Fear Himself

There's no such thing as a normal family anymore. There has to be at least one thing in your family that doesn't make it normal. Maybe your mother was married to another man before she met her Mister Right, have a step-sibling, have more than three siblings living in the same household, or live with a different family member beside your actual parents. Though if you do have the normal family that has the mother, father, son and daughter then you’re a lucky person because your family is almost normal.

Almost is the key word because it now depends on the character of each family member. If the father works for a big company and wears a suit and tie, the mother is a stay-at-home mom, then the children go to a public school that has them wear uniforms. Then yes, your family is kinda normal. Though I'm sure not one family is like that because as I just said; There's no such thing as a normal family anymore.

My name was Toby Westson. My father left my mother and me when I was just a toddler; leaving my mother to care for me herself. It wasn't easy for her and I could tell at an early age that she was working hard for me to have a normal childhood but there's no such thing. My normal childhood was ruin when my father left but that doesn't mean I tried having one.

Once I turned three my mom started bringing me to work with her. She worked in a bakery in town and I would bring a book bag full of my favorite trucks, and play with the bakery owner's daughter in his office. Her name was Gabriel and she would bring dolls and be dressing them or combing their hair. I wasn't into that and more interested in my trucks, sometimes she would play with me and take some trucks from the huge pile that would be dumped out on the floor.

We were the closes of friends up until that night when my mother got into a car crash nine years ago, she died within minutes. I was fifteen and at home when it happened, cops came to my home and told me everything and I wouldn't believe them. I was freaking out because the only person I ever loved was gone. That night when I was in the hospital waiting for anything about what happened besides that my mother died in a car crash. But everyone seemed to keep quiet about it and wouldn't tell me anything.

I ran when cops told me that I would be going to a foster home. I ran because I didn't want to be in one. It was the middle of the winter and I ran down a street that was on a bad side of town. That was the same street where I met a man, who today, I call my boss. I didn't bump into him or anything boring like that actually I met him in more of a horror movie kind of way…if you could call it that.

I bumped into a man two time my size...well height wise he was a foot taller but weight wise—well he was actually three times my size in that category. He looked like a giant ball of dough that would explode in five seconds. He must of been drunk that night because next thing I knew he was facing me and throwing a punch at my face which I easily dodged. That must have made dough man angry because he threw another one and missed. I didn't even move. Yeah, the guy was drunk but that didn't stop him. He started yelling and shouting.

More of his group came running and I couldn’t handle all of them. I turned to run but one of the guys in the group grabbed me by my collar and pulled me back. They all then started beating fifteen year old me up for just bumping into a drunk dough man. I was screaming and shouting for them to stop but that didn't stop them. A few minutes in they broke a few of my ribs, nose, arm, and also I was bruised all over. But when they stop suddenly I was relieved. Suddenly they ran for their lives which confused the hell out of me. I figured out why though.

I heard more footsteps coming closer to me, I wanted to get up and run but my body wouldn't let me. A man in his early thirties was looking down at me along with two others. I just stared back up at them blankly, then the man bent down and turned my head to the side making me bite my lip from yelling. He looked up at the guy to his right, who I later learned that his name was Blake, and told him to help. The other guy I learned was named Vince, he wasn't helping but he was studying the surroundings like he was expecting someone to appear and attack. They help me up but I couldn't bare the pain and soon past out not able to handle it.

The next time my eyes opened I found myself laying on a table in a kitchen—Wait, no, I woke up and found myself strapped down to a table in a kitchen. Yes, I did start freaking out but not even for a few second before the three men, who saved me, came into my eyesight. The one guy was telling me to calm down and that I was safe. In my state I told them that I didn't want to go, and they understood. I spent the next eight weeks healing, learned who the men were.

There was only three of them in the gang and they seemed like close friends, the leader of the small group is who I today call my boss. Now he isn't the normal, I-own-a-huge-business-that-everyone-knows-about type of boss. He's more like the I-own-a-secret-race-track-for-street-racing-that-if-found-out-by-people-will-go-to-jail-for-twenty-years type of boss. I never knew his real name but everyone called him by his street name: Fear. And well, his name explains him. That's why dough man and his gang ran when he appeared. He's well known around here for being able to beat anyone at anything. His specialty is racing, no one can beat him. Every year he has a race where street racers will go against him to get a huge cash prize but no one has ever defeated him.

Next is Blake, he has the whole bad boy look but really he's a great guy to hang around. He loves to make fun of Fear, jokes about whatever he can, but when he's not doing that he's either working on his car or hiding somewhere reading some science fiction book while eating a bag of chips. One time I found him on the roof doing just that. Yeah, never judge a book by its cover especially when it comes to Blake. When he's out he has the whole bad boy attitude going on and has this serious face on him, just like Fear, but Blake will joke around also after he's had a beer or two.

Finally there's Vince, just one word describes him: smart. The whole don't judge a book by its cover thing applies to him also because he might look like a guy who would yell at Blake to stop messing around or whatever Blake does but Vince is actually more evil-minded then Blake and well more quiet. For example, Vince is smart and if you get him angry (Which this has happened to a few people…Alright a lot, including me) he won't have second thoughts as he makes a homemade mini-bomb that he will nail to the bottom of your car and the next time you turn it on your car it will be engulfed in flames. Yup, never trust Vince and his mind. He could probably hack the government but I doubt he would want to go to jail for that…again.

During those eight weeks I have told them everything leading up to that night when I bumped into dough man. Fear asked me if I had any other family members but I shook my head. I don't know any other family members. It was just my mother and me. Once I was finished my boss went to go think for a minute then came back and asked me if I wanted to be a part of their group. I agreed on that and Blake started laughing out loud which after knowing him for three months didn't confuse me. Fear got ticked off at him and asked what the hell was wrong with me joining the group.

Once Blake was done laughing he looked up at Fear and grinned brightly before saying, "So Toby is going to be your son now since you never had kids?" He was grinning which made Fear kick him in the side with anger then nodded before replying, "I'd be a much better father then you, because let me think...you’re an idiot, plain and simple." He then looked at me scratching his chin before speaking again, "You will have to change though, so I'm going to get some things cut and dye your hair and maybe some contacts." He then turned around and was about to walk away when he stopped, "Oh and your name is now Michael Williams." After that he left.

Once I was healed from my injuries my image was changed. My blonde hair was shaved off and then the remaining of my hair was dyed a dark brown. I got contacts to hid my green eyes and make them an icy blue. Then for Blake's own amusement he pierced my right ear leaving in a diamond stud, that hurt like hell, but after that I went on a chase to beat the ass up. Fear was just sitting at the kitchen table with a bowl of popcorn as I tried to punch Blake in the face but he was better than me. I gave up after a while. He headed towards the fridge behind me, I put out my leg and he then trips falling on his face. Yep, that was totally worth it.

After my change I finally got to see where this big race track, that Fear owns, sits. It was somewhere in the outskirts of the city we lived in and it was hidden so no one noticed it. It was amazing, I have to say, and I would go there when there's a race event, soon enough I got a tan.

One night when I was down taking a shower and I looked in the mirror and noticed how I’ve changed so much in only six months. I wasn't Toby Westson. I was Michael Williams. I was a completely different person and well that didn't stop Blake from making jokes about my changed appearance.

Hell, you can never call it a day in till Blake makes fun of someone. Tonight's target by Blake was no one other than Fear....of course. I was sitting in the kitchen my legs propped up on the table as I wrote on my laptop. My boss was sitting at the other end of the kitchen table staring at the same paper for a last five minutes his facial expression was still the same; eyebrows knitted together in anger. I glanced over at him,

"You okay boss?" I asked him, he didn't look up at me just stared at the paper.

"Fine." He responded.

"Want to talk about it?"

"No."

"You sure?" I asked and he finally glanced up at me then sighed rubbing his temples.

"Rumors going around that the cash prizes is going to be a quarter of a million dollars." He grumbled then stared at the papers laying on the table like he wants them all to catch fire so they can go away. He was talking about the big race in two weeks, where he would race other street racers who try beating him for the cash prize, but it has never happened. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Wow, that's a lot." I replied and he chuckled shaking his head.

"They think I'm made of money!"

"Well, if you haven’t noticed, you did buy a warehouse and tricked it out so that one part is a garage, another is a large room where you keep you cars, and another part you made into a living space completed with a kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, a living room, and a gym," Blake spoke while walking into the kitchen. He headed straight to the fridge like usual. Fear raised his eyebrow at him annoyed. I chuckled. Blake turned around and took a bit of a cold slice of pizza, "And last week you bought that Ford GT that was how much? Oh, right, a hundred and fifty thousand."

" It's my money and I can buy whatever the hell I want." Fear told him and Blake laughed while sitting down at the table. Fear isn't kidding, he's loaded. Twenty-one years ago on his twenty birthday his parents bought him a lottery ticket and it was a winning ticket. The problem was that people tried being his friend and girls tried getting him. He couldn't take it anymore and ran away leaving behind a huge check for his parents. That's why no one knows his name and only calls him by his street name he became known by: Fear.

"Someone sounds full of himself." Blake sang, I grinned amused, and Fear glared at him.

"Shut up or I'm going to tie you up and throw you into a dumpster full of garbage where you belong." My boss growled at him and Blake smirked.

"Like you’re going to waste your time doing that." Blake said grinning, "You mind as well have Vince do it."

"I mind as well have Vince make a tiny bomb, shove it down your throat, and have it explode that next time you open that smart mouth of yours." He grumbled at Blake and he just laughed.

"Then someone will have to clean up the mess."

"Shut your dame trap Blake and leave," Fear scowled at him and Blake just shrugged sitting back in his chair. Fear exhaled a breath then started looking at the papers on the table again. Vince walks in messing with some device he's been working on the last few days. He looked up at us then at Blake.

"Hey Blake—"

"Hell no! I'm not going to be your test bunny again!" Blake shouted and Fear groaned shaking his head. "The last time I tested something for you I woke up to a huge snake in my bed!" He yelled and I laughed remembering that. Vince was trying out some device that looked like a pen and when you click the top a horrible smell would explode out of it; stinking up the car you leave or throw it in. Well the smell that Vince made was bad but it seemed to of attracted a snake to Blake that night.

"Well maybe you shouldn't have left you bedroom door open that night." Vince said with a shrug then looked over at me.

"No." I told him and he narrowed his eyes. "What's that thing supposed to do anyways?" I asked and he grinned evilly.

"It's explodes shooting out tiny darts that can go through the toughest of things. For example...a bullet proof vest." He told me and Blake's eyes widened.

"You were going to kill me with tiny darts!" Blake shouted and Fear laughed loudly at that.

"Yes." Vince mumbled. "But you said no, so…" He walked out of the kitchen.

That just proves how evil minded Vince is…

"I'm going to kill him one day." Blake mumbled and Fear glanced at him.

"I'd do it soon before he gets you first,” He told Blake and he just nodded.

"Noted," He said then stood up. "I'm going to get ready." We just nodded as he left heading to his room. My boss looked over at me for a second.

"You going to get ready?" He asked and I looked down at myself, I was just wearing grey sweats. I shrugged then closed my laptop and got up. I walked out of the kitchen and headed down the hall to my room. I opened the door and looked around figuring out what to wear. Scratching my back I headed over to my closet and got dressed in a pair of jeans, a black dress shirt, and tan work boots. I went over to my bed and sat down before tying on my boots.

I headed back to the kitchen only to find the lights off and my boss gone. I headed down to the garage where I found him at the large door that he was unlocking with the key he kept on a chain around his neck. Behind that door was a huge room that held the cars he owned. I headed over to the black Ford truck that was sitting in the back of the garage.

I stared for a moment before opened the door getting into it. I remember first seeing this thing when I turned eighteen. I was talking to Blake as he messed with his car and Fear brought in this piece of crap of a truck. Blake was on the ground laughing when Fear told me that I'd be fixing the thing up myself and painting it. I was grinning when I heard that because that truck was my first car.

It took about two months to fix it up inside and out and paint it. A lot of the parts needed to be replaced but Fear got me what I needed. He just wanted me to know how to fix cars by myself without anyone's help and I finished since I already knew quite a bit about the engine of trucks. After that I painted it a midnight black, I just like that color, and if my truck were to get scratched up no one would notice.

I glanced over when I heard one of Fear's sports cars start up and fly out of the room. Fear stopped and jumped out of his dark green sports car, that I didn't know the name of, and went over to the door to lock it up again. I saw Vince and Blake get into their cars and start them up. I smirked when they turned them on and then look at each other. They just love racing to the race track. Three seconds later they sped out of the warehouse and out of sight. Fear walked back over to his car and then looked at me.

"Let's go Michael," He called out to me and I nodded then close my truck door and started it up. Fear flew out of the warehouse and I noticed the huge door beginning to close, I narrowed my eyes at Fear's car as he went out of slight. He did that on purpose. Shifting my truck in drive I slammed my foot down on the pedal and left marks as I sped out of the warehouse. I quickly turned the wheel doing a sharp turn then headed down the road and onto the street before spotting Fear's sports car. I hit the gas pedal and sped up to him.

"Oh boss, I'm so going to beat you to the race track this time," I spoke to myself chuckling but it didn't last long when I noticed his car speed up. I exhaled a breath irritated. "Never mind," I grumbled then heard my phone go off. I grabbed it from the cup holder and looked at the screen; reading the message from my boss.

Yeah right kiddo.

It was getting late and like every week people were cheering on Fear into another race. This has become a normal thing and bets were becoming higher and higher each week. Honestly I don't mind these races anymore but they have become a bore to me anymore. So I would usually be chilling around where no one was around with a bottle of beer in my hand.

Now I was just sitting on the roof of my truck in the parking lot. It was quiet and no one was around. Quiet peaceful of you ask me. I took another swing of my beer and exhaled a heavy breath. I listened as the screeching of tires that flew down the track. People in the crowds cheered louder. I just laughed quietly shaking my head.

Everything was normal but there was actually something off about that night. I saw a man in suit walking around and he didn't look like the guys around here that was for sure. I knew he wasn't up to any good and should have encountered him but me being my lazy-self that night; I thought someone else would question him. I knew no one did because one minute I hear cars racing down the track and next thing that fills the air is the sound of people screaming and running to their cars.

I sat up like someone burnt my back with a torch. Forgetting everything I jumped off the hood of my truck and ran to the track. I was searching for Fear, Blake, and Vince. I saw lights out the corner of my eye. Flashing lights of cop cars were coming.

Never has this place been visited by cops. It was out of the way and away from any home. There was no way that anyone would call the cops on this. I also knew that I should have encountered that man in the black suit, or at least, told my boss. I should have done a lot of things that night but didn't do anything.

"Fear!" I shouted out throughout the crowd. "Blake! Vince!" I yelled. My voice was drowned out throughout the hundreds of people trying to leave. I growled in frustration and kept pushing my way throughout this damn crowd. "Fear!" I shouted against noticing him. He was looking around but he didn't have any sign of panic in his body language or facial expressions. It was almost like he was in an art gallery looking at a piece of work, judging the work without showing expression. "Fear!" I shouted and he turned around.

"Michael, what are you doing?" He questioned me like we were meeting up somewhere on the freakin' street. That day, I knew why he was really called Fear. The worst kind of fear is the unexpected. I knew something was happening. Something that Fear didn't want to show and everyone knows hidden fear. You never know when it's going to hit you. You never know the unexpected.

"Boss, the cops are coming!" I told him in the most serious tone I could speak. He just raised his eyebrow at me and nodded his head slowly.

"And why are you not trying to get out of here?" Fear asked. I didn't know what to say to him. He was right. Why wasn't I saving my back and getting out of here. He gave me that look like he knew what I was thinking and waiting for me to get out of here. I didn't want to be caught by the cops, like every other guy, but I've known this man for almost half my life. He's taken me in after everything that has happen. He was the father that I never had. That's what I thought back then when I stood there staring at him.

Now, I knew he was just like my last father; just turned and walked away.

That was the last time I actually saw Fear.

I ran back to my truck, most of the lot was empty, and cop cars were everywhere. It was already too late to save my back. Guns were pointed at me and I was told to put my hands up. Handcuffed and thrown into the back of the cop car I heard them say something about bringing me down to the police station for questioning, which is what I expected. My problem then was how the hell was I going to get out of this. Well, I couldn't.

Now I sat, handcuffed to a chair as I watched officers bring in more people that I didn't know. I didn't see why they handcuffed me to this chair. It probably was only two pounds and wasn't bolted to the floor. I could easy break the arm rest and probably walk out of this place with how busy they were. I could, but one man seemed to be keeping an eye on me from across the room. I could barely see him but what Vince has told me about look at your surroundings was that if you feel like you’re being watched than you probably are. I knew he was watching me by the look on his face, he was thinking…no almost like he was debating with himself. The different facial expressions he had on his face gave that away.

Vince has told me that if you know you are being watch: you should just ignore them…but to also keep an eye on the person watching you. It's hard to understand but simple once you figure it out. Every few minutes I would gaze around the room and look at him quick. After a few of these, I knew what he looked like.

He seemed to be in his late forties, early fifties maybe with graying curly blonde hair and dark eyes. I couldn't tell from here the color, but he looked like a hardworking man too. He had that built to him that said that he worked, a lot. I really couldn't tell much more of him besides that he had a tan. He works outside most the time than.

I didn't pay much more attention to him but when I went to check on him he was gone from his spot. A lady who looked to be a few years older than me came over and unlocked the cuffs from the arm rest then put it back on my wrist.

"Follow me." She spoke to me and I just nodded my head following her. We walked out of the large room and down a wide hallway. She opened a door and I stepped into a dimly lit room. A metal table sat in the middle of the room on polished floors with two chairs on other ends of it. The walls were painted a dark blue and the one wall had a mirror. I wasn't an idiot. People outside the room can see into this room from that one-way mirror. "Sit," She told me and I sat down in the one chair. Once she left I just looked around the room.

There wasn't much beside the camera that was up in the one corner with its little red light flashing. Recording what was going on right now. I just looked at it for a moment making sure that they knew I noticed the hardly disguised camera in the dark corner. Maybe they should have painted over the flashing red light then maybe I wouldn't have acknowledged its presents.

It didn't take that long for someone to enter the room, though I couldn't help but have a stupid grin on my face when he entered. He held a file in his hand.

"What are you grinning about?" The blonde haired man questioned raising an eyebrow at me.

"Don't think I've noticed?” I told him and he just nodded his head lightly.

"Oh yes, the watching you from the other end of the room." He pointed at me, I chuckled. "Alright kid, what's your name?"

"What's yours?" I asked. Always question people, even if they are on the side of the law. That is one thing Fear has taught me. He turned his head to the side looking at me with a questioning look.

"I asked first."

"What's your name?" I questioned again.

"Hey kid, don't make me repeat myself."

"Well, this time I asked you first. So?" I waited with a smirk on my face.

"Detective Scott Westson," He finally said folding his arms over his chest. I had almost jump in shock when he said his last name. I ended up taking another look at this guy.

Westson. That was my legal last name. Curly blonde hair, green eyes, same face structure...Well shit, you have to be dead to not see it.

"Michael Williams." I answered back to him. He looked at me with a weird look then finally sat down in the chair across from me. "Problem Detective?" I questioned. Questions, always ask them. You might actually get an answer out of them without them realizing it.

"Hey, I'll be asking the questions here kid." He told me and I just sat back in my chair.

"Ask away." I spoke waving my hand around, almost, I was still handcuffed.

"Age?"

"Twenty-four."

"Birth?"

"November tenth."

"Job?"

"Don't you have those computers where you can just look this stuff up?"

"Yes."

"Then why bother with me?"

"You're good at this kid."

"With what?"

"Questioning and changing the subject without me realizing it," He answered me and I decided to keep it up and see where we would get.

"Oh really?"

"Have you had training in this?"

"Like what?"

"Becoming an officer, investigator, or detective?"

"What makes you think that?" I said with a smug grin on my lips. "I was arrested tonight if ya have not noticed, Detective." We had a long stare down and he broke eye contact and sat back in his chair running a hand through his hair.

"You are good," He pointed.

"And you are a laid back detective with quite a bit of patients," I replied before leaning closer to him. "So how about we cut to the chase and you tell me why you're here talking to me this fine evening."

"I should probably be on the other side of the table as of right now considering how this is turning out."

"I was thinking the same," I nodded sitting back.

"Alright Michael Williams," He spoke standing up with the folder in hand, he opened it, and flipped through pages. "Why you are here this fine evening Michael, is because I need answers." He pulled out two papers from his folder and slide them across the table to me. "Do you know these men?"

"No."

"Don't lie to me, I was informed that you have been seen with these two men."

"Blake," I spoke pointing to the photo on the left, then pointed to the other one. "And Vince."

"Alright, and do you know this man." He pulled out another paper and slide it over to me. It was a photo from earlier this night at the race track. Fear was standing by his drifter, trying to get the crowds to cheer louder, before he got into the car. It was probably taken by a detective who snuck into the race and took pictures.

"Um, nope." I spoke and he just raised an eyebrow at me.

"What's the man's name Michael?"

"I don't know his name." I told him and that was true. I didn't know his true name, no one knew his real name.

"Oh really? Listen kid, I need your help here alright. If you help me than I can make your jail time sentence a lot shorter." His voice was serious and I bit my bottom lip. Of course I knew I was going to get jail time but if he doesn't know how I pretty much work for the guy who own the racing track than I probably won't get any jail time. They would just let me go, but if this detective is who I think he is…how can I turn on Fear? But, how do I know that he isn't just using me to stay away from getting caught? He acted and must have been that way, so I would go back to my truck. He probably knew that I was going to get caught.

"I don't know his name, but I know the man." I told him. "He goes by the name of Fear, it's his street name."

"So you know this man well?" He asked and I just shrugged. "Well Michael, when we looked you up with your photo. We found something quite interesting." He pulled out more papers. Now I'm just wondering how many more papers he has in that folder of his. He slid the paper to me and I took them. There was a picture in the corner of a young man, younger than me, he had military cut hair, icy-blue eyes, and the same skin tone as me. He almost looked like me…but he wasn't me. The rest of the paper was filled with information and so was the paper stapled with it. The other paper that wasn't stapled to the rest was the interesting one. It was a wanted person's paper of this guy.

"Michael Jamison Williams." The Detective spoke. "Went missing twenty-one years ago a couple months after his twentieth birthday, after winning a lottery. He killed his parents, his child, girlfriend, and three friends before running off, now if you are saying that you are Michael Williams, which is obvious, to me and you, that you are not. Your fake license says that you are twenty-four and I’m pretty damn sure you didn’t come up with some impossible anti-aging miracle that kept you so young. Also considering the fact that there is no file of you whatsoever which means you are either from another country or have been missing since a child. This Michael would be in his early forties today. You are lying to me kid, so what's your really name?” I stared at the information. Man, he was good.

Michael Williams.

Everything seem to add up right in my head, everything that has happened ever since I have met Fear. Michael Williams. Fear was telling the truth but not the full truth. This must have been why he made me change my appearance. Why he gave me that name. Why he took me under his wing. He saw an opportunity to escape his past life. That was why he acted the way he did last night. He caught me and was able to get me to run back to my truck to try to get away. Why he was so calm about everything. Fear knew what was happening and didn't care that I would be arrested.

He made one mistake though.

He raised someone who thinks, who looks at their surroundings, who watches the people who watch, who always asks questions, who can piece together the puzzle in the blink in the eye. He raised me to get out of these type of problems. That's one mistake he made.

I grinned at myself.

Fear may have his tricks but he cannot fool people with the information.

I was too young to be him, so they can't take me in. To think that I knew Fear.

But we all know that at the end it will be figured out.

Fear couldn't escape.

Everything was finally adding together and the only thing I could think of when it came to the man that I have known the last nine years of my life. The man that I looked up to as a father, the man that gave me my first truck and taught me everything I needed to know how to survive in his world and what he does, and the man full of tricks and mystery. I now know who he was and who he really feared.

Himself.

I lifted my head up and looked at the man for a moment. He raised an eyebrow and I just grinned, shaking my head.

"I'm waiting," Scott Westson spoke impatient.

"If you must know my really name Detective," I sighed quietly but on the inside I was laughing. I was laughing at the man that I thought you could never beat.

Well, I just did.

Now I sit here in front of the man that left my mother when I was just a baby. How funny the way we met up. With me on one side of the law and him the other. Or table if you want to say it that way. I laughed, I couldn’t help it. This situation. Scott’s expression made me laugh more because of the look he gave me. Like I have gone insane. I leaned my head down to take out my contacts which I placed on the table.

"It's Toby." I answered still chuckling, "Toby Westson. I’m your son.”

The only words to come from his mouth when I lifted my head to show the equally green eyes as his were, “Holy shit.”