Shine

Chapter Thirty Nine-Keiths Past Part Two

{photo by Elentori}

"They don't exactly stick around."

Rain.

Keith was laying in bed, holding his stuffed hippo close to his heart. He knew something was wrong. He knew something was off.

His night light flickered and the mobile hanging above his bed shook as the house rumbled with thunder. Keith wasn't happy. He quietly began to cry out, hoping one of his parents would come to his aid.

His bedroom door opens as his cries get louder, his teardrops leaving wet spots on Mr.Hippo's plush head. Keith had only received the stuffed toy days ago but he already cherished it more than anything.

His mother walks into the room and gently scoops Keith up out of his bed, picking the young boy up and holding him close. "Shhh...shhh...it's okay my starlight..it's alright.." she gently kissed his head. Keith wrapped his free arm around his mother, his other arm grasping onto Mr.Hippo tightly.

She carried him out to the window, and Keith cried gently. She rubbed his back, and showed him. "Look..Look starlight.." she showed him the outside world. Showed him the rain and the lightning outside. "The rain is a good thing, darling..it makes papa's garden grow." She smiled, kissing his head. Keith watched as the rain slowly began to slow down to a soft trickle.

"The rain helps us live, starlight...without the rain we wouldn't be here." She smiled gently. She laid Keith down in his bed and turned his mobile on, tucking him in with Mr.Hippo.

"And even if it does get bad, I will always be here to protect you."

She smiled and cupped her son's cheek gently, brushing the last of his tears away.

"I love you my starlight." She smiles.

"And I will always be here."

~

Keith sat in the bed, looking up at Lance and his confused expression. "Wait, what do you mean? They don't stick around?" He said, sitting quietly with him. Keith sighed, looking up at him.

"Sometimes people lie, Lance. They say they'll always be there and then they're gone."

Arguments in the kitchen.

Keith is older now and he sits in his room, holding Mr.Hippo. He's only older by a slight bit, now able to talk a bit more and has understood that thunderstorms can't hurt him.

He hears mommy's stressed voice in the kitchen. He can't understand the words she's saying yet.

He hears daddy's worried voice in the kitchen. Something in his voice breaks, and Keith knows that daddy is on the brink of tears.

Downstairs the Koganes argue.

"What will happen to him?! What will happen to our son?! Krolia you can't possibly do this to him—" he stresses, sitting at the dining room table.

Krolia has silent tears streaming down her cheeks. "I don't know, okay, I just don't. They said it expired, but I never got a notice that it needed to be renewed! They're forcing me to go, I don't have a choice! They'll detain me and send me back themselves if I refuse to comply! They could arrest you and then our baby—our boy would have nobody!"

There's a bang on the table as Daddy slams his fist down. He's not angry at her, he can't be, he's angry at the world.

He's angry that the government failed to send the notice that his wife's green card had expired.