"How are you feeling, son?"
"I had better days, mom," I replied, looking down, avoiding her asking me about what had happened.
"So, will you tell me who did this to you?" She said, removing her coat.
I tried the same stupid lie, "I fell, mom."
"By the looks of it, with such a fall, I am surprised to find you home, not in ICU."
"So, how was your day?" I said, trying to change the subject.
"I am not letting you off the hook that easily young man. You are going to tell me what happened."
I had to think fast, "I saw a few kids bullying another kid, and I tried to help him, and this happened."
She bit into the sandwich she was eating, toast with melted cheese, "that's brave of you, son, but if you are going to help someone, maybe you should not get beaten up more severely than the person who got beaten."
"Yes, mom." I replied, not looking up, "Jia, pass me the cheese." I requested.
Jia looked up at me as if I was speaking a foreign language, "cheese," she repeated, playing with the doll's hair.
"Yes, the cheese, please," I repeated in annoyance, wanting to scream out, pass me the goddamn cheese.
She continued to ignore me playing with her Barbie, that doll has been through more hairstyles than my mom, and I had combined in a lifetime, not to mention the body parts being all dislocated, yes, and to make it worse than Barbie was dressed with toilet tissue.
I smiled and made eye contact with Jia, "that small bowl with a yellow lid, could you please pass it to me."
Jia's eyebrows drew close to each other, the bottom lip pushed over the top lip, and the forehead had a smiley wrinkle upside down.
She stubbornly put down the Barbie and passed me the cheese. It had started to rain just as I was about to start eating my first meal for the entire day, "Kai, get buckets from the bathroom." My mom ordered.
"But, mom, I haven't eaten all day."
My mom stood up with her hands at her side, "did I tell you not to eat? Stop being lazy. You need to start growing up."
Grow up; I thought that's what I've been since dad left, doing the chores, taking out the trash watering the garden, cutting the grass in the blazing hot sun, cleaning up after Jia, making sure Jia gets to school on time make sure her homework gets done, dress her, bath her.
Who do you think does all this when you are not around?
At times it's best to bite your tongue and hold back thoughts. Words are something you can't take back, maybe Mom is getting old, and she is just grumpy cause she is fed up with her miserable life. She has suffocated herself at work; all she does around her at home is put the food on the table.
I turned to stand up, and damn, my ribs hurt.
I cursed at Jiang for a moment. My mind dwelled, and I had this perfect picture of me kicking his butt as his dumb friends ran up to me. I used karate and kicked all these asses.
Ming Yui came running up to me and holding me, calling me her hero.
"Kai, snap out of it, get the buckets, I don't know where your head is at these days, but you need to be more focused," my mom scolded.
I walked to the backyard and got the buckets, and to my surprise, it was Maka.
She had walked over to me; she looked like Wednesday, her hair was plaited, and she had blue ribbons; her pale skin was the silk of white rose petals, she had dark eyes with mascara, and she was wearing black denim jeans, with slits in, and a pair of leather boots with silver spikes.
She walked up to me and placed her finger on my cheek, "that hurts. Is this really you, Maka? How did you get here?"
I had a million questions right then, but my mind was blank. I was surprised at how beautiful she was; She had a sculpted figure which was twine-thin.
Her waist was tapered, and she had a light complexion skin. A pair of arched eyebrows looked down on sweeping eyelashes. Her delicate ears framed a button nose.
A set of dazzling, angel-white teeth gleamed as she blew gently on her carmine-red fingernails. It was a pleasure to see her flowing, moon-shadow-black hair.
Her enticing, constellation-black eyes gazed at me over her puffy, heart-shaped lips.
Maka shook her head, and in a sugary voice, she said, "does this hurt?"
Her long black nails traced the bruise on my face. Maka shook her head and coldly said, "the assholes who did this to you they will pay dearly."
"Maka?" I said.
"Yes Kai."
"Why me Maka?"
Maka looked down at her hand. She was wearing a ring similar to the one I had picked up, then turned it to face the moon, "do you see the blue and red stone in the ring?"
I shook my head, thinking, what does this have to do with what I just asked you? Why not just give me a straight answer?
You're so beautiful, I thought to myself. Maka had something that seemed sinister about her appearance; it's not how pale she was or how she had looked; it's something about her appearance.
She gently took my wrist and turned my wrist. Her hands felt ice cold.
It sent shrills through my body. As I breathed in, it was more of a shock than coldness, a shock of adrenalin flowing straight to my heart.
She glanced up at me; that is when I noticed her eyes were her most powerful, intense, and terrifying weapons. It was as though she shot lasers through her pupils.
It must have been dark, with no color, just a deep bottomless, soulless hole. For the most part, they were willowing and, once met, left a person feeling threatened and vulnerable.
It felt as if I was paralyzed. My entire body felt it was burning on the inside, and that's when I felt something warm above my lips. I tried to move my finger to feel what it was, but I felt numb. She stepped closer.
I could feel her breath above my lips. It felt like a cold breeze on whatever was on top of my lip, her lips inches from mine; my heart trembled not of joy nor fear.
It was a complete feeling of relaxation. Maka ran her long sharp nail over my cheek, "you are more than what I expected," she said in a husky, low, sinister voice.
"I am?" I repeated, sounding like a juvenile next to her. Even though we looked one age and the same height, I felt small to her.
She then stuck out her tongue and licked above my nose. That's when I noticed the blood on the tip of her tongue.
Maka then licked her lips like she was having a delicious piece of desert, and her eyes grew darker.
"Kai, it's raining in here. How long will you be out there? The longer you take, the more work you give to yourself. Get that buckets in here."
I turned around for a second, and when looking back, she was gone. I went to the corner of the house in search of her, but she was nowhere to be seen.
I noticed a silver pendant on the ground in the shape of a snake, I picked it up; it had a blue glow. For a moment, I stared at it, fascinated.
I leaned over and picked it up from the ground. That's when I noticed the pains I had were gone. The bruises on my face and chest were gone.
"Kai," said my mom with an annoying voice, "If I have to come out there and get the bucket myself, I will be dragging you in by your ears."
"I am coming, mom," I replied as I hurried in. The floor was soaked with water.
"Clean up this mess and do the dishes when you are done."
"Come, Jia, let me put you to bed," she mumbled a few things about me. I ignored her. Maka was stuck in my mind. There is something about her; I couldn't stop thinking of her.
Her long nails, eyes, tongue on my lips, did she lick the blood off my lip? I thought to myself as I used the mop to wipe the floor and dry it in the bucket.
I hoped this was not just some dream.
I then removed the pendant from my pocket. If it were a dream, I wouldn't have this. I closed my hand and smiled. Today I felt better than any other day, was this because of Maka, or was it because of me finding out who I am?
Either way, that asshole Jiang and his friends will pay for what they had done to me. I will humiliate them and then beat them up.