"But ... you do not feel anything, do you?" Soren asked as Issac stood up and walked to the kitchen. "Where are you going?"
"I need something more." He said, coming back with a box of chocolate cereal. "And yes. I do not care much about whatever useless emotion they may have after sleeping with me."
"O-k. Doesn't make sense if you think about why you would torture yourself like that just to find someone."
"They end up mad in the end though," Issac said, holding the box for Soren who did not even finish his one slice of cake.
"No." He said, putting the cake down. "Because you make them all one night stands. Who is this person you are looking so desperately for anyway?"
"Oh, I found him."
"Him???"
"Yeah. He is about ten years old." Issac said, holding his hand out to about the boy's height. "Golden hair and a voice like a yelling monkey."
"Waitwaitwaitwait. TEN YEARS OLD!!!???" Soren stood to his feet, looking at Issac while he placed his hand on his phone cautiously.
"I think he is going to be eleven this year though." Issac finally put the box down. "I am full."
"I thought you could never feel full?" Soren chuckled, pretending to type something in his phone as he opened his call app. "By the way, you met the boy yet?"
"I did. Once. It was an interesting meeting."
"Oh? How?" He exited out of the call app and opened the recording one instead.
"Well, he was hiding in a trash bin and I tied a rope around the bin and the top so that he could not fall out and took him to an abandoned building."
"O-oh." Soren reached for the teacup, hands trembling as he continued to record the conversation. He forced a laugh out of himself, "Funny meeting."
"Yeah. That was where this wound reopened." Issac pointed to the wound at his side.
"The kid did that?!" Soren asked conflicted between being happy for the boy and concerned about what he did to cause an old wound like that to open up.
"Oh no. Not the kid." Issac poured more tea for the two and began drinking the liquid, contentment on his face.
"Oh. Ok."
"It happened when I fell from a ten-story building and got worse when the creatures on the ground began to try and consume me."
"Wha- Cough- cough." Soren began choking on his tea as Issac watched him blankly.
"Are you ok?"
"You are just pulling my leg, aren't you?" he asked, finally calming down. "You are lying to me, right??"
"Which part do you think I am lying to you?"
"Falling off the building and the creatures. That wound is kind of recent so you couldn't have gone a trip or something and what creatures are you talking about?" Soren laughed nervously, making sure his phone is still recording.
"But that is true," Issac said, tilting his head to the side. "Wait, you believe that my soul is in a glass ball but not that I fell from a building? How does that make sense?"
"Well, the creatures might be more unbelievable." Soren shrugged. "So … where is the boy now?"
"I don't know. He disappeared." Issac shrugged. "I am looking for him now."
"Y-you are looking for him? Why?"
"I told you that I have been looking for someone all my life and I think he is the one. Besides, there are things I need to do with him." Issac tapped his chin, a sadistic smile coming on his face.
"You are creepy as hell." Soren stood to his feet, stopping the recording. "You are a dear friend of mine, Issac. But I am going to have to do this, for your own good."
"What are you talking about?" Soren picked up the phone and dialled the police number. "Why are you calling the police?"
"For your own good!" Soren shouted as the person on the end of the line picked up. "Hello? Yes. I want to report a pedo-"
Issac stood up and grabbed Soren by his chin, forcing him to look into his eyes as the orb began to glow slightly.
Soren stared at the twinkle, trying to pull away from Issac but his body suddenly froze and then relaxed almost immediately.
All the tension and worry from before seemed to leave his body as he smiled at Issac who pried the phone from his hands.
"Hello? Sir?" The woman at the other end of the phone asked, not a care in her voice.
"Hello?" Issac picked up, putting on the friendliest voice he could as his eye began to glow again. "I am sorry about that, miss. My friend said that he wanted your number and panicked."
"How does he know who I am?" The woman on the other end asked, sceptical.
"Your name is Jessica, yes?" He asked, smiling.
"H-how did you know?" She asked, panicking. "W-who is this?"
"Never mind that. Please ignore this call. Thank you." He kept the phone and looked at Soren sitting on the couch with a faraway look on his face.
Did I overdo it? Issac thought, looking at his face and then flicking him on the head. "Wake up."
"What the hell?" Soren suddenly stood up once again, looking all around him in a panic. "I … wasn't I greeting my wife at home with our ten kids? What happened?? Where-?"
Issac stared at him, trying hard not to judge the man but he could hardly hide the judgmental look on his face. "Sorry about that. My bad."
"What do you mean?" Soren grabbed Issac's shirt collar and pulled him up. "What just happened? What did you do?"
"Remember how I told you that I absorb negative emotions?" Issac asked, pushing his hand away from him.
"Yeah? What about it?"
"Well, I can amplify the effect and absorb all the negative emotions the person is feeling. Though this is very short and I cannot control it either." Issac explained, wiping his shirt. "That is what happened."
"I don't understand."
"You saw your perfect life." Issac poked Soren's chest. "The life you would have had if everything went the way it should have. Understand?"
"So … it wasn't the future or anything?" he asked, looking at the ground.
"No." Issac sighed. "Unfortunately. I apologise for using it on you, I thought I had no other option."
"But … my family."
"Will not happen." Issac shook his head, patting his friend's shoulder. "There is a reason why only good memories came when all the negatives are removed, even for a split second. There is no chance of them ever happening."
"O-oh." Soren scratched his back nervously. "I guess that makes sense. In some ways. No. Wait, I should be mad at you."
"It seems you misunderstood something," Issac said, pulling out a cigarette from the box that he took from Soren's pocket. "Want one?"
"No," he said, touching his pockets. "When did that get there?"
"I always keep a packet in my cloth pocket." Issac shrugged, putting the smoke in his mouth and lighting it with a lighter from the table.
He sucked in a breath as he sat on the couch, blowing out a cloud of smoke as he relaxed. He pointed to his pants and said, "I did not put any here because I just washed them."
"I-I see," Soren said, sitting down on the couch opposite to him. "Now, please explain properly to me what I misunderstood."
Another puff of smoke and Issac told Soren everything from the first day he was affected by the waves to what happened only recently.
Soren looked like he did not believe him one bit but he listened to him to the end.
____________
"So … you mean to tell me that, randomly, waves will come and you will suddenly be transported to another world?" Soren asked, trying not to laugh.
"Not another world. We are not entirely sure what happens. But we believe it may be the same world, just a different dimension." Issac said plainly, fidgeting with his pant strings.
"Then … why was I not transported? I had some bad days."
"It is not just a 'bad day'," Issac said in finger quotations as the cigarette hung out his mouth like a lollipop with a smoking stick. "You would have to be going through a LOT."
"When did you teleport then?"
Issac looked at Soren nervously, turning away from him as an uncomfortable expression came on his face. He opened his mouth to try and tell but the words refused to come out.
Soren noticed and sighed, ruffling his hair, "So you think that that boy will be able to help you in some ways? What do you know about him? Maybe I can help you."
Issac paused for a second, contemplating his options before finally deciding to talk.
"He was the one the creatures wanted to devour the most. They even went on a rampage when they saw the boy be taken away. And … I would appreciate your help." Issac explained, shooting Soren a grateful look. "No one is better than you at this, Soren."
"Don't look at me like that." Soren crossed his arms over his chest, looking away. "You are my friend, so I am going to help. But not because I believe your delusions or anything."
"Thank you," Issac said, standing to his feet and snuffing out the cigarette. "Now, do you want ice cream as we look over what I got?"
"You are not done???"
"Never."