Special Eyes Chapter 8

An abrupt downpour of rain stranded Jackie in Granny Tsing's home when he came back from his last run of flyer passing out. A solid twenty minutes later, he was finally free to go. But by then, it was too late for him to visit any of the places the Gathering members were known to show up. Based on past observations, Jackie knew they were only out until Six o' Clock. It was now half past that when Jackie stepped out onto the sopping wet street.

He walked around streams of water that fell down the corners of the building's sunshield and hammered the pavement below, taking ginger steps on unavoidable puddles to avoid big splashes on his jeans. Gray clouds covered the sky in a complete blanket, but enough sunlight still remained to light his way which was void of other people thanks to a combination of both the dismal weather and the time of day. At least that was what it seemed like until Jackie noticed something unusual with his ears.

With a frown, he stopped. One second . . . Two seconds . . . Three seconds. He took three soft steps, heels first, and then stopped. After waiting a couple of more seconds, he took more soft steps, this time five. And then he ran, ignoring the explosions of water that made his socks and jean leggings damp. Behind him, big puddles burst like national park geysers. 

Well, Jackie thought when he dared to look back over his shoulder, if I wasn't sure before, I'm sure, sure now.

There was something behind him. Something big and heavy. And it was chasing him.

He ran as fast as he could, probably faster and harder than he's ever run before. The direction he took was home, but then a realization made him stop and turn another way. If he wanted to get home safely tonight, it could not be with whatever was following him.

Jackie had no idea where to go, though. He didn't think about it or paid any attention. Everything was just a blur to him. The cars, the buildings, and the street signs. He barely even noticed the traffic lights and the people who had to venture the wet outdoors.

Although much of his focus was on keeping up his speed, now and then, he took quick glances back. He saw a man in a wool beanie hat and another in a gray trench coat stumble and fall. The two men, thinking the other to blame, shouted and cursed at one another before resorting to fists. Fortunately, a uniformed officer wrapped in white plastic showed up to prevent things from really getting out of hand. None of them noticed the trail of big splashes moving away.

I'm too out in the open, Jackie realized. Gotta lose this thing somewhere there's no people.

He looked around.

Great! I've found just the place!

What Jackie spotted was an entrance to a known labyrinth of back alleys with enough twists and turns to shake off even the most stubborn of pursuers. Best of all, there'd be no innocent people who could get mixed up in this mess. The only drawback was how wide these alleys were. Whatever invisible thing was chasing Jackie had no problem slipping in after him. It did not even slow down, so neither could Jackie.

But he could not keep running forever and had already lost all fuel. Only adrenaline induced by his sense of danger had kept him going. He wheezed, his sides hurt, his ankles burned, and the world he saw spun. It would not be long before he collapsed. Before that could happen, he stopped. However, it was not by choice.

Up ahead, blocking the way forward, were three young men around Jackie's age. Their sizes couldn't compare to the thing chasing him, but they were all pretty big guys. One of them, Jackie recognized, was from Taylor's group.

"Hey, Jackie," he said with a chin jerk up. "What's up?"

Jackie looked from right to left, and then over his shoulder while panting. The big splashing behind him stopped.

After recovering enough breath, Jackie flashed a big smile. "Oh, hey! I remember you! What's up with me, you ask? Well, nothing much. What about you . . . Um . . .?"

"Zak," said the Gathering guy. "This is Ted. And that's Marshall."

Jackie looked nervously at the guys again, from right to left and then wrung his hands together. "Okay . . . Well, nice meeting you, Zak, Ted, and Marshall. It's really nice seeing you. I'd really like to stay and chat, and get to know you guys better, but it's kind of late and I need to get home. So, if you don't mind moving out of the way, I'd really, really, really appreciate it."

But none of the young men budged. "Oh, don't worry," said Zak. "Our business won't take long."

Not what Jackie was hoping to hear. "By business, do you mean here?"

Zak and co. all nodded.

"With me?"

Again, Zak and co. nodded. Jackie really wished they didn't.

Slowly, he took some steps back and then stopped with a quick glance behind him. He could see nothing but a clear path, but he doubted he could go any further than he already had.

"But before we get down to business," said Zak, "I got a few questions. First, who are you working for?"

Jackie blinked. "I'm . . . sorry?"

Zak's eyes turned into displeased slits.

Suddenly, Jackie heard a woosh of air and a soft breeze tickled the bridge of his nose between his eyes. He blinked against it, but nothing more.

Zak raised an eyebrow. He looked down, lips pursed and lower jaw lopsided, thinking. And then he spoke up again.

"Tell me what's in front of you right now," he demanded.

Jackie was confused, but answered nonetheless. "Well, I see you, Zak. And I see Ted. And I see Marshall. Just you three guys. And might I add, very handsome guys. Super handsome. Dashing."

Zak cut him off, drawing pinched fingers over his mouth. "Hey. Shut up."

"Shutting up."

Zak turned his gaze to something near Jackie's right and nodded. Jackie wasn't sure what was happening, but he knew something was although he could not see it.

And then, with a bemused smile, Zak went, "Huh. You really can't see anything. But in that case, how did you know you were being followed?"

"Well, kind of hard not to notice with all that big splashing around going on behind me," Jackie answered. At the same time, his heart raced. "So, there really is something behind me?" he asked excitedly. "Something invisible? For real? So invisible monsters really are real?"

He always believed it, but at the same time had doubts. Minimal doubts but doubts all the same. Jackie couldn't help it. He couldn't see what's invisible, after all.

"So he's an outsider all along!" exclaimed Ted.

"But in that case, how'd he get rid the big guy's other pet?"

Jackie raised his eyebrows. "Big guy? As in your boss? The leader of the Gathering?"

Zak threw Marshall a dirty look but then relaxed. "Meh, I guess it doesn't matter. That's right. We were sent by our boss to take care of you."

Jackie cried out in horror. "Take care of me? You don't mean . . ."

With a wicked smile, Zak nodded. "That's right."

"You're here the unalive me!?"

"Really, Jackie?" said Zak. "Unalive?"

"Hey! It's a valid way of saying the K word!"

Zak rolled his eyes. "Fine! Whatever. Yes, we're here to unalive you."

"But why?" asked Jackie. "What'd I do?"

"You poked your nose in places it didn't belong," Zak fired back. "The big guy didn't like that. He's worried that your poking-around will get in the way of his plans."

"What plans?" Jackie cried. "Look! I don't know what you guys are up to and I don't care. All I want to do is find Alice and make sure she's safe! If you can help me do that, I won't ever bother you guys ever again. I'll wipe the Gathering completely out of my mind."

"Sorry, Jackie, but it's too late."

"Whoa!" Jackie cried out. Something behind him bunched up his shirt and lifted him high up into the air.

"I don't know how you got rid of the big guy's pet yesterday when you couldn't even see it," said Zak. "Maybe you didn't even mean to. But you've proven yourself a threat. And the big guy won't let threats to his plans running around free. Neither will we."

Jackie kicked his feet up in a struggle to break free and then shouted, "I don't even know what your plans are!"

"Neither do I," said a voice from behind.

Everyone turned with a start, even the invisible thing holding Jackie, allowing him to see who had spoken. To his astonishment, it was the Fedora hat-wearing middle-aged Asian man he had met earlier. He stood calmly before the boys and the invisible thing, both hands resting on his T-handle cane.

"I am curious to find out," he added, speaking gently as if he was having a friendly chat over tea instead of confronting something clearly much uglier.

He was glared hard by Zak who growled, "Who are you, old man?"

Calm, but defiant, the man answered, "Exactly what you said. I am just an old man passing by when he noticed some rather . . . unpleasant business going on."

Zak was doubtful. "Just passing by? A place like this?"

He spread his arms out at the dark, dirty alley around them all.

"Well, you've got me there," the Fedora-hat man conceded with a shrug and a chuckle.

None of the Gathering boys took kindly to that.

"You think this is a joke, old man?" Zak shouted. "You have no idea who you're messing with! We have powers beyond anything you could ever imagine!"

His outrage only made the Fedora-hat man laugh harder. "You claim to have power beyond imagination? Really? How foolish! You know nothing of power. You are all just children who learned a few parlor tricks."

"Parlor tricks? PARLOR TRICKS!?"

Zak was absolutely livid. Ted and Marshall were also pretty red-faced.

"How's this for a parlor trick, old man?"

Zak snapped his fingers and Jackie's free-floating experience came to an abrupt end.

"Ow!" He fell painfully on the pavement. But concerned for the old man, he turned to shout a warning only to see the man standing perfectly still, the same as always, except for his right hand, which was up, fingers spread and slightly curved.

Although he couldn't see the invisible big thing, Jackie could guess what must have happened. On Zak's signal, the invisible monster let Jackie go and let fly a punch at the old man. But instead of going flying as if he got slammed by a truck, the old man caught what must be a considerably massive fist with his own hand and did not budge.

Jackie felt this theory confirmed when he glanced back at Zak who, along with Ted and Marshall, gaped at the old man as if their minds had exploded.

The old man, however, stared coolly back and said softly, "Not impressive."

<== Chapter 7.                                                                                                             Chapter 9 ==>

Special Eyes Chapter 7

Despite Waller's refusal to help, Jackie had not given up. He had already resolved to try and find the Gathering's hideout on his own. But he couldn't just go back to the same place near Chinatown where Taylor and her team of Gathering members handed out followers. Not unless he wanted to get arrested again. He had to find another place with Gathering members, members who would not know him or call the cops on him.

So, the first thing he did when he got home was boot up his computer, let his fingers dance over the keyboard and searched the internet. It didn't take him long for him to find more spots around the city where the Gathering was passing out flyers. Social media was flooded with news about the mysterious group's recruitment efforts. He had to pause and wonder with a frown why the police had not gotten ahold of them yet. Perhaps there was something supernatural at play same as with the flyer that he was never able to decipher.

He marked down places in his notebook and looked them up on a digital map of the city. 

"Let's go with . . . this one."

He checkmarked the place furthest from Chinatown. The further away, he thought, the less chance there'd be someone who'd recognize him. 

"This is a good spot to check out after school tomorrow."

All was quiet in the room dimly lit by only a table lamp and the computer monitor next to it. The only sound made was the faint humming from the computer's internal fan, the clickity-clack of the keyboard when Jackie needed to type something, the scritch-scratch of his pen against paper as he jotted down notes, and his own self-mutterings. But then came an abrupt (and loud) burst of music (the classic orchestral theme of Batman) that sent a jolt to his heart that caused him to fall out of his chair.  

"Jeez! That scared me!" 

The source of the music was his phone. Someone was calling him.

Although he knew he shouldn't, Jackie had to make whoever was calling wait so he could recover from the near heart attack his own choice in ringtone caused. When he felt his heavily thumping heart had calmed down enough, he picked himself up and put the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" 

A split second later, he pulled the phone away.

"JACKIE!" shrieked a shrill woman's voice. "THREE O'CLOCK! MY PLACE! TOMORROW! DON'T BE LATE!"

There was no mistaking who was calling. Jackie would recognize Granny Tsing's voice a mile away. It should be noted, by the way, the phone was not on speaker.

Before he could ask what she wanted with him, Granny Tsing hung up, and the room was quiet once more.

Jackie stared at the phone in dismay.

"Well, there goes my plans for tomorrow," he grumbled. 

He hoped that Granny Tsing had news about Alice's whereabouts, that maybe the police had gotten a break in the case. But to his disappointment, he got no such news at the appointed time. Instead, when he got to the door of the old lady's second floor flat, he got a stack of flyers with pictures of his missing friend and instructions to spread them throughout the entire city. Printed in big, bold letters beneath the picture was a request to call Granny Tsing's direct cell phone number.

Jackie took one look at the flyers and then said, "Say, Granny Tsing?"

"Don't call me granny!" snapped the old lady. "What is it?"

"Did Arnold put you up to this?"

Not one to beat around the bush, Granny Tsing honestly, and bluntly, replied, "Yes. He doesn't want you to get arrested again, so he asked me to keep you busy."

And then she started grumbling in Cantonese.

"Useless man! I knew he was no good for Jessica. Can't even keep an eye on his own son!"

Jackie wasn't all that fluent in the native tongue of his mother (who, by the way, was the "Jessica" mentioned), but he understood the old lady well enough and frowned in dismay. He wanted to correct Granny Tsing by saying he was Arnold's "stepson" but held his tongue knowing that running his mouth would result in experiencing the infamous Demon Ear Twist.

"Anyway," Granny Tsing resumed speaking in English, "I figured while I was at it, I'd have you make yourself useful."

Jackie didn't respond. He had turned his gaze to the picture of Alice on the flyer and became glued to it.

Granny Tsing gave him a look up and down before letting out a deep, deep sigh. And then, with a softer face and gentler voice, she said, "Look, Jackie, I know how much Alice means to you. I want her back home just as badly as you do. But no one, and I mean no one, wants to see you get yourself into trouble. And that includes Alice. There are better, safer ways you can help. Perhaps someone, anyone, out there saw something that could lead us to her. These flyers could get them to talk."

Jackie wasn't so sure about that. But he couldn't exactly call passing out the flyers a waste of time either, even if this extra task did hamper him from pursuing the Gathering. If there was the smallest chance that someone would come forward with information, he had to take it. Perhaps the flyer might even compel one of the Gathering's members. 

If not, then at least along the way, he could check out the places Gathering members could be at.

"One more thing," Granny Tsing said before he could go. "You stay in Chinatown. No need to go to other parts of the city. Your stepdad's got everywhere else covered."

**********

Jackie thought about bailing, but as he walked through the streets while handing out flyers to whoever he could, he had this chilling sense that he was being watched. His suspicions were confirmed when, with furtive glances right and left, he spotted store clerks looking straight at him. Even with customers right in front of them, the clerks never turned away. Not until he stepped in view of the next store. 

They were under Granny Tsing's orders, no doubt, he thought irritably. It didn't surprise him. She was essentially the queen of Chinatown and had every merchant on the block under her control. Jackie wouldn't even be surprised if there were guards stationed at every exit point (which there actually were).

He considered bolting anyway, even with all those eyes on him, but he had a feeling that it wouldn't work out the way he hoped. Why did he feel that way? From spying with his little eye, the butcher, a tall, big-bellied man in a white apron standing outside his store looking like a football player ready to go for a tackle.

Fun fact: the butcher actually was a football player in high school and infamously known for his devastatingly powerful tackles. The walls of his store were covered with proof of his accomplishments in the sport. Jackie, as a regular of Chinatown, of course, knew that.

His only hope at that point was to hurry up and pass out all the flyers as fast as he could so that he could leave early. But Granny Tsing wasn't going to let that happen either and called him back to her place every time he was down to the last flyer to give him more to pass out. She had a seemingly endless supply of them. There was no need to wonder how she knew when to call. Part of her spies' job was probably to let her know.

"Excuse me, young man."

Jackie stopped and turned around. He was in the middle of his umpteenth trudge down a lane of open-door markets and their displays of colorful fruits and vegetables that glowed in the sunlight. Standing behind him was a man in a rather striking three-piece suit and Fedora hat. 

The man appeared to be in his mid-to-late fifties and was Asian like Jackie. Grasped in the man's hand was an elegant cane with a T-shaped handle. Down the length of the cane, Jackie noticed a pentagon-shaped piece of silver that looked kind of like the crossguard of a Chinese-style sword, the elegant kind he'd seen in those dramas that Granny Tsing liked to watch on TV. Carved into the pentagon was the image of a tortoise with a snake curled around its shell.

Something about the carving gave Jackie a sense of Deja Vu. But before he could ponder why that is, the man spoke up again.

"Pardon me for disturbing you," he said, "but I was curious to know what you were doing." He took off his hat to reveal a head of black hair swept back and held by what was probably really good hair gel. He had that all-too-familiar English-As-A-Second-Language Accent that Jackie had come accustomed to thanks to the old folks of Chinatown.

"I'm passing out flyers," Jackie answered back, quickly realizing that was not what the man was actually asking about. He held a flyer out. "Here. The girl in the picture's my friend. She's missing. We're hoping someone might know something and help us find her."

The man looked at the flyer with a frown. His face was soft with sorrow and pity.

"Terrible business, this," he remarked. "Terrible, terrible business."

"Yeah," Jackie said softly with a nod. He looked away. "Yeah."

"May I have more?" requested the man. "I know a lot of people who would be happy to help find your friend."

Jackie was more than willing to oblige. He used his thumb nail to flip through some flyers and then handed random bunch over. After tucking the stack of flyers beneath his armpit, the man pinched the brim of his hat and tipped it down.

"I wish you much luck, Jackie Li," he said. 

"Gee, thanks." Jackie watched the man depart, and then turned to move on, himself. But then he stopped and frowned. "Wait a sec, how do you know my . . . . name?"

He turned around to ask the man, but the man had already disappeared, as if he never existed.

**********

As Jackie moved on, the man with the Fedora hat stood, watching the young man's receding back with a stony, cold frown. He was invisible to all but himself, with people brushing past him at either direction without noticing.

Behind Jackie, a trash can moved. It scraped against the pavement by a couple of inches towards the road as if someone had bumped into it. Following that, a street sign abruptly shook back and forth. Now, nothing about that would be strange, except that they were touched by no one, and there was no strong enough wind. 

"Terrible business you've gotten yourself into, Jackie Li. Terrible, terrible business indeed."

<== Chapter 6                                                                                                       Chapter 8 ==>

Special Eyes Chapter 6

Tom Waller weaved right and left around various passerby as he raced down the sidewalk to catch up with Jackie. He had a lot of experience with running while growing up, so much that he could have considered a career in Olympic Track and Field. So, it didn't take long for him to spot the skeleton tail of the huge monster prowling behind the kid. Only Waller could see the monster. As far as anyone else was concerned, the monster was just an empty space over pavement. That included the kid who actually seemed to believe in them.

The accountant with special eyes quickly slowed himself to a walking pace, keeping just a couple of feet away from the monster in an unusual parade of three. Two down the chain remained ignorant of the one behind them.

After taking furtive glances of his surroundings, Waller reached into his pocket and pulled out a baster. It was just a normal baster with a grayish-white plastic tube and a red suction bulb, about the size of a writing pen. But packed inside the common kitchen tool was something Waller knew to be very effective on invisible monsters: water densely packed with salt. The salt itself was what's effective, but it wasn't like he could throw around fistful of the stuff in the air in public. What was essentially the liquid version fired from a baster was more precise and (more importantly) discreet.

Sure that he would not be seen, Waller gave the bulb a squeeze. His aim was true, and water splashed the bones that made up the monster's tail. The effect was instantaneous.

The monster reared up like a frightened horse and howled. Its cry was like the shrill yowl of an angry cat. But despite how loud the shriek inhumanly was, the people around it and Waller acted like they heard nothing. And that was because they did hear nothing. Pedestrians continued to walk by, ignorant of the agony Waller had inflicted on the frightening, gecko-like creature.

As he watched out of the corner of his eye while pretending to view a passing helicopter in the sky, Waller wondered how with all that writhing about the monster was doing, it had not touched a single passerby. It was honestly a miracle that those knife blades swinging up and down hadn't sliced that one bald guy with the carrot-colored beard who was sitting against a shop's outer wall while hazily rattling spare change in a tin can he grasped in a blackened hand.

Soon, the monster's thrashing stopped, and it swung its tail to its woodblocks head to take a gander at its injury. The salt water had quickly dried, but steam still rose up from the bones it touched.

Waller purposely waited for the monster to see him before he squeezed the bulb of his baster one more time. And then, as the monster once more writhed and shrieking in pain, he ran.

Two streets down, he looked over his shoulder. He could see the monster rapidly approach, slithering sideways on walls like a normal gecko would. Although it appeared to have no eyes, the accountant could tell that the monster was looking at him and that . . . It. Was. Angry.

"Ugh!" Waller groaned. "The things I do . . ."

It was too late for regrets, and now he had to get away. Fast.

So, he picked up the pace, once more weaving around passerby going whichever way. He nearly crashed into a woman in a pink business suit but stopped just a centimeter from the large paper cup of pumpkin spice latte topped with cream and caramel fudge syrup she held in front of her. Startled by one another, they both flinched back. And then the woman threw Waller and angry glare.

"Hey! Watch it!"

Waller cried out an apology as he skipped around her. "Sorry! Sorry!"

The woman watched him hurriedly leave, shaking her head in disgust before resuming her phone call. "Yeah, no. I'm fine. It's nothing. Just some really RUDE jerk who can't seem to watch where he's going."

She had thrown that "RUDE" for Waller to hear. But by then, he was too far. Nor would he have cared while preoccupied with something more important, like the shadow of death pursuing him.

On the glass window right next to her, the gecko monster zipped by, creating a gust of wind that blew her long, platinum blonde hair up. To the woman, it was just a sudden, natural breeze.

Waller took to the alleys a labyrinth with many twists and turns, but more importantly a lack of people to get in his way.

Despite the present danger he had put himself in, he couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia. It reminded him of his childhood. Often, he was chased just like this by whatever horrific eldritch beast he happened to catch the attention of. He'd call them the good ol' days, but he'd be lying because there was nothing good about those days.

After what seemed like forever, the pain in Waller's sides became too much for him and he stopped. His knees buckles and he bent down, gasping for air. Both his face and his back were soaked in sweat. He still had a stretch of alley ahead of him and understood that if he waited to catch his breath, the monster would be over him. But he just could not run anymore, so he decided the best way out of this mess would be to rest and recover as much energy as he could before making a stand, something he had always been prepared to do.

As he took deep breaths in and out, he reached into his left pocket and pulled out a plate of silver metal with a set of rings which he slipped the fingers of his right hand through before reaching into his right pocket for a ziploc bag full of salt.

Clickity-clickity! Squeak-squeak!

Waller didn't need to look to know what was making those strange sounds. What else could the clicking be but the knife blades attached to the monster's toes tapping against the concrete, or the squeaking from the bicycle wheel that served as one of the creature's hindlegs?

He pulled the ziploc bag open and dipped his left hand inside before slowly turning around to come face to face with the assembly of wood blocks that was the gecko monster's head. The bottom block dropped down, and the monster unleashed a shrill cat's yowl. Waller jumped back and then threw a fist full of salt into its face.

Electricity popped and crackled all over the monster's face and it yowled even louder. It reared up and tried desperately to wipe the burning hot salt off with its bladeless foot. That was when Waller punched it in the gut with a right hook. When the silver plate connected with the monster's belly, there was a flash of light, and the monster went flying backwards to the end of the alley it had come from.

Waller looked down on the silver wrapped around his fingers and muttered to himself, "So worth that ginormous loan."

The "ginormous loan" he was talking about was money he borrowed from the bank to buy up a whole bunch of antiques made of pure silver. Needless to say, those antiques were EXPENSIVE! And he used those antiques by melting them down into metal plates, five in all with rings so he could wear the plate over his fist like so. Pure silver, he had learned, was the most effective weapon against those monsters.

A guttural groan escaped from the monster's woodblock mouth as it laid on its back with its exposed belly steaming and crackling from an electric charge. Looking like that, so pathetically weakened, Waller almost felt sorry for the creature. And it made him wonder why he was ever scared of creatures like it.

But not long after it was downed, the monster stirred and rolled onto his feet. Waller quickly took a few steps back and raised the silver plate again, ready to deliver another right hook. But he needn't be so cautious. 

Once on its feet, the monster collapsed back down. It struggled to lift its head up, only for its chin to remained glued to the damp pavement. The monster only managed to do a slight sliding turn so that half its face was visible to the man who injured it. No longer sounding like a cat, it growled low from the throat, a sound more appropriate for its intimidating size.

Although it didn't look like it had eyes, Waller could tell, it was looking at him. But he dared to take a step towards it again. It flinched.

Waller contemplated finishing the monster off. But when he took another step and heard the creature moan, he changed his mind.

He jerked his chin sharply and ordered the monster, "Go! And don't ever come back."

There was a short pause with monster and man staring at one another, each feeling both hate and fear of the other. And then, slowly, the monster slithered away back into the labyrinth of alleys where it would rest and recover from its wounds. After that, it will leave the city, never to return.

Waller watched the monster until it was gone. And then he too walked away.

Out of his earshot, those flying rags danced in the air, laughing and laughing as if they had just heard the funniest joke in the universe.

"Ooh! He's done it now! He's done it now!"

"Ignorant Tom Waller. Thinks he's sooooo smart."

"Doesn't know he's been tricked!" 

"Thinks he's a hero who's made things better."

"But he's actually the villain who’s made things worse!"

"I wonder, I wonder, how he'll feel when he finds out."

"That because of him, the boy's fate is sealed!"

**********

A young man in a Gathering t-shirt marched down a long, white hallway that was made even whiter by the ceiling panel lights. His basketball shoes caused occasional squeaks from friction with the glossy floor tiles. Straight ahead was a door painted dark, dull blue with a rectangle-shaped window, too small and narrow to afford a clue to what’s inside. The door and the room beyond was the young man’s destination.

Although rushed, the young man did not forget common courtesy and raised his curled fingers to give the door a good, hard knocking. But before his knuckles could strike beneath the window, an older man's voice called out.

“Come in.”

The young man jumped, startled. He's been a member for a while now and knew it was coming, but still couldn't get used to it. But he quickly recovered and grasped the brass handle, which was icy cold from prolonged exposure to the hallway's air conditioning.

"What is it?" asked the room's occupant. He remained seated in a big, black office chair with its back turned to his visitor.

"It's that kid, sir," said the young man. 

"Kid?"

"The one I told you about before."

"Ah, the one you said was bothering Taylor. What about him?"

"He was poking his nose into our business too much, so I sent one of the pets you lent me after him, just to keep an eye on him. I've tried calling that pet back several times, but it still didn't show up. I'm sure I did the summoning right."

"Hmmm." The room's occupant hummed thoughtfully. "I can no longer detect my pet's presence. Either the enchantment on him has been broken, or he's been destroyed."

The young man was dumbfounded and dismayed. "Is something like that even possible?"

"I'd like to say no, but we have to face facts. That pet is not coming back."

"What should we do?" asked the young man.

The room's occupant paused for thought.

"This kid, Jackie, I think his name was, might be a bigger threat than we thought. He could ruin everything we worked hard for. Before that can happen, we have to get rid of him."

<== Chapter 5.                                                                                                    Chapter 7 ==>

Credit, What is it good for?

Hey, guys.

I'm sure we've all heard of a Credit Score at least once, something that tracks and rates our Credit. But why is it so important? What can we actually use it for? Well, that is what we're here to find out.

First, what is Credit? To be honest, before I started writing this article, even my own understanding was vague at best. Basically, though, Credit is being able to borrow money, nab yourself some merch or get someone to do something for you and pay it all back later, plus a little bit of interest. I'd say one of the best example is the Credit Card. You use it to buy stuff and then later pay all the money back to the Credit Card Company when you get the bill from them. 

That's right. Credit Cards aren't your gateway to free stuff. You're just borrowing money from a company that expects you to pay them back, plus a fee. So why bother getting a Credit Card in the first place then? Well, we'll get back to that later.

Now back to the point of this article, the Credit Score. Like I said earlier, it's something that tracks and rates our Credit. You see commercials all the time talking about it and advertising an easy way to keep track of it, as if it's really, really important to do so. Well, it really is really, really important to do so. Why? Because a Credit Score shows a bank that you're someone they can trust to give lots of money to and then pay them back.

Say you want to buy your own house. You don't have enough money to your name, so you need to borrow it. And the best place to borrow money, would be the bank. Especially if it's a lot more than what you can get out of a Credit Card. But a banker isn't going to just say, "Okay. Here you go. One gajillion dollars to buy your house." They're really going to be like this: "Okay, so you want to borrow a lot of money from us. Hold on while I check your Credit Score to see if we can trust you to pay us back."

Now, to be clear, a Credit Score alone, does not affect a bank's decision to lend you money. Things like taxes, work history and bank transaction history also play a part. But the Credit Score is a huge factor. If your score isn't high enough, then automatically, you can expect your loan application to come back with a big N-O stamped on it.

So, yeah. If you're strapped for cash and need a loan, a good Credit Score goes a long way to getting you one.

But banks aren't the only ones who use Credit Scores to see if they can trust you. Landlords use Credit Scores too to see if they can trust you to pay your rent on time. Insurance companies use Credit Scores to see if you're worthy of better policies. Even bosses might use Credit Scores to decide if you're a good fit for a new job.

All in all, the higher your Credit Score, the easier it'll be to get some of the good stuff in life.

So, how do you get a high Credit Score? Where do you even start?

Well, for most people, it's getting a Credit Card. There's a nifty kind of Credit Card perfect for beginners or people who need to being their Credit Score back up: the Secured Credit Card.

The Secured Credit Card generally requires a down-payment which will determine how much you can use it. But play your card right, don't go crazy on it, pay your bills on time, and that needle in your Credit Score meter is sure to go in a good direction.

Well, that's all the advice I can give on the topic. Want better advice? Talk to a banker, someone who works at the bank. They're sure to know more than a certain millennial just going with the flow of life.

A Millennial's Reflection: The Evolution of Tech

Technology has greatly evolved before my very eyes since I was a kid. And with that evolution came a great change in society. I remember when I was a kid, a really little kid, TVs weren't flat, video tapes and VCRs were the only way to watch shows and movies at home on your own time, and the only phones in my life had to be plugged into the wall by wire. That all changed over time.

Back when I was a kid, TV was my main obsession. I used to watch it quite a bit. Of course, it was always annoying having to scour the guide for something to watch when there's nothing good on. Back then, like I said earlier, TVs weren't flat. They were huge boxes with screens made of actual glass that give you a frizzy feeling against your skin when you touch it. But as I got older, so did the TV. And eventually, it had to go. By the time that happened, no major store sold that kind of box TV anymore and instead, there were only flatscreens. Gonna be honest, it was a happy change for me.

With the change from box-shaped TV to flatscreen TV, there was also, of course, a change in cable. We were a cable TV family when I was a kid. Although we knew about digital cable, that required paying extra money so we never got it. At least not until cable TV was completely replaced by digital. It was an interesting coincidence that when we replaced our television, our apartment building, among others, got a contract with a cable provider to get every unit into digital.

But the above, of course, aren't the only things to change in my household over the years. 

Before the age of streaming, there was the age of VCRs. So that we could watch the movies or TV shows we like whenever we like, we had to either buy or rent video tapes. Video tapes are also what we use to record, well, videos. And the only way to play these video tapes was with a VCR, which my household, of course had. With it, I used to watch episodes of my cartoon shows that I missed because of scheduling, as well as movies like the first Harry Potter movie.

Eventually, video tapes phased out of existence. My parents decided to replace our VCR with a DVD player. And whenever we wanted to watch a movie without all those annoying commercial breaks, we bought DVDs instead of video tapes. DVDs, by the way, are basically like CD discs, but they're used to store videos and movies instead of music. It was definitely an improvement. Video tapes often come with those weird glitches like the occasional flash of static, but DVDs definitely didn't have that problem.

Then the age of streaming began, and I was no longer glued to the TV. Instead, I was glued to the computer and the internet. Instead of having to wait for something good to show up, I could just Google it, pull up the website and hit the play button. No longer did we buy video tapes or DVDs, or even CDs to listen to music when everything is available on the internet.

But while we were all transitioning from cable TV to digital TV, and finally over to streaming, there was another transition taking place, another evolution. It was the evolution of the phone. When I was young, the only kind of phone we had was the landline phone. Everything was connected to a wire. But then we got wireless set phones. These phones could be carried around anywhere, as long as it's within the house near enough to the phone's charging station to receive a signal from the landline. That all changed towards the end of my time as an elementary schooler when the cellphone entered my life.

Thinking back, I remember watching a short cartoon about a guy going absolutely nuts over his new cellphone. He couldn't help but show it off. At that time, however, the only thing you could do with a cellphone is make phone calls. That and send text messages. Maybe play a simple game like chess. It was the only game I found worthwhile on my father's flip phone when I was a kid. As time went on, however, more features began to be added to the cellphone.

From some simple means of communicating wherever, whenever, the cellphone became a camera for capturing memories. It became a voice recorder which could be used to capture speeches and surrounding sounds. And then it became a music player which we could download songs into and playback whenever we felt like it. I never used those features much, however. For the most part, the cellphone was just a way of calling my parents to let them know when I was ready to go home.

And then came the smartphone, a gateway to the internet wherever, whenever and you don't even need WiFi. It is essentially a full-blown computer you can fit in your pocket. No longer did I need to spend time idle with nothing to do, bored out of my mind when I have not even a book to read. I can keep myself occupied while waiting in long lines at the bank, or stuck in the waiting room of the doctor's office in my lonesome, surfing the net, playing all kinds of video games, watching all sorts of videos, stream all sorts of movies. It is now possible to be connected to the internet for our entire waking lives.

But the evolution of technology does not stop there. In addition to smartphones, we now have smartwatches with just as much of the same functions. Gadget watches are no longer a thing of fantasy. Neither are gadget glasses, which are currently capable of recording videos, taking pictures, playing music. Self-driving cars are also a thing now. There's not a lot out there right now, but I'm sure in due time, we'll be seeing self-driving cars everywhere. I haven't gotten into any of those myself, and I'm not sure I ever will. 

That said, there's no telling what the future holds. Many things once only seen in fiction have become reality, and many more will certainly become reality in the years to come. They can be fascinating and wonderful, or abominable and horrible depending on what they're created and used for. I'll be having my fingers crossed for the former.