I eventually fell asleep. I found myself in Chicago again. Except, Talos wasn't around. Neither was Jazz, or Sara, or any of the others. I felt like I was watching a movie, if the camera was right in someones eye. Plus surreal, surround sound.
I was walking and talking to some guys. Just talking about girls and some game we played before. We went inside a mall and almost immediately got kicked out because the security guards thought we stole something, and we were talking to some guy's good looking daughter.
Anyway I finally went into a house when it was, like, eleven. The person I was seeing through was oblivious to consequences. He walked in the town house he must have lived in and I saw a blob in a couch and holding a beer. "Where you been?" The blob said, never taking his eyes off the TV. The person said, "What? You telling me you still not use to me coming home?" "Your mother is worried brat, not me. She's working late again." My person muttered, "Of course. My mother." He went downstairs to a trashy room and closed the door behind him. The room had missing pieces of plaster in the walls, and it was left with a bed, a small closet, a dresser, an empty bookshelf, and a nightstand with an alarm clock and phone charger. He locked the door, and went to sleep in his bed.
He woke up again with a blare of sunlight from the window in his eyes. He got up and got ready for the day. I saw him step out of the shower and look in the mirror. I saw a face that looked a lot like mine. The eyes, teeth, hair, all the same. Except the claws. They were regular finger nails that needed to be trimmed.
I sat down at a breakfast table and yawned out, "Hey Mom. You should be in bed." The 'Mom' that I refered to turned around from the burner she was working over and smiled. She had black hair, but that was the only indication that we were related. She's very pretty with rings under her eyes. She said, "Oh that's OK, honey."
I stood up from the table and said, "C'mon, sit. I'll cook us some eggs." She smiled and sat down at the table. I fried some scrambled eggs on the skillet and added chopped onions and cheese, like I've done it a million times. I put the eggs on a plate and set it on the table next to my mom.
The blob came in and took the plate away. He said, "Thanks." And flopped down in a chair and began to eat the eggs. Mom said nothing. I was furious. I said, "Hey! I made those for Mom, Darrell!" He said, "Yeah, So? I'm man of the house, I'm your father, and I pay the bills." He said it like he won this arguement before.
I said, "Step Father, first of all. I know enough that my real father was never a slob like you." I ignored the Mom, who was shaking her head no and sending a clear, silent message. "Second," I said, "Mom pays more of the bills than you do. You go work at the trash compound for, what? Once, maybe twice a week? She works at that stupid clothing store all week, even when she's not suppossed to. And third," Mom stood up from the table and said, "Cyrus, don't--" I ignored her. "Man of the house? I can take you apart with my eyes closed." The pig stood up slowly, as if he had another gear to shift into. "Is that a fact?" He said. I said, "Hell, I can't miss when throwing a punch at your fat as--Ack!" He thrusted over the table and grabbed my neck with speed that I didn't think he had. He said, "I am the man of the house. Remember that you little brat." He held me there while Mom tried to talk him out of it. "Darrell. Darrell baby, stop it. Please, stop it. He didn't mean it, baby. Just, just let him go. Please."
The blob gave me one last hateful glare and shoved me away. He dumped his empty plate in the sink and said, "Next time, lay off the cheese. That screws me up." I waited till he left when I whispered to Mom. "How can you live with that waste of space?" She said, "Please Cyrus. Please don't pick fights with him. Believe it or not, we'd be on the streets if it wasn't for him." I said, "Yeah right. I'd rather take our chances with the streets. You can handle yourself Mom. You can ask for any job in the world and you'd get it."
She sighed. "Unfortunately, that's not the case. You are such a sweet son." She ruffled my hair, she almost had to stand on her toes to do it. She looked into my eyes, and she said, "I wish I could have met your real father. I bet he was so hansome to have such a good looking boy like you." I pushed her hand away, but I honestly didn't mind her hand there. I heard myself say, "Who was my dad anyway?"
She sighed and said, "I told you a hundred times already, Cy. I found you on my doorstep when I was eighteen. Darrell and I married because he let me keep you. And," She looked over my shoulder and out the doorway. She was looking at Darrell. "Well, you know the rest." I nodded.
"Mom, can I, uh, hang out with my friends today?" She sighed and said, "You have any homework to do?" "No Ma'am." I said a little too quickly. She raised her eyebrows. "All right, you can go."
I soon got some other clothes, I went on outside.
Was this..............my life?
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