Summoned Again?

It took me a minute to get my bearings. I stood in an alleyway and didn't recognize it. I was about to ask myself why the hell I appeared there instead of at home, then I suddenly remembered running down an alley when I was summoned. I sighed, because now I had to walk all the way home, assuming I couldn't grab a bus, then realized I didn't have any money. I was also still wearing the undercloth from my armor.

“I really wish I still had my inventory.” I said, then I was completely shocked when my inventory popped up in front of me. “Son of a bitch! I still have an inventory!” I said loudly, then I scrolled through it to look at my armor. “Ah, dammit.” I said when I saw that the armor, the weapons, special boots, gauntlets, and pretty much anything that granted magical abilities was greyed out.

I auto sorted it to items I could still select and was surprised when a dozen different rings, amulets, necklaces, gloves, boots, bracers, greaves, and clothing was still available to me.

“Ha. Hahaha. Oh, boy.” I said and equipped a basic suit. It still looked odd, considering it was from a medieval society and not like modern day clothing. It was better than the cotton underlay that made me look like I was wearing a wet blanket. I chose the best basic boots I had, glad that the merchant's guild didn't buy basic items, and I felt my intelligence and my strength increase slightly.

I was very tempted to put on some of the other stat increase items, then decided that I didn't want to stand out too much by showing up at home wearing a fortune in gold and jewels. The first thing I did was leave the alleyway and walked back towards one of the city streets. Once there, it took me a few minutes of walking around to figure out where I was in relation to where I wanted to go.

I had pretty much run in a random direction when I was summoned and I eventually made it back to the spot where I had sat to eat a hot dog. When I looked at the old and worn bench, my heart sank.

“Oh, you fucking bastard.” I muttered under my breath.

Now that I was back where I knew where to go, I went to the store that was nearby and stepped inside. I stopped at the rack of newspapers and looked at the date. Today was the date I had been taken, the problem was the year. Today was the anniversary of my summoning.

The ten year anniversary.

“No wonder you wanted us to finish the quest as quickly as possible.” I said with a sigh and a few people gave me odd looks. “All hail the alien overlords!” I said, loudly.

A woman jumped slightly, shook her head at me, and kept browsing. A guy smiled and the other customers ignored me.

“Hey, if you're not going to buy anything, beat it.” The man behind the counter said.

“I was just checking the year to make sure I was as screwed over as possible.” I responded and he gave me a look that said he was a second away from calling the police to haul me away.

“This is a stick-up!” A guy wearing a ski mask came in.

“Do people still say things like that?” I asked.

“Shut up! Put up your hands! Hand over your money!” The robber nearly shouted.

It was then my Divine Sight kicked in. In less than a second, I saw the man shoot me when I didn't have any money, rob the place and shoot the owner, then he made a clean getaway.

I don't think so. I thought when the vision ended. “Hey, I've got something better than money.” I said and with a sincere wish, willed a gold coin to appear in my hand. I felt the weight and smiled. “Look!”

The robber's eyes nearly popped out of his head at the shining gold coin. “GIMMIE!”

“Sure.” I said and did the old distracting toss trick.

I tossed the coin up into the air and both the man's eyes and the barrel of the gun followed it. I stepped forward and grabbed the gun with one hand and punched the guy in the jaw with the other. I blew out three of his teeth, knocked him out, and the gun slipped right out of the guy's hand as he slumped to the floor. I easily caught the coin in my free hand and pocketed it.

“What an idiot.” I said and put the gun on the counter. “You might want to call the police.” I said to the stunned clerk behind the counter.

“Huh? What?” He looked at me and was probably in shock.

“Robber.” I said and pointed to the masked man. “Cops.” I pointed to the phone behind the register.

The clerk didn't say anything and picked up the phone, dialed 911, and told the operator the situation. I was told to stay where I was and the cops would be there in half an hour. I asked for a cord or something and the clerk didn't have anything. I unlaced one of the robber's boots and used the lace to secure him.

An hour later, a sport utility vehicle, or an SUV, screeched its tires in the street. Two officers came out and ran into the store. “All right, everyone calm down. The police are here.” One of them said and I laughed, because no one was in hysterics and needed to calm down. He frowned at me and the two officers investigated the incident.

“So, you think you're some kind of hero?” The officer that frowned at me earlier asked me when he finally got around to questioning me, even though I had been right there in front of him since he got there.

“Think? No.” I said.

“What's with the funny clothes?” He asked and nodded at my suit.

“Renaissance fair cosplay.” I said as a cover. “I was walking around to make sure it doesn't rip.”

“The clerk said you asked about the year.”

I chuckled and motioned at my clothes. “What else was I going to ask?”

That actually earned me the loss of his frown and he went back to a blank face. It was progress, anyway.

“What made you try to stop the robbery?” The cop asked.

“I wasn't trying to stop the robbery.” I admitted and the clerk and the other officer looked over at me in surprise. “He looked like he was going to shoot me. I didn't want to tell him that I didn't have any money in my costume pockets, so I distracted him with a subway token and punched him.”

The cop looked at my costume again and had to nod. I definitely didn't look like I had any money on me. “Would you be willing to testify against him if charges are laid?”

“Well, I haven't seen his face. I can't point to him in court and say, put the ski mask on him. Yep, that's him.”

The woman I had startled earlier let out a laugh. I gave her a smile and mouthed the words, 'I'm sorry' to her and she nodded.

“This isn't a joking matter.” The cop said.

“I know. I'm just telling you that until I see his face, all I can tell you is that he's an idiot for trying to rob the place with six witnesses.”

“There's only five of you.” The cop said.

I pointed at the security camera. “It's at the perfect angle and caught everything, if it's not fake.”

“Dammit, I forgot the camera footage.” The clerk said with a chuckle. “The equipment's in the back room. I can give you a copy of it in a few minutes.”

“That would be an enormous help.” The other officer said and the clerk left the counter.

“I'm going to need your name, address, and phone number.” The one talking to me said. I had been ready for that question for a while. After ten years of doing other things, it was surprisingly easy to remember my home phone number. I gave him my information and he told me that they might call me to give further evidence. I agreed and walked out of the store.

I had been tempted to approach the woman and get her name and number, then a second of Divine Sight told me that was a mistake I would regret for about eighteen years, then my daughter would find me after years of searching. I walked down the street and knew that I was walking the entire way back home. With no money and no way to promise money, I was walking. At least the boots were comfortable.

Several hours later, I finally approached my street. It looked the same as when I left it and I went to my house. There were two cars in the driveway that I didn't recognize and I walked past them to the front door. I took out my house keys from my inventory and unlocked the door. I sighed in relief and stepped inside the house as I shut the door.

“Hello?” I asked into the house and heard a woman's shriek come from the kitchen. I rushed forward and went into the kitchen to see my mother holding a steak knife up and ready to attack.

“Get out of my HOUSE!” She yelled.

“Mom! MOM!” I said and held my hands up in surrender. “It's me, Mom.” I said. “I know I look ten years older...”

“NO! NOOOO! You're dead! WE BURIED YOU!” My mother yelled and my father ran into the kitchen.

“What the hell's going on in here?” He asked and looked at me with wide eyes. “I'm calling the police!”

“DAD!” I said and waved at him with both hands. “It's me! Damon!”

“My son is dead! They recovered his mangled body in the river nine years ago.”

Oh, shit. I thought and dropped my hands. “Mom. Dad. It really is me. I'm not dead.”

“Get out of this house right now!” My dad said.

“What's all the yell... OH MY GOD!” My sister yelled and ran over to me and jumped into the air. “DAMON! You're alive!”

I opened my arms and caught her as I gave her a warm hug. “Jenny.” I whispered. “My sweet little sister.” I put her down and she was almost as tall as me. “I missed you so much.”

“Oh, Damon.” Jenny said, burst into tears, then grabbed onto me and held on tightly. “Why did you die on me? Why? I loved you, you big stupid idiot, and you left me!”

“I didn't have a choice.” I said, and thanks to Divine Sight, decided to give the most believable story that I could. Nearly entire truth, except for the one twist about being in another world. I was kidnapped, taken somewhere I didn't know where I was, worked and fought to live for ten years, then I earned my release and came back.

“It... it sounds like... you were in prison.” Jenny said through her tears.

“Looking back at it all, I kind of was.” I said and hugged her again. “It's so nice to be back.”

“Everything has changed for this family.” My dad said. Even though he believed my story, he couldn't get over the fact that I was still alive. He had buried me and grieved, and now I was back to dredge all of that up again. He wasn't sure if he was going to be able to handle it.

“Don't worry, Dad. I've got a plan.” I said and smiled at him.

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