Living With Delinquents (AKA "Louder Than Words") (Slow Update)

Chapter 22: Fail As A Spy

Chapter 22

Color hopped from Mrs. Fairley’s bush of roses as steathy as a cat and hid behind the brick wall of the Hawsons’ house. She felt like a moronic spy on a crappy 90’s action movie, but this was a real situation that left Color constantly swallowing out of fear. She decided to take matters to her own hands and followed Boran to see what he was up to, after politely shooing Ben away as quick as possible. He was a bit confused but if he was gonna hang with Color for a long time, this was what he must get used to. Constant peculiar actions.

There he was, a small gun stuffed carefully by his hip and wandering eyes on his face, sweating bullets. Boran looked quite intimidated and not in control of the situation, but who was Color to judge, she hadn’t seen enough Lethal Weapons to know how it was going down. The only thing she scared of was being an eye-witness to a driveby shooting and Boran lying dead in his pool of blood. She was dying to know what was he doing with that gun?

¯S-U-G-A-R, jump into your racing car. Say ‘Sugar Rush’, ‘Sugar Rush’¯Color’s deafening ringtone boomed and startle the living hell out of her. She answered, crying out in whispers: “WHAT?!”

“Where the hell are you, Corndog?” Haley’s squeaky voice ermerged, irritated.

“I’m at home.” She yelled quietly.

“Then why are you whispering? What the hell is going on?” Haley probed.

“Nothing.” She cleared her throat to speak normal. “Nothing. Ben took me home. That’s it. OK Bye.”

“Ben who? Color! Co...” Color hung up and sighed. Luckily Boran couldn’t hear so maybe she was not detected. She switched her gaze back to the spot and... Oh no, Boran had disapeared. ‘Oh please don’t appear behind my back, please don’t...’ A light tap on Color’s shoulder made her jump and almost trip. Of course he had to notice her and decided to surprise his “stalker” by magically appearing behind her back. Typical 90s sitcom.

Color inadvertently locked her gaze on Boran’s hypnotising eyes, as if he was trying to delete what she’d seen. But he looked so innocent, like nothing had happened, his eyes open wide in incredulity: ~ What are you doing? ~

Color gulped. She didn’t know whether Boran had found out she knew about his ‘little buddy’ or not but she was quick at hiding her thoughts and acted candidlly: ~ Answering my phone. Better service out here ~ She held up the evidence.

Boran smiled: ~ Come inside. I’ve got something for you. ~

Was he going to kill her to burry the lead? Color sweating and shaking like a leaf. No, he wouldn’t do that, she knew he wouldn’t. He didn’t have murderer eyes. Nevertheless, Color distantly followed Boran and wishing to live as she entered her own house. Oh god, there it was, the smell of freshly baked cookie and death... Wait, what? Cookies.

Boran handed her a plate of colorful things. It was hot and steaming and smelled fantastic. Color was looking at honey colored pretzels with what seemed like chocolate smashed on top and sprinkled rainbow bits. They were definitely not going to be able to kill Color. Maybe...

~ I made some snacks. I found these on the top drawers and they were about to expire. ~ He took the biggest piece and fed it to Color. She reluctantly took them and was instantly hooked at the first bite: “Holy rainbow sprinkled unicorn that is awesome!” She shrieked: ~ Where did you learn to make that? ~

~ In prison. ~

~ What? ~

~ Kidding. It’s a small party trick. Glad you like it. ~

~ Like it? I could live off of only this. ~ She took another bite of heaven and grinned, showing teeth full of chocolate. The gun accident was completely off Color’s mind for a second as she devoured half of the plate in under 1 minute. Until she saw it lurking under Boran’s shirt as he turned around to fetch her some water.

Crazy thoughts were running through Color’s head. This was what everyone feared when letting a delinquent live with them. She wanted to tell her Dad, but knowing him, she would only intensify the situation like, a gizzilion times because Phillip was really touchy about these things. He’s an officer for crying out loud. Worst things may come off it and Boran could never see the light of day again. But this was too big to just ignore. If she decided to keep this to herself and tried to dig further to give her final verdict, she might suffer horrible consequences. Then Juney popped up in her mind? Did he know about it? Was he in on it?

When he returned, Color had another plan in her head, a wild but direct and could turn out crazily efficient: she was going to confront him on the spot. She needed to know right then what the gun was for and how he came by it. What’s the worst thing he could do? Well, beside killing her.

Color took a huge gulp of water and swallowed the fear with it. She searched for Boran’s eyes to get his attention. When they finally met, Color was engulfed in a tidal wave of sorrow and vulnerability from his endlessly deep green eyes. The words she was about to ask him drowned in the same gulp of water she just took. This boy looked as though he was going through a tremendously painful period, but like Color he could mask it pretty well. Yet those eyes, seemed like they’d suffered too much and for a moment, they were calling every fiber in Color’s body for help.

Suddenly the door bursted open and in walked, no, waltzed Color’s mom: “Good morning Pup!”. She swayed to the line she just sang but startle no one, as Color couldn’t take her eyes of Boran’s.

After 3 seconds, Color blinked incessantly and beamed: “Mom, you’re home early!” She gave Lana a big hug and was instantly intoxicated by her mother’s overpowering perfume. Lana puts on perfume, you could say, like John Travolta putting on hairspray from “Grease”, which leads her to spend thousands on buckets of scented chemical water. It took Color a few second to breath normal again: “But it’s already afternoon.”

“Oh, you know how those jet lag get me. Hi Boran!” Lana waved earnestly to a bewildered boy. Then she turned to her dear daughter: “Puppy love, I bought the cutest dress for you in Chicago. Go try it on now.”

She reluctantly cheered: “Yeah... Sure. But I have something to...” Color turned around only to find that Boran had vanished. The dreading confrontation was interupted by Lana, however, after being lost in those eyes, Color just didn’t have the heart or the guts to pull it off.

“Boy that kid is fast.” Mom chirped. Indeed, Boran was gone. With the gun still attached to him.

I had problem uploading this. The box for the text was empty and I thought I was banned for inappropriate behaviour or something. Phew, I got through. But oh god damn I spent the whole evening in paranoia and kind of disfigured my washing machine, killed an earphone and pulled out most of my hair.

I look like Homer Simpson. But a happy Homer Simpson :))

Watty Awards 2013. I'll be voting like crazy again this year.