Chapter 2
"Sen. Sen. Get up."
"Nuuuhh… I dunwanna."
The covers were mercilessly ripped off of me. I screamed.
"I HATE YOU!" I threw a lampshade at Light. He caught it and dropped it on the ground before leaving my room.
"Sen, don't yell so loud," Mom said.
I'm fourteen years old. I live in Sector 4 of Midgar with my mother and adopted brother.
"I wouldn't be yelling if SOMEONE! Hadn't stolen my sheets." I glared at the doorway. "AGAIN."
"Why are you so loud?" groaned Mom. "I didn't raise you like that."
"Light has my sheets!" I wrapped a blanket around me and started the chase. "Light! Where are you?!"
"You're such a noisy child." He was standing in Mom's room and getting her sheets. Mine were hanging over his shoulder, over his own. I waited until I thought he wasn't looking, then I seized them with a yell. He calmly jerked them from my hands. I tried to grab them again, but he wadded them up and held them high in the air, reminding me how he was five ten, and I was the puny five two (and a half!).
After that first bath of his since he came to our house, his blond hair was even paler and his skin too. His eyes were still as beautiful as they had always been, though.
"It's washing day, Sen," Mom sighed as she collected towels from various bathrooms. "Leave him alone." Mom used to be so beautiful. Now, she's exhausted all the time and has wrinkles all over her forehead. She has many gray hairs even though she's not yet forty.
I punched Light's arm and stuck out my tongue before running downstairs, pulling my blanket over my head.
"It's raining again!" I cried. "How're we supposed to go to the store?"
"We'll go soon enough," Light said as he made a sudden appearance next to me in the living room. "I need that blanket."
"No!" I ran away from him and hid behind the couch.
"Yes." Light stood in front of the couch, waiting for me.
"It's cold!"
"Then put some long pants on."
"I don't want to!"
"Just give me that blanket!"
"Sen, give him the blanket."
"But Mom!"
"But nothing. Go take a shower and get dressed."
"You took my towel!"
"Go get a new one! You're such a handful, Sen."
I sulked into the bathroom after grabbing a new towel. After shutting the door and locking it, I stared at myself in the mirror. My hair is dark-brown, almost black, and it comes to my shoulders. It's choppy, thin, and messy. I'm abnormally skinny and bony, with no curves at all. My eyes are hazel. My nose turns up slightly. I stick my tongue out at my reflection and throw water at myself.
"He-ey. Hello-ho! I know you can hear me, Light." After my shower and breakfast, I wanted to go outside and look for scraps that we could use and sell. It was my job, since I was the only one who was light and small enough to go on the trash piles. It was hard to find stuff, seeing people didn't waste anything now. But I wasn't allowed to go alone, because Mom was scared that my clumsiness might get the better of me and I'd get stuck all alone. So I had to convince Light to come with me.
"What do you want, Sen?"
He was sitting on the couch, reading a book. Bo-ring!
"Come oooon, Light. I want to go find something."
"Not right now."
"Pleeeease. Pretty please? Pretty please with a cherry on top?" I took on my sweetest voice and switched to his other side. When I got too close, Light swatted me with his book.
"Leave me alone."
"Ow! That HURT!"
I paused my complaining as I was once again reminded of Light's illness. A large, black, rash-like scar spread across the base of his neck and his shoulder. From time to time, Light would have an attack, and disgusting black pus would ooze out of his wound. His wound seemed to get bigger after every attack. They called it Geostigma, and Light wasn't the only one who had it. Many kids in the slums and in alleyways had it as well. There was no cure.
Just then, Light noticed I was looking at it and he pulled his shirt up. I looked at him. His face was angry again.
"Don't look at it, Sen." He rubbed it and looked away from me.
"Is it hurting again?" I asked softly.
"It's always hurting." He still avoided eye contact.
Light had been around fourteen when he found me, and Mom made March 15th his birthday. Now, two years later, he was sixteen and a lot bigger than I thought he would be. He was almost like Daddy. Daddy had been tall too.
"I'll go get a bandage." I ran up the stairs and to the medicine cabinet.
"Sen, I'm fine…" Light called after me.
I came back downstairs and put some medicine on the bandage. Light patiently let me bandage his neck.
"Light, you're so nice to her," Mom said as she walked into the kitchen and started filling the sink with water. Light didn't say anything.
"There we go!" I grinned at him, then jumped up and danced around him. "Please Light, can we go outside? Please?"
"Light,
you don't have to if you don't want to," Mom said. "Sen!
Leave him alone!"
"I'll go…" Light said as he slowly
stood up. I cheered and tackled him with a hug.
"Thank you, Light!" I grabbed his sleeve and started to pull him out the door. "Bye, Mom!"
"I'll be going to work in a few minutes. Sen! Be careful!" Mom called.
"I'll make sure she stays out of trouble," Light said calmly with a little wave of his hand before I dragged him outside. The raining had stopped, now there were only large puddles spread throughout the streets. The sky was still somber and gray.
"Which trash heap should Sen and Light go to today?" I muttered. "What does Light think?"
"I think we should go to the one in Sector 4 so we can stay close to home," Light said. "Just in case it starts storming."
"That's a great idea!" I started to drag Light towards the trash heap in Sector 4. He starts walking willingly and soon I'm the one being dragged. "Light! Why do you always walk so fast?!"
"Maybe you walk too slow." He casts a glance over his shoulder at me. I put on a pouting face. He smiles and turns his face forward again.
"Bleh. Not fair. Sen wishes Sen was as tall as Light."
"I think you're fine just the way you are, Sen."
We arrive at the trash heap. I start to climb it, scavenging for scraps of metal. Light simply puts his hands in his pockets and watches me. I hear a ripping noise.
"Crap." The leg of my jeans are torn. Mom's gonna be so angry if she finds out. I look at Light, who is looking at me. "You didn't see that!"
"See what?"
I continue my search after being assured Light won't tell on me. After about an hour, I find a large chunk of metal.
"Look Light! Look!"
In my excitement, I slipped and fell down the trash heap. Luckily, Light caught me before I hit the ground.
"Sen! Be careful!" he snapped. I pushed the hair out of my eyes as he set me down.
"Look Light! It's huge!" The metal seemed to have come from a car door. It was in good shape. "This will get us good money, right? Right?"
"Yes, shh, now stop waving it around." Light took it and hid it under his jacket as he looked around. I bit my lip. My yelling had caught the attention of several leering men who didn't look very nice. "C'mon, Sen," Light said softly. I grabbed onto his arm. We calmly started to head back home as it started to rain again. There was lightning and thunder in the distance.
I sneezed. Light stopped walking and sighed. Then he took off his jacket and put it over my shoulders.
"Why don't you ever wear a jacket?" He pulled me along again. Jeez, his jacket was freaking huge. It looked like a dress on me.
"Sorry," I muttered.
We were both soaking wet by the time we came home. Mom wasn't there, of course. She had probably left for work a long time ago. We went inside and Light locked the door.
"Go take a shower and change out of those wet clothes," Light ordered. I obeyed and ran to the bathroom.
After I had taken a shower and changed, I ran downstairs and turned on the TV. Light had used Mom's shower and had changed as well.
It was the news.
"Light, Light. There was a fiend in town today!" I exclaimed.
"Well, it's a good thing we weren't downtown," Light said calmly as he handed me a sandwich. He returned to the kitchen to make one for himself.
"Only two people were injured. This one guy killed it. Wow! Look at his hair!" Mesmerized, I stared at the man's spiky blond hair. It was very impressive. The next piece of film was a bit hectic. Dozens of other cameras tried to get an interview with the young man.
"No comment," he snarled. He looked once at the camera before jumping on a large motorcycle and fleeing from the press.
"Light! Come here! Did you see that?! He has eyes just like you! Light?" I looked up. Light had collapsed on the ground. "Light!" I ran over to him and knelt down. "Light! What's wrong? Where does it hurt?!"
His face was squeezed together in pain. His breath came in ragged gasps. He was clutching his neck. The Geostigma.
"Light…" I stammered softly. "Light, are you okay?"
He didn't answer me. His muscles were shaking. Black pus started to ooze between his fingers. With a yell, I scrambled against the cabinets.
Then it stopped. The liquid dripped onto the ground and Light's body relaxed. His breath relaxed into panting.
"Light…" I crawled back to his side and grabbed his shirt. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he panted. "I'm fine. Could you wipe up that grotesque pus before it stains the tile?" Light crawled upright and leaned against the cabinets. I wiped up the pus with a wet paper towel and threw it in the trash can. Then I sat beside Light and snuggled against his unhurt shoulder.
"Sen doesn't want Light to hurt," I murmured softly.
"I'll be fine," Light said. "They'll find a cure someday."
I recognized the falsity in his voice. I hugged his arm,
"I love you, Light," I said.
"I know you do," Light sighed.