Chapter 8: Magic, Madness, Heaven, Sin

Chapter 8

Eros Dylan Donovan

Magic, Madness, Heaven, Sin

The talk that I've had with Mike, it's embarrassing. I shouted at him. It wasn't my attention to shout at him. I just got carried away. How can a son feel so very distance with his very own mother? I love my mother so much that I couldn't even talk shit to her. But Mike. Mike has the guts to do that. I guess I have yet to know him more. That's why I invited him. To be honest, it's my benefit. More than Brad's.

That's only a plus.

I know Brad would enjoy the trip with his idol, Mike. Brad told me that Mike is his idol. He told me not to tell him.

I would try to know him more. From the day I met him, when I opened the door for them, I was struck. It's true that Mike is the most handsome man I'd ever encountered or seen in my whole life. And my ego is kind of hurt. Because how could a person like me, an Eros Dylan Donovan, would say a man is more handsome than I? It's not me saying it. It's the unknown, undiscovered part of me saying it.

"My sons and I have a little outing, you know." I say as Officer Geraldin puts tons and tons of papers on my desk. I eye it. So many work to do. "And I'm pretty sure Boss told you to do some of it. You little bitch."

Officer Geraldin chuckles at that.

"Ah. I know. But you should do it first." Officer Geraldin shakes his head as he goes to his desk, clearing the unnecessary files on his desk. "You know, yesterday, I was so workaholic..."

"You're always workaholic." I say matter of fact, arching a brow as I tilt my head.

"Haha," he laughs sarcastically. "Anyways, I was searching through Google. About TPG. I don't know if Google is a valid source. But shit. I was desperate. So I reconsidered it. TPG. It means 'The Phantom Gang'. Righhhttt. That's a fucking lame title for a serious gang like them."

Myself goes back in. Alert and ready. Ready to take some information. Officer Geraldin gives me a grin because he knows when it comes to situations like this, I always focus myself.

Officer Geraldin has a habit of telling the whole story. And by the whole story, means that how he typed the information on Google. Shits like that.

He said he was alone yesterday. And was totally bored so he has researched about the cases on Google. Then he typed, exactly, 'TPG means crime'. That's a messed up way title on searching for a topic on Google. But that's Google. Google has some informations. Most of them are hoax. Rare of them are legit.

Google is the students' way of searching information. And when it comes to information for school, mostly they have them correctly. But TPG? TPG has so many meanings. It could mean 'The Principles of Golf', or 'The Price of Golf'. Shits like that. But I think 'The Phantom Gang' is the closest to it. It feels like that gang is sort of belongs to this place. To this county. I have a feeling of it.

I look around our office. The office has a typical gray metal drawers, it has lots of files in them. From the looks of it, it's old and you can see the rust forming on the edges of the drawers. A see-through crossed designed trash bins. Lots of crumpled papers are inside them. Useless. Unnecessary drawings are drawn on them. The room is painted dark gray. Typical room for policemen. Typical office for policemen.

The floor is made of asphalt. Rough. Our desks are made of wooden, painted in gray. According to Geraldin, this office hasn't been used for, like, a year. And it hasn't been taken care of very well. A huge whiteboard is on the wall. It has some texts on it. 'Plans', 'Schedules', 'Breaks', and some of the police quotes. Beside the board is an announcement board. Papers are pinned on the wooden board.

Maybe this office could use some beautifying.

Geraldin kicks my desk and all the papers he has put on my desk nearly stumble. I give him a death glare. I don't want to clean.

"Hay, Officer Donovan. You weren't listening to me." Officer Geraldin says as he shakes his head, frowning. I guess I haven't been listening enough to miss the best part. Or the climax. "Okay, I'll repeat what I said. The most interesting part about 'The Phantom Gang' is, most of them consist of teenagers."

"Are you fucking sure about that, Geraldin?" I say, my eyes almost turning into a slit, staring intently at him. Furious. How could a group of teenagers be able to rob a bank, a big bank, easily? "It's unbelievable, Geraldin. It really is."

"I know, Donovan." He says, agreeing with me. It seems like even him, he cannot believe that a group of teenagers would be able to do this kind of stuff. Robbing. I mean, that is not easy. I mean, they are teenagers. They are still kids. They are not an expert. Unless they are doing this kind of stuff since they were babies. "Even I cannot believe it. That's why we have to investigate. I think the leader of this group is old. It's like he's the boss. I have watched the CCTVs, Donovan. A million times. But... one think I noticed is most of them were teenagers, and they seemed disoriented. Right?"

My mind immediately replays the CCTV recordings. It's true that some of them were disoriented. But it could be a coincidence, right? We cannot base this trait on the recordings.

"So? What if they were?"

"It means that they don't like what they are doing!" Geraldin puts his hand in the air. "Jesus, Donovan! Sometimes you can be dumb."

"Hahahahaha, Geraldin. Real funny." I say, shaking my head. "So what if they were disoriented? Doesn't mean that's true. But for you, I'll reconsider it."

"Whatever," he mumbles. Officer Geraldin turns around and starts punching on his keyboard. I guess he's writing a report.

+++

'Dear Future Lover For Forever,

It has been so long since I last wrote a letter for you. For the past few days, I was really stressed out. Because of mum. Of the things I'm facing. I have a new step father. He's a cop. His name is Eros. Remember about the first letter I wrote you? I love History. And when I found out his name, Eros. It felt like he belongs in Olympus. Like he's a God or something. I never knew mum could seduce a guy like him. Usually, Eros is the one who likes to fool around. But it seems like mum is toying him around her fingers. Is that even possible?

John and Ashton. They are really in love with each other. They are always together. And it's good to see that my friends are happy with their choices in life. When you enter in my life, I hope our start would be fine. And then I want our relationship to be exact like Noah's and Gloss'. Kevin's and Collins'. And John's and Ashton's.

I really want to meet you now. I don't know if you are now part of my life. Or if I have yet to meet you one day. But still, I'm ready. So ready.'

I've been reading some of Mike's letters. And all of them are kind of interesting to me. It feels like I'm seeing this undiscovered part of him. And that makes him interesting to me. I know what I'm doing is wrong. Invading the privacy of a human mind. But I can't help myself. It's tempting. I want to see the real Mike. The one who is soft-hearted, kind and outgoing, bright and not moody. Whenever he's inside this house, you couldn't paint the portrait of his face. Because he always frowns. But that disappears when he's around Brad. Brad and him always get along. Real well. Brad makes him happy. And sometimes, I get a thought that I should be the one making him happy. I want him to treat me like I really am part of his life.

Not like a ghost.

Hard for me to be treated like that, but I can accept it. I can adjust.

Making sure that I put the paper back the way it used to be before I picked it up, I try to remember the exact picture of what it used to be before I touch it, so then Mike will never ever know that I'm reading his letters for his Future Lover For Forever.

Someone enters the room.

It's Brad.

"Hi, Dad!" He says, smiling cheerfully as he runs over me, hugging me with all his might. "You promised me that we're going to a theme park! Right? Right? Right?"

"Yes, now, go get ready." I chortle, smacking him on the butt which makes him pout adorably. Brad runs to the bathroom as he strips his clothes. Mike is still not here. I guess he's still reconsidering if he should go with us or not. I cannot blame him if he doesn't want to go with us. I mean, it would be awkward because of what happened yesterday. I shouted at him. I didn't mean to.

Of course, it flattered me that he stated that I look like a God or something. That I do belong in Olympus. History is my favorite subject. History fascinates me. And it's making me happy that even Mike loves History. It feels like we can be buddy buddy, actual word of Mike, with each other. We could talk about History for hours and would never be bored about it.

We could talk about it like it's the best thing in the world.

I snap out my thoughts as Brad gets out of the bathroom. His hair is wet and he's wearing a towel around him, clutching it. He's freezing. Chuckling, I stand up and walk over to him to dry him. I pick out the clothes for him. It's a blue shirt that has a Transformer design imprinted on it. Then I get him a dark gray shorts to match with the blue shirt. It would look good on him. Mom used to apply fashions to me. She liked trendy clothes. She always bought me clothes. Every week. And I'm missing her right now.

We're ready to go.

Mike is still not here.

Brad says, "Mike isn't going with us?"

Sadness evident in his voice.

"Maybe he's busy," I say, matching his tone. "Because he's an adult."