The duo got back to the first floor and walked out of the hospital. Tyler looked at the sun getting lower, the purplish and orange colors in correlation with the sunset in the sky complimented each other.
"So... that's what it looks like when you hallucinate. Do you want to talk about it?"
"No, no I don't. But I do want to say sorry for that discussion I had with my dad in front of you."
"Dude, it's okay. That's normal. You and I have those all the time." Tyler said as he nudged him.
"Shut up." Tyrell couldn't help but chuckle at Tyler's comment. "I guess we should go home huh?"
"You're not going over to Carmen's house?"
"I need to talk to my mom, maybe I'll go to her house later to make sure she's okay. I'll walk you home real quick though."
"Alright, I don't want to hold you up from going to your little girlfriend so let's go." Tyrell gave him a light tap on the side of his head. The two walked through the city, reaching Tyler's street after walking for 20 minutes. It got darker the more they walked, the sun had completely disappeared. As they walked into the street Tyler lived on, an ostrich ran past the two of them, almost knocking Tyler away. There was a man sitting on the ostrich, with a cap and delivery service clothing on. A bag was tied to the big bird with packages in it almost spilling out from the top. It raced across the street, the man riding it grabbed the bag and grabbed a few packages, throwing them out as they ran past the houses on the street. The packages hit the doors and landed right on their doorstep. The ostrich ran back, they reached Tyler's door, the delivery man hopped off. He grabbed a tablet and stylus, writing down a few names and addresses, ringing the doorbell and waiting for someone to answer. Tyler and Tyrell walked over to Tyler's house, walking up the stairs ending up on the porch behind the delivery man.
"Hello sir! I live here, Tyler Smith. The package is probably for my dad." The man looked at him and smiled handing him the tablet and stylus. Tyler wrote his name and signature but was interrupted by the door opening. His father stepped out, he was lanky, had an untrimmed beard with a buzz cut, sweatpants on and tank top as well. He had crow's feet next to his eyes and a lit-up cigarette in his hand.
"Well, haven't seen you in a while Tyrell." Tyler's dad said as he grabbed the tablet and erased Tyler's name and signature, putting his own in place of them 'Nathan Smith'. He gave it back to the delivery man, he nodded his head and walked down the porch to the street and stepped back onto his ostrich.
"Yeah, I've been a bit busy with school and stuff. I hope everything is okay over here though?"
"Everything is fine and dandy."
"Dad, what did you order?" Tyler said, looking at the box in his father's hand.
"None of your business, just get inside." Nathan kept looking down at him and stepped away from the door.
"Is it that big of a deal?" Tyrell asked. Nathan turned his head to Tyrell, his face turned noticeably irritated.
"Alright, fine dad. Listen Ty I'll just talk to you tomorrow, okay?"
"Sure, I'll see you." Tyrell put his fist up for a fist bump, Tyler pulled his hand out of his pocket, the bag with the tablets fell out and landed right next to Nathan's feet. He bent down and picked it up, inspecting it and looking at Tyler with the cigarette in his mouth. He shook the bag and blew the smoke out towards Tyler.
"Wait, dad it's not what-"
"Seriously? This is what you bring home after all the talks we've had? After the damage it's done to our family as a whole?" His dad cut him off and walked towards him still shaking the bag, but this time right in front of his face.
"Dad, p-please just listen. We found it after we saw someone sell it to someone else." Tyler said nervously.
"You know how much pain and suffering we've had to go through just to keep this out of our lives, you can't even use this crap, but you still bring it with you?" His dad slapped the bag against his face. Tyrell, being shook, lightly gasped.
"I-I promise dad, of course I wouldn't willingly bring this to you of all people-" His father went for another slap, this time it left a small print of it on his cheek. Tyler held himself back from retaliating, Tyrell saw this and gave him a worried look.
"Shut up. This is unbelievable. Do you think rehab was a joke? Do you think I want to go through that again? I barely survived last time. But now you're giving me a first-class ticket, just because you found it somewhere." Nathan went in for another slap, but Tyrell jumped in front of it. As he got smacked, his head turned, he kept looking down at the ground and his nostrils were flaring with anger. Nathan took a step back, surprised that his son's friend took the hit for him. He stared back at Tyler's dad.
"Stop. Hitting. My friend." Tyrell said, looking up at the tall man that Tyler's father was.
"Who the fuck are you to tell me what I can and can't do to my child?"
"Someone who's higher up on the food chain than you are. Whatever vile thing you think Tyler did just now, forget about it. I was with him, this is a misunderstanding." As they exchanged gazes for a moment, Nathan out of frustration, crushed the bag. He turned the tablets into powder and threw the bag on the ground. He walked back into the house, Tyler put his hand on Tyrell's shoulder to get his attention, nodding at him with a small smile.
"Thank you, Ty. Be safe on your way home alright?"
"Don't worry, I'll take the shortcut. If anything happens, just call me." Tyler went in after his dad and closed the door, waving him goodbye one more time. Tyrell rubbed his cheek, still feeling the sting from the slap. He walked off the porch and walked down the street. The streets were almost completely empty, most people were enjoying dinner at home or already in bed, because the sun had already disappeared. Tyrell stopped at a passageway close to Tyler's neighborhood, it was a path going in a curvy pattern that connected to the city's center. He grabbed his phone and sent a message to Carmen.
'Hey, I'm on my way home right now, I'm going through salamander's path. Doesn't look like anyone here's going to cause any trouble so I'll be safe.'
He put his phone away, walking along the path with caution. In the silence of the night, moonlight reflecting off of the wildly grown grass around the path, Tyrell heard a hissing sound coming from the patch of grass behind him. It was a small black cat with big bright green eyes, its ribcage could be seen through its skin. One of the cat's fangs was broken, only three complete fangs were left over. Tyrell got a grin on his face and approached the kitten. The malnourished feline exposed its claws and swiped at him, scratching his thumb. He pulled his hand away for a second and stepped in even closer keeping eye contact with the cat. After a moment passed, it stopped hissing. Once again, he extended his hand out to the cat, only this time it carefully smelled his hand before pressing its head against his palm. He chuckled and petted the cat from its head to its back.
"Haven't eaten in a while huh? I'm sorry it's been rough for you little guy." The cat meowed loudly. "Or little...lady? I guess? Excuse me and my bad manners ma'am." She started licking the scratch she made on Tyrell's thumb. Tyrell looked around, seeing a corner store in the distance. He signaled the cat to stay there with his hands, opening them and pushing them in her direction. He ran over towards the store, stepping through the grass to get there faster. He arrived, the store's windows were filled with neon lights and signs. He walked over to the door, seeing another sign, this one said; 'No anima users allowed.' Tyrell kissed his teeth and grabbed his blue puffer jacket, pulling it over half of his face to cover his mouth so his teeth wouldn't show while talking. He pushed open the door, a man standing behind the counter with an unconnected mustache and patchy beard looked up from his phone and waved at him. Tyrell nodded at the shop owner, he walked into the aisle with dog- and cat food, grabbing a can of salmon mixed with chicken. Inspecting it made him realize that it would only be enough for one day at most. He sighed and walked to the counter keeping his head steady so his jacket wouldn't fall down. He handed over the can to the shop owner and backed up a little bit.
"How you doing?" The owner asked him, scanning the can behind the counter.
"I'm doing good, just getting some food for my cat you know?"
"Yeah, I hear you, gotta keep the kittens fed. But it's already dark outside, I'd watch out when going out late in these parts."
"That's true, people mug each other all the time over here. Thanks for the advice." He grabbed the can and put a few dollars in front of the owner. Tyrell began making his way to the door.
"Not only that, but those damn anima users are even more dangerous. I don't know why Adler hasn't done anything to get us regulars away from these psychos. The first president with an anima? You'd think he would be quick to solve these problems." The shop owner said, Tyrell stopped moving and turned his head towards the owner again, this time getting infuriated the more the man spoke. Before speaking, he tried to calm himself down by breathing in and out.
"Heh, yeah. I mean, that's not really how politics work. Dividing regulars and anima users won't solve all the problems they might cause."
"People keep getting scared, that's part of the reason I got that sign up on that damn door. Don't want any of those borderline terrorists in my store."
"I completely agree with you. But I should be on my way, stay safe. Just as advice, don't let any anima users hear you say things like that." Tyrell gripped the door's handle so hard that when he let go of it to close the door, it was almost completely crushed. Walking back through the grass and seeing the cat laying down next to a tree in salamander's path, breathing heavily. Tyrell ran over and kneeled, opening the can. The cat smelled the food Tyrell brought him and tried to stand up. Seeing this made Tyrell act even faster, he put the can of food down in front of the cat and watched her taking her first few bites. After getting used to the food her mouth moved faster out of desperation, she devoured everything inside the can, licking it clean afterwards. Tyrell, watching the kitten eat the food he bought with a smile, got a look of disappointment. He extended his hand towards the kitten and caressed her from her head to her back.
"I'm sorry I couldn't get you anything more than this right now. I'm a little short on money after buying something for someone who means quite a lot to me." He stood up straight walked away, following salamander's path once again until he arrived at home. Tyrell grabbed the key out of his pocket, opening the door and walking into the living room. His mother, sleeping on the couch with tv on, still with the remote in her hand, was almost falling off the couch. Tyrell chuckled and carefully grabbed her by her arms and shoulder, while the tv was spouting on about the news in the background. He went upstairs into his mother's and father's room and grabbed a puffy blanket, going downstairs after to put it on his mother. He took the remote out of his mother's hand and was about to turn off the tv, just then he heard the reporter giving an important message.
"Breaking news everyone at home. Another anima attack just took place, an individual with ripped clothing attacked a subway station, casualties consist of 3 wounded and luckily no more than that. The police have brought in the man who's responsible for the attack for further investigation, we will keep you updated."
Tyrell gave the tv a dirty look and aggressively pressed the power button on the remote, turning it off. He put it down and walked up the stairs, passing Nila's room. He slightly opened the door and saw her laying in bed, drooling on her pillow with a fishbowl next to her, a few piranhas were swimming around in it. After noticing Tyrell they all looked at him, headbutting the fishbowl in his direction. Nila moved around a bit in her sleep and wiped away the drool from her face whilst asleep. Tyrell chuckled and closed the door again, walking into his own room and taking off his clothes. As he undressed and threw the clothes onto his chair at his desk, his phone got a notification. He grabbed it and opened it.
'Adler responds to the recent increase in anima attacks. New safety regulations may be in the works.'
He kissed his teeth and turned the phone off, jumping into bed.
"These people and their animosity..." He whispered to himself.