“Yo, Jay, I can’t believe you just got that thing.” Caleb glances at the object in Jay’s hands as they stroll out of Moe’s Miscellaneous. “You get five bucks for doing your chores and you spend it on this garbage?”

“Cal—”

“What even is it, anyway, dude… a black potato with arms and legs?” Caleb laughs.

“Caleb, I think we all know who the black potato with arms and legs is here.” Jay shoots back, a smirk stitched on his mouth. They continue to walk towards the bench outside of the hollow store.

“Man, shut up!” Jay chuckles as Caleb shoves him playfully, “You’re just jealous of all this chocolate.” Caleb gestures towards his body, making Jay bend over to hold his stomach.

“Ah, geez. Honestly, I don’t know, man. Something kinda drew me to it. I – I can’t really explain it.” They plop down on the bench next to each other.

“Man, you’re whack.” Jay lifts his eyebrows.

“Well – at least I don’t sing Diana Ross in the shower!” Jay bursts into a fit of laughter.

“Damn, dude. I felt that one. Right in here.” Caleb pounds his heart with a fist.

“Ain’t no mountain high enough!” Jay squeals, unable to stop to catch a breath. Caleb then tries to take the metal sphere from Jay and as they both struggle to keep their fingers around it, the object smashes on the sidewalk.

“Oh man, Jay! Sorry, dude. I can pay you—” Caleb looks up from the shattered pieces to find Jay staring at a beaming light coming out of the center of the object. “Jay!” Caleb calls, but he keeps still. He doesn’t blink, doesn’t talk, all he does is stare. “Jay! Jay…what are you doing?!” Caleb begins to shake him, but Jay remains focused on the neon.

After a few more moments of silence, the light disappears and Jay begins picking up the pieces of the gadget. Once they’re put together again, Jay starts home without a word and without looking back at Caleb. As he makes his way to the corner of Oakland Street, Caleb slowly stands up without taking his eyes off of Jay. His bewildered stare stays plastered on his youthful face.

Suddenly, Jay spins around and yells, “Aren’t you coming, Caleb?” Caleb hesitates before moving towards him. “It’s almost dark and your house is pretty far. You wanna just crash at mine?” Caleb steps towards Jay, looking into his eyes intently.

“Uh,” Caleb stutters and looks back at the place where the episode had occurred, “oh-okay.” They both head off to Jay’s house as the sun begins to set.

***

Caleb is awoken by the collision of metal heard from Jay’s garage. Slowly, he begins to pull the covers off of his warm body to get up off the couch. He passes the T.V., playing Spaceballs, as he tiptoes to the garage door. The doorknob squeaks, as the door is pulled open slightly. Caleb watches as Jay constructs a large metal device out of the scraps from his garage.

“Jay,” Caleb whispers, “Jay, what are you doing?” Jay then looks over to him, causing Caleb to jolt back. Jay’s eyes have gone completely black. Jay holds up his hand, closing the door. Caleb tries to get back in, but to no avail. After leaning on the door for a moment, he walks quietly to the front door and opens the garage door from the outside. Once Jay notices Caleb, he picks up his hand again and a bike is swiftly thrown in Caleb’s direction.

“I thought I made it clear for you to stay out!” Jay says, only a deeper, electronic pitch replaces his voice.

Dodging the flying bicycle, Caleb replies, “It’s me! Caleb! Jay, man, what is wrong with you?! And – and how did you even do that?!”

“That’s it!” says Jay’s deeper voice. He starts towards Caleb, whose eyes widen. Caleb then tries to throw the bicycle at Jay, but Jay lifts up his hand again to force the bicycle in another direction. He grabs Caleb by the throat and holds him in the air, Caleb’s limbs dangling desperately.

“Do not interfere again, Caleb Morris. I can end your life in a heartbeat,” Jay stares into Caleb’s eyes as he struggles for air, “I can also end your sister Sandra’s life, your mother Denise’s life and your dog—”

“Now, now, Felix. Let’s not scare the boy. We came to save his planet,” a robotic voice interrupts. Felix lets go of Caleb’s throat. As Caleb crumbles to the ground, he gasps for air, holding his neck gently with his hand while breathing hard.

“I’m doing it for his own good, master,” Felix replies, rolling his eyes with a tight smile.

“Who—” Caleb’s shaky voice stutters, “who are you? And, and who is Felix?! That’s my best friend Jay!” A figure – half robot, half human – appears from the darkness of Jay’s garage. Caleb’s mouth hangs wide open.

“Settle down, now, Caleb. You don’t want to die before battle, do you?” the figure calmly states.

“What – what the heck are you talking about? Who – what –why, why are you here? Who are you? And why is Felix Jay, or – or Jay Felix? I don’t know what’s—”

“Quiet! You are giving me a massive headache,” Felix shouts, rubbing his temples.

“Felix is inhabiting Jay’s body to fight against the species coming to invade Earth. You don’t know about your father’s work, do you Caleb?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about whatsoever or why you look like that, but I do know that both answers are very confusing,” Caleb chokes out.

“Caleb, we didn’t come for Jay. We came for you,” the robot-man replied.

“But—” Caleb stammers.

“Don’t you get it, you chubby hamster? We are at war. There’s no time for questions you should already know!” Felix yells.

“He’s right, Caleb. We need to go, they will be here soon,” the robot-man declares.

“I don’t even know how to turn on the showers in my school, how do you think I’m gonna be able to fight these aliens or whatever creatures they are?”

“You’d be surprised of your capabilities, Caleb. We need to go,” the robot-man insisted. And with the touch of a button and a beam of light, the three of them disappeared into the spaceship Felix had built earlier.