt and not the head! In fact, it’s still a daily struggle!”

Everyone laughed, tears forming and rolling on their cheeks. Shannon glanced at the clock. 11.23 p.m.

“Shouldn’t we call him back?” asked Jules, who had noticed where his guest was looking.

“No… let him rest, he’s probably sleeping already” said Ofelia.

“But he ate nothing! And he had promised to dine with us!” said Lindsey, somewhat offusced.

“I know Lindsey, but you’ve noticed how nervous your brother was the last few days. He came to greet the Matthewson and that’s already wonderful of him. There is no need to rush things, he clearly needs more time. I’m sure that tomorrow, he’ll be in better dispositions”. She winked at Shannon who blushed again. Auntie’s plan for the next day was incredibly bold. She had protested, more for the form than anything else, but the young woman still hoped that Mrs. Ferrand knew her son as well as she pretended.

“But…” whined Lindsey.

“No buts nor ifs, young lady” said Ofelia sternly. “Minors like your brother needs more sleep than us, and you know how tense he may become at times. Let him rest”.

“Your mother’s right”, said Alexis, Shannon’s mother. “Joshua, Derek’s boyfriend…”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” interrupted said MAJOR. “We’re just… good buddies”.

“Really? Well I sure don’t want to see what you do in your team locker with your crew son, because from the sound of what you already do with Joshua, I’m not sure that it would be good for my heart. And his mother would probably happy to learn that she has to wash away your buddy fluids and not your lover's!”

“Mom!” screamed Derek, embarrassed beyond anything his sister had ever seen.

“Serve you right for interrupting me… and forgetting to close your door and windows”.

“Aww man…” said a dejected Derek, hiding his face in his hands.

“As I was saying” told Alexis, glancing at her son, “Minors get tired a lot more quickly than us. Plus, I highly doubt that seeing us eat for hours on end would be very interesting. We’ve got all the time we want to take him into more interesting activities”.

Alexis smiled at her daughter, who was a little anxious. Sure she had agreed to the Ferrand’s idea and even Al’ had given his consent, if only grudgingly. But she still needed time to work on her part. Thankfully, the dinner had at least two and a half more hours and then some before it ended. Mister Ferrand had ordered a massive amount of cheeses and cakes as dessert, and Shannon wanted to at least taste all of those varieties. With a contended smile, she took another portion of chili con carne, weighing more than the missing Minor.

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In his bed, Alejandro was sleeping, oblivious of the trap which was supposed to ensnare him the following day, just when he would wake up. Instead, his dreams were full of long forgotten memories reasserting themselves into his mind, granting him a strangely delicious night… and preparing him for a great change in his life.