Hands In The Stars

21. As Friends

The front door opened and Ai stepped inside, latching it behind himself, clutching his school bag tightly in his small hands in front of him.
"I'm home." He announced, slipping out of his shoes and tucking them nearly in the corner of the room. He made his way towards the kitchen, only to find his mother sunken down by the table, hands over her face as she tried holding back her sobs. The sight caught Ai a bit off guard. "Mom, what's the matter? What's wrong?" He asked in a whispered voice, dropping his bag onto the floor. He hurried over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, but stumbled back again as she jerked him off.
"Get off! Don't touch me!" She yelled out, her voice breaking as she glared up at her child.
"I- I'm sorry." Ai answered quickly, looking down at the note on the table between his mothers arms. "What's that about?"
"It's your fault is what it is!" Jia kept yelling. She reached her hands out and pushed Ai farther back, trying to cause a distance between the two of them. Ai took notice, and Jia turned the note over. "If you wouldn't have been here, your brother would have been alive, and your father would have stayed! We wouldn't have been so damn broke as to stay in this shithole! I wouldn't have to work my ass off every day for one single meal, only to have you mess it up the next day! You're nothing but the worlds gravest mistake!" She cried out in anger, warm tears rolling down her face onto the table beneath. Ai just stared back at her in disbelief. 

"Wait... Dad's gone?" He asked after a second of silence, but Jia scarcely turned her head away, refusing to answer. Ai stood there for what felt like an eternity, just waiting for some sort of answer but never receiving any. He felt the tears starting to sting his eyes like soap. His mind didn't want to register what Jia had just stated. On autopilot, Ai slowly turned around to produce his way out of the kitchen and back into the hallway again. He stood like frozen in the dark, bleak room, his thoughts racing through his head. He suddenly snapped out of it and slipped his shoes onto his feet, grabbing his dark red cardigan and bursting out the door. Warm tears streamed down his cheeks, hitting the ground like soft raindrops. Though, it wasn't raining today, it should have been. Ai ran. He didn't care where. He ran until his legs were shaking and he could no longer do more than slowly jog. He let his unconscious escort him to wherever it wanted to go, anywhere but that suburb would feel like paradise to him. 

*

Datui gulped down the last drops from his small fireball bottle and shivered a bit, before stepping out of the elevator with wobbly steps. His entire body ached terribly, his stomach felt like it was trying to turn him inside out and his legs were shaky as ever. He had to force himself to not topple over. Only one thing ran through his mind, food. He smeared his hands over his face and stopped to breathe for a second, then fished up the keys from his jackets pocket as his vision spun around him. He unlocked the door and put his keys back into his jacket before turning to look down at his friend curled up on the floor right besides his feet. Datui opened up the door and stepped into his apartment, wobbling into the kitchen to put away the empty glass bottle before making his way back to the hallway. He slipped off his shoes and provided the small, happy puppies a light rub on their heads. As he bent down, he almost fell over. As luck would have it, the world was set in slow motion, for now, and he put a hand onto his floor to catch himself. In a soft mumble, Datui ordered the obedient puppies back inside. 

Stepping out into the buildings corridor once more, every step echoing around him made Datui's head thud. He turned around, then stopped as he felt the nausea rising within him. Datui put a hand up to his mouth and waited. Nothing. He bent down, more carefully this time as to not fall over. With weak, shaky arms, he carefully picked Ai up from the floor, making sure he had a tight and secure grip of his friend as he carried him inside. Not really having much sense of force and perspective, though he intended to close it gently, Datui accidentally slammed the door harshly behind them. The sudden loud bang caused Ai to hastily open his eyes in fear and turn his head to look at his friend for a short moment. Datui groaned as the noise hurt his eyes.
"Aw, shit you're awake. What the fuck, what are you doing sleeping out here for?" Datui grumbled as he walked with Ai into the living room and laid him down onto the soft leather couch. He failed to stand up straight afterwards, and instead fell onto his knees besides him with a heavy exhale. "You know, if- If you wanted to hang out you should have followed me and Meng out after school, I already told you."
"I'm not asleep! Wait, are you drunk..? You stink." Ai suddenly blurred out as he pushed himself up to a sitting position.
"No way I'm- I'm not! Did I have a few drinks? Yes. Am I drunk? Absolutely the fuck not what do you think of me, christ." Datui tried to defend himself, shaking his head. He soon regretted the action, his vision blurred in front of his eyes. His stomach clenched up a bit and he discreetly recoiled on the floor with a forced chuckle. "Well, whatever! That's besides the matter, why are sitting outside my door like that?"