Outcasts

Chapter Twenty-Three (Cami)

I hear the garage door open and flinch slightly. My eyes look up to the clock. I let out a sigh that echoes through the beautifully colored kitchen.

    Wow, time really can fly. I shake my head, astonished at the numbers on the digital clock.

    I pick up another dirty dish and grab the soap. A bittersweet smile creases into my face.

    Sye is home.

    The door makes a creak in the back of the house. Then it is slammed. Some dishes rattle in the sink.

    Then I see Sye out of the corner my eye. Sye has a smile on his face as he flicks his book bag on the kitchen table. He scuffles over, eyes locked on me. He gives me a quick side-hug.

    "You seem happy!" I say. "What happened today, Sye?"

    His smile fades abruptly and I hesitate slightly to reach for the sponge. "You won't like it."

    "Tell me." I say as calmly as I can manage.

    "I made someone angry, and they pushed me down."

    "Who?" I snap defensively. "Who hurt you?"

    "Relax...Cami." Sye whispered lightly. "He got detention, besides. It's a good thing."

    "What?" My tone came out glum. What is going through his head?

    "I want him to be by my side" Sye continues sounding distant. "I want to put him in his place, to weaken him. Once their strongest is gone, they will fall apart. He'll have no choice but to do exactly as I say. Better reputation, no Outcasts! Two birds with one stone."

    I sigh feeling depressed suddenly. Sye is becoming as twisted as his father. My heart throbs with one last determination. "So is this, Outcast group really as bad as you say?"

    "Yes."

    "How?" Sye was silent for one second and that's when I caught him, "Ah ha! You don't have anything to say."

    Silence.

    "I think that you should just leave those people alone."

    "Nonsense." I hear someone call loudly. I squeeze the sponge forcefully, and continue to work diligently. My breath comes in quiet gasps. Shivers crawl up my tense spine. I can feel the darkness sweep over the room. My head tilts down to the floor.

    "Good afternoon, Master." I speak without stutter, addressing North properly.

    "I hear," North murmurs. "That you are talking about the Outcasts of Simon's school. Cami, I wish you would use your mind to think. They are called Outcasts for a reason, they don't fit in. They need to go, right Simon?"

    "Exactly." Sye turns to look at me. "Cami, I wish you'd understand!"

    My heart drops suddenly, "Simon, deep down you must know I'm right."

    Sye cuts me off sharply, "You're not, and my name is Sye!"

    A gasp escapes my lungs. He's never talked to me like that. "Sye?" What is happening to him?

    And then North glares at me, as he strokes Sye's hair like he would with a cat.

    Then he spoke loud and clear. "My dear, you are only making matters worse and he is right." His eyes seemed to dilate with a new emotion. "All Outcasts must go."

    Despite how loudly he had spoken it, Simon acted as if no words had come out of his father's mouth in the first place.

    I gulped as North seemed to grow bigger while I shrank. North leaned over me, casting a slight shadow to cast over me. Then he uttered the most terrifying words that I would ever hear in my lifetime.

    "Thank you Cami, you are helping my son to grow up to who he was meant to be."

    Those words would have more meaning than I would ever know.

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