The Perfect-ish Brother

~5~

Kess
~~~

The smell of something burning drags me out of my room. I rush to the kitchen only to see the plantains on fire turned black.

I fight the urge to cuss at my brother's carelessness and turn the stove off.

I'm about to leave when Rukeme storms in with an alert expression on his face.
He face palms himself when he sees the amount of smoke that engulfed the kitchen,"Sorry, I was on the phone with Her"

Her.

A polite way of referring to the woman who birthed me, I dare not call her Mother.

She never was.

Last year after Dad got incarcerated, she abandoned us for her 'one true love'.

Turns out they'd been seeing each other even while she was married to Dad.

"She..um..wanted to talk with you" Rukeme tosses the burnt plantains in the trash.

I ignore him and proceed to the living room. I pick up my school bag and struggle to pull down the ends of my new uniform skirt.

It'll no doubt draw unnecessary attention to my waist. I roll my eyes in remembrance of the way some boys in my class stared at me yesterday. It was disgusting.

Rukeme seems to notice my dilemma cause then he says,"I'll get you another one. I promise"

He hands me a bowl of last night's meal and apologizes for the plantain incident.

I of course ignore him, he should be used to it by now.

"Hurry up, I'm gonna go put on a shirt. By the time I'm back, we leave"

I stab my food with a fork in annoyance. I never asked for this.... New school, new town, nothing.

All I've ever wanted was family.

Turns out it was too much to ask.

After eating, I'm about to scrape the rest of my food into the trash when something in there catches my eye. The rays of the sun penetrating through the kitchen window causes it to glisten.

I let go of my dignity for a second and allow my curiosity get the best of me. I pull it out and wash the grease on it with a towel,then I examine the silver necklace in my hand.

A lone tear runs down my cheek while my fingers caress the engraven name,'Mairo'.

I miss her.

How did it even get there?

"Alright Kess, let's go or you'll be late for assembly and-" He pauses when he sees the necklace in my hand and a look of guilt flashes through his face.

"Did you throw this out?" I ask in a dangerously low tone.

"Let's go" He makes for the door but I block his path.

"Did you?" I repeat.

He averts his eyes from my face and looks down.

"It wasn't enough that you erased her from my life, you had to erase her belongings too?"

He doesn't respond.

"Did you ever care about her? About us? you threw away the only thing that was hers that mattered to me. Why would you-"

"I had to! you don't know how bad I felt when she left. It was all my fault!"

"Well, I'm glad we agree on something" I turn to leave but he grabs my arm.
I yank it out of his with a sharp growl.