"Where the heck have you been?!" a voice thundered across the sitting room, shrouding the voices coming out of the TV within it.
Cassio stood rooted to the spot, bearing the heavy gaze of his stepfather. As usual, he had met his stepfather at home—drunk and jobless.
Mr. Humphrey was dressed in a black grubby T-shirt and shabby jeans, a baseball cap propped on top of his small head. He was a perfect example of a neanderthal man, huge and domineering. His eyes and teeth were yellow, depicting his fondness of cigarettes. Suspended within his right index and middle fingers was a large stick of cigarette, the ring glowing with faint ember colour. Grey smoke snaked its way from the ring, forming puffs of smoke around Mr. Humphrey.
"I'm coming from school," Cassio replied without the slightest bit of fear in him. It was in his former years that he had feared and dreaded Mr. Humphrey as if he was some god. Now he had been beating tough like coconut and couldn't bring himself to cower before him—not now, not ever.
Of course Mr. Humphrey was surprised by Cassio's unusual boldness and sized him up with glaring eyes which seemed like a devil's, "So it takes you hours to get home, huh?"
Cassio didn't reply, fuming up at the man's intolerable attitude. Most times, he had conceived the thought of running Mr. Humphrey through with a knife but then he had waved the thought aside. He didn't want to end up running for the rest of his life or being arrested by the cops and thrown into jail.
"You're as useless as your mother!" Mr. Humphrey blared out and what accompanied it was a heavy slap to Cassio's face. The impact sent the latter staggering backwards, holding his face. "Next time come here anyhow you like and I'd make sure you regret your useless and miserable life!"
Tears welled up in Cassio's eyes as he felt a sharp pain in his head which was accompanied by dizziness and constant ringing. He removed his hand from his face, revealing deep reddish finger-sized bruises which covered half part of his face.
"Get outta my face, you bast*rd!" Mr. Humphrey roared as he gave Cassio another slap to the face and then shoved him towards the dining room.
Cassio didn't even utter a sound as he bore the sharp pain like a sheep to the slaughter, tottering to one of the doors at the end of the dining room. The door to the left led to the kitchen while the door to the right led to the staircase. He walked towards the right door and opened it, climbing up the marble staircase which glittered under the yellow bulbs. He held the banisters to avoid himself staggering since he had been dizzied by the dense slaps which seemed to have shaken his brain within his skull.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
He climbed till he reached the corridor. He walked past several rooms till he got to the end of the corridor where his room was located.
Click!
He turned the door knob and entered into his room, shutting the door gently behind with a soft sigh.
His room was a small one with few old furnitures. The walls were old and had cracks running across them, the former yellow paint faded into bleak colour. At a corner of the room was a small bed with a white mattress and a brown wooden wardrobe standing next to it. The floor of the room was littered with several books which were still open, papers sprawled across the whole place.
He walked slowly towards his bed and bent down to pick one of the books near it. He collapsed on his back into the soft bed as he stared at the book cover which bore the name, 'Buddhist Mythology'. He flipped through the pages quickly, his blue eyes scanning through them. He soon became disinterested and dropped the book, sighing.
"When will this ever stop?" Cassio asked himself, his eyes on the white ceiling. While thinking, he was using his eyes to count the several designs which were inscribed into the ceiling. "Everyday I'm maltreated for no reason and given no justice by the law."
Ruff!
He heard a soft bark as his golden retriever jumped from underneath his bed and landed on him, staring into his eyes with its charming and innocent puppy eyes. It was obvious it had sensed its master's sadness.
"Not now Chase," Cassio said but that didn't stop the golden retriever from licking his face, wetting it with saliva. Cassio felt the love from Chase as he smiled at it warmly and said, "Good boy."
Chase barked and wagged its tail, licking Cassio's mouth in excitement as it began jumping on Cassio's torso.
"Stop that, they'd hear you," Cassio said. "You don't want those monsters to hear you and throw you outside, do you?"
Of course, Chase listened to its master and stopped jumping. It lay on Cassio, staring into his blue eyes. Its excitement stopped as it wore a sad expression, whimpering as it felt its master's pain and trouble.
Cassio who saw the golden retriever's expression couldn't control his emotions any longer. Tears trickled down his eyes as he began sobbing, "You're the only one who loves me, Chase and I love you too."
Chase licked Cassio's face as if telling him to cast away his worries. Cassio who seemed to understand what the young dog meant, said, "How can I cast away my worries when I meet them everyday? How can I? You won't understand, Chase. You won't."
He continued sobbing, tears flooding his handsome face. He didn't know how long he had sobbed but then he felt sleepy and also saw that Chase had long slept on his chest. He yawned and closed his eyes, trying to sleep.
"Cassio!" he was jolted awake by the shout coming from downstairs. He immediately frowned, knowing who it was. It was his drunk and jobless stepfather again!
"Chase, get up," he called gently as he carried the golden retriever and lay it in his bed. Chase was awoken by this and stared at Cassio sadly.
"I'm coming back," he said as he walked towards his door, opening it and slamming it behind him. He hurried downstairs to see Mr. Humphrey frowning deeply in his direction.
"Why can't you answer my call?!" Mr. Humphrey shouted. "And what took you so long?!"
The dull looking Cassio didn't reply and flatly said, "You called me."
Mr. Humphrey didn't push on the matter and said, "I want you to get me some rigs."
Cassio stretched out his right hand and said, "Money."
"You get 'em on credit and you pay for 'em rigs when you'll have some bucks," Mr. Humphrey said, his foul breathe wafting Cassio's face. The latter could only hold his breathe and walk out of the house, not wanting to inhale the puffy smell of cigarettes. Also, he wanted to use this chance to borrow the book which Old Thompson had advised him to read. He had had enough and would soon have a mental break down if he wasn't careful with his emotions.
He lumbered across Azure Alley, indifferent to the gazes which met him and the talks behind him. He first walked past Thompson Library which was on the 5th Block. He didn't want to borrow the book on his way to get the cigarettes as he didn't want to be carrying some book in his hands across the alley. He walked to the 2nd Block and got into the front of a shop with the inscription: RIGS.
Cassio wondered why someone in his senses would decide to call his shop, Rigs. Sometimes, he felt people called him queer for no reason as there were more queer ones among them!
Behind the counter stood a short man with head as bald as beach ball and eyes as sunken as the bottom of a teacup. He was dressed in a green sweater and purple jeans, an alarming mixture of colours which didn't match. When Cassio entered into the shop, he glared and said, "What do you want?"
"Mr. Humphrey asked me to get some rigs from you," Cassio said. He then decided to teach his stepfather a lesson which he would never forget in his life. "Hundreds of packs of 'em."
The shop owner sized Cassio up for some minutes and bought the lie. Of course, no one ever saw Cassio outside except when he was going to and returning from school and when he was sent on errands. In a crispy voice, he said, "I hope you're not being quaint."
"Please Mister, be quick with whatever you're doing," Cassio said indifferently. "I don't wanna be bellowed at by some bulldog."
"I just pray he hears that!" the shop owner sneered and went to get the packets of cigarettes. He then turned and said to Cassio, "Wanna borrow my barrow? Coz I don't think you're gonna carry these stacked up cigarettes like a hulk."
Cassio didn't answer the man and watched him frown before returning to his business. In a couple of minutes, the cigarettes were stacked up in a wheelbarrow. Cassio couldn't help but smile inwardly as he grabbed the handles of the wheelbarrow, pushing it away from the shop. He got to a corner behind the 2nd Block and emptied the wheelbarrow. He took a packet out of the whole stacked of packets, took the wheelbarrow and pushed it back to the shop.
"Back so soon?" the shop owner was surprised and couldn't help but stare at him suspiciously.
Cassio didn't say anything and left for Thompson Library which was on the 5th Block. Getting there, he saw that Old Thompson was already closing as it was already evening. He had wanted to turn away and leave but the genial middle-aged man would hear nothing of it and reopened the library.
"I wanna borrow the book you told me about," Cassio said. "My worries are doubling up every single sec."
"Ah!" Old Thompson said and then pointed to a shelf, "The Book of Mysteries, you say? It's up on that shelf."
Cassio hurried up and searched for the book, wondering why Old Thompson didn't help him get it. Then he saw a black book among the other books. Although he couldn't tell why, he felt this was the Book of Mysteries Old Thompson was talking about. He grabbed the book and looked at the cover on which some words which Cassio couldn't read were inscribed. The words were strange as if they were not of this world, dispelling off mysteries. Immediately, he felt a slight dizziness but attributed it to the slaps Mr. Humphrey had given him. He stared at the book for some time and then asked, "This is the Book of Mysteries?"
"You've got the right thing," Old Thompson said with a smile. "You better get back home before he gets at you again."
Cassio thanked Old Thompson profoundly as he tucked the book in his hoodies to conceal it to the ever prying eyes of his foster family. He didn't want to get back home and watch the book seized from him before being burnt by Mr. Humphrey. He turned around and walked out of the library as fast as he could because he wanted to read this Book of Mysteries as fast as he could!
He got to the house, handed the packet of cigarettes to Mr. Humphrey and walked upstairs to his room. Of course Mr. Humphrey wasn't bothered and immediately tore open to packet of cigarettes behind Cassio with delight.
"Remember to pay tonight!" Cassio could hear Mr. Humphrey bellow. "Don't leave a penny!"
"Let's see about that," Cassio said as he walked upstairs to his room. "We'll see how many bucks you get to hand out."
When he got to his room, he was so exhausted that he didn't bother to read the Book of Mysteries. In fact, he didn't even remember he had such an item tucked within his hoodies. He jumped into his bed, collapsing beside Chase. Soon, he was consumed by drowsiness and slept off.
Unbeknownst to him, a faint circle appeared around his bed. This circle was ember and exuded mysterious auras as mysterious runes appeared in the circle.
Chase noticed this and was alarmed. It immediately began barking to alert its master of impending danger.
"Ruff! Ruff! Ruff!"
But of course, it was too late. Its barkings were drowned by a mysterious force which sucked them to silence. And at that moment, Cassio and Chase vanished from the bed. After they had vanished, the mysterious circle and runes disappeared without trace as well!