Raisins (Pt. 1)

A Chapter by Pajci

Moments pass by with strangers not knowing...To you though, it may mean the world. A short story of a teen "man" and the problems of life--or just one problem, actually.

“I’m home,” I yell from the door. I look to the clock, it’s barely past 6:40. My mom peeks her head out from the kitchen.

“Oh, you’re home early today,” my mom says, smiling.

“Yeah,” I reply.

“Well, dinner won’t be ready for a while so you can do what you want until then.”

“Yeah,” I reply. My mom’s head disappears and Hibiki appears.

“Hey,” the younger boy says, “hey, Kaito. Can we play something?”

“Not right now,” I say, taking my shoes off and putting them onto the crowded rack. I take my stuff and start up the old squeaky stairs.

“But you said you would play with me today…” I hear Hibiki murmur. I stop halfway up the stairs and look down to him.

“Hibiki, I’m sorry. I don’t have time. Maybe tomorrow.” I continue up the stairs and walk down the narrow hall, passing Shun’s room. Ugh, too much perfume.

“Shun,” I say, stopping at her door and looking in, “you sprayed too much perfume again. Dad’s going to yell at you. You know how--”

“Be quiet!” Shun yells from her bed, “can’t you see that I’m talking on the phone?” I know that she’s talking on the phone, but I continue anyways.

“Dad doesn’t--”

“Dude…” Shun says, taking the phone from her ear, “do you know how late it is by the time he gets home? The smell will be gone by then.” I frown.

“Yeah, but I don’t like--”

“Quiet! I’m older than you! Why don’t you ever listen to me? How many times do I have to repeat that! And get out of my room, you perve!” Shun yells, annoyed. I stay at her door for a while, disgusted at all the clutter that’s gathered. “Oh, no, no, that was just my brother, babe,” my sister says. She looks to me, and seeing that I haven’t left yet, tries to throw a pillow at me. I close the door and head to my own room. “Older.” Yeah right, only by a year. Let’s talk about who has the “older” brain though. I set my things down and sit at my desk, getting ready to start on homework. I sigh.

“We used to be better than this,” I quietly say, pointing at nothing in general. That is, until dad’s company went down.

A few years back I asked my dad why we moved to this smaller, dirtier house. He told me to ask my mom, so I did. When I asked, she replied with, “One of your dad’s clients went crazy and sued the company for a ridiculous amount of money, and they won. So now we’re here,” which made sense to me at the moment. But as time passed, I couldn’t get the idea of us all living in this small home hammered into my head. Of our good reputation turned bad with only the words of a nutcase. And so, my kiddish mentality took a more serious turn into an education-is-number-one kind of mentality. This happened in junior high.

Now, in my third year of high school, I’m more determined than ever to bring our status back up and to take as much of an advantage as I can with my education. I will say though, I can be a bit too serious when it comes to education and my family.

“Hey, Kai,” Shino says, pointing to a problem in the textbook, “how do I do this one?” I look over from my own textbook into his. I read the problem quickly and give him a mock exasperated expression.

“What’s your brain made of?” I tease, “Anyways, it’s like this.” I show him how to do the problem from start to finish, and before I can sit back down, I’m asked for another math tutorial, then an English one, and a Physics one. Our daily routine continues the whole lunch break, and when lunch is over, I look at my own notebook. Not even half of a problem finished today, huh?

“Hurry up Kai!” I look up to see Shino and the others waiting for me. I take my time with organizing and putting my things back into my backpack, but then hurry over to the others.

“You’re always the last one to pack up,” Ichirou says, smirking. The others laugh at his comment.

“And why do you think that is?” I challenge him. Preying eyes fall onto Ichirou.

“Because you’re slow,” he says without much thought. Then the eyes fall onto me, trying to exert pressure. I’m not worried though, because I’ve already won this.

“Sure,” I say, then with a sly grin I add, “We all know who the slowest one here is.” At this, all the others laugh and whoop at Ichirou. I look over and see Ichirou snort.

“Ha, ha,” Ichirou humors, “very clever, Kai.” I give him one of my prize winning smiles and continue bathing in the glory that I’ve just won. The glory is short-lived though, because the warning minute bell rings, signaling our group’s break up.

I should’ve brought my coat today, I think, shivering. The walks from home to school and school to home have gotten colder. I shove my hands into my sweater and continue walking. Hmm...we have a science pre-test tomorrow, so I should study when I get home. But then I promised Hibiki I would play with him today... “Well,” I say, picking up my speed, “let’s see if I’ll have time leftover from studying.”

I set my bags and books down, unbutton my sweater and walk over to the kitchen where my mom is. Before I begin talking, I grab an apple from the fridge.

“What do you mean he’s not home?” I question.

“He’s not home,” my mother replies hotly, “what part of that don’t you understand?”

“No, I understand it.” I pause. “How long has it been?” My mother looks over to the clock hanging on the water stained wall.

“Well,” she begins, “it’s about 7:30 right now, so…” She pauses, as if to count the hours and then replies with a small wavering smile, “A little more than six hours…” My eyes shoot to hers in disbelief.

“How did you not notice?” I yell, suddenly angered.

“I--I,” she seems to be scrambling for an answer. Unable to find an excuse she deflates. Her shoulders start to sag, and she looks to me with a pitiful smile. “I was sleeping, an-and,” she continues her pointless talking. I jump off the chair--tired of hearing her voice-- zip my jacket and then continue to the door. “I was just so tired,” my mother yells desperately behind me, “Wait! Kaito! Don’t--” The door slams, and I’m greeted with an autumn’s bitter wind.

Where is he? I angrily yell inside. I’ve been walking around trying to find Hibiki for over an hour now, and it’s starting to get late--not to mention cold. I pull my hands deeper into my sleeves, scrunch my neck a little lower to keep the warmth in, and continue walking. And walking. And walking…

WHERE IN THE HECK IS HE? My mind finally explodes. What is he doing this late at night? Stealing? Lost? My angry mind rant continues for a few minutes until I come to a sudden stop.

“He can’t be,” I whisper, eyes widening. Dead?

next chapter

© 2016 Pajci

Author's Note

So, yup, another short story from me! Hope you enjoyed if you actually read, instead of just scrolling right down to the bottom to read reviews or something...I don't know if there are reviews yet, just depends on when you viewed this. Anyways, thanks for checkin' it out~! You's da bomb ;D

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callipygianphiltate

The plot is severely compelling. I found myself hooked straight away. At first, I thought innocent and simple it was just going to be another day in the life of a highschool kid but it's obivously not. I wish that I could end my writing like you did. I am going to read more.