The Favor: A Chronicle Retelling

“She’s not going to do it,” Sebastian said, not bothering to look up from the book that he’d helped himself to from her backpack while she tried to figure out why Cole and Jonathan were staring at her.

“You don’t know that,” Cole said as he gave her a hopeful smile that matched Jonathan’s.

“I really do,” Sebastian said, sounding bored as he reached over and helped himself to the PB&J sandwich that his mother made for her.

“Know what?” Mikey asked, rolling her baseball between her hands as she sat there, trying to find the willpower to do her homework.

“We need a favor,” Jonathan said, which were normally the words that would have sent her running, but since she was trying to get out of doing her algebra homework or whatever it was that they were studying in math, she decided to see where this was going.

“No,” Sebastian simply said as he finished off her sandwich and followed that with the rest of her chocolate milk.

“We’re not talking to you,” Jonathan pointed out with a glare at his twin brother.

“Yet, I answered you,” Sebastian drawled, turning the page of the book that she was supposed to be reading for one of her classes. She wasn’t sure which one, but she’d eventually figure it out.

“Look,” Cole said, slowly exhaling, “we need your help.”

“For what exactly?” Mikey asked absently as she grabbed her bag and-

“Where’s my candy?” she asked, frowning down at the empty Ziploc bag that she’d filled with Halloween candy this morning.

“Gone,” Jonathan said with a shrug that had her narrowing her eyes on the large jerk that she was tempted to throw her baseball at.

“You’d send him to the hospital,” Sebastian said, not really sounding all that concerned as he correctly guessed where her thoughts had gone.

“And you’d miss out on a chance to make twenty bucks,” Jonathan said, drawing her attention because she could always use an extra twenty bucks, especially since she was saving up for a new glove.

“What do I have to do?” Mikey asked.

“Don’t do it,” Sebastian said, turning another page.

“What exactly am I not doing?” she couldn’t help but ask.

“Helping your favorite cousins,” Cole said with that smile that her stepfather warned her about.

“And exactly what would I have to do?” Mikey asked, wondering when they were going to get to the point.

“Nothing bad,” Jonathan assured her.

“We just need you to go into Richmond’s Pharmacy and take advantage of the half-off sale for Halloween candy,” Cole said with a shrug that she wasn’t buying.

“Why can’t you do it?” Mikey asked, knowing better than to say yes without asking a few follow up questions.

“Because we’re banned,” Sebastian said, making her frown.

“We went there last week after the game,” Mikey reminded him, wondering what he was talking about.

“Our ban is conditional.”

“Meaning…”

“We’re banned from all half-off holiday candy sales,” Sebastian explained with a sigh and a muttered, “I’ve already read this,” as he tossed her book aside and decided to search her backpack for something new to read.

“Look, we just need you to go buy a few bags of candy for us. That’s it,” Jonathan said, and she had to admit that it really didn’t sound like that big of a deal.

*-*-*-*

“This isn’t going to work,” Cole said, sighing heavily as he rubbed his hands down his face.

“Yes, it will,” Jonathan said, licking his lips nervously as he grabbed Mikey’s hand and pulled her away from the windows and out of sight of the store manager that had been watching them for the past ten minutes.

“You’re making a big deal out of nothing,” Mikey said with a sigh as she plucked the money out of Cole’s hand, turned around and-

“It’s not too late,” Sebastian said even as he gave her a pitying look that had her eyes narrowing on her best friend as a thought occurred to her.

They were screwing with her.

Again.

She wasn’t sure if it was because she was a girl or what, but since the moment that she’d met them they’d been going out of their way to screw with her head for their own entertainment. Over the past year, they’d managed to lock her in the attic five times, the basement six times, switched out the tuna fish in her sandwich for cat food, and convinced her that her house was haunted, and all because they were bored.

Kind of like now.

Shaking her head in disgust, Mikey said, “Whatever,” and headed for the front doors, because she wasn’t falling for this again. It might have taken her a while to catch on, but she once she had, she’d stood her ground, letting them know that they couldn’t push her around.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Sebastian drawled, which only confirmed that they were definitely screwing with her.

At least she was getting twenty bucks out of the deal, Mikey told herself as she walked into the store, grabbed a shopping basket and headed for the bins filled to the brim with Halloween candy marked half-off. They were definitely losing their touch if they thought this was going to scare her off, Mikey thought as she focused on filling the basket up with discounted bags of chocolate. Once she filled the basket, Mikey headed to the register and-

“Oh, God…” someone said, drawing her attention to find the cashier and manager backing up slowly as they stared in horror at something behind her.

Frowning, she glanced up and-

Couldn’t help but wonder why her stepfather and most of her uncles were standing outside the store, waiting. That is, until she spotted Sebastian mouthing, “Run!” as Jonathan and Cole tried to drag him away.

“Did you find everything that you n-needed?” the clerk asked nervously as he quickly scanned all the candy while he continued to throw horrified glances at the large storefront window, where her father and uncles stood, watching her every move.

“I think so,” Mikey murmured weakly as she shifted her attention back to Sebastian only to find him gone.

Nodding, he finished scanning her order and began shoving the bags of chocolate into grocery bags as he mumbled, “Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God,” over and over again, which she had to admit, was starting to freak her out a little bit.

“That’ll be forty-five dollars.”

Swallowing hard, Mikey pulled the money out of her pocket and handed it over as she watched as one by one, her father and uncles smiled. Licking her lips nervously, she absently thanked the clerk, who’d already made his escape, as she grabbed her bags and-

“Go out the back. You’ll never make it otherwise,” the store manager said, already ushering her towards the back of the store.

“Okay,” Mikey said, noting the calculating expression on her stepfather’s face and decided that perhaps now was a good time to put the emergency exit to good use.

Decision made, Mikey shifted the heavy bags in her arms, power walked her way through the adult diaper section and headed for the glowing Exit sign in the back. In seconds, she was stepping through the door and-

Realized too late that Uncle Jason hadn’t been out front with the others.

“Aw, is that for me?” Uncle Jason asked with a lazy grin as he pushed away from his truck and headed for her.

Not really sure what else she should do, Mikey took a step back towards the safety of the store just as the manager mumbled, “You’re on your own,” and closed the heavy door shut with a mumbled, “Oh, God, I’m so sorry,” before throwing the lock and leaving her standing there holding five large bags of discounted Halloween candy that were probably going to get her killed.

Or maimed.

Definitely maimed, Mikey thought when she spotted her stepfather and uncles coming around the corner.  She dropped the bags on the ground and stepped back against the wall, where she promptly dropped to the ground and curled up into the fetal position, closed her eyes, and hoped for the best.

An Excerpt from Misunderstood: A Neighbor from Hell Chronicle

“Do you know why you’re here today, Sebastian?” came the question that had already been asked by ten other therapists this past year alone.

“I have a pretty good idea,” Sebastian murmured absently as he glanced around the large office, taking note of all the diplomas on the wall, the Marvel and DC Comic memorabilia throughout the large room, the huge flatscreen television on the wall with every video game console known to man neatly lined up on the shelves below it, the large video game collection lining the bookshelves on either side of the large television, teen magazines covering the coffee table in front of him and couldn’t help but wonder why his parents thought this would be a good idea.

“Care to share?” the therapist that his parents hoped would figure out what was wrong with him asked.

“Not really,” Sebastian said when he spotted something promising on the other side of the room.

“You like to read?” Ben, as he’d been told to call him, asked when Sebastian walked toward the collection of books on the other side of the room.

“Do you like to ask questions that you already know the answer to?” Sebastian countered as he took in the selection of books in front of him, looking for something new to read.

“Fair enough,” Ben said before he suggested, “Then, why don’t you tell me what you want to talk about.”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Sebastian said, biting back a disappointed sigh as he took in graphic novel books, books on bullying, eating disorders, and depression, noting that Ben had the same collection of books that seemed to be standard in every therapist’s office, and was about to turn around when he saw it.

A book written on the best methods of behavioral therapy for teenagers written by the man currently trying to get inside his head. He made a mental note of the title before making his way back to his seat, noting that Ben already had a fresh legal pad and pen ready to go.

“Really? Because your parents were able to give me a list of concerns that they think we should talk about,” Ben said, throwing Sebastian a questioning look as he sat back down on the large leather couch across from him.

“Fine,” Sebastian said, gesturing lazily for him to continue. “Why don’t we go over that list so that I can get out of here before the library closes?”

“Okay,” Ben murmured, looking thoughtful as he reached back and picked up a manila folder off the large desk behind him. “Why don’t we start with school?”

“I’m homeschooled. There’s nothing to really talk about,” Sebastian said with a shrug.

“You don’t think turning down a full scholarship to one of the most prestigious schools in the country is something that we should talk about?”

“They didn’t have any of the extracurriculars that I was looking for,” Sebastian said, wondering when his parents were going to let this go.

“What were you hoping for?” Ben asked, clicking his pen open to make a note in his file only to pause and throw Sebastian a questioning look when he said, “Miming classes.”

“You want to be a mime?” Ben asked as his lips twitched in amusement.

“It’s the dream,” Sebastian said dryly.

“I can see that you’re very passionate about it,” Ben said, chuckling as he looked back down at whatever was written in his file.

“It’s all I live for,” Sebastian drawled before asking, “What else?”

“They’re concerned that all you seem to do is read.”

“There are worse things that I could be doing,” Sebastian pointed out as he took in the man sitting across from him, noting the meticulously combed dark hair, the neatly trimmed beard, the laugh lines around his blue eyes down to the unbuttoned shirt collar, blue jeans, and the way that he relaxed back in his chair and combined that with the way that he’d set up his office and knew that this one was going to try to be his “friend.”

“True,” Ben murmured in agreement before moving on. “What about Mikey?”

“Is off-limits,” Sebastian said firmly.

“Why is that?” Ben asked, absently drumming his fingertips against the armrest of his leather chair as he shot Sebastian a curious look. “He’s your best friend, right?”

“She’s my best friend,” Sebastian corrected him.

Nodding, Ben said, “And she’s also your cousin?”

“No, she’s not. My father’s cousin married her mom. We’re not related.”

“But the rest of your family considers her part of the family, right?”

“Yes.”

“But you don’t see her that way?”

“No.”

“Then, how do you see her?” Ben asked as he continued drumming his fingertips against the armrest, waiting for an answer that he was never going to get.

“Next question,” Sebastian said, leaning back in his chair and began drumming his fingertips against the armrest, mimicking the therapist’s movements until Ben realized what he was doing and stopped.

“What about your other friends?” Ben asked, shifting his attention from Sebastian’s fingertips drumming in cadence with the seconds ticking away on the large clock on the wall across from him.

“What about them?” Sebastian asked, noting that there were twelve hundred seconds left before he could leave.

“Do you have any?”

“Imaginary or real?” Sebastian drawled.

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