Discovering the Hidden
Kaito
"I'm here!"
I swung the door open triumphantly with my head held high. Then, I slumped, realizing the current situation.
"Oh. Nevermind. I'm the only one here."
Mom had left for a trip today... Not sure where. She kinda just travels randomly around the world spending dad's money. It wouldn't surprise me if she were in Europe.
Our house was a normal size. Two bedrooms, a kitchen, a tv room, basically normal. Except for the overwhelming silence it's been enveloped in lately. I've come to realize that my mom travels so much because of the absence of my father.
Probably to get him off of her mind.
I opened our cupboard to begin my daily hunt for after school snacks. Let's see...
Soup? What am I, 50?
Doritos? What am I, 13?
Graham crackers? Who even BOUGHT these? (Dumb question...sigh)
I finally decided on a spoonful of peanut butter. A perfect snack for all ages.
I threw myself on the couch and crossed my legs.
The peanut butter stuck to the roof of my mouth. I made a noise that probably sounded really stupid, something similar to "arglebleh".
"Wheth thath lapthop..."
There was a ton of stuff covering the couch. I dug around a bit.
"Unopened pack of markers? No. Box of cheez-its? No. Aha! Laptop!"
I clicked it on and a terribly bright screen displayed the following:
ONE NEW MESSAGE FROM: Mom
SENT AT: 3:47:31 pm August 15, 2014
I tapped it open. It read:
Hiiiii Kaito!
Plane just arrived at our final destination! Can you guess where I am? How about the city of magic! Give up? Las Vegas!-
I cringed at her perkiness.
-I'm gonna go tour the city, eat some classic food, it's gonna be a blast! How're things at home? Are you and that Aoko girl getting along? Oh, and by the way, she sent me a message earlier today asking me-
What? Aoko was talking to my mom?
-about...well, you'll find out soon enough.-
"Are you kidding me?" Why is Aoko talking with Mom?" I declared. I sighed, then continued reading.
-Oh, and Kaito? It's alright if you don't get back to me on these messages. I know you're gonna be busy nowadays. Anyways, I gotta go. The tour bus is about to leave!
Bye, honey! Kisses!
Love, Mom
"I know you're gonna be busy nowadays"? What'd she mean by that?
Nevermind that, why was Aoko communicating with my mom?
I stood up and walked over to the portrait we've always had of my dad. It was as tall as me and probably weighed as much.
In the picture, dad was doing one of his shows. There was a dark scarlet curtain behind him with deep creases. He was holding a black top hat and there were doves flying all around him.
I looked just like my father, minus the mustache.
Tall, broad shoulders.
Deep green eyes.
Floppy, brown, wavy hair that often stuck out in the back.
I rested my hand against the glass.
I can't believe my father is dead.
I closed my eyes and took a breath and tried to recreate those tiny moments I now treasure of my father.
I was sitting at a poker table on my dad's lap. He was holding a hand of cards that he folded in so I couldn't see.
"Remember, Kaito, never forget your poker face."
I stared up at him with wide eyes.
"Poooooka face? Wuz dat daddy?"
He held onto his cards tightly with one hand and patted my hair with the other.
"No matter how tough the situation gets, you can't let people know your position or what you know."
I smiled up at him.
My dad threw down his cards, his face straighter than ever, not a hint of confidence nor defeat.
I gasped.
He had a Royal Flush.
I shook my head to come back to reality and looked up at my dad's picture.
That was 9 years ago, when I was 8 years old, just a year before his death. I'm now 17 and still miss my father.
I stared deeply into his eyes. His eyes were squinting at the ends, which made him look thoughtful and appreciative.
I felt my voice crack as I uttered the words:
"I won't forget."
He was always super careful with all of his magic tricks. How could he let something so stupid happen?
I slumped my shoulders and let my head drop on the picture. It made a loud ~crack~ noise.
As soon as it made contact, I heard something below my feet move. It sounded mechanized... Gears?
I pulled my head away from the picture.
The cracking noise wasn't actually from the glass cracking... It was the sound of a door opening!
The picture's frame was tilted slightly ajar.
I put my hand on it and pushed.
The picture began rotating, and it revealed a flight of stairs going down.
"What. The. Heck." I mumbled.
I stepped over the frame and onto the stairs.
I took them two at a time.
As I took the stairs, a breeze blew my hair back. At the bottom of them was a wide and dusty room with a bunch of mirrors. Right in front of me was a cassette tape that began playing when I approached it.
"Welcome, Kaito. If you're listening to this it means I've already departed this world."
I recognized the voice before it had even started playing. It was my father's voice, dark and husky. It was haunting hearing it again. I felt my veins turn to ice.
"I want you to carry on the family burden I started... Listen carefully Kaito, I am-"
There was a pause.
"Am. Am. Am.-"
The darned thing was cutting out. I walked over to it and hit it 2 times. Hard.
My arm was lifted for the 3rd hit when the tape finally was put out of its misery and cut out. I dropped my hand.
"You're what? What, what, WHAT?!"
As soon as the tape "ended", more gears began turning. I looked around.
There really were a lot of mirrors.
Everywhere I looked, I was there. It made me dizzy.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
I heard something move.
When I lifted my eyelids, the mirrors were gone. They had turned around to reveal more hidden secrets. There were cubbies with clothes in them.
I squinted so my eyes could adjust to my new surroundings.
In one cubby there was a white top hat.
Another had a red tie.
Another had a white cape.
A blue dress shirt.
White dress pants.
A pair of crisp, white gloves.
A monocle.
I looked around, still slightly confused.
A question rang over and over in my head, why? Doshite?
My head began to throb, so I held it in my hands, groaning.
Is this really what I think it is?
I thought back to the cassette tape.
"Listen carefully Kaito, I am-"
Dad's words echoed over and over in my mind. I felt faint... but decided to finish the sentence for him.
I picked up the top hat and placed it softly atop my head and looked at the ground, somber.
"Kaitou Kid."