บท 9: Replication

Later that night, in the Nest.

Zane sat at his desk, pondering what just happened.

Three times can't be a coincidence, and adding in the fact that I felt some sort of rush throughout myself when I touched the plates means it can be replicated. Looking at the notes I took shortly after the plate-splosion, I shake my head.

'Feels like it came from the heart, and matched my heartbeats...'

I can't get over how strange that feeling was. Looking over at the pen on my desk, I had a strange thought. What if I try whatever I did on this pen? Its a smaller target and should be easier to break.

Staring at my pen with immense vigour, I start wishing for my pen to break.

'BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK...'

[30 Seconds Later]

"Ugh... This is getting me nowhere." I exclaimed.

30 Seconds was my limit before I started feeling stupid, I sighed before looking back at my notes again. It seems intent wasn't the cause of breaking the plates, and looking back on it, it was completely unintentional, to begin with. Remembering the rush starting from my heart, I try to feel it again with no results. It's just an ordinary heart, beating at an ordinary pace. Sighing, I placed my head in my hands, looking down at Dororthy. I even noted at the time that forcing the feeling again had no effect on bringing back the rush.

Sometimes you get tunnel vision when you are so wrapped up in a certain mindset, that you ignore the obvious signs that any experiment that you do will fail. After sighing one last time, I pick up my pen to write in Dororthy about the failed experiment.

Upon immediate content with my pen, it exploded, with ink flying everywhere. With a stupid grin on my face, I go to grab my pen to write down the sudden explosion of my pen... to realize it was my pen that exploded. Looking down at my ink-stained clothes, I grimace at having to explain how this even happened. Grabbing another pen from my desk, I began to write in Dororthy, which had also been covered in ink about.

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[15th Aug, 1988, Later in the night]

Dear Dororthy,

Today, I had the unfortunate experience of knowing what ink tastes like. On a more happy note, staring at my pen for 30 seconds wanting it to break, yielded no results. As I was going to write about my experiment's failure, I made contact with the pen and it exploded everywhere. I have no idea how I'm going to explain this to my parents - but I have learnt a valuable lesson in wearing disposable clothing whilst experimenting.

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After writing around the split ink and finishing my journal entry, I tried to clean up the mess my pen made, however, I failed to notice that it had stained the desk. After staring at the ink stain for a bit, I started to smile. Now, this desk is truly mine, for I have ruined it for everyone else. Looking back down at my clothes my smile dropped.

After a long sigh, I walk out of the Nest, up to my mother and father, covered in ink. With my face red with shame, I spoke up.

"Mum... Dad... I was playing with my pen and it broke, spilling ink on my clothes." Although I was embarrassed that this happened, what I got out of the experiment made it worth it.

"Zane... I'm not even going to ask why you were playing with your pen. Just be more careful in the future. Go have a shower and give me your clothes after you're done."

"Thanks, Mum."

Since this was technically true, if you don't mention the strange sudden breakage of the pen, I felt no guilt slightly lying to them. I know I'm strange enough as it is, I don't want to alienate myself from my own parents.

Running to my room and getting my pyjamas ready, I scrub my face and hands in an attempt to get rid of the ink stains. After 10m of scrubbing, I decided to just get out of the shower and deal with it tomorrow. Handing in my clothes to my Mum, I said goodnight to both of them and went to bed, having a dreamless night.

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"Do you think it's starting?" Cliff asked.

"I don't see any other explanation," Martha stated.

"But twice in one night?" Cliff was clearly confused.

"Who knows what he is up to, you should know that he isn't exactly the most normal kid. It wouldn't surprise me if he found a way to force it. But, if I notice it getting out of control, then i'll talk to him about it."

"Do you think he will try to keep it a secret?"

"Did you?" Martha asked.

"No. I was quite proud when I had my first magical outburst, told my parents, friends, teachers and anyone that would listen. Caused a major headache for the ministry." Cliff started chuckling.

"Was it a good idea to keep him away from magic? From the world, we live in?" Martha wondered.

"It's not your fault Marthy, when he was still in your stomach, he was just a squib. So we prepared our lives to live like normal people. Im about as shocked as you are right now."

They both sat in silence for a while, thinking how different their lives would be if they tested their child again after birth.

"Well, no use thinking about it, maybe it's time we start to reconnect with our friends?" Cliff broke the silence. Martha just smiled, closing her eyes to get some rest. Cliff decided to carry Martha to their room, before going to sleep.

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A/N: Ahhh parental love. The lengths one is willing to go to, for a child. You'd be surprised, or maybe not. You basically got the gist of what's happening here. And if you didn't, well, stay tuned.

Also, I've been tempted to make another chapter just for Dororthy so you'll be able to read it at any time you really want. Ill implement it when dororthy gets more... extensive.

I have to ask, am I going too fast? I feel like Usain Bolt right now.