ʀᴀɢᴇ ʀᴏᴏᴍ | ᴘ1ʜ

Crabs And Poker

Indiya allowed the water cooler to run for a few seconds as a steady stream of water flowed into her styrofoam cup. After filling the cup three-quarters of the way, she left the break room to reach the lobby, passing the foam container to a now seated and quiet Soul.

"Thanks..." He timidly expressed gratitude, his shoulders slightly closing inward.

"Don't have to thank me; you needed it." Indiya insisted, pulling a chair in front of the boy.

She noticed that Soul hadn't yet taken a sip from the cup; he just stared at the inside like he was eyeing his reflection in the water.

Then Soul let out a soft noise resembling a chuckle, but not quite – it was more like a snicker if anything.

"Weird..." He started. "I...can't remember the last time someone offered me water..."

"Well, some people just weren't raised right." Indiya shrugged.

"Heh..." Soul stifled a small laugh. "What would that make me then? My parents are bastards – always have been, always will be. Yet somehow...I didn't turn out like either of them..."

"There's a simple explanation for that. You know what Poker is, right?" Indiya asked, and Soul responded with a head nod.

"God is the dealer, you're the player." Indiya began to explain. "God picking our parents is like a dealer dealing out the cards to the players. Some end up with a good hand, and some don't. You just got dealt a really shitty hand, but that's not your fault...it ain't the dealer's either, honestly..."

"So, whose fault is it?"

"Lady Luck," Indiya stated. "That's all it is; you're a nice respectful kid who has the misfortune of dealing with two motherfuckers that call themselves 'parents.' The fact that you can even say that you're not like both of them tells me a lot about you already..."

"...R-...Really...?" Soul stared at Indiya with a look expressing confusion mixed with a tinge of astonishment.

"Yeah. You seem like you got a good head on your shoulders; you wanna be better than your parents...It's just the environment you're in that's weighing you down, on some 'Crabs in a Bucket' type shit."

"Crabs in a bucket...?" Soul raised a connotation in his question as if implying he'd never heard of that analogy.

"Mm." Indiya hummed. "You got a shit ton of crabs in one bucket, right? All of them wanna get outta the bucket, but they don't know how to. They see one crab tryna crawl out, so they all grab that one and drag it back down with them. You're that crab, and your environment is the bucket."

"S-So," Soul cleared his throat. "Putting all of that together, you're implying that-..."

"You wanna better yourself, then you gotta switch up your surroundings." Indiya clarified. "Find another family member – or a close friend – and stay with them. You said you haven't seen your parents in a few days, yeah?"

Soul nodded. "I just don't know when they'll be back..."

"Doesn't mean you don't have time." Indiya leaned back in her chair. "You need to be around people that won't do shit but lift you up, Soul. And if you need anybody – literally anybody – to vent to, or to just talk to, you know where my store is now."

Soul's gaze at Indiya softened the more she spoke, and he couldn't spot any ounce of deception in her voice or her attitude.

She was actually being genuine, and he didn't know a lot of people who were...at least not on Indiya's level.

"I-I...don't understand..." Soul stuttered. "Why...Why're you saying this to me...?"

"I consider my circle very tightknit, Soul," Indiya emphasized. "There's only a select number of people around that I care about, including whoever walks through those doors. I wouldn't be saying all this if I didn't really care..."