I approached my house , it wasn't a fancy house by any means but it was spacious enough to comfortably house my siblings and mother.
As I walked the familiar path I had walked My whole life climbed the steps i had climbed innumerable times , the scent that seemed unique to this one place entered my nostrils as , my heartbeat slowed as i relaxed almost immediately , "no place like home" i thought before cringing at the cliche , even if the only comforting thing was the familiarity
I opened the door with the spare key i had , and entered putting my shoes in the rack , before wiping my feet on rug with "welcome home" printed on it.
I walked in the familiar scent further calming my nerves ,then i opened my eyes and any patience or peace i had went away like the wind , there loafing on the couch was my younger sister , 10 year old jenna kilbride loafing like a woman in her 50s with a phone in her hand , my phone to be exact which she was presently using to doomscroll while eating out of a pringles can , which were also coincidentally mine
I took a deep breath if there is one thing i have learned in 16 years of sentience is that fighting jenna while they were in the house was a worthless endevor , mom would side with jenna a staggering 90 percent of the time , meaning the only real shot was to beg
"Jenna can i please have my -"
"No" she said at a lightning pace.
Before I opened my mouth again she spoke without even sparing me a glance.
"Mom said I can have it until you improve your marks , be less stupid and you can have it"
Any words I had died in my mouth , I would be irritated, when i was her age, if i had talked to Jacob he would beat me bloody and mom would lecture me on respecting my elders.
I sighed and went into the kitchen and paused seeing my mother. She was wearing her work clothes a white shirt and trousers and was pouring herself a cup of orange juice.
She didn't turn accustomed to my presence but spoke in tired voice "sandwiches on the counter , new shop opened near the firm , there pretty good got some for jacob and You-"
She was cut off as i hugged her , confusion filled her face a little , "whoa hey what happened" she asked a little concerned but returned the hug anyway.
She then sat me down only then noticing the tearing on my clothes , she looked at them discerning their origins before asking me to explain.
*a few hours ago*
The girl looked at me while flexing the heavy hammer in her hand as if contemplating weather to hit me in head for wasting her time
.
She looked at me in a scrutinizing manner before her eyes widened and the hammer disintegrated.
"Shit uhh did you hit your head" she asked with fear and trepidation in her voice.
I paused technically I had but not as bad as she probably thought.
'Yes-b""
Before I could clarify she turned her Towards the heavens and shouted with all her might "NOO!"
I almost thought she'd gone insane and "Almost" summoned my darkness but somehow before that she was already in front of my face and spoke in a frantic tone.
"Okay now please , please don't report this , i can barley pay rent this month"
I blinked at the sudden and shocking change in temperament , the girl before me was not the taciturn and powerful warrior from before but something akin to a college student with 3 jobs.
She bit her nails in trepidation , i knew why , a variant being sued for damages wasn't a new thing as variants were victims to the common belief that they could afford extravagant lives , which was true , a variant who descended into the depths of the pit could have the highest earning jobs in the world even low ranking descenders would make heads and shoulders above any engineer or architect or business man ever could.
So the question is what the hell is she spending money on that would make her so dirt poor.
Her eyes lit up for a moment "Okay how about this" she took a ball which glowed with green energy ,she closed her eyes for a few moments , when she opened them , they had changed from the dull brown to vibrant green mirroring the ball, she then ejected a green halo from her hand which enveloped my entire body.
Soon I felt the bruises and cuts I had sustained from the fight heal , the bump on my forehead disappeared and the bleeding wound on my abdomen shut itself as the muscles and tendons in my body healed immediately , by the time she was done I was in tip top shape better than before the fight occurred.
She raised her pointing at me "Keep your lips sealed okay?!! " Despite her efforts she could not hide her anxiety and was seemingly aware of it and said with a sigh "Promise me?".
The words were so sincere I couldn't help nodding with the same sincerity, then she touched one of the bronze balls on her belt and flew away , a while later I found my bag and walked home.
—-----------------------------------------------------------
As i finished recalling the events my mother took them all in with a look of trepidation i have see a few times in my , she stood up and tousled my hair before saying with a forced levity in her tone.
"Eat the sandwich, I'll order some KFC tonight"
I nodded before taking my backpack and walking towards the stairs , my eyes locked onto the person leaning against the wall , Jacob, my elder brother.
If i am to explain my relationship with my brother , then you should know i have him as "Narccisistic ass" in my contacts , jacob was everything i wasn't , smart with a jaw i could only dream of , a self aware prodigy , kind enough to be called an "Outstanding young man" yet cruel enough to torment his brother.
He took a quick look at me, before giving a smirk similar to the one todd had on his face , yet unlike that bastard this one did its job perfectly , a weight pressing into my heart as if being branded with anger and despair of helplessness.
"What happened to you ? junkyard dog think you were a chew toy again?".
I looked at him annoyed. "There are no junkyards near here genius" , he quickly hit me on the side of the ear , not hard enough to hurt me , but hard enough to feel pain , he then grabbed me by the ear, hoisting me up to look into his eyes.
"Dont talk back to me again"He said with a cold look in his eyes , as i gritted my teeth and looked at him with anger , his gaze became more intense drilling into me as i faltered my gaze becoming weak , he scoffed letting go my ear and shaking of the few strands of my hair on his fingers.
I gritted my teeth and stomped up to my room. As I closed the door I punched the wall closest to me and simultaneously letting out a yelp of pain , my hand cusping my fist , I cursed myself for getting too angry.
As i gripped my throbbing fist a wave of shame and loathing came over me , it was always like this , me being pushed around like some bitch , i hate it , i hated every second of it , i looked around my room a messy bed a bookshelf with a few books a ,a desk with drawers full of marking sheets i would rather keep hidden , nothing , no one there , a lock on the door , and closed curtains , one of the few moments of peace i had was this quiet and painful loneliness.
A few minutes later i picked myself up , it was around this time i would try to do my homework if understood any of it , instead i slowly went over a old beaten up laptop jacobs old one , and i opened up file explorer , i opened up a file titled "Captain Pitch James" , it was a 2 hour movie , my dad's favorite movie.
It wasn't a well known movie , you could ask a movie critic who had been in the business since before the pit's appearance and they would ask what the hell you were talking about , however it is a cult favorite for those who did know.
It was a satirical movie which poked fun at classical spy flicks , with plot twists and unnecessary action scenes , however despite the comedic tones , the plot was complex , it was about secret agent Pitch James , who infiltrates a nation in order to take down the corrupt cabal which has taken hold of the nation's governance and exploits the peoples suffering for personal gains , and had launched several terrorist attacks onto America after several bounty hunts and assasination attempts in the name of democracy , after several mishaps and misadventures he manages to get a ragtag group to take down the cabal ,including the nation's princess , who had been imprisoned.
As i watched i saw the scene where a guy on the enemy side named jeremy does a dramatic slow motion roll to dodge a car which was falling off of a building and as he stand up and looks at Pitch James , he smiles and begins at a monologue , however the car had landed on its side and as the music starts to reach a crescendo the car tips and crushes the poor fool
It was me and my dads favorite thing to do to rewatch this movie on sundays , everytime we rewatched same scene , no matter if we'd been fighting about something , or i had thrown a tantrum or the day had just gone bad for both of us we could still just sit down and watch and laugh at the absurdity of the antics and the outdated humor we couldn't understand for the 2 hours , 47 minutes and 32 seconds this movie played , and then he died, hit by a car on his way back home , and now here i am watching a pirated version of it because jacob sold the dvd we had , because there was nothing better for me to do , no one worth talking to , no one i could talk to.
Nearing the end of the movie I wasn't even watching any more i was just trying to cry as silently as i could , by the end of the day or week or month no matter how many times i wouldve told myself i was fine with being all by myself , that I was strong enough to endure it all , that i was above needing anything or anyone in my life , but that was a lie i knew it was a lie i made to protect myself, the lie couldn't survive against the truths that life threw at me.
As for the ending of the movie i knew but i didn't care for it neither did my dad , even if everyone else said it was the best part , Pitch James had finally beaten the cabal leader in a duel after the tragic sacrifice of his handler who had acted as his love interest throughout the story , as the leader tries to escape he is kicked by his pet kangaroo Speculator into a canyon he had dug with a comically big laser , Pitch James then takes temporary hold of the nation with his ragtag crew with the support of the nations princess he had freed , but instead of the move ending it continues for 17 more minutes , in those 17 minutes it shows Pitch James continue to lead the nation to keep its people safe , despite the agency telling him multiple times to give up the nation and come back under the princess's request and his love for the nation he declines every order , and at the end he receives word the people he had been working for have declared him an enemy and a terrorist and organises assasinations in the name of democarcy , this enrages him as he prepairs to attack them in defense but before he does realisation enters him , realising he had become same as the cabal leader he killed , in his attempt to fight the system he was consumed by it and integrated into it , thus ending up right back where they started.
It was a cult classic ending and probably in competition for one of the best written endings in fiction but my father never cared for it , he had never explained why.
By the time the movie ended , I had already composed myself enough to hear my Moms Calling , so I stood up , opened the door and went down to eat kfc.
I ate alone , mother had some.work things to do , Jenna was watching a live stream and would eat later and Jacob had already eaten. He had picked out all the best parts beforehand. I was just glad he didn't join me.
I ate alone and in silence evaluating my thoughts and decisions i had made thus far , before throwing the bones away and going back to my room , i closed the door locked it before opening my cupboard from it i took out boots , a thick jacket which was crudely covered in kevlar and several other items including a machete and a knife , dad always wanted to go hiking , we never got the chance , i apologise to dad in my heart , instead of using these to scale up a mountain i would be using them to descend into a pit.