When I got home after my days of work, my note was still on the kitchen table, but Dad’s handwriting now marked it, sloppy with a need of sleep and maybe a drink or two, a spot or two of burns where still glowing cigarette ashes fell on the paper, a few sprays of probably cheap bottom shelf vodka along the paper as that was his drink of choice and some speckles of cigarette ashes along with smears of the ink where his hand slid through it, all it said was…We’ll talk about it in the morning.
I sighed as I turned back into my room and collapsed on my bed again, thinking about what the school could possibly be like. After my shower and changing out of my stinking work-clothes, I sat on my bed with my old, beat up laptop open, one of my teachers in high school got me it because Dad and I don’t have any other kind of computer in the house, so I needed something to be able to do things like my online school-work, to be able to submit essays and things like that because we don’t have a printer and the teacher didn’t want me to have to spend a few dollars a page to print off my work at the school’s bookstore. The top was covered in scratches and stickers, there were spots that were held together with duct-tape that’s been layers and wrapped to keep the plastic casing together, it was more than a few years out of date, but it still worked as long as it worked, I will use it. I had to buy us an internet connection though when I got it though, Mom used to handle things like the finances, she had a really good paying job, so Dad for most of my life was a house-spouse: he took care of me, cooked all of our meals, cleaned and did everything of that sort, so when Mom died…he had to get his first job sense he was in college.
“Let’s see…Paradise Academy.” I said as I typed into the search bay and found their website, “Oh…wow…” I said quietly, the school was absolutely gorgeous, “Houses?” I questioned, “What kind of…Hogwarts fuckery-shit is this?” I asked as I clicked the panel. “All students are sorted into houses that best fit their personality and aspirations, the houses are: Scarlet Bear, Golden Elk, Emerald Wolf, Cobalt Dragon, Violet Hawk, White Rabbit, Silver Serpent and Magenta Spider. Let’s see…alright so…no uniform, people just have like a little badge they need to keep on them marking their houses. Everyone has a personal dorm, must either be a tiny…school body or a massive school.”
“Kain?” Dad’s voice asked as he knocked at my door before cracking open the door, “What…what are you doing still awake?”
“I could be asking you the same” I asked, just looking over the top edge of my laptop’s screen, no lights on so only the light of the screen gave me that oh so flattering Poltergeist lighting effect.
He sighed as he sat on the bottom edge of my bed, resting his arms on his lap as he twisted his hands into his sweater, it was “his” sweater, but in reality it had been one of Mom’s, she was a tall, powerful and stately woman so her sweaters were swamping on either of us, I really did get Dad’s height, the dark purples and pinks faded from the age of it as it hung with no sense of elasticity to it so the neckline, sleeves and hems hung droopy, wavy and covered in pilling with buttons missing and pockets all, but gone.
“You…really do want to go to this school, don’t you?” he asked, I nodded softly as I closed my laptop and moved it off to the side. His voice sounded…just tired, nothing else, just utterly exhausted: physically, mentally, emotionally…just in every way possible just…drained. The dark circles under his eyes were deeper than I could last recall, his eyes were bloodshot and his skin was pale and maybe a touch yellow.
I look a lot more like Mom than I do Dad, one of the few things I got from him is being…quite short. Dad is maybe on the shorter end of five feet tall, black hair that hangs usually in messy curls that have had a few days sense last being brushed so it was a mess of knots, tangles and forming dreads, or just twisted back on the back of his head to avoid brushing it with a spot or two of stress induced gray off his temples, dark brown eyes more blood-shot than not with dark circles, thick glasses and very pale and covered in freckles, long sense lived in scruff and just…seen better days.
“I do.”
“Why?”
“Well…We both know that…I really didn’t plan to go to college after high school, because we couldn’t afford it or anything, but…this place is like reaching out for me and is offering me a full ride…How could I ask for more? Plus it’s Mom’s old school.”
“Mister Leo talked to me when I got home…he said that he went there too, that…so many people there absolutely love it, that the school is impossibly safe and take such…care of their students.”
“I…did call the other day.”
“You did?”
“I did…and the adviser said that they’ve never even had a problem with a suspicious person being seen on the grounds.”
“Impressive.”
“Why do you think they are so…adamant about you going there?”
“I don’t know, but they obviously see something in me. Are you…thinking about letting me attend?”
“I…know that I can get a bit…scared of things. But, as much as I worry and fear your safety, I know that I can’t stop you from doing what you want and what you think is best for you…if you think this is what is best for you…I support you.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“I’m your dad…If I can’t support my son’s endeavors and be there for you in whatever you do…I am not a good father. I…I know I’ve never been…perfect, especially in the past few years, but…I want to be there for you and if this is wholeheartedly what you want to do…then I’ll do anything and everything I can to do so…and…your mother would have loved to see you go to her school too.”
I smiled softly as I looked down towards my hands as I had my arms wrapped around my legs, Dad stood as he softly ruffled my hair before kissing the top of my head before walking out of my room and stumbled back over to his and quietly closed the door behind him. We don’t have a car…so I don’t know how I’m going to get there, I guess I could always get a train ticket to the closest station to the school and just…work from there: maybe hitchhike a bit, somehow bring my bike to cut the dangers of that out entirely, but…I have no idea. I may have to call in the morning again about that…plus I don’t have any luggage to transport my clothing and things.
When I did call the next morning, I called again and was transferred again to Miss Andrea who after I explained the situation: no car or luggage, she said that there was no problem with the transportation, that they could have someone escort me to the school, that they often have to have people of the school escort the students there do to how…out of the way the school is. As for the luggage, she said that…she wasn’t sure what could be done about that, but if I wished, something good may come my way with it. I laughed softly as she said that, I remember saying, “Yeah, I wish.” Because while people have been kind to me and my family…an entire luggage set would be quite the expensive gift for someone to get me, especially sense I’m going to be gone for an entire school year, that would be a significantly sized set which only adds dollar signs to the price of the set. She was very understanding and helped me extremely with getting everything in order.
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