Amber by Dan-Dwayne Spencer (e book reader .TXT) 📕

Truth be told, I suppose we were pretty wrapped up in our own personal transformations. At least I was. It didn’t leave much room for casual conversation during our drive back to Western. We thought we were going on an adventure to a rock concert. Fate had a different adventure in mind all along.

When we were heading north, it was all about getting to know each other and celebrating our common ground. It turned out we had plenty of common ground. The question rolling over in my mind was: What’s going to happen next?

When we got to Amarillo, I called my parents, and since I was on my way home, they were better with my leaving than I expected. I figured there would still be hell to pay. When Jimmy dropped me off, my mother came busting out the door, grabbing and hugging me. She had never once hugged me since I was eight-years-old.

Mother blubbered, “I was so worried. I missed you so much.” Then she uttered the words I thought I’d never hear, “I love you, dear.”

Frankly, I didn’t know how to react. Judging from her past actions, I had always thought she didn’t love me. To my astonishment, she and Dad both apologized for not telling me about Aunt Hattie’s gift and how it led to her suicide. I’m pretty sure Hattie didn’t have someone like Flower to explain what was happening to her.

From what they said, I could tell they were clueless as to what the gift was, only that it showed up from time to time in our family. Mother said if I started having mental problems like Hattie, she would stand by me every step of the way.

I didn’t know how to take that. Where were those steps she talked about? Where were they going to take me? Was she expecting me to end up in the loony bin? I knew right then I could never confide in her about anything. Not about my gift, and certainly not about the battle of Blue Eye. She would never understand what was really happening to me.

Dad didn’t give me too hard a time about the fifty dollars. He simply said I had to pay him back—fair enough. He asked nothing about my trip, only winked at me, and acted like he knew exactly what we had been up to. I’m pretty sure he was talking about a completely different rite of passage than I had experienced.

I had hoped my newfound independence would mark a better relationship with them, and I was right. All considered, my connection with my parents became stronger on the surface. At least we started functioning like a family for once, but my silence and the secret I kept from them created a chasm we would never breach.

They still yelled and fought every morning. Dad continued to bolt out of the house to get away from Mom and her skillet. Thankfully, something about how they looked at me had changed. I think they realized my time at home was rapidly coming to an end—and every minute was precious. And then, maybe they didn’t learn that lesson… Maybe it was me.

That was the secret lesson I learned from Flower—no matter how long life is, it’s too short not to enjoy it. So I forgave my parents. However, trust and camaraderie are far different from forgiveness. Oddly enough, I found a trustworthiness in an old buddy and the school bully, one I never expected to find.

Jimmy, Roger, and I were tighter friends than the three musketeers. We seldom went anywhere without the other two, not if we could help it. Our bond was stronger than blood; we were brothers in a way no one would or could understand—especially Sarah. It only took a few days for her and Jimmy to break-up. I guess I figured that was coming. I knew for a fact Jimmy had found his soulmate in Rose. He would just have to find her again.

It was not only hard for him, but it grieved me seeing him so down. Over the course of those fateful days in August, I discovered in my two friends, a worth no one else could see. Other people may always see Jimmy as a bully, but I see him as a hero. And even though Roger’s parents act as if he’s invisible, I see his brilliance.

I also learned a thing or two about forgiveness. Forgiving myself for past failures, forgiving my parents for their abuse, and in general, forgiving everyone I want in my life; they deserved it because no-one’s perfect. Maybe the biggest lesson I learned was about responsibility. I was chosen and empowered—too bad my gift didn’t work when I wanted it to. My power had a mind of its own and turned on at the oddest times. Still, I couldn’t use it for selfish reasons. Reuwel said I had impressed the Creator when I wasn’t selfish. His words only confirmed what I guessed; this superpower had a purpose—fighting demons.

Since the battle of Blue Eye, everywhere I looked I expected to see demons and such, but I didn’t. I wasn’t even getting any prophetic dreams. Everything was quiet on the battlefront as school started for the 1969-70 term.

The halls of WT High were crowded with teenagers, neither demons nor wicked Ishtar was anywhere in sight. At least they didn’t appear in Miss Brenda Beverly’s math class. Everyone at the school calls her Miss BB. After math, I walked into Old Lady Wheeler’s Spanish 2 class expecting to see Sarah. There she sat in the second row, and sitting beside her chatting like they were old friends, was Rose. Shock doesn’t come close to what I felt. It turned out that Rose’s parents had moved to Western, to get her away from what they called bad influences. They blamed her hippie friends for her running away.

My world just