My Fool From the Sky

Chapter Five

Griffin Jumped awake, he felt heavy. He looked down to notice Sathorn had started cuddling him in the night. He heard his heart beat a bit faster and his emotionless face turned a slight pink. After a few seconds of silence he pushed him off and got out of bed. The cloth was no longer on Sathorn's forehead and he wasn't sure where it went. He put his hand on his head and sighed in relief when his fever was a lot lower now. Griffin went to the closet in that room to see no clothes in there. It was always quite interesting when people took their wardrobe with them in an emergency evacuation. He decided to look around the room but there wasn't anything really interesting in there. Griffin took his backpack and went out to the kitchen. He took out one of the cans of potatoes he had from earlier and decided to cook them for him. As Griffin finished up cooking the potatoes Sathorn had walked out of the bedroom, now awake, looking around. Once he saw Griffin he walked over to him slowly. He still wasn't feeling the greatest. "Here, come eat these potatoes." He said as he set them on the table that was completely on the ground. Sathorn wasn't very keen on eating now after what happened but he sat down on the floor in front of the table. Griffin sat down as well and noticed Sathorn wasn't eating still. "K-kor toht(Sorry)" Griffin did his best to say in Thai. Sathorn looked up quickly which hurt his head a bit. "Taam Mai.....maai kwam jep Kun (Did not mean hurt you)" he said. Sathorn, who was going to ask if he truly did know thai, laughed softly. His question was no longer a question, he simply knew by how bad Griffin spoke Thai. Griffin was relieved to see him laughing even if it was just a bit. Sathorn nodded and started eating the potatoes, he figured with how much he tried to learn his language he truly was sorry. However, his stomach still wasn't completely better so he ate slowly. Griffin stood up and grabbed two water bottles from the collection he had found before and brought them over. He handed one to Sathorn and started drinking one himself. Sathorn gladly started drinking, slowly, and finished up his potatoes. "เมื่อไหร่เราจะไปบ้านคุณ? (When will we go to your home?)" Griffin recognised the word home from when he had seen it before. "You need to rest first. Uhm.." he thought for a moment before pointing to Sathorn and then putting both his hands flat against each other and resting his head on them. Sathorn nodded, he wasn't tired but because he still wasn't feeling well he agreed he should rest. Sathorn slowly stood up and went back to the bedroom, taking his water bottle with him. Sathorn lays back down to rest. As Griffin waited for him to get better he wasn't sure what to do. He couldn't leave the house because a zombie could attack Sathorn. He pulled out his journal, not his drawing book, but his journal. His journal was something he started writing after the first year. He had written about his time in Chiang Mai before it went to shit and also anything interesting that happened after that. He opened the journal and began reading in his head, as he had nothing else to do. "I remember the day we arrived in Chiang Mai for our vacation. Despite my face not showing it I was glad we went on vacation, it was a nice break from all the bullying I had gotten back then..." As Griffin read the memories in his mind became more vivid... Unloading their luggage from a Taxi, Griffin and his family went into the house they rented for their vacation. As they entered the building a lady from a neighboring house walked over to greet them. "สวัสดีค่ะ(Hello)" the lady bowed slightly and smiled very widely. Griffin's mother looked at her, puzzled. "Do you perhaps speak english?" She asked. "Oh of course, so sorry!" the lady responded. At this time Griffin, who was only 12 at the time, was unloading his stuff into the room he would be staying in. As he was taking his stuff out of his suitcase he noticed two boys playing in a room in the house next to the one he was staying in. He didn't have very many friends at home, he was usually bullied for being different. "I wonder If I could play with those two since we won't be here long." Griffin thought to himself. After finishing unpacking all his things, he walked downstairs and noticed his mother talking to a woman. The woman smiles noticing Griffin, "Oh you have a son too? I have two." "Can I meet them?" Griffin asks with a blank face. The lady frowned slightly at the emotionless look on his face but nodded. "You can meet my youngest. He is twelve, and he is pretty good at english. My other son has to get ready to go home to his father's though." Griffin nodded. "I'll get him for you, there is a park down the street you guys can hang out at." the lady says and goes to get him. Griffin's mother's face suddenly changes to a more unpleasant one. "What do you think you're doing?" Griffin shrugged. "Aren't we on vacation, can't I have fun?" "Do not talk back to me young man, I'll let you go this time with them but you will be in trouble later. You know they are likely to bully you as well! If that bullying gets out to adults our reputation is ruined because of your freakish face." Griffin's mother wasn't the nicest person, she never was. She often blames it on the fact that he can't physically show emotion but truth be told he has only been like that since he was 10 and he thinks it was because of the way she treated him. Griffin's mother's face changed to a smile immediately once the woman came back with one of the boys. "This is Thanapat. You two can go to the park." Griffin nodded and looked towards the boy who smiled at him and led him to the nearby park. Once at the park Thanapat turned to Griffin and said "My name is Thanapat Phongsupan" Griffin's face didn't change but he nodded. Griffin pointed to himself "my name is Griffin" Thanapat smiled and then pointed to the swings, "Want to swing?" he slowly nodded and walked to the swingset with Thanapat. While sitting on the swings they talked about school and Thanapat talked about his brother. "What's it like having a brother?" Griffin had asked him. "It's nice, it's like a best friend! He is two years older than me though and he lives with my dad." he frowned for a moment but quickly shook it off. "Ah, sorry. Is it weird having separated parents?" "Only a little." "Sorry if that was personal." "I don't mind!" They talked about how school was for them, Thanaphat asked Griffin about his family as well. "Oh, I don't know, I guess I'm not too close with my parents and I don't have any siblings." "Oh okay. Can I ask something personal?" Griffin nodded. He hadn't had an actual conversation with someone in so long he wasn't sure how people his age should act or talk about. "Why is your face like that?" There was a bit of silence before Griffin responded "I'm not sure, I just can't really physically show emotions unless I force them. It doesn't mean I don't feel things, I just don't show it naturally." Thanaphat nodded slightly. "Sorry, I only slightly understand, I know English but I don't know everything. I think I understand what you mean though, I didn't mean to be rude, I was just curious." Thanaphat said as he smiled. "It's okay, I actually get bullied for it often so I'm used to it." "Why? I mean I can tell something is wrong with you but I think it makes you look hotter." What a strange choice of words, why hot? "Oh. Thanks, I think?" The boys continued to talk till it started getting dark. They got off the swings and walked back to their houses. Once they reached the houses they had parted ways waving to each other. Griffin went inside his house and smelled something delicious. He closed the door, took his shoes off, and went into the kitchen. "What are you making?" He asked his mother. She turned to look at him and as she opened his mouth to speak he spoke before she could. "He didn't bully me. He said I looked cool." she closed her mouth and nodded. "Good. They are coming over for supper soon so I'm making curry." Griffin nodded and went to the room he was staying in. He sat on his bed for a moment thinking over everything that had happened so far. He was happy he finally had a friend, someone who didn't care that his face was the way it was. He sat on his bed for a good ten minutes before hearing a knock on the door. Once he heard the knock he went downstairs and saw his father had opened the door for them. Once they were both inside Thanaphat ran over to Griffin very happily. "Hello again!" he said and laughed. They all sat down at the table and ate supper together. After eating, Thanaphat and his mother went back to their house. "Griffin, come do these dishes." "Do I have to?" he asked, regretting it immediately. "Excuse me?" she looked pissed. "Yes mam" he said and started washing the dishes. As he was washing them he hadn't noticed a broken plate and cut his hand. As he remembered his hand bleeding he heard some weird noises from the other room. As he closed his journal and stood up, he heard Sathorn Throw up. His nose scrunched up and he went to him. He had thrown up all over the bed and was now out of the bed as he didn't want to be in his throw up. "Lets move to another house." Griffin said motioning for him to follow him.