Midnight Amnesia

It was awfully cold in the winter. I really needed something better than this khajanwear T-shirt regardless of its better design for my wings. It was my favorite jacket, shoplifted right out of a Target with the help of my son's friends. And when its cold, I can get quite cantankerous.

"Umar, get your sleepy feet over here!" I shouted and knocked on my son's door. The door quickly opened and I looked down at him. "Its midnight. We need some more clothes."

"Can we get candy, too?" Umar looked up at me hopefully.

"Whatever," I grunted and headed for the door. "Get what you want. We're going to Target. You know the drill. Call your friends over."

"Which ones?" Umar bumbled over to my side.

"We need Refus and Skelmor," I respond. "We need to go to Target and some other places. And dont bring your money." At that, Umar got out his iPhone 4s and called his friends over while I walked outside and shivered at the biting wind. If this wind kept up, I'd freeze to death.

"Hurry up, Umar," I called, and Umar came up in an instant. I took off into flight, taking the usual route around to the closest Target, while my son flew in from behind. Nobody was sane enough to get in our way, and I savored the infamy.

The Target was closed, of course. Skelmor was standing at the front of the building, tapping his foot impatiently, when he saw us and waved before we promptly landed.

"Where's Refus?" I ask.

"Sick," Skelmor replied.

"Shame," I comment while grabbing my crowbar. "Cameras still deactivated?"

"Dead as a dynonn," Skelmor answered.

"Good. I need a new crowbar, too. Actually, I need lots of things. Could you open these doors?"

"Can't. Their programming has a firewall."

"Kid, I've seen you get past the most advanced malware software on the face of Aero. You can't bypass a simple automatic-door firewall?"

"You need to do some things for yourself, man."

"Lazy kid. Watch the attitude." I snarl.

"If you need a new crowbar, then just use your old one one last time."

"I can't have you kids running around on shards of glass. It doent end pretty."

"Pfft! Since when did you even care?"

"Fine, you asked for it." I smashed the crowbar against the glass doors and cracked it. Smashed it again, the whole thing shattered. Umar and Skelmor flew in, careful to avoid the shards, and I walked right over the glass - my feet had strong enough of calluses to be able to stand it.

It was dark, but I was used to seeing in the dark. There were lots of human winter clothes on sale but almost never dragonwear, which angered me. I had a few pairs of human clothes, but I had to rip annoyingly large holes in the back to make room for my wings. Then again, no dragons ever really shopped at Target.

One coat, however, caught my attention. I walked over to it and read the tag, which said it was made by S.D.allis. I knew that company. They made dragonwear. But the coat was four sizes too small on me.

"Umar, do you need any dragonwear?" I call. The coat would be way too big on him and it was made for a different kind of dragon, but since Umar was so small he'd be able to fit in it anyways. Umar came over and happily took the coat off its rack, attempting to put it on.

The coat fit so badly I laughed out loud. It was all rumpled and stretched in places, but it'd at least keep him warm. I couldn't afford to lose a crime jockey so I needed to also look after their basic needs.

"Dern clothing market is too small in this place," I grumbled under my breath. "The only dragonwear they ever sell here is donated by hobos addicted to S.D.allis."

"No wonder its so cheap," Umar commented.

"Skelmor! You knw where the crowbars are?" I shouted. Skelmor flew up in the air and I followed. There were two different brands of crowbars up for sale.

"Didn't even know they sold crowbars here," Skelmor sounded slightly surprised.

"Well, now you do," I grumble, then look at one of the offered brands. It was way longer than mine and tipped with platinum.

"Now, there's a beauty," I grab it eagerly. "This thing here several hundred dollars. I'm surprised its that cheap, with the platinum and all."

"You said you needed a phone too, right?" Umar flew over my head.

"Yes. You find one?"

"It's an iPhone iOS 7. Pretty decent." He tosses the phone to me and I grab it. "They said they'll have iOS 8 pretty soon."

"Ugh. How soon?"

"Dunno. Apple just said soon."

"Well, Apple sucks. And so does this store. They barely have anything he-" Something dark flitted in the edge of my vision. I turned around, but there was nothing in sight.

"Well, I got what I needed," I finish my sentence and hurry to the door.

"What about the coat?" Umar calls after me.

"I know a friend who'll lend me some dragonwear," I flew out quickly. Now for the pawn shop.

The sun was just about to rise when we finally got everything we needed. I was totally decked out from the pawn shop, gold and glitter and bling by the ton in my backpack. Still got no dragonwear coat my size or shape, but I could live through it.

When Umar and Skelmor returned home, however, the same shadow crossed my line of sight. I looked over and it still wasn't there.

"Who's there?" I shout. There was no response, but I saw some sort of shadowy creature crawl out of a trash can.

I take out my newly-shoplifted gun. "If you move, I shoot."

"Where'd you get that?" The creature asked.

"Bought it."

"Liar. You stole that."

"So?"

"You'll get caught eventually, you know."

"You don't even know who I am."

"Oh, yes I do." The creature took out a large college notebook and flipped through it. "Dylan Xander Kate, street name "Amnesia", the most wanted criminal in the world for shoplifting thousands of both priced and priceless items along with his son Umar Xavier Kate and his allies in crime-"

"How do you know my real name?" I snarl. Nobody knew my real name, not even my son.

"We've been watching you," The creature growled.

"What else do you know?"

"Well, you're 52 years old, an orphaned vai dragon born in April 9th 1962, whose parents died in a firestorm in California, that grew up in the streets of mankind. Man, you'd be a much better person if you didn't steal so much."

My whole body was trembling. There was no way this thing could've known my name, age, and date of birth. Or what happened to my parents. I took my crowbar out of my pocket and smacked the notebook out of the creature's hands, emotion flooding my mind that I couldn't understand.

"Also, Umar isn't your son." The creature took the hit without even flinching. "You've got amnesia, Amnesia. Ever wonder why you were called Amnesia?"

"I will bury your head in the ground," I threatened.

"You don't remember what they did to you, do you?"

"SHUT UP ALREADY!"

"They cloned your DNA and made a genetically amplified version of you. You are outclassed, Dylan."

"I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!"

"It's the truth." I was growing furious. This creature was lying. I knew it.

"They used you to do this. It's all apart of their plan. Amnesia Beta would be able to kill you before you knew what was coming. You're just trying to prove you're better by stealing the riches of the world and you didn't even know why!"

I pulled the trigger on my gun, but at the gunshot, the creature was gone.