Chapter 13 - The Boy and the House

I stare at the awful look of the house the boy and his mother live in.

"Do you have a key or does your mom have it?" I ask.

"There is a spare key that mommy keeps hidden in the flower pot." The little boy says, pushing the tattered gates open and walking towards the front porch of the house.

He points to the hanging flower pot next to the front window of the house.

"It's in that one." The boy tells me.

I look at the pot and see moss gripping the sides as if it was taken hostage for disturbing their path to get the whole house covered.

Looking inside the pot, I see the flower that's supposed to be there in a wilted state, barely breathing or maybe not at all. The soil is dry and infested with bugs, cobwebs and traces of snail slime.

I look at the boy, wondering if the mother puts the key there all the time or she just left it in the flower pot and forgot it was there months, no, years later.

I inhale deeply and lunge my hand in the horror fest. Digging around, I feel things that I maybe shouldn't be feeling. Was that a bone I felt? Ah, finally! I found the key.

Taking the key out I see my hand drenched in an unknown liquid. I don't know if it's from all the snail slime or bug faeces or the old soil water but I don't have time to think, I'm just trying not to throw up.

"Do you have a hose?" I ask.

"We used to have one but it stopped working." The boy answers.

"Right. I should have known." I mutter the words under my breath.

I take the key and push it through the key hole, turning clockwise to unlock the door.

Upon pushing the door wide open, I come into view of a whole different house. I thought it would be filled with trash, infested with rats and reek of dead bodies. However, it's nothing like that.

The floor is covered with an embroidered grey carpet, the ones that you see in vintage furniture stores. The light shines evenly across the room through a chandelier and the black table and chairs on the right side of the room are perfectly put in a royal castle dinner type of way.

"You really live here?" I say.

"Yeah. There is a picture with me and my mommy in the kitchen."

The boy turns left, past the elegant table and walks through a set of black doors that lead straight to the kitchen. I follow him and become surprised, once again, by the amazing design that is inside the kitchen.

It's not quite modern or old looking but rather it's a mixture of both. Clean, cashew coloured floor, dark green walls and tan brown surface with black utensils.

"Your house is really nice." I say to the kid.

"You think so?"

"Yeah." I nod my head.

"Mo...mommy worked hard to get this house..." The boy starts.

"She looked after me and worked many jobs but she didn't leave me alone or get a nanny. She took me to work and still looked after me even if she was very busy.

Sometimes, I would cry because of how hard mommy is working but she told me to not cry and be a brave boy. She would be happy if I waited for her to finish work and didn't cry because she said that means I'm as strong as a warrior..." The boy pauses.

"But mommy has been leaving me in the street lately to go into scary places and I tried to be a big boy and wait for her to come back but...today...I couldn't be strong like mommy wanted me to." The boy starts to shed tears.

I kneel down and hug him.

It must have been really hard having to put on a brave face and waiting for his mom to finish work. He must barely see her with how much work she has going on. However, it's sad to see that she's just been leaving her son on the street and walking off into scary, dark alleyways. Maybe I should stick around to help look after him, after all, I've always wanted to be an older brother.

After the boy had stopped crying, I made him something to eat since he said he hasn't had any food since this morning.

"What's your name? I didn't ask you before."

"My name is Kendo." The boy says whilst eating his cheese sandwich.

"Huh. Kendo." I mutter.

That's the same name as my older brother who I haven't seen in ages. I wonder what he's up to...

Even though I've been angry at my brother for moving away to cope when dad died, after a while I started missing him. We used to be on pretty good terms and pretty connected as siblings. If I get to return to Earth, I'll try to see where he is and reunite with him.

Now that I think about it, I wonder what happened to Kendo's father. I know that some parents are separated but I'm not sure If that's the case for Kendo and his mother or if there's a different reason. I won't ask now since I am after all still a stranger to him.

I glance at the clock and see the time as almost 3 in the afternoon!

Have I been here for 2 hours already? And I was supposed to finish the race too. I wonder if everyone is worried sick looking for me. I knew I shouldn't have tried to take the shortcut.

However...I'm not regretting helping Kendo. If it wasn't for me I don't know what could have happened to him. He could have been taken by a villain too.

I'll have to explain the situation to everyone when I get back. I'll just stay with Kendo until his mother gets back from wherever she went.

"Thank you for the meal." Kendo says after finishing the last bite of food he had.

"Thank you for making the sandwich mister." Kendo thanks me.

"No problem. Also, you can just call me Tenshi." I smile, taking the plate and washing it.

"You have a nice name." The boy says.

"Really?"

"Yeah. It sounds really cool."

I didn't think my name was special or anything but after hearing Kendo complimenting it I'm happier with having the name that I have.

Once I clean the plate off, we start to head upstairs but then we hear a rattling at the door.

I immediately freeze up.

"Is that your mom?" I whisper.

Kendo looks at me with his hand holding mine.

"I don't know." He whispers back.

The rattling finally stops and we wait in anticipation at who will open the door.

The door slowly creaks open as we stand frozen still in the middle of the stairs.

A person comes into view and in an instant Kendo rushes downstairs and hugs the figure.

"Mommy!" He shouts.

"Kendo! Oh how I missed you. I was so worried that you weren't going to be home. After, I didn't see you in the street I searched around the area but didn't find you so I thought that the only place you could be is at home." The woman who I'm presuming is the mother, with her uncanny resemblance, says whilst hugging her son.

She looks up at me in the midst of the hug and then stands up, clutching her son tightly towards her.

"Who are you?"

MHA group chat: A joke too lame.

- Kaminari - has sent a link.

[ExplosiveKing] What's this?

[Todoroki] A link.

[ExplosiveKing] I CAN SEE THAT!

[Todoroki] No need to shout.

[Deku] Kaminari I thought we couldn't send links in the group chat because of viruses.

[Kaminari] Oh shi- I sent it to the wrong chat room. Sorry just don't open.

[ExplosiveKing] Eh?! Have you no eyes! Can't you see which chat room you are in?

[Kaminari] Sorry, I sent it here by accident. If I could delete it I would but Mina disabled the delete button so I can't do it.

[ExplosiveKing] Well you should have thought before sending!!!

[Deku] Guys, please calm down! Kaminari sent it by accident. Every one has sent stuff to the wrong place at least once.

[ExplosiveKing] Not me!

[Shouji] What's happening here?

[Kirishima] Kaminari just sent a link to the wrong group chat.

[Mina] Guys, why am I getting a million notifications? I can't even think straight.

[Rumi] I have no idea but this is interesting.

[Shouji] Maybe I should check the link out...

[Deku] Shouji don't do it!

[Kaminari] No! I said not to open it!

[ExplosiveKing] Why am I even here. I'm out.

- Shouji - has opened the link.

[Kaminari] ...

[Deku] ...

[Mina] ...

[Todoroki] ...

[Kirishima] ...

[Tenshi] ...

[Rumi] So? What is the link?

[Shouji] It's just a picture of scribbles on Kirishima's photo.

[Kirishima] What?!

- Kirishima - opened the link.

[Kirishima] ... I just got Rick rolled...

[Kaminari] Happy April Fools day!

[Mina] T-T

[Deku] I thought it was yesterday...