"Don't you see? He's a devious little trickster, a rascal, a-a..." "An evil mastermind?" said my father, Loki. I was sitting with him in the principal's office... again. By now, I'm used to it, though. "Exactly that, yes." agreed Principal Cranfield. My father leaned in closer. "Tell me- why do you hate my son so much?" "Well, surely you would see," Cranfield adjusted his ugly, pinstripe tie nervously. "Tom skateboarded in the halls while drawing inappropriate stuff... well, everywhere." My father looked at me curiously, then turned back to the principal. "Um, OK? This should be expected. I'm the god of mischief, after all." "Yes, but Tom's behavior is unacceptable. The past several weeks, he's been playing video games during all his classes." "How can video games hurt anyone?" I blurted out. This was the first time I had spoken during our little discussion, and everyone was surprised. "Um, short breaks in between classes would be good." Cranfield glared at me. I knew for a fact he hated my guts. "That's what nutrition is for, kid." "It's only fifteen minutes," I muttered under my breath. "Cut Tom some slack, Cranfield. You're too hard on him." My father wrapped his arm around my neck while whispering in my ear, "You owe me some chores." "Well, a suspension would cut that kid a ton of slack." My father nodded and took his arm off me. "Well then, we're decided." Cranfield smirked and stared me down. "I'll see you back here in five days, Tom." My father and I got out of our plastic chairs and left the room. We headed towards his dark green Coupe (gods occasionally use cars to appear normal) and entered the vehicle without saying a word. Shortly after we left Colmore Middle School, my father broke the silence. "Your mother isn't going to be happy about this," stated my father. My parents are... well, intricate. My mother's name is Sylvie, and she's another variant of my father. It's complicated, but long story short, they fell in love and had me- Tom Laufeyson. After twelve years of living with the gods of mischief, I can fairly say that my mother won't take bad news easily, unlike my father. ⬇ Continued in the notes and credits ⬇
When we arrived at our house, I had hoped my mother was at that weird McDonald's she always worked at, but she was just lying on the couch, watching some television. When we entered the household, she first looked at my father for a moment, then saw me and raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you supposed to be in school?" "Er- well..." "He got suspended, naturally." said my father. I expected my mother to disown me any minute now, but instead, she just sighed. "Thomas Oliver Laufeyson, go to your room. We have something to talk about." I went to my room obediently. When a parent calls you by your full name, they may not look like it, but they are not happy with you. I sat on my bed and stared at the digital clock I owned, sitting on my wooden nightstand. It was noon, just after lunchtime, and I was starving. I remembered I had hidden a box of snacks underneath my bed a while back, so I pulled it out. the box was dusty and made out of plastic. I snapped the lid off and found a bunch of stuff like chips and candy inside. I grabbed a big chocolate bar, took off the wrapper, and took a big bite out of it. The bar was made out of dark chocolate, my favorite. I finished it briskly and decided I was not done yet, so I opened a small bag of potato chips and finished it in a few seconds. It was actually quite enjoyable, being in my room with nobody bothering you. Well, until you run out of activities to do. Minutes turned to hours, and I was stuffed. By now, I had eaten half of the snack box, and it seemed like my parents had forgotten I was even here. I flopped down on my bed, arms spread out on the mattress. I sighed and closed my eyes. There was nothing left I could do. When I woke up, it was nearly dusk. The room was silent, except for the occasional sounds of trees rustling. I got out of my bed and opened the door. Something felt odd... "Um, mother?" I looked around the living room. The TV was still on, but nobody occupied the sofa. "Father?" This is probably one of my father's dirty tricks. Well, sucks to suck. "This is not funny." I walked towards the coffee table and noticed a small, torn paper with some writing- my father's. As I picked up the note, I looked around cautiously for any secret cameras. If there were, I didn't find any. Me and your mother are out of the house. Emergency. Do something productive before I come back... like those chores you owe me. The list of chores is on the kitchen counter. - Your father Should I be concerned? My parents just walked out of the house unexpectedly, and my father wants me to do chores. I turned off the TV, sighed, and walked over to the kitchen. I found the long list of chores my father wanted me to do, and read the first line: Water the plants- all of them. For some reason, all of our plants were outside, and we own... quite a few of them. On my shelf, I do have a cool hanging plant, but it's fake, so I don't think that counts. The only thing about these plants is that we don't water them. When I walked out the front door to do so, I was surprised at how bad-looking they were. Sure, I walk past them several times, but I don't pay much attention to them. They were droopy, wilted, and all shriveled up from being exposed to the sun way too much. There was no chance of reviving them, and I knew the rest of the chores would be pointless, like this one. I was about to head back in until I noticed something. There was a big orange rectangle in the sky. You don't see those every day. The box expanded, and a Helicarrier flew out of it. "What the hell?" I yelped. Out of fear, I transformed into the smallest creature I could think of- a snake. I slithered into the nearest bush, carefully watching the gigantic ship fly past my house. When I was small, my father taught me how to change my form at will. I have to say, it's pretty useful at times- like now. There was a dead rat in the bush. Like, what? Gross. I quickly wriggled out of the bush in disgust. I was still curious about that Helicarrier, though. The ship was slow, and I still had time to react. Should I follow it, or should I stay in the house where I should be? After a moment or two, I transformed back into my human form and ran after the Helicarrier.
