Laz"s coughing was drowned out by the old men"s laughter. He hadn"t spent a lot of time with his grandmother before she left the world, but he still remembered her as a constantly smiling face when he was young. Knowing that these two old men were telling him that the smiling face from his youth was able to crush beer cans would definitely be something he couldn"t forget.Then again, he started this so he should have expected it. After he finished eating, he walked over to the barn to start hitting the bag again.
Bill yelled out, "I didn"t tell you to go back there did I?"
"Nope."
"Oh. Ok. Yeah, go do that. Nothing beats hardening the fists. You would be surprised how weak a normal persons fist is." Bill seemed to wave him off a bit, but it was true never the less. Hitting the bag over and over again would be the best way for Laz to learn how to control his strength. He needed the practice with that before he ever had to hit a human.
The results could be horrible otherwise. Neither Bill nor Grandpa Crowe wanted Laz to accidentally kill someone the first time he hit them. And with his strength, that could happen.
Laz spent the rest of the day practicing punching and kicking the heavy leather bag. The constant impact over and over again made his bones practically crack from the strain, but he kept going.
He didn"t want to admit it, but he was really worried. He knew that his Grandpa was sick but after seeing him out here, he knew he didn"t have much time left. As Laz"s ability grew, he felt the strain that such things put on his body. He knew his grandfather couldn"t survive such strain for long. In the end, the old man, no matter how tough he was, was already nearing the end of his life. This was just making it happen faster.
Laz couldn"t do anything but wait and hit this punching bag, again and again. He knew he would be powerless when the time came, but his young mind didn"t think this day would come so soon. Like all things, he thought he could face it when the time came and he would be able to handle it. But he was realizing that he wasn"t ready. Not by a long shot. Even if his parents were out there somewhere, he hadn"t seen them in a few years and hadn"t heard from them. He didn"t consider them as being a part of his future equation.
Life was a weird creature. Just when you think you have things figured out, it likes making things chaotic again. No reason, just because.
Laz couldn"t help but just stop for a minute and zone out. Things were moving too fast, far too fast. He was getting lost and he didn"t like it. For a 14 year old boy, this wasn"t something he knew how to deal with. Even if he wanted to get angry with someone, who could he get angry with. Thinking about some of those kids in his cla.s.s, he couldn"t help but feel somewhat jealous. They liked to complain about their parents or talk about how they got into a fight with them over something stupid. "Parents never understand," they would say, or "I wish I could live by myself." These were only things that people who had never experienced hardship would say.
Laz knew he was starting to lose himself. It had happened once before. This time was different. He walked over to the chest where his jacket, backpack, helmet and cellphone ended up. He normally kept them there when he wasn"t in the loft.
Grabbing his cell phone, he walked over to a cabinet and opened it up, revealing an old, somewhat worn out radio. Grabbing the custom cut cord, Laz was able to plug it into his head phone jack and ignoring the message indicator, he set it up to play.
He walked over to the to the bag and stood silently in front of it, clearing his mind of all thoughts. The day was somewhat gray and looked ready to rain at any moment. It had only cooled off slightly from the day before, but the amount of moisture in the air made it clear that a storm was coming.
The weather reflected Laz"s thoughts perfectly.
Laz stood still and just let his senses spread out, not focusing on anything in particular as the music started playing.
~I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. And I fear no evil "cause I"m blind to it all. And my mind, my gun they comfort me. Because I know I"ll kill my enemies when they come.~
~Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell on this earth for ever more.~
~ Sad I walk beside the still waters and they restore my soul. But I can"t walk on the path of the right because I"m wrong.~
~No I can"t walk.~
~On the path of the right.~
~"Cause I"m wrong.~
Music has a power over the soul. It"s something that has been recorded many times over the years. As the song repeated, Laz walked over to the heavy bag again and began hitting it. He lost track of time as the music filled his mind.
He was hurt and in pain but he wouldn"t stop. He couldn"t. The moment he did was the moment he had to face the truth. He would do anything he could to not have to do it at this moment.
Unknown to Laz, his grandpa and Bill had come to the door of the barn and silently watched the young man who"s knuckles had long gone b.l.o.o.d.y. They didn"t say anything. Taking a quick look at each other, they both sighed and walked towards the house after Bill set a bandage wrap on the chest. Sometimes a man had to figure things out for himself, no matter how painful it was. No matter how much it hurt.
Growing up was painful, but you can"t stay a kid forever.
Laz had no idea how much time had pa.s.sed when he finally stopped. He neither noticed the pain in his hands nor the blood spots he had left on the bag. He stopped only once the music stopped. It had played the same song over and over again until it killed the battery.
It was only once he heard the lightning boom overhead that he awoke from his trance. He didn"t feel any better. He actually felt worse. But he could endure it now. His soul was far stronger than before he began, but he couldn"t know that.
It only took a few moments before he noticed his hands bleeding and dripping into the sand on the barn floor. Walking over to the old hand crank water pump, Laz gave it a few good pumps until the water came out. Putting his hands under the bitter cold water, he washed them as best he could then walked over to the chest to find a towel.
He noticed the bandage wrap quickly and knew that he had been watched. Laz couldn"t help but feel grateful in his heart. He dried his hands and wrapped them up as best he could. Flexing his hands to test the tightness, he went over to grab his phone then closed up the cabinet. Grabbing his jacket, backpack and helmet, he made his way to the door.
Tacked up on the door was a simple note that read, "See you next weekend."
Laz put on his eagle helmet and started up the bike. Looking towards the sky, he wondered if he could get home before it started to pour. He cranked the gas while popping the clutch and took off down the long driveway, making his way back home.
As he flew down the county highway keeping an eye out for pa.s.sing vehicles, he finally found some peace in his thoughts. The wind was refreshing while the cool moist air felt cleansing.
It didn"t take long before he made his way back home to "The Shack." It had started to get a little dark but it wasn"t yet late. Laz turned off his bike, took off his helmet and started walking for the stairs. Although he wasn"t all there at this moment, his perception was still spread out.
Although it was a brief moment, he noticed a flash of light out of the corner of his eye. It looked somewhat green, like fireflies in the night. The strange part though was that they seemed to be moving upward and outward like a sparkler. The strange movement was what caused Laz to walk over and take a look.
The back of the apartment complex bordered a wooded area that was rather young in age. The trees were still young and thin but gave off a strong sense of life. Even the underbrush looked healthy but didn"t become overgrown. Laz had never really notice before how healthy the area was.
Normally he wouldn"t look twice, but the light that caught his eye seemed to stir a memory in him. He just wasn"t sure what it was.
Walking into the brush, it didn"t take long before he came to a small clearing. Surrounding the clearing was a steady line of the tallest trees in the area, but even then, they weren"t very large. This area was originally a park that the town lost the money to maintain. Because of that, they sold off patches of it to the surrounding households to use as they pleased. His grandpa had originally bought this area to use for something, but then lost either the money of the interest to follow through with it.
Due to that, he just let the area grow over and return to nature, or so he said.
As Laz walked into the clearing, he was somewhat stunned. He had played back here when he was a kid, but he didn"t remember it looking like this.
The gra.s.s was green and lush and there was even a stone bench next to a small pond. Near the pond was were the light was coming from.
Laz walked a bit closer and circled around the bench before he caught sight of it. The plant was about waist height to Laz with rather big, bright green leaves that stretched almost 2 feet. They seemed to form a crown around a bright purple flower that was unlike anything Laz had ever seen.
The flower looked like a big bowl that was glowing with a sort of nectar inside of it. The light that Laz had noticed was coming from this flower, or more specifically, the nectar.
Laz couldn"t help but stand there in amazement as it finally dawned on him where he had seen these lights before. They were the same energy like light flecks that he saw after he had killed Joey.