Survivors

Familial

I want to eat real, cheap food. But I'm not that hungry. I manage to eat a bit of salad, though. I drink a tall glass of vargile.

"What happened to you when you were away? Where did you go?" Jade asks.

"I went to Gorfon." I mumble.

"What did they do?" Maggie inquires. I look down and screw my eyes shut.

"If he doesn't want to talk about it, he doesn't have to." Regeit gives her a disapproving look.

"It's fine." I assure him.

"Wait, did you open any of your gifts?" Asks Wessa.

"Can I do that after I get into clothes?" I ask. She nods.

"We'll move the presents to the lounge." Xavier tells me.

I head to my room and put on some clothing. I reach for my jacket, then remember that Xavier has it. I roll my eyes and walk to the lounge. I sit on the floor and reach towards a box.

"That's from me." Maggie says. I recognize it as the hot pink one that looks like chocolate is in it.

"They made me let them buy junk food." Regeit explains.

"Uh, what are they?" I ask.

"They're Jarvuet Cubes." Maggie answers. I open some more boxes. There seems to be a lot of food. And none of it looks healthy. A six-pack of cans with bubble decals on their fuchsia sides, a neon orange box filled with a rainbow of things reminiscent of potato chips, an electric blue bag of enormous lizardlike gummies, and a lime green package of fluorescent powder that gave off a toffee smell. He can already feel the cavities. I next open the box containing the Astralis medal of honour. It's a gold-toned pin in the shape of a rhombus. I turn to Xavier.

"Can I have my jacket?"

"You can have my jacket if you want." He offers.

"If you're wearing a red jacket we aren't colour-coded anymore. Suck it up, pretty boy." Jade takes the jacket from his grip and hands it to me.

"Aw, you think I'm pretty?" He teases.

"Oh, no. My mind and yours are completely different." She sits on the couch again. I take a box from her and tear off the wrapping paper. It's a box in a bright lilac colour. "It's not food. I just needed a box to put them in."

I open the box and look at a pile of knives.

I give her a confused look.

"I was wondering what things you used on a normal day. Knives didn't seem like much of a stretch." She explains.

"Uh, yeah. Thanks a million." I put a multitool blade back in the box and close it.

Next is a small ball of paper. I peel each crumpled layer off carefully in case they have anything on them. They don't. They seem to be foreign receipts. I give Xavier a questioning look.

"It's wrapping." Wessa whispers to me. I take off the last layer to find a ring. It looks fairly cheap. It has a Get Well Soon message on it.

"That has backstory." He tells me. "When I was little, I was really sick. I needed a kidney transplant. The only match they could find was another kid. I didn't know them. They didn't know me. But they gave me a part of their body just because they felt it was the right thing to do. I wouldn't be alive without them. After the surgery, Abuela handed me a card. It was signed by the donor. I might have the wrong Rowan Brooks, or I might have read wrong, but I feel like you gave me this. Taped into a cheesy card. If it isn't you, you can have it anyways."