I think it's needless to say, we never saw Jhony again. Well, the city didn't, I saw him the moment I came home. Sitting on the floor of our basement, urine dried on his legs. His face still red from constantly crying, he looked over at me. I walked down a couple of steps before I saw Daddy in the corner. He shook his head in my direction, and I stopped. He didn't want me to see what was going to be done, so, instead of continuing down, I turned around and began my climb.
Jhony reached out to me, yelling my name, but Daddy slapped his hand. I shut the door behind me, and grabbed my book bag. I don't know what goes on down there. But, one moment there's someone down there, and the next morning they were gone.
It's always been that way. Even now, 10 years later, I still have no idea what goes on down there. The screaming though, seems not to bother me. It's not every day though. 5 at most, and at least 1. Other nights, Daddy and I would sit on the couch and watch TV together. We try charades, but it doesn't work all the time. Usually, he would do the acting, and I would do the guessing. Doing it the other way, and we wouldn't get anywhere.
I poked at the bottom of my Chinese bowl with my fork and sighed. Daddy looked over at me and tapped my shoulder. "It's nothing." I replied.
He tapped my shoulder again, this time with more effort. I wasn't going to win this one. So, I sat up. "It's just.... My birthday is coming up soon, and I'll be 16. I know.... That we really can't, but I want to do something."
He placed the back of his hand on my head and I gently pushed him away. "Nooooo, I'm not sick. Not that much.... But I'm serious!"
Dad got up and walked over to the wall. He flipped a month to October and put a finger on a date. I walked over. "Halloween. What about it?"
He plucked my forehead and pushed my face closer to the paper, think about it. "You want to go trick or treating? But what will you.... Oh... Ohhhh!!!! I see now. You'll go as yourself!"
He put his hand on his face. A legit face palm from yours truly.
I plopped back on to the couch, and patted down for him to come back. "Well, if we're going to do this, we need to find a way to speak to each other. Have to admit, it's hard to understand someone who doesn't talk."
He looked over at me. From the lack of actions, I could almost tell what he was thinking. I shrugged. "Hey, you can't blame me. If you had a girlfriend, Dad, you'd be a lady killer. If you take that literal or not, is up to you. But, I could see you whispering romantic nothingness into her ear."
He raised his fingers to my throat, almost as if to ask me if I wanted to be plucked there. "No need for violence!" I said as I laid my head on his shoulder.
A few minutes into the show, I looked up at him. He looked down at me in return. "I think you should get a pad and a pencil. That should help out when you need to say stuff."
He looked forward and nodded. I looked forward as well. "Just saying."
When he knew I'd least expect it, he lunged me to the side, and walked off casually.
"Yeah, I deserved that!" I said to him as I regained my balance. "But you have to admit, it isn't a bad idea!"
