Ash knocked on the door three times. I impatiently waited behind him. This place gives me the creeps, the heebie jeebies, the bumps to my goose. I rather go in, check on dad and whatever the hel1 he's doing and get outta this district. That little show that thos mobster guys showed just pushed me ten meters closer to the edge and I'm close to just booking it and heading back to the white elevator building, to some sort of normalcy, you know?
The housing complex placed the doors to close to each other, I could take a few steps off to my right and I'll be in the next house immediately, which-oh. Oh hohohoho, someone is getting some action tonight, I snickered as I picked up the under garment and buried it under the welcome mat. I could also be having some action myself, but Ash just had to drag me down here to talk to our father. Don't get me wrong, I love the man but there's just so many other things that I could've been doing. My attention snapped back up to the door when the handle rattled and a man, maybe a bit taller than Ash, opened the door. A brunette, with beautiful forest green eyes, pink thin lips spread into a thin line, a small face with a sharp jaw. I can't see his body but I can already tell the guy was lanky.
"Hello? Who are you people?" The guy's voice was silent, it was barely a whisper, if it wasn't so quiet in this alley we wouldn't have been able to catch it. His green eyes were wide like a doe, like he was caught doing something he didn't want you to see and now he's trying to get out of it.
"We're Johnathan's sons, Ashton and Anthony, we came to see him," Ash said, he really is the talker between the two of us, he smarter and gets along with people better than I do. Which is probably the reason my girlfriends just won't stay with me, I run my mouth too much and all the crap that ever leaves it are too offensive to them.
The eyes of the guy behind the door widened even further as he slammed the door in our faces.
"Well that's rude, why don't you let me-" I was cut off when I heard chains and locks being rattled behind the door, before it was swung open and my twin drowned in the hug of the short man. There were pillows and blankets on the couch nearby and I wondered what truly happened to dad and this man. There's a table to the side and the furthest from the front door is the sink and the kitchen with the bathroom to the side. Everything was so small and so compact. How can you even live in a place like this.
"OH! It's so good to see you! Johnathan told me a lot of stories!" The guy said with an innocent smile as Hayden sat on one of the couches, without waiting or even asking him for the approval of any one who let you into their house. I glared at him and he returned it. Not wanting to start a fight in someone else's house, I tore my gaze away from him to study the rest of the place. The staircase to the far right had books and magazines underneath it. Though I would doubt that any of them were up to date.
"So, where is he?" Ash said, typical of him to immediately get to the point, like the impatient little lovable brat he is.
"Oh here, uhm, here, let me take you to him," The guy continued to talk animatedly as the three of us continued to move in the small space, Hayden plopped down on a chair and went on his phone, I didn't bother with him anymore and focused on the conversation that my brother and mysterio over there is talking about.
"Uhm, I'm Nicolas by the way, I - uhm- I'm your father's match," The guy said turning away with a pretty pink blush spread across his face, my mouth hung open as I stared at him wide-eyed. Ash looked at me like he always does, like I'm stupid. Which doesn't bother me as much because I have him here to help me and that's all that matters to me.
"Really Anthony? I've known since before we came here that dad was matched to a guy. It's the reason why he's dumped into the 3rd district after all," Ash said, we reached the top of the stairs but there was an immediate door before we even got to the top.
"Oh, yeah, good point," I said realizing that once again, my incredibly reliable twin is here to help me, I wouldn't know what to do without him really.
"I-mmm, uhm I gotta warn you guys, he's not in the best shape,"
UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE MOTHER HOOTING DECADE. Our dad looks like a deep fried chicken that people forgot to put breading on. Directly opposite the door is the pathway to the balcony, a few clothes hanged to dry in the heater installed above it, since there was no sun nor natural wind. To our left is a bathroom and the right is the entire bedroom, our father lay there motionless and unable to speak. I could hear his heavy breathing form where I stood. Ash also looked frozen in place, his eye brimming with unshed tears as I rubbed his back t try and keep him calm. I was the one who made the first step to move towards our dad, pulling Ash with me as we took small and tentative steps.
He looked like he was sleeping. Bandages were wrapped around every inch of his body, from his head all the way down to the tips of his toes. Where there were holes, like the eyes and mouth, I can see the burnt flesh underneath, Violet and black in some spots. He opened his eyes, thank god his eyes were still okay, still the same forest green that made me feel safe when I was a kid. He smiled and I remembered all the fun times the three of us would have, he would teach us how to use old bikes where we actually had to pedal, he bought us an old scooter that only moved if we used our feet to push, he took us out of Dispacia to go and camp in the mountains.
I felt something clog my throat as I stared at the man on the bed smiling at us both like he used to, like there was nothing wrong in life.
"Ah my boys," He tried to lift his hand but he brought i back down, scrunching his face up in pain. Nicolas was by his side in an instant, using his hand to gently lay back down dad's arm.
"Jesus, John, The doctor said no strenuous movement for a month."
"Why-, Why, why was he- uhm, why was he burned?" I can't even look at my dad, he's in such a terrible state that I don't even remember why I ever supported this stupid government anyway.
"He's gay." Ash said, I was too stunned to speak, that can't be- I mean isn't- " That's not all, there's a lot of reasons that piled up. If he was only gay and was matched to a first district man, the worse that they could leave with is a sore body from the beating. But he's a guy who's matched with someone from the third district, they had to make him fit for the new environment." Ash finished, gently placing his hand on top of Dad's bandaged ones, when he didn't flinch, he kept it there.
"F0CK!!" Pulling at my hair in anger, it didn't help the slowly building rage inside of me, they can't do this to our father! They we're the one who bloody matched them together and then they would burn him?! It's not his fault. I pinched at my eyes, willing the tears to stop, but they just won't.
"I-" Dad muttered out, all our heads whipped towards him, tears fell freely down my cheeks, not bothering to wipe them away anymore. "I'm....Glad....you....both came," He released a shaky breath and that's when I just lost it, I sobbed into his sheets, I don't even know if I can touch him, I just cried beside him and bunched his sheets in my hand.
"There's others like us here, some much younger than us," Nicolas said, gently rubbing dad's head, we can't answer. My throat felt clogged as all I can able to utter out were sobs and hiccups. Ash was in a similar condition but he looked like he was biting the insides of his cheeks, dad went back to sleep, and I tried, I tried my best to stifle my cries into muffled sniffles. His breathing evened out and I stood up to go to the balcony, where I sank to my knees and stayed there.
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