Chapter 2: A Mother's Love

A Chapter by Otaku-chan99

This chapter is in Calix's point of view. It's just a bit about his life and then it goes into when he first met Zoe. After this I'll officially get into the story

At the moment my thoughts were preoccupied with nothing but Zoe. Zoe, Zoe, and more Zoe. I just couldn’t get her face out of my head. “GAAH!!” I threw my book across the room. I was alone in my room under the ship. I need to clear my head. I laid down on my bed and tried to relax. ‘I hate the sea. I hate the smell of it and how it makes the ship rock back and forth.’ I started feeling nauseous as I became aware of the swaying motion of the ship. We’ve been at sea for the last 6 months and I was sick of it. I just wanted to find Zoe and the others and leave. I started to get tired as I let the waves rock me to sleep. I then drifted into a deep sleep, trying to leave my hatred and worries someplace else in my mind. I dreamt about her and the others. We were all safe back home and Juliet was chasing Airi and Kyuubi around the house as the others were talking about something I couldn’t quite hear. Me and Zoe were cuddling on the couch, which was wrong on so many levels, but still nice. She was dozing off as her head lay on my shoulder. I rested my head on hers and let the sweet smell of the forest and cantaloupe envelope me. I always loved the way Zoe smelled, it was the best. It always reminded me of my mother. I was rudely awakened from my dream when I was thrown from my bed by the way the ship jerked. I hit my head hard on the floor. I carefully sat up and rubbed my throbbing head. ‘The heck?’ I stared at the half awakened Kyuubi as he stared back at me and yawned. Then I realized that it wasn’t the stupid ship Kyuubi had kicked me off! “F*****g Kyuubi! You kicked me off the bed!” He just smirked then fell back asleep. I stood up then scooped him up in the covers like when you pick up the trash. He started squirming around and thrashing about. He actually fell out of the blanket before I even got a chance to throw it into the other room. He fell to the floor and then transformed into his human form. “HEY! WHAT WAS THAT FOR” It was my turn to smirk now. I started laughing and he was still shouting. I covered his mouth when I heard something moving around outside the door. “Shhh! Don’t wake up the others. Do you want to wake up a whole bout load of pirates?” “Mo.” Kyuubi said through my hand. “Then shut up loser.” Kyuubi decided to like my hand just before I moved it. “GROSS!” We were just messing around and playing until Derek came in and forced us back into bed. He ended up bunking with us for the night since we couldn’t be quiet. This was going to be a long night.

Oh hey. Where’d you come from? What? Oh cool. Wait, how are you confused? I wrote it just like it happened. Don’t you remember all the stuff we went through together? NO?! What’s wrong with you man, do you have like short term memory loss or something? oooh, sorry. I didn’t know you just got here. well lemme start from the beginning, back when i was a happy little brat.

Something that I thought I had pushed back to the deepest corners of my mind came back up in a dream last night. It was when I was still very young, maybe three? I don’t know, but I was just running around. I was chasing Lolly and her kit Ox, those were my pet foxes. We were playing a game I guess, but I had chased them down the stairs and my mom called for me. I walked over to her and pulled on the hem of her apron. She picked me up and kissed my forehead. Then my dad showed up. He took me from my mom and spun me around. I was giggling and saying, “Faster daddy!” Then he stopped and fell onto the couch. We laughed and my mom told my dad to quit it. My dad put me down and walked over to my mom. He kissed her and I scrunched up my nose. “Come on bud don’t make that face. One day you’ll have a beautiful wife who you’ll want to kiss all the time.” My mom giggled. I just crossed my eyes and they laughed at me. “Calix Hobson enough with the goofy faces. If you don’t stop it’ll get stuck like that.” I just laughed and made more. Then my dad did it to and after a bit my mom made one. I climbed up onto the counter and Ox jumped into my lap. I watched my mom wiz about in the kitchen as she multitasked. She was making lunch and baking cookies. She was writing things down in that little book of hers and then she fed Lolly and Ox. My dad picked me up and put me into my chair. I sat there and started coloring in my book that I had left on the table that morning. I looked up and again watched my parents kissing. I scrunched up my nose and finished my drawing. I had drew a horrible drawing of my family, but I looked at it with so much pride and smiled. My mom walked over and placed my mac and cheese in front of me. “That’s a wonderful drawing baby. I think it deserves a place on the fridge.” I beamed at her and she took the drawing from my small hands. I watched her as she wrote the date on it then stuck it on the fridge. I began eating and then my dad kissed the top of my head. “I’m going out to the market. Need anything?” “Uh. We need some more milk and some eggs. Oh and Calix needs some more medicine.” “Alright. Calix do you want anything?” “I want a new color book! Oh an a new box of crayons. My old ones are all gone.” My dad smiled at me. “Okay Bud. So Milk, eggs, medicine, and a new book and crayons. That it?” “That’s about it.” My mother said as she handed my dad the list. Again with the kissing. “Actually one more thing.” “What is it?” “Be careful Augusto.” “Yes ma’am.” Then he left. Little did I know that was the last time I would ever see my dad. A few hours had passed and my dad still hadn’t come home. I waited for him by the door like I always did, but he still wasn’t home. I pretty much sat there all day waiting. Then a knock came. ‘Daddy doesn’t knock.’ I remember thinking, then my mother shouted, “Coming,” from the back room. “Honey move back a little so you don’t get hit okay?” “Yes ma’am.” I grabbed Ox and moved into the archway of the living room and watched the man at the door. He was out of breath and yelling at my mom. I got up and stood behind her. I was looking at the man from on the side of her and wonder one of the dumbest things ever. ‘Heh. Why’s his nose so wonky? It looks like weird shaped rock.’ I was trying to hold back my laughter because the guy was still in front of me and I knew it was rude to laugh. Then I stopped when I heard the words, “Your husband is dead.” I looked at the man with a horrific look on my face. I spoke out loud without even realizing it. “Daddy’s dead?” My over-active imagination got the better of me and I started to freak out. My mom picked me up and calmly told me that he wasn’t. She looked at the man with a sincere smile on her face and said, “That Idiot. I told him to be careful, but it’s okay because he’ll come home soon. Thank you for informing me and I would like you to please leave. You are scaring my son.” My mom said as the man stared at her with a dumb look on his face. She stepped back and shut the door. She held me close to her chest and I listened to her heart beat. It was calm and soothing. I counted the beats in my head. ‘1, 2, 1, 2.’ Then before I knew it I was asleep.

Over the next three years my mother took care of me on her own. My father hadn’t come back yet, but every day I told myself it wasn’t time. At least that’s what mom would tell me. The days still went on like they normally did. I got up, mom gave me my medicine, I ate breakfast, fed Lolly and Ox, then went to school, but today was different. Mom said I wasn’t allowed to go to school anymore. I wasn’t sure why, but her smile started to disappear more and more everyday. Then she stopped smiling all together. She became cautious and forgetful. She was always to preoccupied by something else. I stop taking my medicine a week earlier and she didn’t even notice I was out. I was starting to get sick and still she hadn’t noticed. Then after almost a month of no medicine I started getting weaker. It wasn’t until I started throwing up blood that mom noticed my lack of medication and how bad I had gotten. She didn’t take me to the hospital like normal this time either. She ran out and got me more medicine then I stayed in bed for what seemed like a really long time. When I finally got better something bad happened. A loud knock came from down stairs and it woke me up from my sleep. I groggily got out of bed and went to mom’s room. She wasn’t there. I went down stairs just as she answered the door. These men with guns were trying to get into the house, but my mom wouldn’t let them. It was the first time I had ever seen my mom so angry. She was trying her best to keep them at bay, but the men pushed her down. I saw how hard she tried to fight to keep them out of the house. Without thinking I called for her not knowing what kind of danger I had put myself in. “Mom? What’s going on?” Then men looked at me with devilish grins which scared the crap out of me and a chill ran up my spine. My mom looked at me with a horrified expression and mouthed the words, “Run!” I dashed back upstairs and into my room. I locked my door and hid in my closet. I jumped when they pounded at my door. I heard my mom screaming and Lolly and Ox were growling. ‘Why are they after me!? What do they want?!’ I thought as the men broke down my door. They were kicking over my stuff and then the dresser tipped over. Then it stopped. Everything was quiet. I peeked through the door to my closet, then it swung open. One of the men grabbed me and I fought with all my might to get away. I couldn’t see my mom and Lolly lying on the floor, motionless. Ox was nudging his mother’s lifeless body. Then I heard pounding from the closet down stairs. My mom was screaming my name, and I called for her back. Then everything went dark. When I woke up I was in some sort of carriage, like the one from those old medieval stories, and stared to freak out. Someone from behind me grabbed me by my hair and I kicked him in the stomach. Another one grabbed my face and I bit them. Then the carriage stopped and I was thrown out onto the cold snow. A guard took off the ropes that were bound to my wrists and I jumped up. The guard pushed me through the gates and again I fell onto the snow. I crawled over to a post and sat there. I was upset and didn’t know where I was. I don’t know how long I sat there, but I heard a voice. It was from a girl who looked about my age, maybe younger. She stood in front of me her arms crossed and said, “Hello~? Earth to Mr. Grumpy. You in there?”

prev chapter