The Fifth Word

Chapter Five

Mrs.Moore

"Hey Darrel, Kailey read it," I say. A tall man in a black suit wearing sunglasses walks into the room.

"Mrs.Moore don't you think this is a little harsh?" he asks. 

"Not at all. She needs to learn a lesson."

"It was a locker sign ma'am"

I whip my head around towards my security guard. 

"Well my perfect daughter, thinks it's okay to go around calling herself a them and going by an unprofessional nickname her father gave her. Kai. What a stupid name."

Darrel looks at me with a shocked look. "Mrs.Moore are you homophobic?" he states. His expression, stern. 

"I-" is all I'm able to mutter before he speaks again.

"Mrs.Moore as a democrat and a high-standing woman in power, don't tell me you are homophobic. If Miss Kailey came to you and said they were any part of the LGBTQ you would accept them right?"

"I-Idk Darrel" I manage to mutter. 

He throws off his sunglasses in furry. "No wonder you're kicking them out. Why can't you be supportive of your child?"

I look at him blankly. "You did not just yell at me."

"Mrs.Moore...Really? You are more focused on the fact, I yelled at you than the fact that you kicked your child out for being non-binary?" He quickly covers his mouth. 

 "What-" I scream. "You just said what."

"Mrs.Moore please tell me you support them."He whispers. 

"My perfect daughter is one of those gays...of course she is." I say. 

I pick up Darrel's sunglasses and shoves them towards him. "Kailey gets home in around twenty minutes. I'm leaving to think and let her pack her things to leave." 

Kai
"fssst-" is the noise the bus tires make as it slows down at a bus stop. Four more until I'm home. I don't exactly know where I'm going. I would go to Willow's house as one of Willow's parents aren't homophobic but I don't want to have to explain what happened. I'll probably just live on a bench. A bench sounds nice. A nice cold-

"fsssst-" I look out the window. Three more stops before I'm home. I pull my phone out of my pocket. No texts. I put the phone back into my pocket. 

"fsssst-" A gust of wind blows onto the bus. I shiver for a second then I'm okay again. Willow stole my jacket but as long as she's warm I'm happy. Two more stops until I'm home. I pull out my phone again. No notifications at all. 

"fssst-" One more then the stop after is mine. A kid runs down the aisle and accidentally hits my arm. the short pain makes me wince then it goes away. The bus moves again. 

"fssst-" Another gust of wind comes through the bus door. I look around my seat to make sure I have everything. I grab one of the arms of my backpack and sit there. This is it.

"fssst-" goes the tires one last time. I stand up and instantly run off of the bus. I run all the way home. When I get there I pull my key out of my bookbag and unlock the door. I walk into the kitchen and see my mother's bodyguard sitting on one of the bar stools and hes on his phone. 

Is mom home? I write on a paper. 

"Nope she left about twenty minutes ago"

I run towards him and hug him. Instantly I break down and start crying in his arms. 

"Hey, Kai, its okay, I promise I have a plan," he says.

I push myself away from him and wipe up my tears with my sweatshirt sleeve. I write down Darrel, what's going on?

He smiles. "I'm surprised you used my name. Your mom always makes you call me sir."

Darrel, you are like a brother to me, if moms not here I'm going to use your name.

He smiles, "I'm glad. Anyways my plan. Kai go upstairs and pack your bags. Use multiple if you need to. When you are done you are going to turn off your life 850-"

I punch his arm and write down but then I'll be kicked out for longer! 

"Yeah, I know that's the goal."

I look at him with a confused look. 

"Kai, from now on your staying with me." he says " I had a little fight with your mom earlier and I can conclude that she is homophobic. You deserve to be accepted. I mean you already know I accept you." He smiles, looks around the house then whispers "The gay's gotta stick together"

I sit there in shock. Are you being serious Darrel? I write in my notepad.

"One hundred percent Miss Kailey" He pauses "Sorry I meant Kai. Damn your mother tried to brainwash me I guess it somewhat worked."

I don't even care that you made that mistake. I stand up and again I can't control my feelings. I ran towards him and gave him a big hug. I write down, I knew I could trust you right before I run upstairs to start packing. After ten minutes, I'm done packing and I lug 2 bags down the stairs. I pull my phone out of my pocket and I turn off my life 850 and uninstall it. 

I look around the house for Darrel. I sign Darrel where the fuck are you?

Behind me I hear, "Kai just because I'm 23 doesn't give you the right to cuss in front of me," he chuckles, "anyways are you ready to go?"

I nod my head while also slightly annoyed. Not cussing is boring. I roll my eyes at him and get in his truck. He turns on the truck and hands me his phone. His phone was open to the notes app and it said, "pick whatever song you want, I'll let you control the music for today. " I scroll through his music app and look for a song. I smile at a song that reminds me of Willow and I play it. 

"I didn't know you liked this kind of music, I thought all you listened to was rap?" he said. 

I went back to his notes and wrote down, It's a song my friend likes and I guess I kinda like it too. (Authors note: The song that reminds me of my person turned on when I was writing this-). 

"Haha, your friend has better taste in music than you." Darrel says. 

I look at him, with my mouth open. He did not say that. What a bitch. I look back at his phone and pick out the next song. 

"Buzz" I grab my phone out of my pocket and look at it. The screen reads One new text from: Willow <3 . I open the message and it reads, Kai have you found a place to stay? I just want you to be safe <3. I text back, You'll never believe who I'm staying with. I'm staying will my mom's bodyguard! He's chill though so. Instantly she reads the text and responds with, Is that good??? 

Yes, cause honestly I would be on a bench if it wasn't for him. I text back. Well, I'm glad you are safe Willow texts. I heart what she said and turn off my phone. 

"Kai we're almost there." Darrel says. "If there are any more songs you just have to listen to you better play them now"

I pick the song that reminds me of Willow again. 

"Again!" Darrel whines. I nod and smile. 

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Ten minutes later we arrive at an apartment complex. Darrel goes over to a parking lot and gets stopped by a guard. 

"Tickets to park here are 5 bucks, they last the whole day." says the guard. Darrel reaches for his wallet and pulls out his license and a badge.

"I work for the government and according to that sign behind you, Military and Government workers get free tickets," says Darrel. 

"Well, I'll be damned. Someone who reads the fine print." says the guard. The old man hands Darrel a red-colored piece of paper. Darrel puts it on his dash and finds a place to park. We get out and we head towards the apartment complex.

"We're looking for 335" 

I nod and look at the sign. 300-325 to the left. 326-345 to the right. I turn to the right and walk down the hallway. I begin to slow down because the numbers are seemingly random. 

"Keep going, It's like second to last," says Darrel. I keep going and stop at the very last one. It reads 335. 

"Aye look we made it." Darrel pulls keys out of his pocket and unlocks the door. The apartment is pitch black. He reaches into the room and turns on the light. The living room is lit up.

In his living room, there's a couch with a pillow that says love, and another that says acceptance. In the room, there is also a tv stand holding an average-sized television. A bookshelf filled with dust and books sits in the corner of the room, and in the other corner, there is a fake plant. There's an open wall straight forward from the living room that leads to the kitchen. There's a round table with four chairs that sits in the kitchen. If you were to go to the left there is a hallway that led to the two bedrooms and the bathroom. The bathroom has a towel hanging up on the towel rack that is rainbow, the hand soap bottle is also rainbow and so was the shower curtain. The bedrooms were simple. One was Darrels in which looked like an average bedroom. It had an average-sized bed with a rainbow comforter and a few dressers. The other bedroom had the same sized bed in it and there was a desk with a computer on it. 

As Darrel opened the door he said "And this is your room. Normally I work in here and call it my office but when one of my buddies wanted to stay over I decided to buy a bed for them."

I placed my stuff down and looked around the room. Thank you I signed. Darrel nodded and closed the door. I changed into my pajamas and laid down in the bed. Maybe getting kicked out wasn't going to be that bad? 

*End of Chapter Five*