Shut In

Introduction

"come on out freak," someone from outside my house yells before a brick bursts through the window.

I grip onto my PS3 controller as they come in.... "what did I ever do?"

As fire engulfs my beloved sanctuary I hear then respond, "you existed."

I jolt up in my bed and look around, all my things are safe... nothing is burned again... But damn that dream... I stretch and stand, walking over to my computer. my food is on its way... should be here around four... then I pull up my IM chat where I notice my sister messaged me... she has a boy who she took in that's a lot like me... but fairly obese... at least he was when I first met him...

'Hey. I cannot handle this kid. He never leaves the house. He even joined an online highschool!! help!!'

I chuckle as I take a drink out of my mountain dew from last night. 'What can I do? Are you finally giving him to me for a little bit?' I have been trying to get that fifteen year old over here for a while. his problem is different from mine in a few ways... I can help him get out of this boring world. .. I mean I love my house, I will never leave... Too many traitors out there... but he's a kid. Even I went outside as a kid... not far, but I did.

'I give. he's on his way...'

'he flying?'

'taking a train.'

'okay... I will have Joshua go get him for me...'

'You won't?'

'No.'

'Okay.'

'I will call you when he gets here. What time does his train arrive?'

'10:30 at night.'

'Okay. He still have an eating problem?'

'Different from last time.'

'Different? '

'You will see.'

'Kay. Going to go prepare the house.'

'Huh?'

'He's your family but he's not sold on me yet. I'm locking up my food.'

'you bastard!! XDDDD!!!'

'ja~'

I walk away from the computer and turn my eyes to my cabinets of food. I should put it in a safe....  I bet Joshua wouldn't mind helping me out....

I grab my Samsung Galaxy S3 and call Joshua. after four rings, "Hey Dameon!!!"

"Joshua!!!!" I laugh at how we both use excited women voices.

"Two favors that I will pay you for!" I offer in a woman's voice, "Pick up some one at 10:30 from a mall and drive me over a freezer safe and a refrigerator safe."

"that's stupid. your fridge can have a padlock put on it," Joshua reminds me, "And all your cabinets,  I can go to home depot and get those things where one lock fits all or a different key for each."

"Different key for each... then get really fancy keys so you can have the plain ones and I can have an assorted set of different fancy keys..." I answer quickly.

"Alright. then I will pick up a pad lock for your box freezer and fridge," Joshua laughs.

"Thanks man," I laugh,  "Ill pay you for everything. "

The line falls silent,  "how about you give me a great birthday gift instead?"

my ears perk, "What would you like? You never let me buy you anything so I always slip money into your bank account."

Joshua laughs nervously for a moment then answers, "Take me out to eat."

My heart thuds in my ears, "You want me to go outside? That place... that place is

.." I take a breath and calm the panic that was evident in my voice,  "Mind if I think it over?"

My hands are shaking and all I can think about is when the house burned... when those horrible people burned almost everything I loved... burned my cats... my dogs... all my manga and games... thank god most were in storage. "Dameon... sit down." Joshua orders sternly, "Quit thinking about the past and get your hands under control. You're not hyperventilating unless you force yourself in it."

I nod and sit, "Okay... sorry...."

"No its okay, I shouldn't have asked," Joshua chuckles.

"It's okay," I take a deep breath, "I want to try... but... lemme think of an idea later... maybe we can come up with a game plan over dinner this evening..." I pinch the bridge of my nose. "I'm sorry."

"Make up for it with some of your famous seafood platter tonight, and when you get the kid to sleep we can play a video game." Joshua laughs. I love him like a brother, he's always there for me. He's the only one who has full access to all my food and everything on my estate. I live in a city, but I bought out all the abandoned houses around me... tore down what wasn't useful and flipped or rebuilt what was. In total I have 45 rental homes, 8 gardens and, 7 parks available to my renters, four guest homes, and two vacant properties that need development... he has access to any of my facilities.

"Okay," I nod and smile into the phone as I feel my stomach knot when i think of getting off the phone with him.

"Hey... can I come over now?" Joshua asks, "I don't have enough to get everything for you."

"Yeah," I nod and look around, "I haven't gotten dressed yet-" he hung up and I saw him at the door waving to me. I answer the door with only lounge pants and laugh, "Hey."

Joshua laughs, "I liked the face you made when said 'Okay....' You miss me that much?"

I smack him, "You asshole. How much you need?"

Joshua eyes me for a minute then looks in my kitchen. He's the one who does all my interior designs, so I let him pick. "500 to be safe." He snaps a couple photos for reference.  "Get going on that platter."

"Okay, okay," I laugh, as I grab my wallet and pull out 500, "keep the extra. Ill pay if you go over. Show me receipts if you need more." I hug him, "Thanks."

The hugging used to creep me out back in highschool... whenever I'd ask a favor,  he'd ask for a hug... I always helped him with computers and shit, so he'd help me with math..  figures... I could do any sort of math if computers were involved, but couldn't do shit without them. Of course... I dropped out... he went into college and shit... but he turned down offers... and stayed with me... Sometimes I think he takes our friendship too seriously. He could be a fat cat like me. but he ain't.

"No problem, Dameon," Joshua smiles and pats my back. Somehow I feel like I could go on the outside too if it was with him... but thayts just foolish and stupid. its never safe out there..  not even Joshua can change that.

"Also..." I smile at him, "Drive safe."

"I will," Joshua nods at me, "Cook safely. Okay?"

"Yeah," I nod and watch him leave and get into my old mustang... it was my first and last car... I gave it to Joshua when his car quit on him... it was just gathering dust...

I head back to the kitchen to make Joshua his favorite meal with some more things added...