Slice Of Life: F*cked Up Version

Let the memes begin!

Haskell was not impressed in the slightest, after the whole ordeal They turned the radio off and dragged me back to the couch.

"Ow, Haskell!" They glare at me and continue pulling my ear, it really hurts!

"Geez, I was trying to lighten the mood!" Haskell huffs and crosses Their arms, They're such a moody teenager sometimes. At least I got a couple of giggles from Kinume but Mirai hasn't changed at all. Tough crowd...

"So Ceil, now what?" Haskell's voice surprises me as I turn to Them. That's a good question, I turn to Kinume.

"Yeah, what are we supposed to do now?" Kinume glances at Mirai then back at me again, contemplating something. She remains quiet for a bit and looks down to the side, a feeling of deep sadness envelopes me for a moment. Haskell grips my hand just a little tighter for a moment as well, did They feel it as well?

"I can't take care of her, but I can watch over her. It would be best if you could take care of her. I can give you everything you need to care for her. In the drawer over there, there is a safe. It has a generous proportion of my money in there. You can transfer it into your bank account so you can look out for yourselves. You're also welcome to stay in this house as long as you like, but it will need a bit of hard work to make it look better." I stay silent, a little stunned and needing a moment to process. Kinume might take this the wrong way...

"You can say no if you want to. We don't even know each other and you're under no obligation to help out. It would be a lot of trouble for you, but even if you say no I still want you to take the money. I did say I'd repay you for helping me with my favour." Kinume smiles softly at me, it makes me feel guilty. She is right I don't have to help this girl, but if what Kinume said earlier was true...this young girl was also in the facility. If she experienced the same horrors as me, is there really anyone but me who could help her? Could professionals help her? Counselling hasn't solved anything for me, it makes me feel worse. Nothing about what happened there could be put in a good light, not even the worst of criminals deserve to be imprisoned there. Haskell grips my hand tight, distracting me from my inner tangent. I look down to Them only to see a look of concern from Them. I smile and pat their head, this settles Them down....a little bit. I look at Mirai again, I'm nowhere near qualified to take this girl in, I can't even handle myself at the moment. The adult thing to do would take her to the hospital and let the child carers take her but...I kind of want to pull a story moment and take her under my wing for no other reason than I can. Is this even legal? Probably not...I don't even notice Kinume smiling at me before she speaks.

"She isn't legally born, just so you know. She isn't on any records, the only people who know she exists are us. So you will have a bit of trouble on the legal side, but you can deal with that after she's healthier," I nod my head, my choice made.

"I'll take her in and take care of her."

"What?!" Haskell butts in beside me.

"How could we possibly take care of her? We can barely watch ourselves!" I release Haskell's hand and walk over the draw Kinume referenced earlier. I open the draw and a large safe sits in there.

"The code is 0405" Kinume perks up and I put the code into the four digit lock. The safe door unlocks and I open it. There are stacks of money in there like I can't even describe it. Haskell gasps behind me then rushes over to crouch next to me.

"How did you know this was in here?!" Haskell turns to me, shocked and even looking a little bit betrayed.

"Magic!" I laugh and Haskell looks annoyed.

"With all of this, we can actually do some decent things!" I say to try and lighten their spirits and They pause for a moment. But in order to do anything in the first place, I need to get Them used to the outside world. Ah, imagine all the fun sibling things we could do! Yelling memes in the streets, social experiments, pulling pranks, all the usual things. I must've pulled a weird face because Haskell is giving me a look.

"Let's go to the bank now!" Haskell stands up and begins to walk out the door.

"Wait! What about the child?" I turn to look at Mirai, who's going to look after her?

'The child has a name Haskell. It's Mirai.'

"It's fine. I'll be here with her, I'm sure she'd like some time to herself anyway." I nod towards Kinume and march out the door taking Haskell with me. It's a bit of a walk and struggling to navigate where the heck we were but we eventually made it.

"Aaand here we are! Where all of my problems begin and end!" I make exaggerating gestures with my hands and the front door only to find that Haskell isn't by my side. Ah shit, I forgot how anti-social They are. Good going me, now where the heck are They? I look around and spot a tuft of brown, choppy hair behind a large tree. I wander over.

"Haskell? You here?" They poke their head out from behind the tree, obviously frightened, their skin extremely pale. They look sweaty and are trying to take large breaths. Signs They may be going into a panic attack as if They hadn't had enough trouble today. I stand in front of Them and kneel down so I'm not towering over Them.

"Haskell? It's Ceil, I'm right here. I'm going to hold out my hand okay? You can hold it if you want to." I raise my hand slowly and patiently wait for Them to take it. Except They don't, They shake their head and start breathing harder. Shit, why can't anything ever go to plan? They start curling in on Themselves more, things taking a much more serious turn. I thought I was going to have to take serious measures when a sense of warmth floods me. Haskell flinches, then starts breathing normally again, They're just as confused as I am. They look at me with more clarity in their eyes and begin to register their surroundings once again.

"Ceil? Did you do that?" I consider shaking my head, but that might freak Them out seeing They don't know what happened.

"Who knows? It's elementary my dear Watson!" That gets a smile out of Them and They roll their eyes. I stand up and hold my hand out to Them again. They take it and we begin to walk towards the bank again. Sticking to the shadows as much as we can and stopping when Haskell grips me a little too tightly. Once we get in, Haskell has hidden under my sweater, I go forward to talk to one of the employees. After showing Them the amount of money, counting it, answering their questions, trying not to break under their distrusting gaze, I had $1,870,000 and I almost passed out at the amount. Why did Kinume have so much anyways? Did she steal it? I hope she didn't, you know they can trace money right I hope they don't hunt us down...that would really suck.

"Well...today has been very strange and I can't decide if it's good strange or bad strange." Haskell nods beside me. Lots of things have happened, some good...some bad. Now that everything is settling down in my brain I feel exhaustion hit me in tidal waves. I stumble for a second but right myself before I fall. Haskell must be exhausted as well, They didn't even comment that I almost fell flat on my face. When we get back to Kinume's house nothing had changed. Kinume was standing next to Mirai, gently watching over her. She then looks over at us two.

"You look exhausted, it has been a long day. There's room upstairs you can sleep in, don't mind if it's dusty at all." I waited for her to tell us that there was a room we couldn't go into just so I could go in there because I can. But she doesn't, she smiles and turns back to Mirai once more. I look to Haskell.

"Let's go upstairs Haskell, we can talk more in the morning." Haskell nods and we head upstairs. My mind slowly drifts and I don't pay attention to anything but the softness of the bed.