THIEVES ━ SHURI UDAKU

▬ twenty-three: building bridges

CALEB WAS SLOWLY LEARNING THAT he didn't need to be in control of everything around him. The keyword being slowly. Over the course of the next month, he'd allowed himself to grieve, which turned out to be a lot harder than he'd expected. He'd cried quite a lot and he wasn't completely proud of it but he was learning that it was alright and that it didn't make him weak.

He missed his mother. God, he missed her so much and he saw her in everything. In the mirror in his broken reflection, around every empty corner of their home and in his family. In the way that Honey only needed a few words to make him feel better and in his brother's humour and innocence which was slowly but surely bouncing back. More surprisingly, he saw her in Kemi. In the small habits that were embedded deep in her bones, that time no amount of time was capable of erasing. In the way that she muttered a quick, inaudible prayer every time that she stepped outside the door and the timid way that she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear when she was nervous. Those habits were haunting and it reminded him every time that while his mother was gone, she'd left her legacy behind in her children.

His relationship with Kemi was a work in progress. They'd been through so much together and there was so much bad blood in their history that they would never be able to erase but he was slowly learning to trust her. He'd handed over the reins of leadership and responsibility in their home to her, although he'd never fully step away. He let himself hold eye contact with her and to return her smiles. He was learning not to instantly flinch away from the faintest contact. It wasn't much but considering that a month ago, he'd barely been able to stand in the same room as her, he thought it was progress.

Caleb sat tentatively on the edge of his mother's bed, terrified that her ghost would rise out of the mattress. Her bed and room had remained untouched since nobody else truly had the guts to move anything but he was about time to pack up her things now and Caleb wasn't sure that he was ready. He didn't want to do this right now and he was being completely honest, he would have preferred to lay in his bed and go to sleep. He didn't feel anything when he was asleep.

Caleb exhaled and dug his fingers into his palms, a trick that he'd learnt stopped him from crying. "We should do this as quickly as possible," he announced to his siblings. "Kemi and I will clean up the clothes and Timothy and Honey, you will do everything else." Caleb didn't miss his older sister flinch in surprise that he was volunteering to do something with her. Their other two siblings were a bit more accepting of Kemi as they were just happy to have her back but not Caleb. Caleb was
tougher.

He opened up her closet and he was overwhelmed nearly instantly as the flowery scent of her perfume took over his senses. Caleb gulped and took a step back, biting his bottom lip. He picked up the first shirt and took it off its hook before folding it carefully into the box of the rest of her things. Caleb could not stop himself from thinking back to the bittersweet memories that all these articles of clothing were associated with. The red shirt with the yellow stain that was from a trip to the amusement park that she'd saved money for months to finally take them to because she didn't want Honey to feel left out.

He saw Kemi glance at him tentatively before she folded a polka-dot dress. "This one's really cute," she muttered, attempting to make small talk.

Caleb simply nodded unenthusiastically, unable to summon an ounce of care. Perhaps, some other time, he'd attempt to give her an answer and then he'd spend the next minute listening to Kemi talk about how good it would look with a pair of feather earrings but Caleb wasn't in the mood to pretend today. The message seemed to be clear as Kemi simply coughed quietly and went on with folding clothes. The silence was palpable and Caleb would practically feel the awkwardness in the air around them.

Finally, Kemi spoke, breaking the quiet. "So, I know that this is probably the last thing that you want to hear and I wouldn't say this if it wasn't important," the older woman started, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger continuously. "But I think we need to figure out the living situation?"

Caleb looked up, his brows drawn in surprise. "What's wrong with here?"

"Nothing," Kemi was swift to answer, the pitch of her voice rising an octave. "It's just that we can't really afford to keep living here and your job isn't exactly their anymore. But I have a good job and an apartment in the city."

Caleb scoffed in disbelief at her. "No way."

"Look, I know that it sounds selfish but I'm just thinking about all of us. We can't afford this place forever even with the money left over and the necklace. There are a lot more opportunities in the city. We can buy a house and we can all live there. It would be easier."

Caleb went silent. She was probably right. It would be easier to move to the city. This house was associated with a lot of negativity and pain. And even though Shuri had mailed the necklace back to him, there was no way that they could afford to keep living in the Outskirts. With Micheal gone, sixty percent of the jobs in the Outskirst had disappeared. His business was illegal but it had been the main source of money and jobs for the people living there and with it gone, it was only a matter of time before they were back to struggling again.

But he couldn't help but think that moving to the city with Kemi meant that they were depending on her and Caleb hated relying on other people. People constantly disappointed him; he'd learned a long time ago that if he did things by himself, he had nobody else to blame when it was messed up. He was learning to trust her but he wasn't sure that he was ready yet.

"I'll think about it," he said to her. He watched as her eyes flirted over him in disappointment. It was obvious in the way that her body seemed to crumble in on itself. "No, I really mean it. I'll talk to them about it."

Kemi grinned at him, her entire expression morphing in the matter of seconds. Caleb was once again stunned by how much she reminded him of his mother. He nearly looked away but he caught himself and returned her smile with one of his own, not nearly as radiant but just as genuine. The silence engulfed them once again as they both went back to folding the clothes neatly.

Kemi picked up a scarf with intricate patterns and eyes it with a ghost of a smile on her face. Caleb was taken aback. She looked, for once, like the Kemi that he used to know. Young and carefree. He hadn't seen that Kemi in a while and he was sure that he must have struggled as well, in the city. Before he could think about it, the words were out of his mouth. "You should keep it," he blurted out.

"Really?" she asked, surprise evident on her delicate features.

"Yeah," he nodded, surprised to find that he actually meant it. "It looks good on you." Happiness looked good on her.

DETAILS.
This was criminally short but it's meant to be that way. It's a brief snapshot of his relationship with his sister which is pretty shaky. She's not perfect but I really love Kemi and I hope that she'll be important in the other books connected to this.

But on a different note, thank you so much for 1K. I'm truly grateful for every single reader even the tons that do not vote or comment. Thank you so much for getting this book to this milestone. There are two more chapters other than the afterwords and deleted scenes so wow, it's really coming to an end.