Obscured Vision

Chapter 2 ~ My Brother Kai

RECAP

“Asher come on!” he ran a little faster and we finally made it toward the hatch, we climbed up when Asher let out a yelp. I looked down to see that one of the guards had his foot. I took my knife and threw it at the guard as it found its home in his chest. I pulled Asher out of the hatch and in to the barren woods and we ran and didn’t stop. Between my heavy breathing and pumping adrenaline I only had one question on my mind

Who the hell was that girl and why were they trying so hard to protect her?

Asher and I finally made it to my house completely out of breathe our lungs craving for precious air. As I breathed the fresh air stung and I couldn’t seem to get enough in to satisfy the craving. My mother walks in with a worried expression on her face wearing her apron, her hair in a messy bun atop her head.

             “Finn Lancing where on earth have you been! You are an hour late and I had no one to help me out with dinner!” she shouted. My mother’s eyebrow knitted together as she waited for an explanation. Clearly she was mad she hated when I was late.

             “Sorry mother we went out hunting and got a little carried away.” I hated lying to my mother, but if it lessened the toll of thing she already had piled up on her plate, I would do it.

             “Well then you have better caught something good for all its worth now sit down at the table everyone is waiting for you.” She took in a deep sigh

 “Oh and Asher you welcome to stay if you would like there’s always room for you here.” she said sweetly.

            “No thanking Mrs. Lancing I best be on my way my mom is probably expecting me for dinner anyway, but thanks for the offer ma’am”

             “Oh I understand. I will see you later then.”  He waved good-bye and he left closing the wooden door behind him. The door wobbled with the stress of being closed. Waiting. Just waiting to give way at any moment.

            “Why can’t you be so well mannered like Asher?” My mom said. I laughed at her remark. Like that would ever happen. I sat down on my rickety chair next to my twin brother Kai and across from my father who was covered in soot from working at the plant to provide weapons for the military. The military that was out fighting for our freedom. The idea makes me scoff. The freedom we had was relative. Compared to a caged bird maybe it was a little better than that. At least our cage was a little bit bigger.

            My mom clapped her hands together as she placed dinner I front of us.

             “Chicken, Mom where did you get this!” Such a rare delicacy is only something my poor family could dream of. My mother laughed in glee and pointed at my father who had a smug smile on his face.

             “Dad you didn’t!” I gasped. But his big bearded smile gave him away. He did. He must have stolen this form the merchants in town where he worked.

            “Well I can’t have my family eating rodents all the time now can I?” He said nonchalantly.

             “Well let’s cut the chit chat and eat.” my mother almost sang. We all stacked our plate full of food and we all began to dig in. The tender chicken oozed with greasy juice that I couldn’t wait to consume as I stabbed my fork into the meat. Might I add that the taste far exceeded any rabbit I have ever eaten. From the corner I noticed Kai just picking at his food. Kai just moved his food to different quadrants of his plat stalling.

            “Kai you really need to eat something” I told him concern coating my voice.

             “I can’t I’m not hungry” he mumbled into his food. The whole table got quiet. My mother dropped her fork. I could see tears collecting in her eyes. Kai did this often. He didn’t eat very much at all. He gets sick all the time and we don’t know why of course because we couldn’t afford the luxuries of having a doctor to come look at him.  For him being sixteen he was quite small for his age and it concerned me greatly. He’s been this way since we were small.