The Fruit of Tito

Chapter 6: Five Years Prior/ Rebirth

Five years ago there was an incident in Xo Town, a phenomenon that to this day remains unsolved. Half of the kids attending Xo Town's junior academy went missing, vanished suddenly without a trace, and even more strange the parents of the missing kids didn't pay any mind to it. When asked about their children they would say they were on a "field trip." At first people beloved them, then one week passed with no sighting of the kids, then two, then three, then an entire year. Knowing they couldn't do anything, the people of Xo Town stopped asking about the kids, and soon forgot they even existed. Until one day, a single boy stumbled into town, covered in blood and viscera. He was visibly malnourished, cheeks and eyes sunken in, bones pressing against his skin like his body was a tight costume.

That boy was Tito.

~

"Momma! I'm headed to the bus! I'll see you when I get home!" A young Tito screamed out to his mother as he went out the door. Ann had a somber look on her face, as if she knew she was going to lose something dear to her that day. Domo cane inside the same way Tito left, Domo looked around their house making a mental note of how damaged it was, holes in the wall, leaking roof, no beds in their house, only one working bathroom. What was once a look of sorrow and remorse quickly turned stoic, Domo had to shake his head almost as if he was shaking his current feelings off. He went over to Ann and tried to comfort her, she began sobbing almost immediately bringing herself closer to Domo as the tears kept falling.

     "It's the best of two evils, you and I both know that. He isn't ours anyway, we'll be a normal family again alright? No more fighting, no more running, doesn't that sound good? It does doesn't it? Just me, you, and little Rose, and that's all we ever needed." This made Ann sob even harder and even more uncontrollable than before, but not out of sadness but out of anger, anger at herself for liking this idea, for going through with this plan, for feeling relieved that this was happening, for not saying no. Ann didn't feel entirely forced to make this decision opposed to other times, Ann's guilt told her it was her fault for what was about to happen and nothing could tell her otherwise. The two embrace for what seemed like an eternity before Ann pushed away from Domo and muttered a single word.

"Ok."

~

     "Yo! Tito over here!" A slightly squeaky voice called out to Tito, he turned his head over to a half empty seat on the bus and notice someone waving at him, it was one of his closest friends Cherry. Cherry kept waving his hand until Tito finally sat down next to him, Cherry was often mistaken for a girl due to his feminine frame and the clothes he wore. They became friends after Cherry tried to make Tito buy him lunch by Charming him; something Cherry commonly did to get what he wanted. Cherry was simultaneously annoyed, surprised, and intrigued when he told Cherry no . Tito claimed he knew Cherry was a boy, that caused Cherry to immediately become flustered and scrambled to figure out what to say next. Before Cherry could utter a word, Tito interrupted him. "Ah-um, not like there's a problem or anything I was genuinely surprised to get a compliment from anybody, especially another guy. I didn't mean to offend you or anything. You're the first person to ever talk to me here so I got a bit nervous. I promise I won't tell anyone if you want." Tito said with a shaky smile while rubbing the back of his head.

     Cherry giggled as he sat down next to Tito, Cherry  shook his head when Tito offered him some of his food. Instead, choosing to enjoy chatting with Tito even if he was hungry. Usually people would avoid Cherry once he told them his gender, at first it would hurt him but then Cherry started to get amusement out of it, but Tito was different, different in a good way. Since then the two have been near inseparable.

     "So do you have the letter Tito?" Cherry asked while wiggling his eyebrows and bumping his shoulders against Tito's causing him to bump Cherry back. Tito reached in his pocket to bring out a small envelope with a heart stamp on it; Cherry has a look of excitement but also distain on his face. "When are you going to give her the letter?" Cherry asked while examining the letter, the idea of ripping the letter up came across Cherry's mind but he quickly gave Tito the letter back to stop himself from making a big mistake. "As soon as she gets on the bus, I'll ask her to sit with us. Is that ok with you?" Cherry was nearly on Tito's lap but after hearing this she scooted closer to the window and gave a slight nod.