chapter ten:
Caelum immediately knew he was in trouble the minute he stepped foot in his house. Before he had even put his key in the lock, the door swung open. Caelum took a step back in surprise, but his father was faster. He grabbed him by the collar, yanking him in the house, and slamming the door shut behind them. Caelum gagged, as his father threw him to the floor, face-first, with a heavy thud.
He gasped, wincing, “Justice!” His mother exclaimed, but his father wasn’t done.
“Where the hell have you been!?” He growled, grabbing the front of his shirt, and Caelum felt his stomach twist suddenly, his eyes going wide.
“School―” He started to say, but his father promptly smacked him across the head. He hit the ground again, barely managing to hold himself up.
“Bullshit!” He snapped. “You were on the news, that shooting in Target we saw you!”
Caelum’s heart was thudding against his chest, “I―We―”
“Called the damn school said nobody was holding a decathlon practice today!” His father continued. “Asked them about the track team, and they said that Algol Caelum Forest wasn’t on no goddamned track team!”
“I–I can explain,” He said, and his father scoffed, throwing him back on the ground. His elbows skidded against the wooden flooring.
“You’d better start explaining, boy!” Caelum flinched, trying to control his breathing. His father knew that he wasn’t on the track team, and he knew Caelum had been in the city.
Caelum started slowly, “We finished practice early. It wasn’t at at the school ― it was at a friend’s house, Ned Leeds. Everyone was there, I–I didn’t think you’d let me go if I said it wasn’t at school. I apologize for lying.”
“Then why the hell were you in the city?”
“We finished early, and a few of my teammates wanted to go Christmas shopping.” The lies began to slip off his tongue easily, “We took the subway and went to Target. Then, the shooting happened.”
Caelum and his father stared at one another, and he hoped his father couldn’t feel how fast his heart was beating. “I don’t believe you.” His stomach fluttered.
“Ask Peter,” Caelum said suddenly, “He was with us.”
“Peter Parker?” His mother spoke, surprised. “I didn’t know he went to Midtown.”
“He’s on a scholarship too,” Caelum explained. “It’s the partial one.”
“Fine,” His father hissed, and let Caelum go. “We’ll go downstairs ― you and me.” Caelum swallowed and gave a small nod. “And if I find out that you were lying―”
“I’m not lying―” His father hit him across the cheek. Caelum’s closed his eyes, holding his face.
“Don’t interrupt me!” His father hissed. “You were lying, you told us you were at that school, we’ll discuss your punishment after we clear this up.” Caelum stared at his father, then turned to his mother, who averted her gaze, looking down at the floor, his arms crossed over her chest.
“Yes, sir,” Caelum murmured, and shakily stood. His father grabbed him by the shoulder, yanking him to his feet. Caelum winced, but stood anyway.
“C’mon,” His father growled, and pulled him out of the apartment. Caelum walked down the steps quickly and pointed out Peter’s door. His father knocked loudly, and Caelum tried to stand straight.
The door opened a moment later, Peter was smiling. Caelum had left his presents for his family with him, and promised he’d be back later. He was expected Caelum, but not his father, and probably not the state Caelum had been in. He blinked, taking a step back. “You Peter?” His father demanded.
“Yes. . .” Peter said slowly, trying to catch Caleum’s eye. He didn’t look at him.
“Was my son with you and the decathlon team today? Don’t lie to me,” Caelum’s eyes flicked up at Peter, silently begging the boy to lie for him. If his father knew. . . if he suspected something worse was going on. He just needed Peter to lie, just this once.
“Yes, sir,” Peter said firmly. “We went after we had a practice this morning.” Caelum could have kissed Peter.
“Where was the practice held?” Caelum froze, and Peter looked confused, and a bit panicked. Caelum had no other choice. He stared in Peter’s eyes and blinked.
He was possessing Peter, and for a moment. Everything was loud and bright and he winced slightly. He could hear the air vents blowing and the noises of a buzz near the yellowed apartment hall light. He heard someone in the kitchen and smelt the vaguely familiar scent of pasta or lasanga. It was distracting and overloading, like someone dialed his senses all the way up to ten, but Caelum ignored it, going back to the problem at hand.
When he saw his body, he nearly jumped. He had somehow managed to bust his lip, Caelum didn’t even notice. His father was holding his arm so tight, it seemed like he would lose circulation in the limb.
His father looked wild, his eyes narrowed to slits, waiting for Peter's — his — answer. "We were at Ned’s house. Ned Leeds.” Then, Caelum blinked again, and he was in his own body.
Peter looked shaken for a moment and scratched his neck fiercely. He looked behind Caelum and his father, confused. His father had loosened his hold on Caelum’s arm slightly. He relaxed, but his father wasn’t done quite yet.
Caelum’s father swiftly took him away, turning on the spot and dragging him back up the steps. “Wait!” Peter called after him, but it was no good. Neither Caelum nor his father looked back at the boy.
° · ° · ° · °
His father had a hard time punishing Caelum at first ― all he ever did was study and go to school, at least from what they knew. So, when he realized that he couldn’t exactly take his schoolbooks, he decided that physical punishment would have to suffice.
Caelum sat on his bed, gently pressing the ice pack to his eyebrow. His ribs burned with every breath, and his eyebrow bled slightly after he finished with him. His father decided that that was something he would deal with. He also decided that since he wanted to lie about being on the track team ― and potentially missing out on tons of scholarship money ― he personally signed Caelum up.
His heart sank at the new addition to his schedule. Track meets were on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Decathlon was on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This would leave only the weekends or late afternoons for work.
They usually didn’t let out until 6 PM, and he had to get home before 8 PM. Two hours. That was all he had. Two hours to work. Mr. Goldson only paid him eight dollars an hour ― two hours would get him a little over sixteen dollars a day! He’d be making a little under a hundred dollars a week.
He’d never be able to pay for school now. He’d never be able to live. Principal Davis would demand he’d ‘pay’ for extensions, and it would only be so long before he asked him to do something Caelum couldn’t even dream to do. It was only a matter of time before he demanded that Caelum get undressed too.
Caelum sat, curled on the bed. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t do this. He didn’t have the money ― he’d never have the money. He would be. . . he would be in Principal Davis’ debt for the rest of his life. He’d never be able to recover.
He had to find a way ― he had to find something he could do. He couldn’t just wait ― his parents would find out that the scholarship was partial eventually, they’d find out about Mr. Goldson and Principal Davis.
Caelum’s hands shook from the thought. He couldn't help it. He was terrified. There was nothing else he could do ― his schedule was packed, he’d have no time to do anything anymore. He’d have no time to breathe, to get the money.
He heard a soft tap, tap, tap, on the window. Caelum turned quickly, and saw Peter outside of it. Caelum couldn’t talk to Peter right now. He sniffed, rubbing his eyes. It was nearly midnight, his parents wouldn’t be asleep yet.
He gently moved over, cracking the window the tiniest bit. “I can’t talk, Parker,” Caelum said, his eyes on the ground so he didn’t have to look at him.
“What did he do to you?”
“It’s nothing. Go to bed.”
“Caelum, please,” Peter begged, and Caelum closed his eyes. He couldn’t take his begging. He really hated this boy.
Caelum moved away, grabbing his coat and a pair of slippers. He went back to his window, and Peter stepped back so he could crawl through. “Your floor,” Caelum said and Peter gave a small nod. The fire escape was coated in ice from the snow, and Caelum held tight to the bar to keep from slipping. Peter’s window was already open. Caelum slowly crawled through, slipping his shoes off and sat on his bed.
Peter sat beside him, closing the window, staunching the cold chill blowing through the room. Caelum still didn't look at Peter. “We can watch Jaws, if you want,” Peter suggested, and Caelum let out a slight scoff, his lip twitching in amusement.
“You don’t have to do this,” Caelum said. “I dug this hole myself.”
“I’m your friend,” Peter nudged him with his shoulder. “I’m supposed to help you out.”
Caelum shook his head, “You’ll get yourself killed thinking like that.”
“Maybe,” Peter agreed, “They’ll have to catch me first.” Caelum chuckled, and Peter grinned. “We don’t have to watch Jaws. I have some Legos, we can just. . . build, if you want.”
“Build?” Caelum rose an eyebrow and Peter nodded.
“Yeah. Whenever I’m stressed out, I. . . mess around with Legos,” He rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s calming.”
Caelum turned to look at this silly boy who played with Legos. Only Peter would do something like that. Peter was smiling back, but it faltered slightly, his eyes roaming over Caelum’s bruised face. He turned away, but Peter stopped him, reaching for his chin, turning him back. “Oh. . .” He gently rose a hand to his eyebrow. Caelum flinched, but didn’t pull away. Peter touched his eyebrow, not saying anything. Caelum stared at him, the back of his neck tingling, but he didn’t want to possess Peter.
Caelum averted his eyes from Peter’s and looked at his lips. He immediately regretted it, and turned before he could do something he’d regret later. Peter dropped his hand, his warm touch tingling where he last touched it. “I. . . we could just. . . talk?”
“Like always?” Caelum asked, and Peter smiled again.
“If you want to.” Caelum did. Peter started talking again, and Caelum simply listened, giving his two cents. He could listen to Peter talk for days. He felt a bit of his stress lift off his shoulders, and Peter seemed to notice.
Soon, they were on the ground, messing with Peter’s Legos. Peter seemed to be building some kind of spacecraft, and Caelum was just fiddling with the bricks, putting two-and-two together whenever possible. He ended up building a house. It was scrawny and didn’t exactly have a working roof, but Peter seemed to love it.
He beamed, gently taking the half-built house from Caelum. “It’s a masterpiece,” He complimented, and Caelum rolled his eyes.
“Hardly. It looks like a multi-coloured shack.” Peter let out a laugh at that, and Caelum smiled, he was proud he was able to make this boy laugh. To see his face light up with amusement and eyes twinkle with life, he loved that ― he loved him.
He cleared his throat, looking back down at the pile of bricks. “Your ship is impressive,” He complimented before Peter could ask what was wrong.
“You think so?” Caelum nodded, Peter smiled and picked it up, turning it over in his hands, before handing it to Caelum. He was stunned for a moment, “Keep it.”
“I can’t,” Caelum frowned, “It’s your Legos.”
“I can get more,” Peter said. “Think of it as a Christmas gift. Ho! Ho! Ho! Santa is two weeks early!”
Caelum laughed at Peter’s silly antics, “You are a mess, Parker,” Caelum noted and Peter grinned slyly.
“I try. I have to exercise my ‘mess’ every other day.”
“Really? It must be so annoying.”
“Oh it is. But, I can bench press fifty pounds of sarcasm now,” Caelum laughed again, covering his mouth and shaking his head.
He looked at the time, it was nearly 4 AM. Luckily, Caelum finished all his homework Friday night so he could go out Saturday morning ― and just how spectacularly that failed. But, his parents would expect them to be up at 8 AM to go to early morning service, and Saturday nights were usually the only days he was ever able to get a good night’s sleep.
“I should probably go back to my room,” Caelum said, and Peter gave a small frown, but when he saw the time, he agreed. Caelum helped clean up the legos, and Peter wrapped Caelum’s lovely spaceship in a pillowcase. Caelum grabbed his slippers and his jacket, opening Peter’s window and leaving.
Caelum’s room was a frigid cold when he returned, but Caelum didn’t mind. He closed the window behind him, and moved to the desk. He unraveled the Lego spaceship and set it down on the desk, smiling slightly when he saw it.