The Red House
"I don't know where you're going, but I'm begging you, don't stay overnight. You should be thankful that I'm not stopping you from wandering, but don't abuse my trust in you. Go back to your room and go to sleep." Venancio's mother reminds him again,
But instead of following his mother, the next day Venancio left again.
He put on his gray jacket that was in the kitchen to cover himself from the fog because it was still early morning. With only two hours of sleep, the dark marks under his eyes were already noticeable. He came out of Gray Town, where they had just moved to be near his parents' work , and went to another town to buy bread. Venancio has a long black hair and narrow eyes.
You'd think that it was supposed to be for his parents. But no, because when he returned to the town where he lived, he just took his bicycle from their yard and went straight to the end of the street. And it was at this point that the old house became visible. He got off the bike and went to the front of the red house. He knocked, but no one answered the door. Since the door was noticeably open, he pushed it open and went inside. It's obvious that he does this all the time because he looks like he's used to it and has no doubts about it.
"Hey!" He shouted inside the house, "Lester, where are you? I'm here!"
He immediately heard my footsteps when I went down from the second floor. There, you will see me, wearing my usual white and blue striped pajamas. "Did you bring any food again?" I happily asked as I approached Venancio,
I'm a little shorter and paler than Venancio. My father is American, whereas his father is Filipino, so I am taller. It is noticeable that my hair has a lighter color than Venancio's hair and my curly hair also has slight streaks of white.
"Yes, it's fresh baked bread!" He showed it to me, and I immediately inhaled the delicious smell, "Let's share this and then just get some water."
My face wrinkled in shame, "We don't have water." I apologized,
"Wait, really? It seems like your house is empty. It's terrible, it's like your parents abandoned, where are your they?" He inquired once more,
"Like I said, they're outside the country," I lied, of course I shouldn't tell the truth because he might go away and I'd lost my only friend,
I can still remember the first time I met him. He was wandering alone and has no friends, but he saw me on my house and we became really close.
I told him why the name of this town is Gray Town, and I lied when I said that my parents were not here because they were to another country to take care of papers for my father's work.
"Ohh, eat now," Venancio said, and I was lost in my thoughts.
"No, that's all for you; all I want to remember is the smell of bread; that's enough for me." I said to him,
"Are you disgusted by me?" He asked, "You seem to reject all that I give you; I am clean, you know!"
"It's not like that!" I strongly refused, and to change the conversation, I said, "Come upstairs, let's play there like yesterday!"
We were already playing for a while when be started a new conversation after pne of my old toy cars broke in accident.
"Hey, why is your house red? Is it to fit your last name? Lester Red?" He asked randomly while trying to fix my toy's wheels,
"No," I replied, "that would've been weird. The truth is, the older teenagers from before are the ones who painted this house, while my parents were gone after the house fire and all. And I tried to stop them, sure, but they just got scared and continued, so now it's red."
"House fire?" He asked,
"Oh..." With all I said, that's what he'll mention? My mouth slipped, and I can't think of any more excuses. "No house fires. Sorry, that's... nothing."
Venancio and I played for a long time, and he stayed until midnight. "You might be scolded again." I mentioned when he was outside putting on his jacket,
"That's okay," he said with a sad smile, "I'm used to it. Alrigjt, I'm going home. See you tomorrow?"
"Alright, tomorrow again." I said goodbye, and as I watched him disappear into the distance, I whispered to myself, "I will wait for you for the rest of my life anyway."
YOU ARE READING
The Red House | Editing
Short Story"If I didn't lie, would you come by?" Venancio is merely a lonely boy, and then he met his first friend after moving to Grey Town, Lester. Only Lester is hiding something from him. ~ A crack where he was sitting sounded, and I was too late to warn...
