Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Fox Tales ❯ Infusion or Illusion? Part IV ( Chapter 8 )

Fox Tales

 

Chapter 8

“Infusion or Illusion? Part IV”

 

(A/N: This is the final part. I swear.)

 

As March faded and April rolled in, `senioritis' began to take its toll on all of those that planned on graduating in May. It was the time of year where the hallways of the school would be decidedly emptier, as the seniors started skipping more and more often. While the lazy days of summer were fast approaching, the final six weeks of school were far from lazy. Final exams were getting closer with each and every passing moment, and on some level, no matter how minute it may be, the pressure affected everyone. Well, everyone except Todd, that is. He may not have been taking every other day off, but his attention span sure was. His philosophy is, and always has been: don't cross the bridge until you get to it. He was contemplating this at his desk while waiting for fifth-period class to begin. He turned to Gary, sitting beside him, and said, “I just don't get it, Gary. What is it with preparing up to a month-and-a-half for a test that's only going to require a hour-and-a-half to take?”

“You're asking the wrong person,” Gary answered emphatically. “I may not be the smartest person in the world…” A pause followed.

“But…” Todd said, expecting Gary to finish his sentence.

“What? I'm done.”

Todd took the opportunity the slap Gary upside the back of his head, as if to say, “You idiot!”

“One more thing,” Gary said. “Guess who got busted with a half-pound of pot in his car while you were gone?”

“Damn it! It'd better not be you `cause if it was…”

“Would I be here if it was me?”

“I was just joking. Besides, we all knew it was going to happen at some point.”

 

Meanwhile, in the school library upstairs, Naomi was using her free period to get a head start on a different kind of test preparation. She sat in a chair at a table with a couple of notebooks to her right, one opened, and some study guides to her left. Okay, she thought. I need to do really well on my SAT if I'm going to get that scholarship. I need that scholarship money badly! After spending the next half-hour racking her brains with nothing to show for it, she began to get frustrated in a hurry. Geez! This is too hard!!! The people around her could see Naomi's frustration, and knew that at any moment, she could start wildly ripping out notebook paper. A female student walked into the library and immediately sat down in a chair on the side opposite Naomi. It didn't long before she started to see the anger in Naomi's eyes.

“Are you okay?” the female student asked.

“No, not really,” Naomi answered fiercely. She looked drew her head up a bit and noticed that the student had the same study guides that she had. I guess she must be studying for the SAT as well, Naomi thought.

“I noticed we were using the same guides. Do you want me to help you study?” the student offered.

“Sure. What's your name?”

“I'm Angela. And you?”

“I'm Naomi. It's nice to meet you. Let's get to work then, shall we?”

 

The weekend simply could not have come soon enough. Everyone was now able to catch his/her breath, and breathe a sigh of relief. One of the more popular places in the area was Lake Frasier. It is so popular that when the big vacation season comes around, someone is more likely to be struck by lighting than find an open spot within reasonable walking distance from the shore. But that period doesn't begin until after the school year ends, and that was now just five weeks away. Without telling anyone, Todd decided to take a weekend vacation there. He drove for nearly two hours into the foothills of the mountain range.

 

A sparse crowd was in attendance along the shoreline because the baseball season had begun, and everyone was either playing on a team, or going to the nearest diamond to watch a game. It didn't matter whether it was professional, Little League, or somewhere in between. The town of Sonoma Springs craved baseball, much like the Southeast craves football. Every summer, the ma-and-pa businesses will put up signs and paint the windows with a local high school team's colors, nearly half the town is wearing a baseball cap with a logo at any given point in time, and all the men will live and die solely on whether or not their favorite teams won. The small-town, middle-America atmosphere only intensified the rivalries, but somehow, nothing ever got out of hand. No matter whom anybody supported or played for, any two fans or players of bitter rivals could go to a bar or burger joint and share all the lifelong memories they have of the sport they love so very, very much.

 

While Todd was never a serious baseball fan, he knew that the start of the new season played right into his hands. He didn't have to compete with anyone for prime lakeshore real estate. This was one of those instances when Todd thanked God for baseball, simply because it made things much more convenient for him. Wearing nothing more than a loose fitting light blue T-shirt and black swim trunks, he got out of the car, locked it, and walked over the lake from the make-shift parking lot, carrying a towel with his left wrist. The sky was blue with a few clouds to provide some shade from the sun. Todd set his towel where it was somewhat close to the shore, but not far from shading tree in case it got too hot for him. Todd pulls out a pair of sunglasses from his trunks, put them on, and rested on the towel. What he didn't know was that he was being watched.

 

Somewhere else, in a moderately lit underground headquarters, a young man is looking into his mystic cauldron as it displayed Todd set up his spot of relaxation. Walking towards him from behind was the old medium that attacked Todd on the street. She came to a stop.

“So, how did it go?” the man asked.

Then, the woman transformed herself. She changed from an elderly person no more than 5' tall, to revealing her true form: a young woman who looked to be on her mid-to-late twenties, now wearing a smooth, red cocktail dress and matching high-heels. What was once a short, grey-haired disguise is now a slender and sexy, 5'10” brunette.

“I wasn't able to complete what you asked,” she replied. A snicker was across the man's face.

“Well, it appears that this person is stronger than I originally thought,” he said.

“What is the plan now?”

“You don't need to worry about that, Rose. I've already got it all figured out. Just leave it all to me.”

“Yes, Eric, sir.” Soft, evil chuckles came out from his mouth as Rose walks off.

 

After relaxing for about twenty minutes, while at the border separating consciousness and sleep, Todd vaguely hears someone screaming for help. He opened his eyes, quickly sat up, and started moving his head, looking for where the voice was coming from. He finally spots it, slightly to his right, smack in the middle of the lake. It was a little girl drowning, flailing her arms everywhere and shouting, “Help!” whenever she could. Todd stood as he started running in her direction. He couldn't explain it, but he suddenly felt like it became his duty to save her. After making the left-hand turn onto the dock, he nearly ripped off his shirt, took off the sunglasses, and dove head first into the water. The few people that were there were amazed that someone had the courage to go in. When Todd gets back to the surface of the frigid lake water, he starts to swim as fast as he possibly can.

 

Todd looked forward long enough to see the drowning girl go under, as if she were being pulled down. Todd took one very deep breath, and dove under the surface, into the somewhat murky water. He saw the girl had been pulled about 25 feet below the surface, or at least it seemed like that far. Luckily, Todd still had enough air in his lungs so he could get to her, and bring her to the surface. Suddenly, however, he couldn't go any further. At first, he thought his ankle might be caught in something. But when he turned around to look, there was nothing there. He tried to get away again, but he ended up swimming in place. He could absolutely feel something on his ankle. All of this moving around, though, caused Todd to use up nearly all of his breath. What the fuck is holding me up? he thought. Then, Todd's vision began to become dark, realizing that he was beginning to run out of breath and pass out. No! It can't end like this, he thought. Todd looked down one last time at the girl, now suspended and motionless. I'm sorry, Todd thought. Finally, Todd closed his eyes, let a couple of bubbles out of his mouth, and passed out.

 

Back at the underground hideout, Rose and Eric look at the images displayed at the mystic cauldron.

“Well, I hope you're happy that you killed him,” Rose scolded.

“Wait for it…wait for it,” Eric replied

 

Suddenly, Todd's eyes reopened, but this time, they were completely shining nothing but orange light. His head turned around to look at his ankle, squinted his eyes, and he was freed. He continued swimming to the motionless girl, wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her from whatever was keeping her down. She was held the same way he was held back. Todd carried her in his left arm as he swam up to the surface. When he got there, he put the girl on his back, and swam to the shore. The other people at the beach saw the bodies come up, but all of them were too far away to really see anything. Some of them started running along the shore in Todd's direction to get a closer look. They eventually ran to the edge of the dock, though it still wasn't close enough. Todd kept swimming until it was shallow enough for him to walk, with his entire eyes still inexplicably glowing orange. When he got to the shore, Todd took the girl off of his back, and softly put her on the sand. His eyes stopped glowing, and he immediately fell onto the sand, eyes closed again. Everyone else ran over to continue the rescue.

 

Slowly, Todd regains consciousness and even more slowly do his eyes open. The first thing he saw was the worried looks on everyone's faces, especially the one hovering no more than a foot above his own. The expressions quickly changed from worry to relief, with plenty of smiles to go around.

“Wha…what happened?” Todd weakly asked. “Where am I?

“You're still at Lake Frasier, boy,” the closer man said. “You're lucky that I know CPR.”

“I just want to thank you for saving my daughter,” another man said.

“But…but, I don't remember anything about…” Todd said.

“Oh, good. The ambulance is here,” the first man said. “You're going to be just fine.”

Todd was too tired to keep talking, so he closed his eyes, and went to sleep.

 

Meanwhile, as all of this was happening, the images from the cauldron went away.

“You knew this would happen, didn't you?” a perplexed Rose asked. Eric started walking towards his chair, which was more like a throne.

“I certainly had a feeling it would,” he replied. “Otherwise, it all would have been a tragic waste.” He finally sat down in the chair as Rose turned to look at him.

“Now that we know who our opponent is,” he said, “it is now time to be on the attack.” He paused before putting a huge smirk on his face.

“Let the battle begin.”

 

To be continued…right now

 

Todd returned home from the hospital later that day. The car had to be towed all the way from the lake to his home. He got a stern lecture from his about how he should never be sneaking around behind her back like that, but ultimately, she was happy that her son was still alive. When he came home, the clock had stuck midnight, so he went straight to bed. For once, I actually agree with a suggestion of my mother's, he thought. About two hours later, Todd was moving around, unable to stay still because of his dream, or so he thought.

 

Once again, Todd was standing in a pitch-black room, only this time, he was in his favorite outfit, and the only thing he could see was his own body. He moved his head around for a while, trying to figure out where he was. This is just like the last one, he said softly. Then, he heard footsteps coming from ahead of him. Out of the shadows came a human figure. He was wearing a white kimono with a white liner on the inside. He was barefoot, and his hair was similar to Todd's: about shoulder-length, nearly orange in color, covering both sides of the head.

“Hello,” he said with a kind smile.

“Hi,” Todd replied with uncertainty.

“You seem tense, so relax. I come peacefully.”

“Well, of course I'm tense. I'm talking to some stranger who comes out of nowhere.” Todd paused. “Who are you anyway?” he yelled.

“My name is Satoru.”

Todd raised an eyebrow when he heard that name. “Satoru…that name's somehow familiar,” he whispered. “Wait. Are you that kitsune-person from the legend?”

“Legend, you say?” Satoru already knew all about such legend. He wanted to know, however, if Todd did.

“Yeah. I was told a story about how a thousand years ago, you used to terrorize villages because of your contempt for humans. Then, when some guy fought back, you ultimately had a change of heart. Then you were killed by a group of humans seeking revenge after healing a girl's broken leg.”

“That is correct,” Satoru said. “By the way, what's your name?”

“It's Todd.”

 

Todd wanted answers, and he wanted them now. “I was also told that since the day you died, you've been wandering around, looking to find more people to help. What attracted you to me?”

“I'm not sure, young man. It just seems as though fate has brought us together, and we will find out together why that is so.”

Bluntly, Todd asked, “How long have you been with me?”

“Ever since the night you heard the legend.”

“So, let me understand this. You were there the night I was attacked by an old woman? In fact, since the legend is true…that means you're the reason I was able to dodge her barrage so easily, right?”

“Yes, that is right.”

“And, you must have taken over my body when I passed out underwater yesterday trying to save that girl. Is that right?”

“Yes, it is.”

After Todd took a moment to soak it all in, he said, “Thank you for saving my life.”

“You are welcome.”

“You know, neither one of us knows why we've come together,” Todd said. Then he paused. “But it must be pretty big and important if it means bringing back someone who's been dead for the last thousand years.”

 

Todd woke up with a gasp for air. He took to time to pinch himself and make sure it was a dream. But he knew this was not one of those dreams you can toss aside. Todd's life, as he knew it, would never again be the same.

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