Sifting through the Memories

Beep-beep, beep-beep

Talon groaned.

Beep-beep, beep-beep

He turned where he lay.

Beep-beep, beep-beep

Finally, Talon slammed his open palm on his alarm clock, cursing every known swear known to man in his mind. He forgot to turn off the alarm system he had set on his clock for today. He had set it for the other day to wake up early and meet up with his friend Caiden, but he consistently forgot to turn it off as he made his way back home. That was four days ago. Four days of rude awakenings for Talon. Moving his arm away from the clock and allowing his arm to fall limp over the side of his bed, he buried his face into his pillow. He groaned loudly out of anger, irritated by the annoying sounds from the alarm. Buy the one alarm that is loud. his mother had said to him several years earlier that way you'll get up for sure!. Christ, he wished he hadn't listened to her.

Several minutes later, Talon threw himself up to a sitting position, looking at himself in the mirror that sat above his bed. His hair was completely ruffled, his complexion showing signs of physical fatigue, perhaps mental. His upper torso wasn't chiseled at all, no muscle showing at all. He needed to work out. Stechting his arms out and rolling his head in a clockwise fashion, he began to get the blood flowing through his body, helping him wake up in the process. As he pushed off from his bed using his arms, he suddenly lost all feeling in his right arm, causing him to quickly fall off the side of his bed, his back slamming against the carpeting.

"Gaah!" he groaned, a sharp pain suddenly snapping him awake. That was definitely a great way to wake up. "Shit!" He leaned forward, suddenly very awake, and very alert. That was definitely not the first time that ever happened. Talon was just glad he never did that at Hogwarts, otherwise he'd be known as a klutz. Maybe worse. He rubbed his face with his open right hand, attempting to get some sense rubbed into him. It actually helped! Pushing off with his feet and hands, he found himself standing up in an awkward way, almost falling back down onto his bed. Why was he so disoriented? He hadn't felt the way he had since he first left for Hogwarts, but now he suddenly felt drained. Whatever, he thought could be anything..

Walking away from his bed, he walked out into the hallway, seeing his sister Sabryna walking towards the bathroom. "Oh no you don't," he said, quickly rushing past her and getting into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. "Hey!" he heard his sister say, a report of knocks following suit "I gotta get ready for a doctor's apointment!" Talon groaned as he walked over to the sink, turning the facet onto the hottest settings. "Just give me a minute," he replied, his voice groggy and barely coherent. "You doing drugs or something?" Sabryna said harshly "You sound like shit." "Your face doesn't exactly turn other men on," Talon replied, his tone sharp and harsh "just give me a minute, alright?" "Fine, just don't take too long."

Running his hand under the hot water, he began to splash his face, looking intently into the mirror. His face was completely white, large bags underneath his eyes with the shade of grey. Man. Turning the facet off, he wiped his face off with a towel that sat next to him and left the bathroom, his sister waiting near the door. She immediately looked worried. "Talon, are you alright?" she asked, her tone much more soft and soothing at this point. "I'm fine," he said, his tone still a little more cold and a little more dark than it should've been. He stopped at the doorway to his room, his mind a little more clear. "I'm just not feeling good," he replied to the 14 year old girl with a smile "I'll be okay in a while. You do what you need to do." "Okay," she said, concern still lurking in her tone "you should let mom know though, she'd want to know." "I'll let her know. Thanks." He walked into his room and closed the door. It was almost time to head back to school and he felt exhausted. Wasn't it, 'hey, it's vacation, now's the time to rejuvenate and refresh yourselves?' He chuckled at the thought.

Picking up his phone that sat next to his pillow, he carefully undid the lock and checked his messages. Ever since his screen broke, he'd be careful to not cut his finger on the glass. A message from mom and that was it. Great. He made a new message and sent it to his friends Caiden and Damitrius. Hey, gotta clean out some stuff that belong to grandpa. Could use your help. Hopefully they knew it'd be pretty difficult for him.

****************

A few hours later, Talon stood beneath the entrance to the attic of the two story Victorian house that sat snugly in a suburb near Chicago Illinois. He had a latter in place beneath the attic and he stood, fully clothed now with a t-shit pants and shoes, on the bottom rung, looking up at the latch the push up and lead to the attic. Talon was frozen where he stood though, unable to procede any further. Just the thought of going up there and going through his grandfather's things turned his blood cold. But, his parents needed some extra space to add some extra things from the garage, so they asked Talon to clean out some of his grandfather's belongings, seeing as how he was close to him. Talon looked away from the ceiling, immediately backtracking down the stairs and collapsing upon the couch. He would wait for Caiden and Damitrius, yeah, that's what he'd do. Just to give some extra time.

This time he was sleeping on his bed, not the couch. Caiden's mother was ready this time to stop him from crashing onto the couch. Caiden slept peacefully in his bed, his left arm hanging from the bed since he was sleeping on his chest at the moment. Whack!! a phone smacked him hard on the back of his head from his owl who had decided to toss his phone onto him. 'Ow!' he gasped, rubbing his head sorely as he got up from his bed. 'Snowy!' he snapped at his owl who was silently laughing at him from his open cage. Snowy had been picking at the locks and opening it again. 'Note to self - Buy new cage,' thought Caiden writing a mental note on his head as he wiped his mouth from saliva and read the message by his friend Talon. Hey, gotta clean out some stuff that belong to grandpa. Could use your help it read. On my way, be there in a few minute he replied. Caiden knew how hard it was for Talon when it came to his grandpa's stuff, he couldn't even speak about his grandpa if he was asked.

Then with that he got up on his feet and walked quietly across the lounge room and quickly took a shower. Caiden put on a plain white shirt and pulled on his basketball shorts and walked out to the kitchen where his mother was brewing up breakfast. 'Whats for breakfast mum?' he asked, checking his phone for any notification on Facebook. 'Oats,' his mother replied. 'Aw mum! I hate oat!!' he shot his head up and moaned. 'Well that is all we've got to eat, we can go shopping later,' his mother hissed back at him. Caiden sighed and turned to his phone again, scrolling through the news feeds. 'No phones on the table, young mister,' said his mother handing him his oatmeals and a bottle of honey. Caiden quickly turned off his phone and pocketed it, eating his oatmeals, forcing it down his throat after every bite. 'Hey mum? Could you apparate me to Talons house, he needs help clearing his grandfather's things,' he asked his mum not a few seconds later. His mother knew as well how hard it would be for Talon since Caiden had told her almost everything every time he comes home from Hogwart. 'That poor bugger, yeah sure, eat up I'll take ya.'

After a few minute of forcing down oatmeals down his throat he finally finished and apparated outside Talon's house. Hopefully no one saw them. 'Alright, Caiden behave alright? I'll come and pick you up around nine okay?' his mother said. 'Yes, mum,' said Caiden, rolling his eyes as he walked towards the door. 'Pizza deliveries!' he knocked on the door and waited patiently by the door.

Talon took a deep breath as he laid on the couch, his mind aflutter. He kept changing subjects on his mind, going from schoolwork, to the cost of books and supplies for the next year, to Sapphire, to so many other things that kept buzzing in his head. Anything to cover up the deadly wound that preserved itself for so long in his cerebrum. He began to think of how he would spend the rest of his summer. He really wanted to sleep. He had spent so many restless nights at Hogwarts, thinking too much about his studies and the things that kept him chained to his stress. Especially when he died. It hit him hard. Yet sleep helped him out, it really kept things in his head in motion, made him truly think and really be who he was. Yeah...sleep...his eyes began to feel heavy.

Knock, knock "Pizza delivery!"

Talon immediately snapped himself awake, shaking his vigorously in his attempt to stay awake. He rubbed his eyes, trying to make his eyes water enough to keep him awake. When his eyes teared up a little, he looked at the door, his eyes still begging for the sleep he needed. Yet he knew that it was probably Caiden at the door, seeing as how only Caiden would be enough of a genius to do so. It was in every 70s movie, do you really think that would fool Talon? Shaking off his nasty thoughts, he picked himself up and walked towards the door, his feet feeling like concrete.

He took the top slide lock off its hinge and then twisted the deadbolt to allow him to open the door. Turning the knob, he rubbed his face with the palm of his hand, hoping he didn't look that bad. He pulled the door wide open, the initial sunlight hitting his corneas and causing him a bit of pain. "Hey Caiden," he said with a half-hearted smile, opening the door wide to allow him access. Hopefully he wouldn't say anything, but knowing him...who knows. "Make yourself at home. I texted Damitrius as well, hoping she'll respond soon." He rubbed his face yet again, walking towards the kitchen area.

"You want anything to drink?" he asked with a louder tone so Caiden could hear him. Opening the refrigerator door, he peered into the insides of the cool air to search for something to drink. There was water, milk, some leftover steak from dinner the other night, Coke, Mountain Dew...but no Dr. Pepper." He groaned softly, his irritation peaking now. He let it go though, planning on running to the corner store later. He grabbed a Coke and peered towards Caiden, awaiting his response.

The sun was hot, burning on the back of his head he swore he could almost feel it burning until it was nothing but fire on his head. The weather was humid, so humid Caiden was already sweating on his forehead. 'Damn this weather,' he mumbled to himself, wiping the sweat from his forehead. But he got to admit this sure beat winter. Caiden hated winter. Soon a cool wave of cold air washed over him as the door soon opened. There stood Talon standing at the door, looking quite shit then usual. 'Hey Talon,' replied Caiden, smiling back t him, eyeing him suspiciously for a moment, this wasn't like Talon at all. Usually he was so life like. 'Oh goodie the whole gang will be here,' he grinned, clapping his hands together for giggles. Caiden followed Talon into his house and to the kitchen, stopping at his position next to the wall and leaning against it . 'I'll have a coke please, if you don't mind,' he nodded, looking around the house with amusement. 'You have a nice house here,' he nodded at Talon and smiled.

It was unusual for a Pureblooded witch to want to learn a lot more than she already knew about the muggle world, but Damitrius was one of the few who actually wanted to learn. She'd made her father get her a muggle cell phone, though he never understood why she wanted it. She'd been sitting in her room playing around with the phone, trying to figure it out, when it started vibrating. She yelped softly and dropped the phone on the bed and watched it vibrate until it was done.

She blinked a couple of times before picking it up again and giggling softly. Wow, she really should have known what that was for. She sighed and touched the app with an envelope on it to check her messages. It was from Talon, she smiled and swung her legs over her bed, sitting up straight as she read the message. She hummed softly as she wrote back, Alright. Be there in a few. and she quickly got up from the bed and headed toward the door of her room. She placed the phone in the pocket of her skirt and then she looked down at herself. Probably not the most appropriate clothes to wear, but oh well! It was too late for her to change now.

As she stepped outside her room, she looked to find her older sister, Alexis, looking at her. She had a smile plastered on her face and it only made Damitrius frown at her. "What do you want?" she asked her sister harshly. "I wanted us to spend sometime together -" Damitrius cut her off. "Let me stop you there. First, we haven't spent time together since you were stupid enough to be turned into a dog. And second I don't have time. I'm going to help my friend with something." Damitrius said. Alexis frowned but nodded. "Fine. I understand. But at least let me take you there. I can apparate you there, you haven't learned that yet and Dad is too busy and so are Alistair and Lily." she said. Damitrius frowned again, "Fine." she said and Alexis' smile returned. "By the way, this friend you're going to help. It's Talon, correct?" she asked. Damitrius looked up at her. "How'd you know that?" she asked.

"You aren't very quiet about your friends in your conversations Damitrius." she answered her. Damitrius looked down and sighed. "Fine okay. Yeah, I'm going to help him. What about it?" she asked. "Do you like him?" Damitrius' eyes widened. "No!" she exclaimed. "I don't! He's only a friend!" she huffed angrily and looked away from Alexis, her cheeks a bright pink. "Just apparate us there already." she said softly. Alexis smiled and nodded. "Alright." and they disappeared. They reappeared in an alley near the house. "I'll leave you here Okay? I've got to get to work now. Just call me when you want to go home and I'll come pick you up." Alexis said. Damitrius had forgotten that she also had a muggle phone and she nodded curtly. "Fine. Bye." she said and left her sister there as she walked toward the house.

When she got to the door, Damitrius knocked on it and waited to be let in, looking around at the surroundings and then back at the alley where Alexis had been. She heard a small popping noise and she knew Alexis had left.

Talon grabbed another Coke soda can from the refrigerator and tossed it upwards in the air towards Caiden for him to catch. He then closed the refrigerator door and popped open the top of the can, an audible click emerging into the air. "Thanks," Talon said with a smile "me and the family have been summer cleaning. We have no idea where Esmond is though..." His brother was old enough to be out of the house, but he always hung around when it was summer. They had a close family that knew how to stick together. Sure, they had their moments, but they stayed close for the sake of being a family. He took a drink from his soda can, wondering where Damitrius was. Just as the thought sprung into his head however, he heard a knock at the door, surprising him a little. Setting the can on the table next to him, he quickly rushed over to the door, turning the knob and opening it.

With a smile, he looked at Damitrius and said "Hey, thanks for coming." Once she was inside, he closed the door, deadbolting to prevent anyone just wandering in. He forgot to do that once...scary times. He walked back to the kitchen area and picked up his can of soda, taking another sip. He thought about his next choice of words, picking them carefully for some reason. He sighed a little and said "Alright, may as well not beat around the bush. So, my parents need a little extra space in the attic to clear up some of the clutter that sits in the garage, so they asked me to move some of the things out of the attic. Yet most of the stuff in there belonged to my grandfather...and as you two know...I don't like to bring that part of my past up." He shuddered a little as flashbacks of his fourth year phased into his mind. "But...uh...I really appreciate this guys. I couldn't do this without ya." A genuine smile formed on his face, the old Talon back a little now.

"Damitrius, you can grab whatever you want from the fridge, I gotta go make sure I set the ladder up correctly." With that, Talon set the can back down onto the table, jogging his way back up to the staircase. He went up the staircase and look to the left, the ladder sitting correctly beneath the attic entrance, Talon's blood suddenly turning cold. What if he didn't want me digging through his stuff... he thought to himself. Grandpa Aiden was always a private man, who didn't really talk about his past that much, besides to Talon and his father. He sighed again, knowing that if he were here, he would want Talon to move on. Still wasn't that easy though. With renewed determination, he walked over to the ladder, going up one rung, then the next. When he reached the entrance though, he paused.

He didn't feel fear anymore, or sadness, just a determination to get this done. He put his hand on the latch to unlock the deadbolt that secured the small wooden door and pushed up. No budge. He pushed again. Barely moved. This time, Talon forced all of his strength into the door, a small grunt audible through his lips as he did so. Suddenly, the door forced itself open, nearly knocking Talon off his balance in the progress. Talon chuckled to himself, the feeling of 'you're-going-to-die-off-four-feet' feeling suddenly flowing into him. He hated that. He stepped back down to the ground, dust suddenly floating around in the air around him. Damn, they hadn't cleaned that place out in a long time.

Cupping his hands together, he ready himself to catch the can, but as soon at it reached him, it slipped from the tip of his finger causing him to fumble. 'You piece of sh**,' Caiden swore quietly under his breath as he caught finally caught the can. 'You did a nice job of it too,' nodded Caiden, looking around the house for a moment. He couldn't even remember how many time his mother would ask him to help around the house. Like a typical child he was, he would groan and complain. His mum was always strict about cleaning, it had to be perfect. No spots, no marks and no little piece of dirt lying in the corner. She would make him do it again if she had to. After a few minute, Caiden heard someone knocking on the door and quickly spun his head around to the door. 'That must be Damitrius,' he said, looking at Talon who was already on the way to the door.

While he waited he pulled the pin from his can which caused it to fizz up in his hand. Caiden swore under his breath again and hurried over to the sink, so that he would not ruin the new sparkly clean kitchen with his sticky brown soda. Soon as the can stopped fizzing up in his hand he licked his hand for any remaining soda on his hand and began to wash it under the sink. Caiden then turned around and took a sip of his coke, looking at both Talon and Damitrius who had just walked in. He listened closely as Talon told them what they were doing and thanked them. "Sounds like a plan," "Happy to be here,' he replied, smiling and nodding as he rose his can in the air in response. 'I think i'm going to have a look around,' said Caiden, walking off and started with the longue room and began to look around

Talon took another step back up on the ladder, going up slowly this time. He wasn't sure if a werewolf would pop out from his ceiling. He shuddered at the thought. Once he reached the top of the ladder, he practically lept into the ceiling, landing on his left shoulder. A sharp pain flew through his shoulder, a visible grunt heard from Talon's lips. "Ow," he said in a normal tone, pushing himself off from the...ground? Would it still be considered ground? Ehh, whatever, he pushed himself up.

Going onto his knees, he noticed there was enough space to stand up and many boxes and other things took up most of that space. After closer examination, he noticed that many of the boxes seemed to be outdated. From a glance, he saw different piles of clothes and trinkets, things you would probably find at a garage sale or some window shop. Talon stood up and began to walk the aisles, noticing that his parents were right. It was a small attic, and he estimated that there had to have been a hundred boxes, possibly more. Looking around further, and stepping over many overturned things in the process, he moved towards the only window in the attic.

Talon began to feel uneasy as he got closer. He knew this pile of things in front of him belonged to his grandfather and that didn't exactly give him comforting thoughts. An usual thing that caught his eye was the amount of boxes that were in front of him. All of them had a black writing on it, probably from a sharpie, and there had to have been 12 boxes, each of them looking old and crumbled. Most of them looked as if they were going to collapse at any moment, but the writing seemed to be fresh. His parents probably wanted him to deal with the reality, knowing he hadn't fully gotten over his death. He sighed. What a damning stunt.

He walked closer to the boxes, kneeling down near one of the newer looking boxes. It was filled with scrapbooks, some of the labeled with years on them. "1990 to 2003," he said out loud, mostly wanting to hear it for himself "1978 to 1987...2010 to..." There wasn't a date on this one. 2010 was the year that Talon was born. Talon immediately dropped that one, immediately pushing the image of the scrapbook from his mind. He picked up another one, one that seemed very formal. Through the years was written on it. When Talon opened it up, he saw that the scrapbook was filled with moving pictures. On page one mostly showed his grandfather getting his job at the Ministry. There wasn't a date on any of the pictures, he figured it must've been his grandfather's eyes only.

As the gang all went their seperates ways. Caiden started on his journey touring around his friends house. Starting with the lounge room. 'This must be the lounge room,' he thought to himself as he stood at the entrance taking everything that was in the room. Caiden looked over at the big fireplace on his left and walked over there. It looked like it hasn't been used in a while. Of course, it was summer man!.

Continuing on, he made his way into the very next room which seems to be where they hung up their coats and left their shoes. Caiden already saw the kitchen so he started ascending the stairs, holding the rail as he went. As he finally got up the stairs he looked to his right and saw another flight of stairs leading towards the attic. He would have to get up there later, so turning to his left he made his way to the bedrooms his feets slapping behind him as he walked.

He finally made it to Talon's bedroom and stood at the door. 'He wouldn't mind peeking,' he thought to himslef and shrugged. 'He won't notice i've been inside anyway,' he murmmered to himself as he twisted the doorknob and took a peek inside. The bedroom was quite messy, clothes were lying everywhere and books and papers laid everywhere. Typical Talon, he thought and chuckled, closing the door behind him. He quickly peaked through the parent bedroom and made his way to the attic. When suddenly he bumped into Talon's little sister which caused them to have a little dance going on between them as they struggled to get our of each others way. 'Oh sorry,' giggled Saphyr, stepping out of the way letting him go first. Caiden nodded and chuckled nervously and quickly got out of her way.

Caiden raced up the stairs to the Attic and search the Attic for Talon. After looking around for a bit he noticed Talon sitting in the corner looking at something. Caiden furrowed his eyebrows in concern and started walk over to Talon. 'What you got there?' he asked, kneeling beside his friend.

Damitrius looked around the house curiously as she shook her head at Talon when he said that she could grab what she wanted from the fridge and smiled at him. "I'm good, thanks." she said softly. She stayed where she was as the two boys went off on their own and she slowly started to head toward the attic. Although she saw Caiden going off almost everywhere in the house first and she followed behind him, watching what he did. She raised an eyebrow when he looked in Talon's room and she shook her head, chuckling softly before she left him there and went off in another direction to go somewhere in the house.

She admitted that she didn't exactly like being in an attic, although she wasn't sure why. She thought it must've been because of something that happened to her when she was smaller and because of that, she wasn't in a hurry to get up there in the attic. Suck it up and quit being a baby. her mind called to her. Damitrius lifted her head and looked around. She forgot about that voice in her head, stupid vampire. Don't tell me what to do. she called back to it. Well you did come here to help. Not to be a bother. So stop acting like a scared little girl and get up there before they do everything and you're stuck as the stupid girl who came for no reason. the voice said calmly.

Damitrius winced at the words and she shook her head. Fine. Just stop being a pain in my arse and go away. she told the voice. Yeah, because that was so easy. The only way to get rid of the voice was to die and she wasn't planning on having that happen anytime soon. The voice laughed softly and then disappeared. The girl sighed and turned around, heading for the stairs that led to the attic. She figured both Talon and Caiden were up there already and she climbed up the stairs sighing softly as she did so. She walked through the attic slowly, looking at the boxes and hearing her shoes tapping on the floor as she walked. She quickly came upon the two boys in the corner, looking at something and she kneeled down on the other side of Talon. "What're you two looking at?" she asked them.