Venomous

Homecoming

Sian took me into his home-well, his appartment. It was small and didn't have much decoration. But there was one picture on the wall. In that picture was Sian, 3 kids, and my mom and dad. They looked so happy.
Out of the kids, there were 2 girls and 1 boy. The boy had uncontrollable curly hair and a front tooth missing but that didn't stop his from smiling big. There was a little girl next to him. She had wavy hair that came to her shoulders. She wore what seemed like a princess dress and had a sassy smile spread across her face. The next girl was the tallest. She had short white hair and she wore a calm expression on her face. She was a splitting image of da-of Kaldur. The kids looked so different yet so alike. Freckles splattered over all of their faces, pointed ears and semi sharp teeth. I saw my mom in all of them.
And then there was my dad. He looked so happy, at peace, in love...
My uncle saw me looking at the picture and cleared his throat,"Your mom dragged me to all the family pictures, much to my dislike."
He smirked as he thought back on the memories. Then his smirk disappeared,"Listen, kid. I don't know how to take care of you-"
I don't need you to, I thought to myself, I can take care of myself.
Instead I say,"It's fine."
"But I want you to be comfortable and safe. I know you mean a lot to Ame. And I don't want to lose," he took a long pause,"I don't want to lose anyone else."
"Ok."
"We can visit your parents anytime you want, ok?"
"I find it funny that you actually think I want to go see them."
"You might change your mind."
"I highly doubt it."
He took a deep breath,"Listen, kid. They came out of hiding to look for you, knowing that they could be found and thrown into prison. They begged for your forgiveness and gave up being villains for you."
"This isn't a fairytale story where they're going to waltz in after treating me like shit all my life, tell me they love me, and then we're one big happy family. I have the right to hold a grudge."
"I know kid."
"I have a name."
"Astrid is just a weird name. To be honest, y'all have weird names..."He shrugged and then disappeared into the kitchen,"What do you want for dinner? Chinese, Tai, Mexican? Pizza?"
I sit on his couch,"What's pizza?"
"You've never had pizza?!" He grabbed a phone,"I thought Ame would at least give you some. She was like a ninja turtle. She loved pizza."
"If you haven't realized, Midnight was full of shit."
"I know you're mad at her. So am I but, she's still my sister. I still love her." He glared at me but it was soft,"So try to keep the hate comments to a minimum."
"Whatever...What are Ninja Turtles?"
"They were teenage ninja superheroes but they were turtles."
"Wouldn't they be slow?" I walked over to the couch,"And hella small"?
"They were mutants so they were pretty big. And fast."
"Sounds stupid."
"Hey, don't shit on my childhood."
"Whatever..." I got up as I looked around for a room,"Um-"
"I only have one bed and I like my sleep so." He pulled out his phone,"It's the big comfy couch for you...unless you want my bed."
"It's cool," I sat back on the couch,"This is fine."
~~~~~~
We mainly ate the pizza in silence, and watched Ninja Turtles. I don't think I like the show.
"Ame used to love this show," he looked at the tv and I started to notice his eyes were watering,"We'd watch it on the weekends in the morning-that is if the tv was working. Run down the halls at school singing the theme song. Cut our t-shirts to make them into masks to play with. Her favorite was Mikey."
I looked at the Orange masked turtle in disgust,"He's the stupidest one."
"Well, Ame wasn't that smart back in the day compared to now."
"Still pretty dumb to me."
"On a book smarts level, kid." Sian narrowed his eyes but went back to eating,"I always liked Ralph. Leo was Kaldur's favorite. In some way we're kinda like the turtles. Ralph is intimidating and scares people. Mikey's the life of the party and super sweet. And Leo was the leader. Always calm, cool and collected...Well way back when, we used to be like them. Now it's all gone to shit."
"I don't like Leo. He's controlling. He's mean and just an asshole for no fucking reason. And Mikey is just a cool heartless bitch!" I slammed my hand on the table.
To my surprise he didn't say anything and continued to watch the show. We began to eat in silence again.
~~~~~
After dinner, we cleaned. I washed the dishes as I watched him sweep. He swept the floor and kept a straight face. He didn't speak. He acted as if I wasn't even there.
It was fine at first. The silence. But now it's killing me. I don't know if I can stay here. He's so quiet. He's so calm. He's so cold.
He's like Manta.
~~~~~~~~
After I showered, Sian helped make my couch-bed and brought out some clothes for me,"This place is really only meant for one person. We can get a bigger place if you want. Because it seems like you're gonna be staying with me for a while."
"It's fine."
"Are you sure? Because no room means no privacy."
"It's fine."
He squinted his eyes at me,"Alright champ, I don't have work tomorrow so you can spend the whole day with your uncle."
I laid in the bed,"Ok."
He went in his room without another word.
~~~~~~~
I woke with a start and a stream of sweat running from my face to my back. My skin felt sticky and my hair was matted to my head. My heart was beating out of my chest and could be heard beating in my eardrum. I saw nothing but felt strong arms wrap round me. I felt myself scream and cry as the arms got a tighter grip. I heard words being said but couldn't listen to them over my tears.
My tears became controlled and I felt my heart rate slow. I heard him say,"Ame used to have nightmares too, bet she still does."
He raked his fingers through my hair and rubbed the small of my back. He hummed a quiet tune and held me close to his heart.
"Can we just forget about her? Can we forget about them? Can you just act like you're my dad and I never met them?"
He hesitated at first but then he said,"Sure champ."