Chika assumed they had arrived wherever Kyle wanted them to go to because the air suddenly smelled different. His eyes were closed. For some reason best known to him,he felt it was necessary. Teleporting wasn't an easy sport. The fact that they weren't were they had been few minutes ago served to remind just how real all of this was.
"Are you there?" Kyle's saccharine voice reached out to him. He ignored it.
Chika already knew where they were. Didn't need to open his eyes for it. The air was familiar;old,rotten and poor. The faint sound of chickens at one side. The familiar loud snore. The way the hair on his skin rose up in irritation. Yep,he was home.
Why was he here?
He opened his eyes slowly and glared at Kyle in question. Kyle ignored him and instead,scanned the environment.
Chika felt hot from embarrassment.
No one knew where he lived. No one knew he lived in a shanty town,mud hut and all. The environment looked just like it did in a textbook's image definition of poverty. The mud huts were arranged horizontally,identical huts facing each other. Old wrappers served as doors against the door frames. A little shapeless window had been cut out for all the doors recently. For those who reared animals,they kept it close to their huts. Thereby,making the air have a mix of goat and poultry smell. By the extreme end of the small town was where not only his disgusting neighbors dumped their garbage but also a good portion of the rest of the city. And he watched Kyle take it all in.
He bit his lips in frustration,and questioned between his teeth. "And?"
Kyle finally looked at him and raised an eyebrow in question. "Why do you look so pressed?"
"What???!" Is that a serious question? He felt ridiculously close to tears,his voice a whisper-yell as addressed Kyle. "You know what I wished for yet you bring me to the exact opposite. Is this your idea of a joke? If you're trying to mock me,well good job."
Kyle stared wide eyed and defended himself in a quiet voice. "This is what you wanted! This is what you asked for!"
"Wh-what...you...oh my god!" He ran a hand over his face and glared heatedly at Kyle. He thundered. "You do not stand there and tell me what I want. Christ!"
Chika's voice wasn't that loud but he flinched anyways. "Apparently that's my job" He breathed deeply and nodded his head forward. He stated quietly,"You need to see your mother. Now."
Chika's eyebrows shot up at the order. He crossed his arms over his chest, and eyes Kyle up and down. "I'm here now, aren't I? I'll go see her."
"Good."
"Good."
They fell quiet.
Chika sucked in a harsh breath as he watched Kyle watch him. The tension in the air was palpable,tangible,he could almost touch it. This was another one of their fights only that there were no words exchanged.
He loosened his grip over his torso and planted them on his hips. Fixing Kyle a grim look, he finally spoke.
"You are not coming with me."
Kyle frowned slightly,pursing his lips,his eyes downcast as he pondered over something. He looked up at Chika with a small smile. "Are you pushing me away?"
"This was going to happen sooner or later."
He shrugged. "I was hoping I could see your mother." His hopeful eyes were shattered by Chika's sharp and intense no.
Kyle was like an itch that didn't want to go away. A bad itch you desperately want to get rid of. Internally, he recoiled at the thought of letting Kyle in his less than hospitable home. There were no furnitures. Nearly everything in the house was a makeshift, mimicking real furnitures.
He dragged his eyes from Kyle's neutral expression and looked around his environment. He side eyed Kyle and asked. "I don't get it. Don't you have somewhere to be?"
"Well,not exactly." He replied with a shrug,arms poised behind him.
Is he expecting me to invite him in? Chika felt his expression morph into a scowl at the thought of it. Getting straight to the point, he addressed Kyle with a clipped tone. "You need to go. I am not inviting you in."
"Figured."
"So go." Chika all but grounded out,frustration and anger gnawing at him. He jabbed his index finger at Kyle, his words coming out hard. "We're done here. Thank you for the pleasant night, Kyle. And-oh-before I go, I want you to know that you did not help at all. So yes, thanks for nothing."
With that, he walked away from a dejected looking Kyle. As he trekked the few seconds to his little hut, he felt a tug in his chest he ignored. Pushing aside the flimsy curtain hanging on the doorframe, he stepped over the threshold and sluggishly made his way to the one bedroom he shared with his mother.
His chest felt constricted and painful. He rubbed it furiously. His wayward anger had abandoned him, leaving him seriously weak and deflated. He couldn't for the life of him recall what he was so upset about. And he couldn't ignore the fact that he indeed,wanted to invite Kyle in. A part of him knew the state of his house just wasn't the reason but more so an excuse. Kyle wasn't judgemental. He felt exceptionally comfortable with Kyle when he wasn't giving unsolicited advices claiming it was his job. He exhaled, deeply troubled by his thoughts,he almost didn't notice what was happening in his shared bedroom. Almost. He quietly made his way inside,standing adjacent to bed.
Hearing the soft sobs first,his eyes narrowed down to the shape of his mother on the bed. Her appearance made him frown further. With the help of the lantern placed on a small stool near the bed, he could almost make out the outline of her bones jutting out in unfamiliar angles. She was dotted on the bed,her shoulders hunched and shaking violently. The end of her old night dress bunched in her fists,serving as a tissue to her eyes. On his mother's left was one of their neighbors,Miss Pat;clad in her wrapper,comforting her.
"He'll be here soon." She assured his mother.
"How soon Pat?" His mother's voice wobbled. "Sometimes I think he's ashamed of me."
"Why would he? He wouldn't,silly."
"But why else would he act like this?" She sniffed,her voice clogged with tears. "He's ashamed of me because I'm sick. There is no other reason!"
"Christina..."
"...and he buys me drugs,money he could use for school. We barely talk anymore. I've failed him."
"Christina!" Miss Pat chastised so sharply that Chika flinched. She drew in loud breaths before addressing a wide eyed Christina in a slow manner. "You...er...it's not your fault. It really isn't, I guess."
The pitiful excuse of comfort or reassurance or whatever Miss Pat had intended to offer to his mother definitely proliferated the accurate reaction. Christina's face crumpled in resignation and hurt. She hugged herself tightly, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her voice quivered as she whispered to herself trancelike.
"Oh Pat. He has not been home for a week. A week! This is the longest he's ever been out. He doesn't look at me when he's around and goes out as quickly as he comes. I really wish I could help....to be of more help to him. We used to be much better...I..just maybe we could....I miss him!" Her voice grew quieter with each word she uttered. Now she weeps silently, meaning her ill health had gotten to her.
Her friend Pat,rolled her eyes and shook her head wistfully with the air of having done it so many times, as she rubbed awkward circles on her neighbor's back.
Chika's chest constricted with the effort to function. An unforgiving chill crept up his body,his eyes glimmered with hot,angry tears. His lips curved ugly as he fought to control the urge to speak out. To do something. To reach out to his mother to...do something. But they still could not see him. To add salt to wound, he felt the hair at the back of his head erect as his mother broke into hysterics. He angled his head to the bedroom door. Kyle was watching him.
His fists curled tight by his sides, a turmoil of emotions swept through him. He felt like a mascot, in between a sick mother and a judging spectator. Unable to take it any longer, he hurried out of the house,fist in mouth.
He knew the tears were coming even before he felt them. Tasted them. He willed his legs to move faster, eager to get away from the dirt clad environment. Tears blurring his vision, he stumbled many times, picking himself with more misery than when he felt only a few seconds ago. He turned a corner and soon found himself by the side of a tiled road.
The wet morning breeze and the light colorful blue sky did nothing but worsen his temperament. Tucking his hands in his pocket, he continued his self deprecating walk with no destination in mind. He looked up at the sky which was becoming clearer with the sun slowly rising. He traced the outlines of buildings in the far distance until his vision was nothing more than opaque dots. His thoughts betrayed his need to stay unaffected. Raising his palm to his face, he silently cursed himself, which did anything but soothe him.
Suddenly and without warning, Someone grabbed his elbow and half dragged him forward. He looked up to Kyle's scrunched up featured and opened his mouth to protest but on rare second thoughts, instantly swallowed them down. Listlessly, he stared at Kyle's head and followed him.