𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐓 𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐓⁰²ʰᵉᵐᵐⁱⁿᵍˢ

ㅤㅤㅤ xiv ──volatile liar

asari
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I curled my fingers and slowly cut the carrot under my hand, the hind of the knife softly hitting the cutting board again and again - a repetitive sound that managed to dull around me along with the tv from the living room.

Carefully, I set down the knife and slid the carrots into the pan on the stove, placing the lid on top and wiping my hands on the kitchen rag before making my way out.

Calum sat on the floor, one hand bent over to let his chin rest on his palm as he stared coldly at the scrabble board on the coffee table.

I approached and grabbed the remote from the couch, turning off the tv just as the news caster announced the two bodies found that had no correlation with - then I turned it off, the screen blinking white before black.

I figured it was always this way, murders being reported left and right, yellow tape, blue and red lights, followed by a cheery kids show with macaroni with eyes for characters, repeating the alphabet and asking you to echo back the letters as though it could hear.

Then Calum would switch it to some MTV channel.

I didn't watch much tv even before I moved in with the siblings. Not that I could, anyway. Dad always hogged the tv as though he was permanently glued onto the cushions of the sofa, his beer bottle as so in his grip.

It was always the sports channel - football - or an action movie. Sometimes he swung his fists at the air to the punches of the movie characters, then grinning as if he himself gained the win.

Growing up, I thought he was cool for that. I thought he was bright eyed and imaginative, something mom always said he was - that he was expressive, loud, and neither Riel or I should disturb him at any time at any cost.

At the look of it, mom sounded as though she admired dad. She'd never called anyone imaginative or expressive, so I thought she really must've loved him to say such things.

Later, I learnt that there was the difference between being scared and being in love.

"You still don't have a word in?" I asked Calum as I sat across him, amused at the scrunched up expression he had.

He swung his bead back dramatically and groaned, curling his fingers into something claw-like. "What could I possibly do with D, Y, F, L, P, N, and T! Tell me, Ase, tell me, I'll take any answer," He groaned again and put his knees up, continuing to stare at his letter rack then back again at the board.

"There are tons of vowels on the board. You can just use those -"

"Nah, I tried. Won't work,"

Calum was bad at scrabble, this much I figured out - even when he had more than enough vowels to make a couple words, he was bad at it nontheless. He liked the small clatter of the tiles, though, and we both found some calm in the solitude that hung above us every time we sat in silence thinking about what words we could form.

"Hm..." I tapped my fingers on the table, a smile creeping to my face as Calum sighed and laid back, seeming to have given up. "Wanna eat? Darlene should be home soon, too, anyway,"

I stood and held out a hand for him to hold but he ignored it and continued to lie down, brows furrowed deep in thought.

"What are you thinking?" I asked, letting my hand fall to my side.

"RDSO," He said plainly, saying it so casually as if it had run his head down like a prey, that now he was in surrender. RDSO, it seemed so sacred in my mouth - them and their goal to help, to seek people who were lost, giving them a home. I felt as though I was one of the lucky ones to have been introduced to them.