Libertà - Chaper 4

 

 

4

 

            “And…We’re back,” Ryu muttered, giving a groan of annoyance as they stepped back onto the street they lived on. What a horrid and bleak little neighborhood. At least, that was how she felt about it when she thought about returning to that wretched house.

 

            “Sadly,” Ran agreed, giving a nod. “I wish we weren’t.”

 

            Ryu didn’t need to reply for him to know that she agreed with him. The magic of their morning with Mario was fading more and more the closer they got to the house. Even though they had called to let their grandparents know they were staying the night with a friend, both of them knew they were in for one hell of a fight once they walked through the door. It didn’t help to see that their grandmother’s car was missing from the drive way. Walking in now was like walking into a dragon’s lair when the dragon itself was bipolar and hung over.

 

            The instant they stepped in through the front door, the stinging scent of alcohol found its way to their noses. Actually, saying it punched them right in the face was more accurate. Ran quickly reached to cover his mouth while his sister gave a tiny gag. The normal scent of the house was bad enough. Normally, it just smelled like dog s**t and piss. Now it had the added alcohol scent, along with some sort of burnt food. That had probably been the dinner from the night before. Needless to say, it made Ryu’s stomach turn.

 

            Ran took quick breaths, trying to get himself used to it before their grandfather would make his appearance. After all, the man could have only been in two places. He was always either in the kitchen making something and watching his cooking shows, or in his office dicking around on the computer and watching cooking shows. The old man loved his cooking shows. When he watched them, he felt like he actually knew what he was talking about in the kitchen. He had used to be a good cook, however now that he was constantly drunk it just didn’t work out anymore. He was the only one that didn’t seem to realize that.

 

            Once Ryu got her gag reflex under control, she took her brother’s hand and tried to lead him off to their room. Perhaps they could escape into it for safety until their grandmother came home. When she was there, there would be a lot less yelling. But it seemed that at the moment, fate was not on their side. She froze in the hallway when her grandfather’s form appeared in the doorway of his own bed room. It seemed out of those two places he could have been, he had been in his office.

 

            “It’s about time you got back,” the old fart muttered, his wrinkly ears permanently laid back against his head from all of the anger the man held inside of him. “Where were you?”

 

            “We stayed at Mario’s house,” Ran said, giving his sister’s hand a squeeze.

 

            “Why didn’t you tell me?”

 

            “We did,” the boy said, glancing quickly to his sister before he looked back to the old man. For the moment, the girl didn’t seem to have the ability to speak. Weather it was out of fear or anger, he wasn’t sure. “We called.”

 

            “But you didn’t tell me ahead of time! I made too much dinner last night,” their grandfather growled. “If you’re going to start pulling that, then I’ll just make enough for me and Grandma, and you two can just fend for yourselves.”

 

            Ryu gave a small growl of her own. It wasn’t the first time he’d threatened that. In fact, that was what the man seemed to enjoy doing. He made threats and threw out insults until he could get one of both of them to cry. That was his pay off. Once he saw those tears, he stopped and went back to whatever the hell it was he read on the computer.

 

            “Fine. Go ahead,” Ryu spat out. “I’ll make us food.”

 

            “What food? What are you going to do if you can’t eat ours?” He asked smugly, giving them his stupid little grin.

 

            “So you’re telling me you’re going to starve your own grandchildren then?” She asked angrily.

 

            “No.”

 

            “Then what the hell are you saying?!”

 

            “Ryu!” Ran gave a tug on his sister’s arm. Cussing at the old man was possibly one of the worst things she could have done at that moment, along with raising her voice. They were really in for it now.

 

            “Don’t you take that tone of voice with me!” Their grandfather suddenly yelled. “And don’t you dare start throwing out cuss words! You should be grateful we even took you in! If I wanted to, I could throw you out on the streets right now!”

 

            “So then you’re saying you want us to go?” Ryu asked.

 

            “No.”

 

            “Then why bother threatening us if you don’t even f*****g mean it?!” Ryu panted softly, feeling all of her anger and hatred welling up inside her chest. She couldn’t take it anymore. All of his contradictory statements and the man’s threats were driving her absolutely insane.

 

            “What did you say?!” Their grandfather suddenly roared, making both of the twins jump in shock. Ran gave a tiny tremble as he held on to his sister tightly. He didn’t think he had ever heard the old man yell that loud before.

 

            “You want me to mean it?! Fine! I’ll mean it! Take your s**t and leave!” He roared. “You’ve got three days to get all of your crap out of my house! Now get out!”

 

            Ryu’s anger was suddenly gone. In fact, it felt like all of her organs suddenly disappeared as all she felt was a deep sense of dread. Had he just said what she thought he had? Was he serious? Yet the look on his face told her it was true. They had just been kicked out. Ran on the other hand felt completely different. He felt his own sense of dread, but at the moment that was being seriously overpowered by his anger. It was like their emotions had suddenly switched.

 

            “You disgusting, dirty, f*****g drunk!” He shouted, shocking even his sister. “You’re inhuman! You’re throwing two fifteen year olds who are part of your f*****g family out onto the street! You don’t care about anyone but yourself, do you?!” Though he didn’t mean to, whenever Ran was extremely angry he dropped F-bombs like mad. “You’re a f*****g b*****d! Ya know that?! Fine! We’ll leave! And if we die out there, I hope you know it’s all your f*****g fault!”

 

            Yanking his sister along into their room, Ran turned to slam the door behind them. As he began to throw his things into one of the suit cases they kept under their beds, the boy honestly expected the man to follow them into the room and start screaming at them. However for some reason, he stayed out. Ran muttered to himself as he shoved as many of his clothes into the suitcase as possible. He grabbed his school bag, pulling it onto his back before he stopped. Ryu hadn’t moved since they had entered the room. The girl was trembling as she stood there holding herself. It looked as though she was trying to hold her tears inside. She wasn’t doing a very good job.

 

            “Hey…” The boy stepped away from his suit case, reaching out to touch his sister’s arm. “I-It’ll be okay. I’ll think of something.”

 

            The girl took a shaky breath, giving a small sniffle before she spoke. “I’m sorry,” She whimpered quietly.

 

            “For what?”

 

            “It’s my fault.”

 

            Shaking his head, Ran offered his sister a comforting smile. He reached out, pulling his elder sibling into a hug. “No, it’s not. It’s the old b*****d’s fault. Not yours. Not ever.” The two stood like that for quite a while; Ran holding Ryu until she felt well enough to move away and pack her own things.

 

            “What about all of our anime?” She asked, her gaze falling upon the stuffed bookshelf.

 

            “We’ll worry about getting it when we find a place to stay,” Ran said, giving a sigh of disappointment. “We might have to drop out of high school if we can’t find someone to stay with.” That didn’t sound promising or pleasant at all. He didn’t know if he could handle being a drop-out. Not to mention, working two jobs to try and keep an apartment didn’t appeal to him either. Would it even be legal for them to rent an apartment? If it wasn’t, living in an illegal apartment would mean they would be living in a s****y area. The boy’s overactive mind wasn’t giving him pleasant scenarios or thoughts. No, that was all out of the question. They had to find someone to stay with.

 

            Once they were ready to go, Ryu moved one of their wall-scrolls away from the door out to the side yard. Wheeling the suitcases through the dirt wasn’t going to be easy, but it was a hell of a lot better than walking out through the front door where their grandfather would probably be waiting to say more to them.

 

*   *   *

 

            Somehow, the siblings had yet again found their way to the apartment Cyn owned. This time as they reached the door Ryu hesitated. She felt almost afraid to knock on the door. Before she could make herself, Ran reached to do it for her. Mario was the one to answer the door. At first the boy was pleased, but soon enough pleasure turned to confusion when he spotted the suit cases.

 

            “What’s the matter?” He asked; worry finding its way onto his features.

 

            “Mario…can we talk to Cyn?” Ryu asked nervously.

 

            “She’s sleeping right now,” the boy said as he moved out of the way. “But you can come in and wait for her to wake up if you want.” The woman’s night shift had worn her out. Nothing was going to wake her up at the moment.

 

            The twins exchanged a look before they nodded, both of them stepping in and setting their suit cases aside. This was not going to be a pleasant thing to explain.