The Infernaplex Chronicles C3

Flame stumbled through the front door of his house, slamming the door behind him. The walk home had taken longer than he had thought it would and so the sun was setting outside. He had separated from Crystal at the town square as they lived on opposite sides of the town and walked back to his house. He walked into the living room and threw himself onto the couch, his right arms hanging of the side. He lay there for a few minutes before reaching for the TV remote. But instead of it, he found an envelope. He picked up and looked at it. There was a note attached which he tore of and read.
“Dear Flame. Some extremely important business came up early on today and I had to leave quickly. I won’t be back for a while so I’m going to miss your birthday tomorrow. I’m sorry, but it couldn’t be helped. Your present’s in the envelope. Love you forever, mum”
Flame ripped open the envelope and a pulled out a couple pieces of paper. At first he was confused, but when he realized what they were he had to contain his shout of excitement. He was holding two tickets for the Dracoball finals happening tomorrow evening. Flame had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. The tickets had sold out almost instantly and were now all but impossible to get.
“But then again” Flame thought “that’s an advantage to your dad being the star player of a world renowned team”
Flames father, Leonidas, was the star player for the Infernadon team, one of the best teams to ever exist. They had never lost a game and their win streak was second to very few other teams. Leonidas was the star layer for a reason. He was fast, strong, agile and, when the need arose as it often did in Dracoball, ferocious. He was also passionate about the sport. He had been in love with the sport since his first game. And it was what also bought Flame into the world. During one of Leonidas’ high school Dracoball games, he had an accident which involved a muddy pitch and one of the goal posts. He knocked himself unconscious and woke up in the hospital wing of the high school with Stella, the nurses’ assistant, looking after him. It was love at first sight. Even after they left, they decided to meet up, get married and, eventually, Flame was born, every bit as passionate about Dracoball as his father.

Then Flame realized something, he had two tickets. He had to decide who the other would go to. He started reading off a list of his friends.
“Let’s see. Riley is on holiday, Ray is off sick and Rose doesn’t even like Dracoball. So that just leaves” he hesitated as he realized what he was about to say “Crystal”
He sat on the couch thinking for a few minutes, before speaking to himself. He did this often, in secret.
“Why am I even considering going through with this. There’ll be no getting rid of her afterwards. Then again, is that really such a bad thing? She’s cute, she’s kind and she’s completely crazy about me already. I suppose it won’t hurt then”
Flame put both the tickets back in the envelope and put them on the table next to the phone, which he picked up. He dialled Crystals’ house number, which she had forced on him shortly after they first met, and waited for the reply. The phone was eventually picked by Crystals' mother, Sandra.
“Hello” She said, in her soft voice
“Hi, it’s flame”
“Oh, hi flame. Everything alright”
“Yeah, everything’s fine. I was wondering if I could talk to Crystal, please”
“Sure, hang a sec”
Sandra put the phone down and a few seconds later it was picked up again by Crystal.
“Flame, I was just thinking about you, thinking of the wonderful wedding we’re gong to have”
Flame starting losing his nerve
“Uh, yeah, about that. I was wondering if…” Flame gulped “you wanted to go on a date with me tomorrow”
There was silence for a few seconds which to Flame felt like an eternity. Then Crystal answered
“You…you really mean it?” she asked, breathlessly
“Yes”
Presumably Crystal then dropped the phone as, although still muffled, her shouts and screams of joy were still audible. Then Sandra picked up the phone.
“I think you can take that as a yes” she said.
“Me to. Is it ok if I come pick her up at 6 o’clock to morrow evening?”
“Sure, it’s fine. Just out of interest, what do you have planned?”
“I got a couple of tickets to the Dracoball finals for my birthday, so I thought I could give Crystal the other one”
“I’m sure she’ll love it. See you tomorrow then. Bye”
Sandra hung up. Flame put the phone down and gave a sigh of relief.
“I guess there’s no turning back now then” He muttered to himself. Then he laughed. “I can’t believe I’ve tackled other dragons twice my size, and yet the scariest thing I’ve ever done is a single phone call”
Then he remembered how tried he was. He walked back to the couch and curled up on one of the cushions. He was asleep in seconds.