Mike v2.0 (A Firesetter Short Story) (3 page)

“Ha ha!” Steve chortled again, and although I
couldn’t see it, I imagined he was waggling a finger at me. “You
just wait. I have another trick up my sleeve that involves an old
spaceplane and an old Imperial SpaceNavy pilot, who just happens to
be Moi.”

“Oh no,” I muttered aloud.

“Oh yes,” he replied as he left the room.
“I’ve still got it. Like riding a bicycle, junior. Flying a
spaceplane is something you never forget. Hey ya, dollface! How’s
about you check out my blood pressure. I can tell it’s rising at
the sight of you.”

“Oh, Sir!” some nurse giggled, just as my door
slammed shut.

“Oh no,” I sighed, hoping that by morning
Steve would have forgotten all about this.

That night, at least I think it was night, as
in this eternal darkness, I really couldn’t tell, my door opened
and something was rolled into the room.

“Ach, there you are little one. Lucky you.
You’re to room with the Crown Prince.”

This statement was followed by some more
noises as machines were attached to my new companion and blankets
were adjusted on his bed.

“Goodnight then, boys,” the nurse called, her
footsteps once again taking her to the hall, followed by the door
closing softly in her wake.

This was odd, I thought, my ire rising like
the hair on the back of my neck. I had a roommate, something I had
never had before, and didn’t necessarily want. After all, I was the
Crown Prince, born and raised to believe I was far too precious and
too important to share my air with any old common child.

On the other hand, all this cuddling and
coddling had left me with exactly zero friends. In fact, I had no
clue what a friend was or how one went about dealing with
one.

At any rate, I figured, being that I was stuck
in this bed, it wouldn’t hurt to attempt to converse with my new
companion.

“Hello,” I said, and instinctively held out my
hand for the requisite kiss of respect and obeisance. “How do you
do?”

No response came, save a soft intake of
breath, giving me pause to consider how my hearing had sharpened
even while my eyes had failed. I could appreciate that, even if I
didn’t like it. However, I was less appreciative of my sense of
smell and the faint scent of fire which emanated off the
boy.

Drawing my hand back, especially as no
introduction was forthcoming, I feared the lad might have suffered
tragic burns. I imagined him encased in gauze, a veritable mummy
covered in weeping and oozing wounds. Not wanting to blindly touch
or disturb this poor and even more unfortunate child, I decided a
friendship was not in store.

Turning my back to him, I tried to sleep, yet
an odd sensation coursed down my spine. I grew cold despite the
warmth of the room. My head, already fuzzy with both my injury and
the strong pharmaceuticals pumping through my veins, felt like a
blanket had been thrown over me.

I coughed and gasped for a breath, trying to
shake this suffocating feeling away, and a moment later, it
cleared, leaving me with a sensation I could only describe as joy.
For a moment, I felt inexorably happy. I felt as if just this
second, I had been reborn. I still couldn’t see, and my head still
ached, but somehow, I was renewed.

Was it my roommate that caused these feelings
in me? I didn’t know for certain, but inexplicably I attributed
them to him.

“Tell me your name,” I cried jubilantly,
turning back and extending my hands, determined to declare him a
knight, or at the very least, a squire in my future
realm.

Before he could speak, the door opened again
and Steve’s shuffling footsteps hurried through.

“Ready to go, buddy?” my grandfather called.
“Your chariot is parked in the back lot. It only took me the last
seven hours to service the transmission and plug the leak in the
hydraulic cable. We’ll make it to Planet Rozari in no time flat.
I’ve still got it, Mikey-boy. This old man can still fly. Ach!
Kari-fa!”

“Ach!” I shrieked, echoing Steve’s shout,
minus the obscenity, fearing I knew not what in my darkened
world.

“What in the hell are you doing here? Did
someone unlock the door to your prison cell? Get out! Kari-fa!
You’re the last one I want to see.”

“Steve?” I gasped, and then, sighed as I
realized my grandfather was having one of his fits. He had gone off
his rocker again, his ancient mind mistaking now for long ago. In
addition, did I smell a bit of alcohol on his breath? Was he
smoking something other than his usual tobacco?

“Are you okay, Mikey? He didn’t hurt you, did
he?”

“Who?”

“Him, of course,” Steve snapped, his breath
coming hard. Probably, he was waggling a finger at my roommate, the
fire-burned kid.

“Now Steve,” I said, sounding amazingly like
my mother and using her same placating tone. “The poor child is
ill. He hasn’t said a word to me. He’s far too sick.”

Storming over to my bed, my grandfather
practically threw himself on top of me. “Yeah, he’s sick alright,
but not in the way you think. Listen to me, you devil, you leave my
grandkid alone. Don't you touch him. If you do, I’ll—I’ll—I’ll do
something.”

“What?” I heaved an annoyed sigh. “Nobody has
touched me except for you.” I pushed Steve away before I choked on
his stale alcohol, cigarette, and old man smell.

“He doesn’t have to touch you, Mikey. He can
do things with his mind.”

“Mhm.” I sighed again. “Steve, I think you had
better go home. You best sleep off whatever it is you have
consumed. Would you like me to ring my mother and have her send a
car?”

“Kari-fa! I don’t need an eight year old
telling me what to do, especially when I’m trying to save his
ass.”

At this point, I was thoroughly embarrassed by
Steve’s behavior, and glad my roommate was probably asleep. It was
definitely unbecoming of a prince to storm into a public room and
carry on with such a fit. Had my mother been there, she would have
been horrified, while my father would have laughed and threatened
Steve with the Home.

“I apologize,” I told my roommate on the off
chance he was awake. “My grandfather, the Imperial Prince sometimes
becomes quite confused. Clearly, he mistakes you for someone
else.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,
Mikey,” Steve growled, his voice now coming from across the room.
“I know exactly who he is, but what I don’t know is why he’s here.
What do you want? Out with it.”

“Steve! Please!”

“Shut up, junior. I’m going to handle this.
Are you just going to sit there? State your business, and then, get
going.”

“But, I find you so entertaining,” a boy
replied, startling me, for clearly he was wide awake. His accent
was from the city, his lilt like that of the children on my
baseball team. “Hello again to you, Steve. It has been some
time.”

“Not long enough!” My grandfather snapped.
“And, I’ll gladly take a rain check for another hundred
years.”

The boy laughed, the sound as pleasant as the
chiming of soft bells, or the tinkling of a forest brook as the
water drifted across a path of shiny stones.

Inexplicably, I laughed with him, as if his
joy was a contagion. I didn’t stop to think how my grandfather was
acquainted with this boy, nor did I question how he came to address
the Imperial Prince by his given name.

“Stop that! Both of you!” Steve declared, even
more irate than before. “You’re not funny, and you’re not wanted
here.”

“I could have sworn I heard someone call,” the
boy replied, a puzzled tone to his voice. “Well, in any case, I am
here now, and here I shall be.”

“Fine. We’re leaving. The room’s all yours.
Mikey, get out of bed.” Steve’s feet shuffled as if he was turning
around to me.

“I can’t, Steve,” I protested, just as he
stumbled. This was followed by the sound of a chair screeching as
it was dragged across the floor.

“Ow! Damn this sciatica. I hate being an old
man.”

“There is an alternative,” the boy
suggested.

“Shut up!”

“Sit down, Steve!” I begged, half bolting from
the bed myself. “Please don’t hurt yourself anymore.”

“I am sitting. Now.” The chair exhaled a
breath of air as his weight fell into it. “Give me a minute to
rest.”

“Take all the time you would like,” the boy
replied. “Well, not all the time. You know what I mean.”

Steve groaned, exhaling a full dictionary’s
list of profanities. A moment later, he began to snore.

I sighed with relief and leaned back on my
pillow. I couldn’t relax though, not until I found out who my
roommate was and how he came to know my grandfather.

“Tell me your name,” I commanded in my most
imperious tone. “You know who I am, do you not?”

“Indeed,” the boy replied, a hint of laughter
in his voice. “You are the Crown Prince Mikal. As to my name, it is
the same as yours, more or less.”

“You are called Mike?”

“Close enough.” He laughed again, just as
Steve snorted awake.

“What? You’re still here? Kari-fa! I was
hoping you were just a bad dream. Come on, Mikey. We’re late to our
appointment in the stars.” Before I could protest, my grandfather
bolted to his feet, shuffled over to my bed, and picked me up. “We
need to get you out of here. We need to get you away from that
demon before he corrupts your soul.”

“I’m not a demon,” the other Mike said. “I
thought you knew.”

It was at just that moment the door creaked
open again.

“Now, where do you think you’re going?” the
night nurse demanded. “Put that boy back in his bed!”

“I’m just giving my grandson a hug,” Steve
declared, dropping me back down. “I can do that, can’t I, or is
that against the law?”

The nurse didn’t respond. Instead she took my
temperature and pushed some buttons on the machines.

“You go back to sleep, Your little Highness.”
She patted my cheek.

As soon as the door was shut again, Steve
hurried to my side.

“Let’s go, junior. We’ll climb out the window
if we have to.”

“Steve? I can’t! I’m totally
blind.”

“That’s no excuse, Mikey-boy. Are you a prince
or a frog? Sometimes life requires clandestine maneuvers in the
dark. Stick with me, junior, and I’ll turn you into a king.” With
that, he pulled open the window. Steve, despite his sciatica,
despite his constant cough, climbed out, a second later, I could
hear him drop into the brush. Fortunately, my room was on the
hospital’s first floor. “Come on. What are you waiting for, kiddo?
If this old geezer can do it, so can you.”

What was I waiting for? I sat there in the bed
thinking myself the wimpiest Prince around.

“Go on,” the other Mike said. “You’ll be
fine.”

“How do you know?” I snapped. “Do you have any
clue what it’s like to be blind?”

“Mikey! Come on, dude. We need to fly,” Steve
called, and then under his breath, he mumbled, “Before your mother
finds out.”

Partly to prove it to the other Mike, but
mostly to prove it to myself, I slipped out of bed and felt my way
to the open window. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought as I could
feel the fresh air on my face and hear the sound of the morning
birds in the trees outside. In only six steps, my hands found the
window ledge.

“See, you did it, Mikey-boy,” Steve cried,
pulling me through.

Now, even though I was outside and in a place
I had never seen before, I could almost visualize the parking lot,
the street, and the building behind me.

“Well done, partner,” my grandfather declared,
slapping me on the back, before slamming the window shut. “So long,
evil angel. Go back to hell.”

Steve’s spaceplane was parked behind the lot
in a grassy field that was newly mowed. I could tell by both the
fragrant scent and when he set me down, clippings stuck to my bare
feet.

“What’s the matter, partner?” my grandfather
asked, extending the boarding ladder and placing my hand upon a
rung. “Why are you frowning? Are you feeling sick?”

I wasn’t felling all that bad, but now that I
realized he was actually going to take me to space, my head began
to pound and my stomach roiled.

“Yes,” I must have said, a tear trickling down
my cheek. “And, I’ve changed my mind, Steve. I don’t want to go to
Planet Rozari after all. I want to go home.”

“Kari-fa! Don’t tell me that! After all the
trouble I went through to get my spaceplane here. I spent half the
night just trying to get the engines started. We’ll be damn lucky
if they turnover again. Climb up that ladder, junior, and buckle
yourself in. We’ve got a mission to complete in the deep dark
recesses of outer space.”

Although I wanted to protest, although I
wanted to beg him to let me go back to bed, or if not, back home to
the palace and my room. But, I didn’t. I climbed the ladder, angry
at Steve and even more so at myself. What kind of King would I be,
when even a crazy old man could push me around?