The Occult's Caretaker

21. The Father

"Jylan", a voice approached me.

I turned to see a tall man, nervously holding his hat in front of him.

"Jylan, sweetie, it's me, your father"

I scoffed, "hmph, I believe that title has to be earned, it's not awarded by default"

"Sweetie don't be like that"

"What do you want, Alex?"

I looked him up and down, he seemed much skinnier than I last remember.

"Is that woman not feeding you? Just taking your money, I see"

"No, no, she's a good woman, we just have our differences sometimes", he smiled pitifully.

I sighed, I shouldn't be kind, but I have a weak spot for emaciated animals.

"How about some lunch?", I asked heading inside to the kitchen, "You're lucky Mother and Sao aren't here"

"Because they'll rip you to shreds", I thought.

He nervously entered and sat down at the counter as I cooked a warm meal. As I set out the food, his eyes lit up, and soon his mouth was filled with food.

"I haven't had such a good meal in a long time"

"Because none of you in that family can cook", I thought as I sipped some tea.

"You've grown up so much. I almost didn't recognize you, but you still have such a babyface"

"I resent the implication", I replied dryly, " I would like to think I've matured quite a bit"

Suddenly, I jumped as heavy footsteps could be heard running towards the kitchen door.

"Shit!", I cursed.

"Jylan, I heard something in the t-!", Sao burst in through the kitchen door and stopped in shock, "You!"

"Sao!", Alex beamed at his son.

"How dare you set foot in this house! Get out!", he shouted, "Jylan, you should know better than to take in these kinds of leeching strays!"

Sao smacked the food out of his hands and grabbed him by the collar, shaking him with pure anger.

"What do you want, huh? You think because you have children in the Aniceta that you can use our family as your personal bank?!"

"Sao!", I tried to calm him down.

"No, Jylan! You know the only time he ever thinks about us is when he needs something!"

I sighed heavily, but couldn't refute him, as the last time we saw our father was 5 or 6 years ago when he needed money to survive a harsh winter, or so he said. I dislike this man too, but I can't let Sao kill him. I packed all the food on the table and handed it to him.

"It was nice seeing you, Alex. Don't come back", I said, removing Sao's fists and pushing him out the door.

"Jylan, what the hell!?", Sao shouted.

"Sao, relax"

"No! If Mom or Grandma El or Grandma V heard you helped that parasite, they'd be just as angry!"

I sighed, "Something was off with him, Sao"

"Off? What does it matter to us? He made his choice!", Sao bellowed.

I covered my ears to protect myself from his shrieking. I looked to my right to see the Red King Flower spirit stealing banana peels from the food waste pile meant for the compost. Everything felt odd, this chaos seemed to be getting to me.