Junior is standing outside, wet. It's raining heavily.
"Dude? What are you-"
"No time. Come with me." He says. He looks visibly anxious.
"Wha-"
"Hi Junior! What are you doing at this time?" my mom asks.
"Umm..I left something important." He says. "I think I left it in the kitchen."
"What is it?" I ask.
"It's a chain." He says.
"I'll check in the kitchen." My mom says.
"I'll search somewhere else with Onna." Junior says.
"Come." His eyes look alarmed. He looks really scared.
"Wow, was that thing really that precious to you?" I say. That does make sense. His dad will go ballistic if he loses something, especially if it's a costly chain. That explains why he's so sad. But I don't remember him ever having a chain.
"Don't worry, we'll find it for you." I assure him. We go into the corridor. "But I didn't even know you had a chain."
He stops near the Octadecasphera.
He says, "How much time until midnight?"
I point at the clock. 5 minutes until midnight.
He looks at me and says, "I'm sorry. My life is in danger."
"Wha-?" What's up with him?
Without hesitation, he grabs the Octadecasphera, and throws it on the floor hard.
CRASH!
The glass breaks.
Junior bends down and picks the ribcage of Laplace lying among the glass shards and pockets it.
"Wait, wait wha-"
"Oh my god! Who did this?" My mom is standing at the end of the corridor. She looks furious.
Junior points at me.
"He was just in a hurry trying to search for my chain."
"What are-"
My mom comes up to me. She's furious. She brought the Octadecasphera by spending all her life savings. She wanted to use it to get into the Ciudad.
"Is that true?" my mom asks me.
Her eyes look scary. Like death.
I wanted to scream 'HELL NO!'
I get ready to tell the truth.
Then I look at Junior's eyes. He's shaking and looks like he's staring into the depths of hell. I've never seen him look this scared.
He looks like how he looked when he got bullied, but a hundred times more scared.
I have a feeling I'll regret it if I told the truth to my mom.
"Y-yes." I say-
WHACK
My cheek is burning.
My mom just backhanded me.
My parents never hit me.
"Don't worry about this, dear. You search for your chain in the kitchen." My mom tells him.
Junior looks terrified. He stumbles out, but lucky for him (unlucky for me), my mom is focused on me.
The clock rings signalling midnight.
She starts searching for the rib piece.
It doesn't take long before she realizes the rib piece isn't nearby.
"Where did it go?" My mom asks me, dead quiet.
I could hear the main door close. I don't know how long to stall this and pretend like I'm the one who knocked it over. But I guess I'll stall it for as long as possible.
"I-it fell somewhere here." I say.
"Then find it for me."
I pretend like I know where it went.
I bend down and search for it.
About 3 minutes pass. I get up and look at my mom.
"I-I'm sorry mom, I don't know where it-"
WHACK
"I don't know. I need it." My mom tells me.
"Do you know how much that cost?" She asks me.
I remain silent.
"I'll wait downstairs. Don't you dare come down until you've found it."
She suspects I might have pocketed it.
I'll have to pretend like I'm still searching for it.
I'm fucked big time. That's mildly putting it.
I remember what he said. "I'm sorry. My life is in danger."
I hope I'm doing something right by helping you, Junior.
Junior's POV
I run.
I run away from the house and I don't look back.
I open the front door and I keep running.
I see my kidnappers.
I dig into my pockets.
It's not there. Oh god, it's not there.
I panic.
Bile raises in my throat.
Oh no.
Wait, I put it in the other one.
I dig into the other pocket. Thankfully, it's there.
A wave of relief washes over me.
I give the piece of the rib to Tall Guy.
"You're 1 minute past midnight." Fat says.
No. After all that I've-
"Woah, calm down." He says. "We'll look past it. You poor kid, having to wipe your dad's ass. It's okay. You're safe."
"That was admirable. You made it." Chain says. "You must have a really good friend."
Had. He probably hates me now.
I breathe out loudly. It's all over. I wish I could just lay down and fall asleep here.
"Do you want me to drop you at your dad's home? Or do you want me to slap your dad one more time?"
"I….I just want to ask my dad a couple of questions."
"After that, what will you do?" Chain asks
"I probably won't stay with him." I say. I'd rather be homeless than stay with him.
"Want us to come with?"
"Um..you guys are the kindest child kidnappers I've ever met."
"Least we can do to repent for the amount of kids we're kidnapped and gave them to that monster."
"Yeah, hopefully God puts us in heaven after we help you." Fat says.
Dream on.
They walk me to my 'home.'
My dad is sitting, drinking alcohol and eating a sandwich.
He sees me and bolts upright. "How are you here?"
"She paid us. With money." Fat answers.
"You…fucking bitch." My dad is angry now. "I told you to give me whatever money you had to me.
Where did you even hide the 70,000? "
"I borrowed it from someone." I say.
"Why are you here, then?" my dad asked me.
"I just wanted to ask if you ever cared about me." I ask.
He laughs, "Is that why you came here? Don't you know the answer already." He pauses, then looks at me, "You could kill yourself and I couldn't care less."
"I figured." I reply and just walk away in a daze.
"So…." Fat sounds confused.
"Well, that was quick." Tall says.
"Well, guess we'll just…leave." They walk away.
I just notice the rain and cold. I'm shivering from the cold. I need a spot to stay in.
The abandoned houses near the mine, it's a ten minute walk from here.
Ten minutes later, I see it. One of the houses looks alright to stay in.
I walk inside, shivering from the cold and sit on the floor. I try processing what just happened.
I remember Onna lying to his mom, telling that he broke it.
BA-DUMP
My heart skips a beat.
No, heart. Stop dreaming. He probably doesn't care for me, he told it himself that this was a hedonistic relationship that we were having. Then why?
Why does he act like he cares?
It hurts when he acts like he cares for me.
If my own dad doesn't care for me, and if my mom left me, why should I hope that a non-blood related person like Onna care for me?
Thoughts like this only hurt. Best to ignore them.
I don't really have anything to live for. I should just save the trouble and kill myself.
I look at the mine through the window.
If I can try to die, I can try to pay his family back by going inside the mine and getting some gold.
I laugh. How in the world am I going to pay 100k?
End of Junior's POV
"It was Junior, wasn't it?" My mom comes to the corridor.
I'm still reeling from the shock and pretending like I'm searching for the rib piece.
"Ummm. No. It wasn't him." I say.
"Of course, you were acting weird." My mom told me. "And I told him to leave too. I'm such an idiot." She's stressing out.
"Why did you have to do that?" My mom asks me.
I don't know what to say.
"Tell me the truth. I'm going to Junior's home even if you say 'no' because I know I can't trust you. What you say will determine how I'll get the rib piece out of Junior."
My mom isn't joking. The glass worms are spinning around my mom dangerously fast. She's on edge. But she sounds strangely calm.
Hiding the truth anymore would be risky.
"Yes. He took it." I say.
"Why?" my mom asks.
"He just came here and whispered that his life is in danger."
"And you just allowed him to take it?"
"Yes."
"That sounds like a lie."
"You can ask him yourself." I say.
"I will." My mom tells. "Come with me."
We walk to Junior's home. And in the corner I see apartments, squished together like sardines.
My mom knocks in front of a door.
Nobody answers.
My mom knocks harder.
A man opens the door. He's got blonde hair, eyes that look bored and dead and he looks as frail as his son. If he lived a healthier life, he would easily look like a supermodel.
Jim looks high as hell.
"You look shit, Jim." My mom says.
"Mama?" He looks surprised, slurring his words. He rubs his eyes and realizes that my mom IS real.
"I don't have time to catch up. Your son stole something from me."
"Son? I don't have a son."
My mom sighs. "We know Junior is your son. Stop pretending."
Jim pauses, looks confused. Then starts laughing.
"HAHAHA! Did she really tell you that she was a boy? That was just an old lie I told her to tell years ago! Does she still go around telling people she was a boy?"
My mom looks at me surprised. I look back at my mom, just as surprised.
That explains why her face looked so feminine.
"Did she steal from you? She said that she borrowed it."
"Where's he- ugh… she now?" my mom asked.
"Ran away. She was slightly displeased that I sold her ass to the Chief."
"WHAT?" My mom looks murderous.
What did he mean by selling her ass to the Chief?
My mom slaps Jim on the face. She's on a slapping spree today.
"I didn't know you would become this pathetic." My mom said.
Jim looks angry now, "Don't you fucking dare talk to me about pathetic, after what you've done to me."
"That has nothing to do with the kid, Jim." My mom replies. Am I imagining it, or does my mom look a little bit ashamed?
"Your money's gone." Jim says. "She bargained her way out of being sold to the Chief and gave him your money instead."
"Thanks for paying back my debt." Jim says. "Now fuck off. I dunno where the kid is, but I give you full permission to kill her if you see her."
He shuts the door.
My mom puts her hand on her head and doesn't know what to do.
"Whatever. Let's go back home." She says.
"We aren't going after her?" I ask.
"My money's gone anyways." She replies.
It seems like mom's anger towards me dissipated. She's just sad now.
We walk back home and my mom seems deep in thought.
"How do you know Jim?" I ask her.
"I used to date him." She replies. "And your dad dated his wife. Jim wasn't like this at all."
WHAT?
"Wait, what?" I ask.
"Never mind that." My mom says. She takes a deep breath. "I would have done what Junior would have done if I was in her position."
"What position was she in?"
"About to be sold as a slave."
I do a double take. Her life got from bad to worse. No wonder she stole it. This poor kid.
I feel a wave of relief. I'm happy that I helped her.
Knowing her, she's probably overthinking and freaking out…
I hope she doesn't do anything stupid.
Oh god, I hope she doesn't kill herself.
I need to see her now.
"Mom. Can I stay outside for a bit?" I ask her.
"You don't even know where she is. If you want her, look for her tomorrow." My mom replies.
"Please, mom. Please. I need to see her-"
"One more word, and I'll not allow you to go out for a week. It's too dark and dangerous to let you go at this time."
I boil silently with rage.
I'll escape from the window tonight. She's always looked like she was one small push away from committing suicide.
We enter the house. My mom tells me, "You're sleeping with me tonight."
"Why?"
"I know what you're thinking. It's too dangerous."
Sometimes I fucking hate this family.
I wish I lived alone, away from my parents.
We go into my parents' bedroom, and my dad's sleeping like nothing has ever happened.
My mom places a mattress on the floor. "I'll sleep there." I tell her. I don't want to sleep with my parents, I'm way too angry to think straight.
"Okay." My mom sleeps on the bed, and I sleep on the floor.
"Also, don't ever bring her into our house again. I don't want to look at her face." My mom tells me.
I don't answer.
Why can't I sleep?
Sleep, damnit!
Sleep!