Time Warp: Family Bonds (Morgan, Darryl)

[Elaine Tonaya]

In the summer of 1993, seventeen years ago...

Elaine was standing in the kitchen doing the dishes. The dishwasher was broken and she hadn't had time or buy a new one, so she was down to hand-washing. This wasn't altogether bad, as it forced her to take a short break in the evening and just do something that required absolutely no brain power.

Darryl was sleeping over with Morgan that night. Thinking about the two friends, Elaine smiled to herself. She'd been a little worried that Morgan's soft nature would mean that he would have a hard time with friends, or that he might be bullied a lot. Yet he and Darryl had made fast friends, and quickly. Those two were as thick as thieves.

Darryl wasn't even that bad of a kid. Sure, he was more wild that Morgan had ever been, but he still wasn't a complete troublemaker. Having him around just meant that there were a few more injuries to deal with than normal. Had she ever suspected that the boy would end up bringing serious harm to Morgan, she wouldn't have let him come by. But he was a good kid, in truth, just a little stupid sometimes. With luck the two boys would grow out of that. If any of Morgan's friends ever did end up as dangerous delinquents, she wouldn't hesitate to ban them from her house. At least, that was what she promised herself, though Darryl was quickly becoming something more akin to family.

Just after dinner, Morgan and Darryl had gone into the back bedroom. They were going to play a game, they said, and asked if Elaine could leave them alone for a little while. She'd smiled and said it was all right, trusting that this time they wouldn't get in trouble. They were in the house, after all, and she would hear if they were doing anything that was particularly dangerous. So she gathered up the dishes and carried them into the kitchen, where she soaped up the water and got to washing. Once the dishes were done and put away, however, she decided it might be time to go check on them.

They had been awfully quiet for a long time, which was unusual for the two boys. She went to listen by the door to Morgan's room but didn't hear anything. When she knocked, there was no response. So, easing the door open, she poked her head in. And saw an empty room with an open window.

"Darryl!" she shouted. "Morgan! Those two are going to be in some serious trouble when they get back."

With that she went over to the window, slammed it shut, and locked it. Then she went back out to the living room. "I have got to get that child a tracking bracelet or something," she muttered. "How could they just run off and not tell me, and at night, too!"

She sat in the armchair and pulled out a pair of Morgan's jeans with a hole in the knee. It was still a small hole, so she used some scrap material to fill in the gap and fix up the jeans. They looked a little off, but were still usable. If he kept growing, though, they wouldn't fit at all. She sighed and set the pants down in her lap.

Finally, half an hour later, the door creaked open. Elaine purposely had never fixed the creak, since it always let her know when someone was coming or leaving. Should it ever be mysteriously fixed, she would go in and try to get it to start creaking again, then confront Morgan about sneaking out to go have sex with his girlfriend at night. Never mind that he didn't currently have a girlfriend.

Upon hearing the door creak open, Elaine stood up. She looked down the entrance hallway and started tapping her foot, hands on her hips.

"I really hope you had fun. I really hope it was worth sneaking out of the house for, because you are going to..."

And then she trailed off, looking at the two teenagers stumbling into the house. Morgan was helping Darryl, who was cradling his right arm.

"What did you do this time?"

[Darryl Bond]

It hurt!

It hurt so bad he had cried about it!

OK, so he wasn't tearing up anymore, but the (pre)teenaged boy was fretting about the crazy angle his shoulder was and how mad Morgan's mother was going to be over this. They had been playing in his room when Darryl's bane had reared it's head; Truth or Dare. His pride would simply not let him pass up a dare, no matter how stupid it may be. They made it through the first few rounds without difficulty, but then Morgan had dared Darryl to write his name on the water tower that they could walk to from the backyard. Darryl hadn't wanted to at first (knowing it was stupid to climb up so high) but in the end, he had frustratedly started to worm himself out of the window of his friend's bedroom--he couldn't very well use the back door of the house, not with Elaine keeping guard in the kitchen!

So once he had made it to the backyard, Morgan hissed for him to wait (at first it was because he wanted to see it, but after Darryl had actually reached the water tower and started to climb the service ladder, he had tried to negotiate his friend to forget the dare and for them to go back into the house. Whatever, Darryl was going to do it, his pride commanded it. Once he made it to the top, he had used the Sharpie in his pocket and written his name as large as he could (by standing on his Tip-toes), he used his Nickname Polly, instead of his actual name, and he then started to go down the ladder.

Everything was fine, until he was about twenty feet from the ground. There was a nearby tree, its branches came within two feet of one of the legs of the tower, and a bird had been perched on the tree, and when Darryl came within a few feet of said branch and bird, it took off into the air. The loud sound of fluttering spooked the poor kid, whose adrenaline was already thrumming through his system, and his hand slipped on the rungs and he had already extended a foot to go down a rung and the poor guy started to fall. He knew he wasn't that high off the ground, but he didn't want to land solidly and break something, so he scrambled to grab hold of the ladder that was sliding passed his eyes.

He managed to grab hold but the velocity of his fall and the fact he had caught it with one hand....wrenched his shoulder completely out of place and the pain caused him to let go and fall again, this time it wasn't from a great height and he fell on his back solidly. His breath left him and while he was laying there, stunned, he realized his arm really hurt. And then the bastard tears started to fall.

Morgan had then helped him to his feet and the two made it back through the woods to the Tonaya house, in that time Darryl had managed his tears down to whimpers and a pained expression. He wiped his eyes hastily with his good arm when Elaine opened the door. He winced at her scolding as he walked passed her, "didn't mean to..." came his mumbled excuse/apology. He slumped onto the couch, and winced in pain as the movement jostled his arm.

[Event !]

Thank you for your participation, the Time Warp has now ended.