Family Story - 012

After that, we left her house, heading to the meeting spot that AJ had set up with the drug dealer. She pretended not to hear me when I asked where it was, but I was pretty sure that we were walking in the direction of the central city.

Once again, we fell into a lapse in conversation, and, yes, I did again find it uncomfortable, and agonised over what to bring up as a topic. It should already be quite clear by now, that AJ was not big on conversation, and wasn't going to be the one to start talking first.

"I was thinking…"

"Oh, were you now? That must be a first."

…

…

"I was thinking, your name. It has to be your initials, right?"

"No. It doesn't have to be."

"But it is short for something, isn't it?"

AJ sighed, "okay fine, but… just don't even try to pronounce it."

"Why's that?"

"Just don't."

…

After a pause, she replied, "Angharad. That's my name."

Ang…

"Could you repeat that again?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"It's embarrassing. It's such a strange name."

"Is it Welsh?"

"How did you guess that?"

"Well, I could tell by the accent that your British, but your name didn't seem English or Scottish."

AJ covered her mouth when I said that. Still with her fingers intertwined, she spoke in a muffled voice, saying, "you could tell that I had an accent?"

"Huh, you didn't know? I thought it was pretty obvious."

She removed her hands from her mouth, "I see…"

"You know, it's less obvious, but you're also from somewhere else, aren't you?"

"Oh… yeah…" I guess it's fine to say. I'm sure she won't realise who I am if I only say that much.

"I was born in New Zealand, but I lived in Singapore until I was nine."

"Singapore would've been quite an interesting place to live, wouldn't it? That's where they have the huge spaceport, right?"

"Well… I don't know much about that. I don't think that it was finished until after I left."

"I see."

Truthfully, it had been operational before I left Singapore. After all, that's how my father made it to the moon. Though, I don't think the full complex that they have there nowadays was completed until much later.

"I was thinking…"

"Oh? And here I was thinking it was rare enough for that to happen once, yet alone twice in a row."

I almost sighed, but I held myself back from letting it out.

"What would you get as a present for a girl?"

"Huh? Do you mean for Tayla?"

"Yeah."

"Wouldn't it mean more if you thought about it yourself?"

"I mean I have, but I can't come up with something. Not something I can actually afford anyway."

"Why are you having so much trouble? Surely, you've brought presents for a girlfriend in the past, right?"

"Actually, I haven't."

"Really? I would've thought so. You seem like a nice enough guy, and you're not bad looking."

"Thanks. I guess… I used to be quite a different person in the past. To be honest, I haven't even bought presents for family in the past."

AJ frowned, "why not?"

"The people I was living with… weren't my family. I haven't seen either of my parents since I was nine."

"Are they both still alive?"

"My father is. Though… he doesn't even live in the country."

Not on this planet, for that matter.

"So, your mother's dead?"

"Well, officially she's a missing person, but," I explained, "you would think they'd have found her by now if she was still alive."

"My condolences."

"It's fine. To be honest, I can't even remember her face anymore."

…

…

…

…

"Well, just buy her something cute. You probably can't go wrong with that."

"I see… you're probably right."

Yeah, just something cute. I guess that kind of fits Tayla. Well, if I can't come up with anything better, I'll take AJ's advice.

I need to put thoughts about that to the back for now, however.

At the moment, I should be focusing on what me and AJ are doing. That's what's important now. This drug dealer that we're meeting. The scum of the Earth, selling even to young children, that's who and what I need to be focusing on.

I still don't really know how this is going to go. I get that AJ just wants to save her brother, she doesn't care about the rest, and I guess that's fine. It's fine.

I don't have to play the hero. I'm just a fake and a hypocrite anyway. It's not up to me to stop him, after all I'm just a kid. What could me and AJ do? If we can just stop him from selling to AJ's brother, then that's fine. He's not going to sell to anyone I care about either, I'll make sure, but beyond that, is it really my place?

No, no it isn't. I'm not a hero, after all.

Me and AJ kept walking for what felt like forever. It turned out that I was correct that we were heading in the direction of the city centre, because eventually we arrived at the endless rows of abandoned buildings and empty lots that litter the city centre.

The sun was about to go down, and more often than not, I couldn't see it because of buildings blocking my line of sight, that's how low in the sky it had fallen. It would probably be dark within an hour. I hope this is all over before then.

My legs were incredibly sore. I was used to walking to and from work every day, but this was a longer journey than that, and I had made that daily trip previous to this too. I felt like sitting down and resting.

"Are we meeting him somewhere around here?"

"Yeah, we're almost there."

"Okay…" that's good, I might've passed out if we weren't.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to meet him in a place like this though? I mean, he's a dodgy guy, right?"

AJ glared, "you should've said something earlier if that's what you were thinking. It's not like he'd meet us out in public anyway."

"I guess that's true…"

"If you understand that, then don't complain."

I sighed. It feels like there's no winning at all with AJ.

We kept walking in silence for another two blocks, and found our way to an alleyway that led through a gap between two large abandoned buildings. Yeah, this really does feel dodgy, but there's no point bringing that up again. That's just a sure-fire way to make certain that AJ angry with me, right before we meet with the dealer. I guess I just let AJ do the talking for the most part, it's her brother after all. That leaves me to… look menacing? I guess?

Anyway, the alleyway leads through to a carpark, and that's where we see him. The drug dealer. He isn't what I was expecting. I thought it would be some scruffy looking guy in a black trench coat, and a hat, probably an addict himself.

Instead the dealer, now standing just three or four metres away, was dressed in all white, plain and monochrome. He wore dark sunglasses that kept his eyes completely covered, to the point that nothing could be made out behind them. What stood out most of all about him, was his golden hair. Even in the low light with the sun lost behind the buildings, it still seemed to shine brightly. It was captivating.

He seemed familiar, the way he looked. No, it wasn't just the way he looked. There was this familiar feeling. An… ominous feeling. A foreboding feeling, that I recognise.

"Hah, I was starting to think you might not be coming… hmm, what's this? Did you bring a friend with you this time?"

Yeah, this voice. I certainly recognise it. This lazy drawl. I just can't remember who it belongs to.

"He's got nothing to do with you, Ray. This is between the two of us."

That name.

"Ray Starcrawler."