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Danny sat there staring into his bowl, watching the little bits of cereal swirl around with the twirl of his spoon, his mind else where. He was still thinking about his fight with Skulker last night, or rather earlier this morning, he thought grumpily. He almost succeeded in getting a full night’s sleep for once!
Lucky for him, it was just a few rogue ectopi. He had just capped his thermos when a random missile of Skulker’s caught him unguarded, slamming him particularly hard into the concrete below. This wasn’t anything unusual; after all, he was used to getting thrown around. But, as it was just a few hours ago, the pain still lingered a bit. His back twinged slightly at the memory of the impact.
He was still lost in thought when his father, with his never-ending supply of energy, suddenly appeared with a cheery “Good morning Mads! Good morning Dann-o!” Accompanied by a good-natured slap on his shoulder.
His mother, who was sitting across from him, noticed the flicker of pain on his face.
“You okay hon?” Concern written into the furrow of her eyebrows.
“…huh? Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Why do you ask?”
“Well, it’s just that I noticed you winced a bit just now, and when you reach for a bowl earlier. Are you hurt? Did something happen?”
She noticed? What do I say?
“Oh, it’s nothing. I think I might have just… slept funny last night. My back is just a bit sore is all,” he replied, hoping it would placate her.
“Well if you’re sure that’s all it is. Let me know if you need anything for that if you’re still feeling poorly. Actually, my back is a bit sore myself. Hmm…”
He watched her, a bit of dread curling in his gut as he wondered what she was thinking.
“You know what? I think we all could all use a trip to the chiropractor, it’s been ages since any of us have gone.”
Well, that’s not what he expected her to say. “What?”
But she already turned in her chair to face Jack, “Hey honey? How does that sound? A trip to the chiropractors? I think we could all use it.”
“That sounds great to me Mads!”
Unfortunately, there was only one spot available today, and the next time slot that was big enough to accompany their whole family was a few days away.
“Danny? How about you go today and we’ll take the spots that are next week. You seem to need this appointment the most right now.”
He reluctantly agreed. Despite his initial concern, maybe this will actually be a nice thing. Contrary to what his Mom said, he doesn’t remember ever going before, but most people claimed that it helped them with different aches, and he always has plenty of those. He and Jazz talked it over, and she agreed it might be worth trying. The worst that could happen is that it wouldn’t work at all, right?
And that is how he found himself in a rather plain room with various skeletal diagrams, curtains closed, sitting on one of those stiff beds not unlike those at a doctor’s office for checkups. Between the slightly darkened room and the light music playing, they were probably going for a relaxing ambience. Jazz, being the one who brought him here, was sitting on a chair across from him in the same room. He would have just asked her to drop him off, but they both thought it would seem strange for somebody who just got adjusted to make a long walk home.
A short while later, an assistant entered with her clipboard nestled in her arm, asking what was bothering him, the kind of pain involved, and other questions to pinpoint how to help him. This was soon followed by the chiropractor herself, blonde hair pulled back into a neat ponytail, rimmed black glasses adorning her face.
“Well hello young man, what brings you in here today?” She asked while studying the clipboard he assumed she acquired from the assistant. “A stiff back, neck, tingling in the ankle region… Well looks like there is a lot of work to be done! We might need more than one appointment but I’m sure after today you will be feeling significantly better regardless!”
And then she got to work. Admittedly, he was a bit anxious, his muscles in tense bunches, because in every other circumstance, when somebody grabbed his head like that, it usually was not for his benefit. But once he finally got himself to relax… oh boy, he had never heard so many “pops” and “cracks” in his life. Sure, he sometimes cracked his knuckles, or twisted his torso a little in his desk at school to get that one crick in his back, but this was on another level.
And soon it was over. “Well young man, that’s all I’m going to do for today. Don’t want to go too overboard because this is your first adjustment, but, today’s appointment should help. You can take a few minutes before talking with the front desk about perhaps scheduling another appointment, and then you’re free to go.” And with a swish of her doctor’s coat she was out of the room, presumably to talk with the front desk, or go to her next patient.
He let himself drape his body loosely across the not-quite-a-bed, resting his eyes, when his sister disturbed the silence.
“So, how was it?”
He mulled over the question for a moment, “Well, I definitely think I feel a bit better. Kind of funny how I didn’t realize I was stiff in some areas until she adjusted them. I feel like…” But his answer was broken by a gasp from his sister.
He immediately sat up, “Jazz? What’s wrong?” He questioned as he was watching her, but she was just staring at him, her eyes widened and mouth slightly hanging open in a look of shock.
“Danny, you need to look at yourself right now. I think…” She trailed off before she could finish her answer. But she didn’t need to, as the answer was literally in front of his face, and all over his body, as he stared at his own hand.
If he was charging up an ectoblast, the glow around his hand wouldn’t have been as odd. But even then, the glow wasn’t quite the same, and it covered his *entire* body. It was a bright neon, and it was steadily getting stronger as the seconds ticked by.
“What the? I’m a glow stick…” he trailed off, dumbfounded. This was shortly accompanied by a rising sense of panic.
“I’m a freaking glow stick! Jazz, what do I do? I can’t be seen like this!” He whisper-yelled. In the back of his mind, he thought about how cool this would if it weren’t for the fact that he was supposed to walk out of the room in a few minutes. The panic, however, was what was dominating most of his mind right now.
Jazz snapped her mouth shut, and her shock was quickly replaced by a calculating look. “Okay, first of all, we need to think calmly about this. Obviously, you can’t walk out seeing as you are, well, glowing is putting it lightly.“ Indeed it was, not even his clothes could properly contain the glow now. Thank the Ancients there weren’t security cameras in the patient rooms.
“What even caused this? I’ve never had anything like this happen before. Do you think—“
He was cutoff by his sister, “I think your comparison to a glow stick is more apt than you realize, but theories can come later. We need to focus on getting you out of here.”
She then walked over to the door, barely cracking it open before peering through, “There aren’t any other patients that I can see or hear, and it looks like the front desk is currently empty right now.”
She looked at the clock, “And it’s likely they are on lunch, but it will probably end soon, judging by the time. Can you still turn invisible?”
To his relief, he found he could. With no trace of the glow, the room once again darkened before lighting up again with his return to visibility.
“Looks like luck must be on our side. I admit, it’ll probably seem odd, but maybe you should just try flying invisible over to Tucker’s or Sam’s until this wears off. I’ll stay behind to check out at the front desk. They probably won’t, but in case they ask, I’ll just tell them you went to the bathroom or something. I can then just tell Mom and Dad you went over to your friend’s. Don’t worry little brother, it’ll be fine,” she assured him with the smile.
Relief clear on his face, he replied with a hasty, “Thanks for covering for me Jazz!” Before transforming (that did *nothing* to help the glow) and phasing through the roof, invisible, and zooming over to Tucker’s. He sent a quick text to his best friends about heading over.
When he got there, he found Tucker waiting for him in his room. Once through the wall, in the safety of his best friend’s room, he let his invisibility drop.
He turned to see his friend’s mouth opened comically wide, his glasses reflecting the radioactive green. It was then shortly replaced by (a still surprised) but equally questioning look, “Uhm, dude, a little context maybe?”