Sweetish

Chapter 12

Dulce got home much later than he meant to, and though he made a habit not to show it on his face, his muscles ached from the huge amount of sugar he had to once again carry from the cave to his shack. He usually only needs to do this once a month at the most, but lately it feels like every couple of weeks with how things have been lately.

He tries not to curse himself for breaking boundaries with Sammy earlier, he's usually very tense around people but as Sammy was his first friend in a very long time, he had just assumed that it was okay after she pinched him so hard. He's not as good as reading signals as everyone credits him for, he just had plenty of experience when it came to work and serious situations. But not this.

Sammy had given him an odd look after what he did. He played it off well but he still feels regret over reacting at all. Back home biting your friends was just a normal thing to do, to tease and play. Children were sometimes called "guppies" or "gup" because the local Sweetish Fish, when young, were just as playful, jumping out of the water and nibbling on anything they found even the slightest bit interesting. People would keep them as pets in their handmade ponds, even their pantheon of Gods and spirits have the little cuties as one of them. "The God of hope and miracles" they call it.

If he were talking to someone like his cousin or his uncle he would have been able to recall the name but after all this time his own language is starting to fade from his lips. He made it such a point to remember everything, always, and yet every time he spends time with Sammy and makes a new, gentle memory, one of the old painful ones seems to slip his mind. Mabye a few years ago this would have pained him severely, then him into a depressive rage, but after learning what has become of his home and his people by their own doing, he's slowly begining to entertain the idea that it may be for the best.

He places the baskets down beside him making yet another indent in the dirt, and as he unlocks the rusted door and opens it, the overwhelming saccharine stench of loneliness, grief, and regret completely overtook the sweetness of the crystals sitting patiently beside him. Until Sammy showed up, only the candies brought him comfort. The only warmth he felt was in the kitchen or at his shop, and everything else felt either alien or dead.

He lifts the baskets yet again and, with a deep sigh, enters the darkness to sleep once again and wait for his sun to rise.