Chapter 2: I Sensed Trouble
The mouse gained consciousness around 9 p.m. He just suddenly opened his eyes and blinked in confusion. I was left with dad to take care of him, Mom and Evelyn had left hours ago. And Dad was out getting us dinner and coffee.
He asked "Is this hospital?Why am I here?" I hadn't heard him speak at all until now. I kinda figured he got some shy baby voice matching his delicate face,but surprisingly it was clear and loud waking me up from my daydream.
"Ugh.. you passed out." I answered. Suddenly I got this surge of unknown anger bursting in. "The fuck is your problem? Dad was excited all week for your arrival and my mom put so much effort to welcome you,she even tried to make dumplings for you. Yet you.." I glared at him. "Did you want to run away?"
He looked at me straight in the eyes . "I guess."
I ranted some more about how he ruined our lunch and I hadn't even eaten anything since morning. My meatballs. I missed them.
Dad got back with two plastic bags filled with sandwiches, chips and cola. Looked like he failed to get us decent food from the canteen.
"Oh you awake already?" Dad asked at him sitting down next to the bed. "How are you feeling boy?"
The mouse looked so constricted before mumbling an 'I'm fine' to Dad.
Das patted his shoulder and smiled "Alright, it's really a relief that you're alright. The doctor said your toes are fractured from the fall and they don't think you got hurt anywhere else other than that. But they said that you're malnourished, you should eat more boy. You're still growing. Did your mother not feed you properly? It's alright we'll make sure you're well fed from now on."
I looked at them tentatively from where I was standing. They resembled each other in looks and mannerisms. Even though they lived apart for more than a decade. I could see how his voice even quite similar to Dad. He also scratched his left eyebrow like Dad usually did when he got bored. A hint of jealousy came creeping in. But I could see how Dad walked around eggshells when he interacted with mouse. Dad was an easy going guy, but constantly being ignored made him shut his mouth after a few attempts to interact with his son. Watching them falling in silence for a good fifteen minutes, I got bored and decided to wait outside.
I texted my girlfriend,
-Can I call you? I miss you so much-
Ten minutes later a reply came in,
-alright-
I hit the call button immediately.
"Hello?" She greeted.
I hadn't realized how much I missed her until I heard her voice.
"Hello. Have you had dinner?" I asked.
"Yes. Have you?"
Before I could answer I heard a smooching voice and a whisper "Who's that babe?"
I hung up the phone. I laughed, kind of expected it would happen eventually. She said she couldn't go back town this summer because of her internship. A year hadn't even passed since she went to college. I was everything she wanted before,now I guessed I wasn't anymore.
Sighing loudly I walked back in and asked Dad for the car key. The mouse was asleep again. I bid Dad a bye and drove home.
Thought I would have to endure sleeping with a stranger tonight. Thank God I was alone because as soon I closed the door tears just came streaming down.
As I silently wept I thought about how I had always been anxious she would leave me. How she swore she wouldn't.
I didn't love her. But I guessed over all those times I got comfortable with her, I also gave her my heart. I wasn't crying for being betrayed, I cried because I just lost a person I was most comfortable with. I mourned for all the moments we spent together.
I wiped my tears and tucked myself in. The crying made me real tired and sleepy.
I woke up at six in the morning. I grabbed my phone and powered it on. There was only a text from Dad. Not even a missed call or a text from that girl. Alright, it wasn't like I wanted to hear any explanation from her either. Breaking up like this was okay.
Dad asked me to bring the mouse a change of clothes because his clothes were too dirty to walk around in. I stared at his backpack and suitcase. Curiosity got the better of me, I rummaged the backpack first. Phone charger,two bottles of water, a hat,power bank, headphones,a band of keys,nothing unusual. Examining the keys I noticed a key smaller than the others, it must be a padlock key. His suitcase was padlocked. Even though it had password combination to unlock there was also a keyhole, I tried to unlock it with the key. It worked.
Inside there were only a few black sweatpants and plain white t-shirts with different prints along with some black skinny jeans and a khaki cardigan. He didn't bring much considering he only stayed for the summer.
Taking them all out to choose, the compartment below the clothes filled with his toiletries in a transparent pouch and water bottles. The water piqued my curiosity. It was not brand from around here. The bottle design screamed premium quality. I opened one and tried it. Expecting some kind of sweet spring water but instead a strong taste burned my mouth.
Fuck it wasn't water. I opened the other bottles and sniffed them. He actually filled seven water bottles with alcohol. I grabbed the bag and checking the two water bottles inside. One was sweet water, the other was alcohol. The alcohol one was almost finished. There was a nagging feeling that I knew who also did this kind of thing back then. A memory of how mom screamed when the person who was my biological father died. I shook the memories. But even so I sensed trouble.
I put them back in place and took a white shirt, a brief and black skinny jeans for him.
I put the suitcase next to his bed and the bag on top of it. Let's deal with this later.
Weekly Power Status
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