"Rhea! My lovely sister, how are you doing?"
Rhea had to put a hand out to stop her sister Elaine from hugging her. Elaine was a beautiful and curvy woman in her late twenties, harboring pretty dark brown hair and dark eyes. She wasn't shaking as it was someone from her family she was used to. And yet she still hated the idea of touching other people.
Elaine knew her strange tendencies and yet still refused to acknowledge she hated associating with other people, even if that meant it was her own family member she grew up with.
"Elaine," she warned with animosity in her voice.
"Okay fine! I just wanted to see how my lovely sister was doing and my god..." Elaine peered into the room and gasped. "It looks as if a storm came by and wrecked your condo!"
As much as she'd hate to admit it, Elaine was right. A storm did come by her condo. The two sex crazed neighbors! Ever since they arrived, her condo has been in the worst shape possible. Then again, it was only slightly cleaner when they had arrived. The point being, she wanted to blame others for her state of a distressed condo.
Rhea would admit she was a terrible person. After all, there were times she even hated herself. She hated even being alive in this ugly world she couldn't even stand to be out in yet wasn't prone to end her own life. The only person she still tolerated and loved in this world would also terribly miss her.
Suddenly, a tiger mask half Rhea's height appeared from below. It was a orange and black mask with white outlines of smiling tiger features.
"Hello! It's your favorite nephew. Today I'm a tiger friend. What do you think? Cool huh?..."
"Very cool—umph!" Rhea squealed as he quickly rushed and ran into her arms.
"Rhea, I've missed you!"
Damien.
She smiled and leaned down to greet him in his bunny mask and return the heartfelt hug. Little Damien's small stature of a ten year old boy molded to a perfectly capable adult's mind, peered up at her with the mask. He was always considerate of her and considered her agoraphobia and tendencies of being afraid of strangers.
This was an odd greeting and situation Damien came up with himself. The first few times they had met over the years, Damien proposed a solution which helped Rhea overcome most of her trauma. For some reason when Damien wore masks, she felt at ease and somewhat released of her traumatic burdens that would usually take over her whole body.
"...Damien, I've missed you too."
Elaine soon pulled both of them into a hug, to which Rhea hissed at her like some wild animal. She didn't get the shakes from someone she was familiar with but still, feeling warmth from others didn't make her feel good inside. It revolted her. Elaine eventually pulled away as Rhea continued hissing yet hugging Elaine's own flesh and blood.
She checked her watch and smiled at the both of them.
"Alright my loves, it's time for me to go," and then she leaned down to pat Damien's head and kiss him on the cheek. "Be a good boy and listen to Rhea, hmm?"
Damien nodded, his expression unreadable through the mask. "...Yes mom. I will."
She turned to Rhea. "Thank you sis. I appreciate it...Now see ya both. Don't have too much fun without me!"
Before Elaine could leave, Damien had tugged on his mother's coat jacket. "Mom, how long will you be gone? You do remember I have a piano recital coming right? You promise to make it... right?"
Elaine tenderly smiled and stuck out her pinky to which Damien looped his pinky under.
"I promise."
Just as fast as Elaine came storming in, she had left. Poor Damien stared after her figure until it disappeared down the stairs and away from view. It was always like this. A natural habit. Her sister Elaine was a lover of men. That meant she spent more time living lavish with men who could take her countries away than with her dear son.
She often left Damien with a caretaker or with Rhea. Damien was but a young ten year old and already, had grown up in that little body to understand how to take care of himself even when his dear mother was away. In more ways than one, he was good at taking care of Rhea too. Rhea didn't mind Damien's company.
Rhea reached out to pat Damien's shoulder. "Damien?"
He turned around and slapped his mask and face. "Men don't miss their moms! Okay first thing is first...We need to clean this place up. Where is the dust pan and broom?"
"Er, over there," she pointed to the dust pan and broom in the kitchen.
Before she could even begin to complain to someone half her age, he handed her a blindfold. Thoughtful, as always. The blindfold would help her overcome the sunlight problem. Rhea obediently put on the pink bunny shaped blindfold as Damien went to work on her condo. It wasn't as if Rhea didn't clean.
She did. But having trash meant that she would have to carry them outside. So in other words, she kept the trash piled and stacked out in the living room. This would create that stinky smell and crazy mess that gathered to look like a storm. Rhea heard Damien open the curtains and the windows.
At last, fresh air that she had forgotten about.
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
Although Rhea couldn't quite see through the blindfold, she could feel him shaking his head at her. "You don't like the light and can't step outside to take the trash so leave it to your mighty tiger friend Damien! I'll be right back. Just sit tight and relax Rhea."
Damien grabbed what sounded like one of the trash bags and began to walk outside. She fumbled for her way to the couch and obediently listened to him.
Every fiber of her being froze when she heard one of her sex crazed kinky neighbor's familiar voice, "...Why hello there, little tiger. Do you need help carrying that down there?"