Chapter 6: House and the Webhouse
[Phone Rings]
"Hello," I answered in a sleepy voice as it was almost midnight and I was dead asleep until now.
"Kyle? Its me, Mark," came the voice from the phone, "What are you doing?"
Seriously, in the midnight? What am I supposed to do?
"Climbing the wall around Mexico," I replied in an annoyed tone.
"Oh! I am sorry for disturbing," he said as he thought I wasn't joking. I am not at all surprised.
"I just had to ask you something," he said, "Can you guys come to my house? Tomorrow? I need some help."
"You called to tell this?" I asked in an angry tone.
I was pissed, really pissed. I mean, who calls you in the midnight for such a stupid reason. Damn it, I was asleep. I was having a pleasurable dream, maybe would have had a wet dream. But now, I am awake.
"Ya, call Jason and tell him, will you?" he asked and immediately hung up as if he knew I would call Jason and inform him.
Although, I did it anyway.
The next day,Jason and I, we both were at his doorstep.
"That was a friendly gesture of yours to call me in the midnight," said Jason with a pissed voice.
"I had to tell you this." I replied.
"Could have told me in the morning, right?" he asked with the same tone, but now he had a pissed off face too.
I leaned backwards as I thought he was going to hit me, "But Mark called me in the midnight," I said it in my defense.
"That doesn't give you a reason," said Jason as he frowned over me.
Fortunately, Mark opened the door of his house and kind of saved me.
He invited us to come in.
It was an average studio apartment with a bedroom, a small living space, kitchen and a shower room.
But everywhere we looked there were spider webs and dust in every corner o the house. I suppose he never even bothered to use a broom in his house.
As we looked around the house, we saw Mark walking towards his vacuum cleaner.
"Don't tell me," said Jason curiously, "You called us here to clean your house?"
"Ya," answered Mark, "I thought I could use some extra hands, and you know this thing it's hard to control,"
"Yeps, with great power comes great responsibility," I said.
I don't know why I said that; it doesn't make any sense really, does it?
Anyway, it was going to take a lot of time for us to clean this Web-house.
I hate cleaning. We just had cleaned the whole damn school and now this.
But we had no choice. We both walked towards him to grab a cloth.
"Um — A trick question, Why are you interested in cleaning now?" I asked as it was pretty much obvious that he never cleaned his house before then why bother now.
"It's obvious, right?" he replied with an obvious reaction, "It stinks and looks shabby."
"But it suits you." I said with a straight face.
"Thanks, I know that." he replied.
Now, how the hell did that get out as a compliment?
I thought about that for a second, but then I eventually started working with Jason in the living room while Mark cleaned his bedroom.
"What happened at your date?" I asked, "Did you ask her?"
"Yeah, I did. She isn't the one," he replied, "She said that she just inherited the family name and is a kind of far relatives. So, she knows nothing in particular. But she recognized the watch. It is royal."
"So?" I asked.
"She promised to tell me, if she gets anything about the watch," he replied, "Other than that we got nothing."
"Back to square one?" I said as we continued cleaning.
He nodded.
Honestly. I wasn't surprised. 'Cause if she would have been the one, then she wouldn't have waited for this long. She is not the shy-kind. So, she would have told him right away.
As we were cleaning, Jason stumbled upon a fishbowl with a fish inside it.
This Fishbowl was covered in almost five layered of webs.
It surprised me. It was as if it had adapted to survival in these conditions.
We called Mark.
"Oh you are here, I thought I had lost you." he said as he entered the living room. He had a smile on his face.
It was evident for him to lose an insignificant creature under these circumstances, right?
"By the way," he said as he directed our attention to the fishbowl, "Meet 'Fish'"
"So, what did you name it?" Jason asked as he examined the fish.
"Its 'Fish', you didn't hear the first time?" he said with a confident tone.
Okay, let me process this.
I have seen people naming their pets with a weird or rather abnormal names, but who in their right mind names a fish as a 'Fish'
I like this naming sense. If I ever had a baby, I am going to name it Homo-Sapient.
"That's a cool name," reacted Jason as he knew it would be a waste of time if we try reasoning with him.
"I know right, I will never let anyone let use this name," he expressed himself with a confidence as he invented this name.
"Yeps, sorry underwater buddies you just lost your mock name," I whispered to myself.
"Um — you don't live with your parents?" I asked.
"I-I don't, I don't like to." he answered with an unsettled voice.
I thought it was for the best if I didn't further investigate into that matter. 'Cause I saw his face and realized that he isn't comfortable with this topic.
***********
[6 months ago]
(Mark's POV)
"Mark, you should focus on your studies more," said my mother with a brooding face.
"Yes, you should. I always see you playing football. There's no point in becoming a sports person," My father rebuked.
"Come on, you know I was shortlisted in this year's young talent's list. If I try hard, maybe I'll be selected next time." I argued.
"There's no future in sports. I say you should focus on your studies. You see, your grades are dropping low," he added.
It baffled me as he supported me the last time, and now he is acting like this.
We had an agreement which lasted for an hour.
"You know what, Dad, you will never be satisfied," I raised my voice, "And I don't want to leave with you, I'll live in Granny's home as there's no one living there."
I left the room as soon as I finished.
**********
"You okay, pal?" I asked Mark as I saw him spacing out suddenly.
"Ya, I—I am," he replied as his voice shuttered.
"Um — If you're free, then maybe you should come by and see my new house.
Apparently, I had been thinking about living alone for a while. I had discussed this with my dad and he agreed to give me some space.
So, he bought me a small apartment–kind thing.
"Ya, sure," he replied, "I will."
So, we finished our work and then headed out to my new home.
We reached there, and I saw Carol with Amy and Staci waiting for us. Jason called them. It looked like they were more thrilled than me.
We entered the house.
It wasn't anapartment; it was a detached house with a living area, four bedrooms, a simplekitchen and a yard.
Yeps, that's a small apartment like a house for my dad.
Everyone walked around the house. It looked like they liked it.
Personally I wanted a smaller house but now I had no choice but to live in this one.
Carol was examining like if she was going to stay here.
We were done looking and Mark walked up to me, "So, you are living alone?"
I had clearly mentioned that I wanted and will stay alone. Then why ask this question?
"Honey, come on now. Its rude, come downstairs and meet my friends," I said sarcastically, pretending that someone other than us was inside the house.
As soon as I completed my speaking, I heard a creaking sound from the stairs. It grabbed my attention, and we turned our faces towards direction of stairs.
It was Calyx, walking down the stairs. I didn't even knew he was there with us.
Calyx is my personal caretaker. My father hired him as he thinks I can't take care of myself. Calyx has been with me for last 10 years and has certainly become a part of our family.
He came walking towards us. I turned towards everyone standing beside me and saw that it stunned them.
Then I remembered that I just gave a statement which can make this scene look kind of weird.
"He is not the 'Honey' I mentioned," I said to clarify things as I had already witnessed misunderstandings which went which went wrong in a lot of ways.
Everyone gave me a smile reassuring that they understand and started walking towards the living area.
Calyx came in front of me, blocking my way.
I stood there with a face expressing a question.
"Sir, its time for your meds." Calyx tried to remind me.
"Okay, I'll get them afterwards," I assured.
"To be honest," he continued, "You ought to forget about yourself when you are with your friends. Please, do take them." He completed with a concerned face.
I looked around if anyone was there who heard our conversation.
"I will. Trust me, I will," I reassured him and walked towards the living area.
As I entered the room, I saw Carol standing on the coffee table.
"Its decided," she exclaimed.
Now, I am scared. 'Cause when she stands on the table, it's not good news. At least for me.
"We are going to stay the night at your place," she said.
Okay, WHAT THE HELL?
***********
(Jason's House)
"Uh—I should've asked Jason to help me out, but he said he was staying at Kyle's place," said his mother as she cleaned the attic, "God, this is such a mess."
As she was cleaning, she stumbled upon a box with pictures in it.
She started looking at them one by one, remembering the old times when Jason was a child.
She kept smiling as she looked at her child growing up so fast.
"Ah—look what we've found," she exclaimed as she looked at a picture with a girl standing alongside Jason on a train station.
Upon looking closely, "She is holding something, right?" she questioned herself.
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