MISFIT

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Kuzo least expected that he would be having surgery. They took out the chipped bone and he stayed in the hospital for four days.

He least expected also to find his hospital room filled with cards and sweets and flowers. One was from his class, others his team mates and tutors, some from people he didn't even know.

He took another week off from school, and he used that time to study, he had been working on a new project, he was designing a gaming software and secretly advancing a new skateboard he had gotten. He took walks to the beach with Fiji and kept his health under check by exercising in his father's gym every day.

Essien had flown back to New York days after Kuzo was discharged, he wished he could stay longer but he had given Kuzo some assignments to finish including blue prints to constructing the hover-glide.

Kuzo worked his math and science all day. One evening as he took his walks to the beach, he saw a lot of people rush to the shore, they must have caught something.

Fiji whined.

"What's going on?"

He frowned as he looked on.

"Let's go check it out" They trotted to the shore and that was where they saw it.

"Oh no" Kuzo was dumbfounded. The entire shore was covered with dead fish.

****

"Mom!, something's wrong" Kuzo slammed the door calling his mothers attention.

"Kuzo the next time you slam the door like that I will bake your hands, What is it this time, you really need to stop scaring me like that Kuzo"

"Sorry but, The fishes…"

"Uh huh?"

"They're dying"

"Kuzo it is an age of pollution, what do you expect when half the world dumps its waste into the water"

"You need to do something"

"I can't do anything, this is not my time, if I try to alter anything here, it could alter the fabric of time and that is a risk I cannot take"

"But mom…"

"No buts Kuzo, let it be" Maia said.

Kuzo looked dumbfounded and disappointed.

"What if the reason why you came here was actually to change things" He said.

"It was to protect you, us" Maia replied.

"If protecting us means defying your very existence and who you are then stop it because it isn't fair to the world that we get to be safe when everything else gets to die, do you have any idea what's gonna happen if the dead fish is swept back into the sea or worse begin to decay on the shores?"

"Kuzo…."

"There is something you can do I just know it, there must be"

"Kuzo enough!" Maia raised her voice at him, he stayed silent for a while and then walked away.

"Where are you going, it's time to eat"

"I'm not hungry, all those dead fish killed my appetite" He said on his way up the stairs.

Maia sighed.

"Teenagers" They're always the same throughout, every time frame, all of them! Maia complained to no one in particular.

Fiji growled.

"I know Fiji, but what do I do, what if we can never go back home"

Fiji whined and then rested his head on the ground.

"Don't do that" Maia began to clear the table.

Meanwhile upstairs, Kuzo was going through her room, searching for the suit, he was careful not to make a sound, not even drop a needle because she would hear it.He found the suit in the lower drawer of her dresser, he took it out and very slowly pushed the drawer back in. Then he stood and turned then almost died. He held his chest when he realized it was just his mother and not the billion possible things that could be standing before him.

"Mom!" She was standing Akimbo tapping her foot on the ground.

"What do you think you're doing Kuzo Asanti?"

"Don't sneak in on people, I almost died" Kuzo said.

"Don't sneak into people's rooms, you could get killed" She said with her brows curved in.

"And where are you going with that suit" She didn't look pleased at all.

"That is it, you aren't blind, I officially diagnose you as optically fit, how the hell did you know I had the suit"

"I heard you close the drawer and I felt the vibrations around you when you swiftly hid it behind your back, I can sense your heartbeat too so I had to know you're doing something wrong"

"Well then yes, I'm taking my suit, which belongs to me in the first place, its mine, sooooo, I'm not stealing it, I'm just taking it and you shouldn’t stop me"

"I asked one question Kuzo, where are you going with that suit"

"I just want it, that’s all, I'm not going anywhere with it"

"You're lying"

"It's true" Maia only stared at him.

"Whatever you intend to do with that suit, don't do it, it could be a wrong move with grave consequences"

"What if, I'm not saying though that I have intentions with this suit but what if I did and they were for the right reasons"

"If you're thinking of going into the ocean, you'd better not because I would come after you and send sharks to test how fast that thing works and I'd mail your dismembered body to your father wrapped in the bed sheets you should be sleeping in right now"

Kuzo knew his mother wouldn’t do that but the earnestness on her face convinced him that she meant business.

"Fine, I'm leaving the suit" He put the suit back into the drawer and began to walk away.

"Kuzo, I know you think that I'm being inconsiderate and nonchalant, you might think I do not even care, but these things that we see that we always want to change, some things cannot be helped. If it could I would"

"I know mom, goodnight" He smiled, his half smile and walked out of her room, shutting the door behind him.

Maia sighed.

Then she walked to the drawer, opened it and took out the suit.

"Essien, I'd kill you for this" She muttered.