Oneshots

1: Hostility

A story about Lyra (pronounced Lee-rah, and is a boy, by the way) and Joseph. Nothing intimate, just cheesy bull. :P

~~~~

I walked down the aisle in the grocery store towards the candy section, where I knew I could find Skittles. I took all the flavors available and held them in one hand. Yeah, I had quite a bit of an obsession with Skittles. While sauntering towards the counter, I simultaneously sunk my hand into the front pocket of my jeans and fished out a card.

"Here." I mumbled to the lad behind the counter as I passed him the card. He didn't look any older than me. 

"Wow, you must be someone special." He whistled.

He was referring to my possession of the card. It was a form of paying. I personally thought it was a pointless object, since all that he did was tap the card on the reader (after doing so with the items, of course) not deducting any money. Scratch that, there WASN't any money.

*~* 

"Take this." Joseph said as he passed me a card. It looked like a credit card, except it had absolutely nothing written on the front.  

"What's it for?" I looked up at him.  

"You can get anything you want from the store." He meant his store, that was somehow or rather connected to his home.  

He owned a grocery store, called Joseph's (original, isn't it?), the only outlet, which I found slightly strange. The grocery store wasn't as big and fancy as the others, it was almost similar to a 7Eleven.

But still, I didn't get what he was trying to imply. So I sent him a quizzical look. He sighed. 

"You don't have to pay for anything. Just pass the card to the one behind the counter and he'll know that what you're getting is for free."  

"Oh... Huh? What's the point of the card? I should be able to just take anything I want... Right?" I added the last part when his expression turned to a stoic one.

"It's so that I know what you're getting. Besides that, the purpose of the card is just to inform the counter-boy that whatever you're getting is free. It's kind of an 'on the boss' thing." He smiled as he patted the top of my head.  

"In other words, this is just another way for you to keep track of what I 'buy'." I concluded, my shoulders dropping.  

"Hey, at least you can take whatever you want." 

"At least I can take whatever I want." Realizing this, I echoed after him, the corners of my lips curving upwards.

*~* 

I just offered him a smile, too tired to come up with a response. After being handed my card back, I took my usual route slash secret passageway to Joseph's abode.

Now, you must be wondering who the hell Joseph is.  

We didn't have a name for him. I didn't have a name for him. He took me in when I was 13. But my past before him was not a good topic to bring up.

He had raised me until now, and I was almost 17, while he was 22. He treated me gently, as if I was part of his own family. He was always so protective over me, but this, I understood. My frame was small, my height was something I was ashamed of, my body always lacking meat despite how much I consumed, in other words, I was skinny, and my skin was always pale. Joseph said this made me 'pretty' and appealing to older men.

Why did an 18 year old adopt a 13 year old, you ask? I didn't know his past with depth, but I knew that he lived alone at that point of time because his parents had passed away. He was already wise, mature, and independent at that age. With living alone also came loneliness. So, he took me in to drag him out of boredom.