Song Fables

Narrative 4

Candy Apple's apartment was small, but neat. She enjoyed a simpler, cozy home, not a lavish one. She was never big on appearances, especially her own. In her mind, there were more important things to worry about; she had to catch up on papers for medical school, had to attend yet another open mic poetry reading, and had to finish a painting she had been working on for about a week. She was wrapped in blankets, her reading glasses on. Candy stared at her laptop with a tired expression. She felt like she was forgetting something, but she couldn't put her finger on what...

"Hey, Candy?! Open the door, or I'm gonna throw rocks through your window!" She hears inconsistent, and rather aggressive knocking on her door. An all-too-familiar voice yells from outside her apartment door.

"Oh, heck-" she says under her breath, shutting her laptop quickly and getting up from her room. Candy was never used to swearing. She always felt like it was unnecessary, and just aggressive. That wasn't her deal. Making her way to the door, she opens it and looks up to see her brother, Carmine. Without hesitation, he pulls her into a giant hug, before placing her down once again, both of them laughing.

"Hey! You look like you just walked out of a hurricane. What happened?" Carmine steps into the apartment, closing the door cautiously. The ceilings were low; too low for him. He found himself having to lean down slightly when walking around.

"I was studying. College, you know?" Candy chuckles. "What about you? You look... uh, like the same as before! Exciting!" She gawks sarcastically, getting refreshments for the both of them.

"Ah yes, college. I do know. Obviously."

"Mhm."

"Psh, fuck off. It's not like I'm starving on the streets. I live in a house. A big house! And I make some money on my own. I still believe that I don't need college." Carmine sits down at the counter, cupping his face with his hand and watching Candy run around the kitchen, with pots and pans, and other ingredients. "What're you making, anyways?"

"I'm taking a page out of your book. Hot cocoa, sibling style." She finger guns no one in particular, before adjusting her glasses and blowing a piece of bright red hair out of her face. Continuing to make hot cacao, she barely notices Carmine's constant picking at his fingers, tearing his cuticles. "You know, a lot of well known colleges will give extra attention to your dyslexia. They know that a lot of people are smart, but can't-"

"Candy, just shut up about the dyslexia thing. I've done this well on my own. I don't need any outside help. I don't want to go to college." Carmine frowns.

"Don't tell me to shut up. You have an issue. An issue that can be easily solved if you just, I don't know, told people." She stirs the mixture until it's even, before adding powdered coffee sloppily. It made Carmine cringe, but he enjoyed watching his sister attempt to make something for the both of them.

"I don't want to tell people. It's fuckin' embarrassing. You know what my friends would say if I told them I was illiterate? They'd fuckin' rip me to shreds!" Carmine says dramatically, chuckling. "I guess I'm just a lost cause, right? Just like dad said."

"Dad would never say that. Don't be an idiot. Just because you've chosen to believe that he just doesn't exist, doesn't mean he, well, doesn't exist." She puts the hot liquid through a strainer in the sink, pouring it into two mugs smoothly. She slides one to Carmine, and holds her own with the sleeves of her crew neck sweater. "And I've never liked your friends, anyways. They just seem so mean. Maybe I've never had a stable friend group before, but that entire amalgamation of overgrown teenagers seems toxic."

"Hah." Carmine sneers, taking a long, drawn out sip of the cacao. "They look out for me. It's chill." He sighs, wanting to change the conversation topic. "Anyways, so what about you and Ultra? Wink wink, nudge nudge."

"He kind of— stopped talking to me after that night." Her eyes flutter slightly, before looking up at Carm once more. "However, in his defense, I haven't really been making an effort to hang out with him, either. I'm just always so busy with my own work."

"That kind of sucks ass. I can talk to him about it, if you want." Carmine furrows his eyebrows. Although Candy did want a response or explanation, she knew that Carmine's way of getting it was much more violent than her's.

"No, I can handle it. I'm a big girl. I pay taxes. I can handle a single boy." She laughs airily. As her eyes drift onto Carm, she notices something peculiar. As his hand goes underneath his shirt to scratch his chest, she can see some of his stomach. But it looked as though something wasn't right.

Instead of his normal, rather sculpted abdomen, in its place stood vulgar burn marks on his wax. His wax looked darker and damaged in that area, strange malformations appearing on it. Candy's heart stopped, and her mind started to fill with worry.

"Carmine, lift your shirt." She stands, placing her hot cacao down gently, and staring at him intently.

"The fuck? No. Obviously no."

She was tired of him having hid everything from her for years. With determination, Candy walked quickly to Carmine and lifted his shirt quickly, seeing in full view the burn marks and melted, dried, and melted once again wax. Carmine retracts, pulling his shirt back down, glaring at her.

"Again?" Her voice sounds heartbroken, as well as her face. She was more sad than disappointed. This wasn't the first time. "I thought you said you were getting better." grief formed a pit in her stomach.

"Candy, please, it was just one time, I swear-" He reached for her, his heart beating a thousand times a second.

"That," she points to his abdomen, or where it was supposed to be. "-Is not 'one time.' Please. Don't tell me you've been roped up with them again." She shakes her head, her one powerful voice now fragile with discontent.

"They'd fuckin' kill me if I left. And then they'd find you, and kill you, too." He sounds as though he's on the verge of tears, one more word and he'd be on the floor, the house echoing with the familiar sound of crying. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't know what to do."

The silence is so loud that it makes Candy want to cover her ears and duck down. But she knew what she had to do.

"I'm calling dad."

"Don't you fucking dare."

"What are you gonna do? Kill me, like what you did to-"

"I said, don't you fucking dare!" He yells. Carmine stops leaning down, only now does Candy fully let it sink in that he's almost a foot taller than her. He slams his mug on the counter, causing it to shake and spill over.

Candy takes out her phone, and starts dialing the number.

"NO, NO. NO. PLEASE. BETH, PLEASE." Carmine starts screaming those words over and over again, launching himself at the phone, trying desperately to take it from Candy, who holds it over her head. "Beth, please." he begs desperately, he was crying by now, his entire face was a mess of emotion.

"Cameron! It's your own father!"

"He will never be my father. I don't have a father." Carmine cries, wiping his face on his shoulder. "That man is a sanctimonious bastard who only acknowledges the existence of one of his kids."

Fourteen missed calls from: dad

Five voicemails

"Cameron?"

"Please, answer"

Candy sighs, looking at her phone, and then back at Carmine. He was a blubbering mess. She was in a state, herself. "Cam. Promise me, you'll get help. Professional help."

Carmine looks up at her, confused. He nods.

"I won't call him. But you need to leave. I need to clean up." Her once neat apartment was now in a storm, one that was caused by her own brother. Without another word, he lowers his face and leaves, brushing up against her, and slamming the door.

Looking at her phone, Candy presses the 'call' button.

...

"Beth?"