Pumpkin and Plum

Chapter 20: God hates me!

"Are you hurt?"

"No."

"I don't think I can be with you tonight."

My dad left in all haste, closing the door behind.

"Whatever you want, plum."

"It's not what I want. I hate you, god! Why do I have to get my periods now?" she said vehemently.

I just looked at her amused.

"Don't look at me like that. Bring me the antidepressant. I don't want to jinx the new bed by crying on it."

"Dad, is something troubling you?"

My dad has been like this for a while. Police had found Mr. Henry's blood-stained coat near the forest area. There were claw marks. The police closed the investigation and declared him dead. Why would a sick man go for a hike? But the police said the CCTV footage they obtained showed him go in on his own.

"No Sam. I am fine, just thinking about your new Java programming course."

"I am not doing it, I don't think I will like programming. I want to be an architect like you."

"How could you know if you never tried? Mr. Davis says it's a promising career."

"I can't do the course, it clashes with my office time."

"About that, I think you should stop working for me."

"What!? But why!?"

"We will soon have an audit. I don't want to complicate things by having an under-qualified person as my designer."

"Dad, I work as a design trainee. I am sure it wouldn't be a problem."

"No Sam, it's for the best."

"You can't do this to me," I said angrily.

"I have spoken to a friend, he owns a supermarket chain."

"You want me to work in a supermarket?"

"Let me finish. You are not going to work as a sales assistant, he has some specific work to be done at the CEO's office."

"Fine, you are determined to chuck me."

"Sam, I don't like it either. But it's for the best."

I opened my room to find it filled with smoke. I spotted the heads of Mia and Wade amongst the smoke. It came as no surprise since I have gotten used to the fact that when Mia and the butt head called Wade get together, catastrophe follows.

"What are you both doing?"

"Getting rid of the evil eye," Mia answered

With the first few steps inside, I slipped and grabbed the sidewall to steady myself. There was salt smeared across the floor.

I carefully stepped in and hurried to the window. I didn't want the smoke to trigger the fire alarm.

"Don't open it," Mia and Wade shouted together.

"The smoke is going to set the fire alarm."

"We turned it off."

"Whose idea is this? Damn! No, don't answer, I don't want to know. Now clean the room."

"Just a few more minutes, pumpkin. Please."

"Fine," I relented.

They burned a few more incense sticks. Wade lit some paper and threw red chilies on it. Does that stupid even have the faintest sign of intelligence? No, he doesn't.

We all started coughing as the pungent smell of chili filled the air.

"Open... ough, window... ough," Mia rasped between coughs.

Wade rushed to the windows and slipped on the salt, landing with a heavy thud.

As the pungency of the burnt chili became intolerable, the coughs became painful. Having no luck with the windows, Wade crawled out of the room.

Mia was unable to move as the idiot had tied her leg to the bed. Gasping for breath I inched to the window and opened it.

Breaking loose the thread, I carried Mia out. Wade was still lying on the floor outside the room clutching his nose. Since the idiot was the closest to the burning chili, he got most of the fumes. I closed the bedroom door.

"Here, drink."

I ordered Wade and Mia, offering some water. I had no idea how to treat chili burns inside one's respiratory tract.

Wade's eyes looked bloodshot.

"Do you want to go to the hospital?"

"No," Wade rasped.

"What were you both thinking?"

Both refused to meet my eyes, clearly they weren't.

Wade mumbled, "Things were going downhill for both of you. I just wanted to help."

"Ya! A fat lot of help it did!"

"Don't be mad, pumpkin."

"What if I hadn't been there? What if something had happened to you? Your legs were bloody well tied to the bed."

"I am sorry."

"Ya! you are f-ing sorry."

"I promise I won't do anything stupid."

"No, you would. Just make sure you tell me, to handle when things get out of hand."

She smiled sheepishly and hugged me. I smiled, I could never stay mad at her.