THIEVES ━ SHURI UDAKU

▬ ten: broken pieces

Caleb glanced back at Honey who stared down at his mother's figure. He could tell from the look on her face that she didn't believe a word that he said but she didn't say anything and she simply walked out of the room, wiping tears from her eyes. Caleb placed his hands on his hips in exhaustion.

He wasn't sure how long they could keep this up.

- - -

Caleb slinked into the living room, rubbing the exhaustion away from his eyes. He stifled a yawn. It had taken only ten minutes to tuck his mother back into bed and make sure that she was fine but the sun was already rising and Caleb knew that there was no way he could go back to be now despite the fact that he was extremely tired.

His agitation didn't help either. He was on edge and his nerves were a mess. Caleb couldn't help but feel angry at the world, at himself, at the cancer and although it made no sense, at his mother as well. "She'll be fine," Honey stayed as if she could read his mind. "She still has more than six months before things get really bad."

"According to who?" Caleb snapped. "The doctor who's hardly even equipped to deal with a common cold? Let's face it, it's already bad. She can hardly even breathe anymore."

"We've been to all the doctors that we can afford and some of the ones that we can't. But they're doctors, not miracle workers. We've prayed and taken care of her as well as we can. We've done all that we can."

Caleb sat down on the couch with a thud. He glanced around, making sure that his mother wasn't close by and she couldn't hear them. She had enough to worry about already without thinking about them worrying about her. His mother was the strongest person that she knew. When his father was arrested and they were kicked out of their home, she got to work immediately and despite everything she was still helping them. Caleb wanted to believe that she was strong enough to fight this but his logical side was telling him that it was only a matter of time before he lungs completely gave up. God, he hated logic.

"No, we haven't. There's more medication and more medical help that we can get. It can't cure it but it could slow down the progression."

Honey looked up at him and her eyes were misty with tears. She shook her head sadly at him and Caleb's heart broke when she spoke. "We both know that we can't do that. We can't afford it," she whispered.

"Well, we have to do something," Caleb yelled and Honey flinched at him. He lowered his voice and looked away. "We have to do something."

"Like what, Caleb?" Honey demanded and Clave was taken aback. He'd never seen Honey this way before. She was nearly four years younger than him and she was the ray of the sunlight in their dreary, gloomy lives. She always had a smile on her face and Caleb assumed that she was the optimist. He'd never considered that the smile on her face might be a mask, hiding her own conflicted emotions.

"What do you want to do?" she continued. "This kills me just as much as it does you but I'm doing my best to keep it together, Caleb. You've kept it together this long. Don't fall apart now."

Caleb whispered in agreement. He couldn't fall apart now but he couldn't bring himself to tell her that he's already fallen apart a long time ago. The moment Kemi left them. That if he's ever seemed like he had it together, it was all a facade. A mirage that he couldn't hold together much longer because at this point, he was just a bunch of broken pieces shoved into random places and eventually, none of those pieces would fit anymore and then he had no idea where he'd be. But he simply nodded at her and kept his thoughts to himself because they needed him and he couldn't fail. Not now.

Instead of arguing any further, Caleb turned to her. "Can we move on now?"

Honey smiled at him slightly. "Is there another choice?"

They worked quickly and quietly, avoiding any further conversation. Honey and Caleb each separated the tasks for the day and got to work, efficiently. They'd done this enough times as it was. They could hear Timothy snoring rather loudly in his room as they worked. Honey cleaned up the mess and rid the room of dust and dirt while Caleb cut up some yams and fried eggs to go with them. He set dishes for himself and Honey and once they were done and they'd brushed their teeth, they settled down to eat.

Honey took a bite of the yams and swallowed before shrugging at Caleb. "They don't taste like absolute crap," she stated. Caleb laughed a dry laugh at her and tossed a small piece of his food in her direction. It was a small gesture and it seemed unimportant but it signified how much times had changed. Caleb could still remember a time where they had to scrap together whatever items of food that they could find to make a meal. Those times he'd have to pretend that he wasn't hungry just so that his siblings could eat and every last bit of food was eaten because they were never sure when their next meal would be. Caleb shook those thoughts out of his head.

"Hey, I just swept that," Honey cried when the piece of egg landed onto the ground beside her. Caleb chuckled and his gaze landed on an envelope in the middle of the small table.

"Hey, what's that?" he asked before reaching out to grab it.

"A letter," Honey answered as nonchalantly as she could. She watched Caleb open the envelope and pull out a piece of paper. "From dad."

Caleb instantly turned the paper over to the side with no writing on it and shook his head violently. "No. Absolutely not. Absolutely fucking not. I am not reading that shit."

"I think you should read it," Honey argued, taking a bite of her food. "There's some really important things in there for you."

Caleb scoffed, enraged. "What could he possible even have to say?"

"He's been all alone in that prison for a long time and he's had time to think over his actions. To change."

"This isn't a timeout. This is a prison," Caleb argued, getting up from his seat. He couldn't seem to eat anymore. "He hasn't changed. He'll never change. What possible excuse could he have for killing another human being? That is something that you don't come back from."

Honey sighed, shaking her head. She should have known that he would never listen to her. Her brother had some great qualities and he was her hero but he was stubborn. "If could give you some closure," she tried weakly.

"I don't need closure. What I need is for that man to be gone from my life for good." With that, he covered his food and put it away for later, done with that discussion.

Honey sighed as he left the room, heading down the hall. "Now where are you going?" she complained.

Caleb headed into his room and called behind him. "I have someone to meet," he answered before slamming the door shut behind him.

AUTHOR'S NOTE.
Updates of this book have reduced to every other week but I'm trying very hard to make it regular. This chapter was uneventful but also really eventful because it's paving the way for future important chapters and I have it all plotted out and it's going to be quite the ride. I'm excited. Either, Shuri's in the next chapter so we're doing this. Also guess who's currently working on an M'Baku fic? This girl.