Chapter 6: A Whole New World (Part 1)
Kendall always gave Carlos a nod when the hallways were clear to continue walking. They kept walking for what seemed like hours wondering if they'll ever get out of this maze. He was about to speak when they came across a staircase, he remembered going up these steps with Logan when he was nine. When they reached the bottom they walked through a large hallway that was eloquently decorated with a long scarlet rug, portraits, small bouquets lain upon tables and small chandeliers in a straight line hanging from the ceiling.
Carlos stopped when they reached the double glass doors, Kendall looked around before he gave him a nod and walked to them. He was about to reach for the knob before he turned and smiled at him, "you wanna do the honors?"
He gulped nervously before he grabbed it, the same knob he couldn't reach when he saw his dad walk away from his life, and slowly gave an experimenting turn until he heard a click and opened it feeling a light breeze as it came through the opening and let go pushing it until it was wide open. He stepped out and heard a chirp to his right to see Sapphire flying in circles and chirping loudly while looking at him. It was a lot more beautiful on ground level than from his window, the flowers were arranged beautifully by color circling the bronze fountain, that gave off the sound of running water and chirps of other birds from the trees with a stone bench underneath them at the edge of the garden. There were bushes and painted vases in random places and a small corner where there were two or three small round tables. There was also a statue of a woman with a bird in her palm of her hand near the entrance, it was probably new because he didn't see it there when he was young or didn't notice it before.
He looked up to see the clear blue sky and felt the morning sun's warm ray hit his skin giving him warmth. Kendall smiled when he stood there basking in the garden smelling that fresh air and feeling the warmth, it was a good thing it was going to be sunny the entire day since it's nearly summer. He tapped his shoulder gaining his attention, "come on we have to go to the bus station to catch a ride early to the city."
He smiled at the thought of being in the bus for the first time, Logan told him it was nothing special only sitting on a seat for hours doing nothing, but look outside the window. If he could argue with him it will be the total opposite, he followed Kendall going behind the bushes until Kendall stopped in front of the shrubbery. Carlos looked at him strangely, but dropped when Kendall started pulling what seemed like a door. He realized it was the same door he entered before he came here.
Kendall peeked out from the opening and quickly slid through, Carlos did the same and stood up turning around looking at the different parked cars on the street while Kendall was closing the door leaving a bit of it open so he could find it again.
"Come on," Kendall said, "we have to make it to the city at least at one in the afternoon so we could spend the rest of the day doing whatever we want."
He nodded and followed Kendall looking outside at the mansion while they walked. It looked exactly the same online as it was in real life. Since he wasn't allowed to go outside he wondered where he lived and did research on the mansion online. Logan also told him the history of the mansion that had to deal with secrets and love, and a bunch of stuff that made him wanting to hear more. When they got to the shops, Kendall had to hold his wrist to keep moving because Carlos kept stopping to look inside the shops and smile and awe at the merchandise they had.
Carlos could always ask Logan whatever he wanted and he would get it, but was mesmerized at the sights and the world around him that he was unable to experience before. Watching buildings of different sizes and color, the people from different cultures coming to see the sights, it was amazing. When they reached the small bus station, Kendall looked at the schedule and the prices doing the math in his head and calculating when it would be the best time for Carlos to come back home. "Okay so if we get the bus in fifteen minutes we'll make it in to the city and I have enough money for the both of us-,"
"Will this help?" Carlos took out a thick roll of money from his pocket, making Kendall's jaw drop at the sight and quickly grabbed his arm pulling him close hoping that no one saw the cash he held.
"How much is that?"
He shrugged, "maybe ten thousand dollars."
Ten thousand dollars! Kendall had to bite his lower lip to keep himself from yelling at the amount he had. "How did you get it?"
"Logan used this to help me with my math and statistic homework." Carlos said oblivious to Kendall's bewilderment, "do you think it's enough?"
"Yeah," Kendall said slowly, still in awe, "that's enough. Carlos you have to take care of it, I don't want you getting mugged. Put some in different pockets or something; make sure that it won't be noticeable, okay?"
He nodded, "alright. So how much is it?"
After paying for their tickets they made it in time to board the bus heading to the city that Carlos had been watching from his window for the past nine years.
"So you got that money because you needed help with your homework?"
Carlos nodded, "yeah, he said that it will be a great for me to learn how to use money so I could use it wisely."
"Homework?"
"Yeah and tutoring too, I suck at math, and english, and science and mostly every subject in school…"
Kendall shook his head, "I don't believe it."
They had been in the bus for nearly an hour trying not to get bored by talking to each other. Kendall had a lot of questions of how he lived in his area for so many years and how he kept himself occupied. While Carlos asked how it was like to live with his mom and sister along with school and what he does to earn money. He found out that Kendall worked at a grocery store pushing carts and sometimes mowing the lawn or if it was snowing shovel driveways.
"So how did you end up living with Logan?" Kendall asked. He had been meaning to ask that question for a while wondering how he ended up with in a mansion with an overprotective adult.
Carlos's smile disappeared to a frown and his shoulders slumped, for once, he turned away from the window where he was watching the scenery. "My dad abandoned me."
Kendall's face fell into one of understanding, Carlos continued, "I really don't remember much, Logan said that he left me there, I remembered there was a lot of crying, and a man with evil eyes."
"Evil eyes?"
"Logan's father."
Kendall felt a slight shiver go down his spine at the tone he used, as if his name was forbidden to be spoken out loud. "I'm sorry."
He shrugged and smiled a little, "it's okay Logan was with me so I was never alone and I had Sapphire too."
They both smiled at the thought of the small blue bird. They both talked about school, hobbies, and anything in particular to keep themselves from boredom. When the scenery changed from fields and houses to tall structures and endless people walking to their destinations Carlos turned and gaped at the thirty to fifty floor buildings touching the sky, small restaurants, a couple of museums, and more he saw from TV. Kendall had to restrain a laugh from Carlos's expression as he bounced in his seat when he saw the park. He already planned what he was going to do today along what Carlos wanted to do so they could have time today to be able to accomplish them.
Carlos nearly dashed out of the bus the minute it parked and opened its doors, luckily Kendall grabbed his wrist before he did and both walked out of the vehicle.
"Welcome to the city of Dayton." Kendall said as they started to walk through the streets.
Carlos took a moment for it all to sink in. He was finally in the city, the city he had watched for many years from his window.
Kendall stared at him with a grin as Carlos was beaming with joy, "so where do you want to go?"
"Huh?" Carlos stared at him for a moment before he processed the question. "Oh! Um I'm not sure there is so much I want to see."
Kendall nodded, "alright since you like video games how about the arcade?"
He gasped, "like Chuck E Cheese?"
"Almost, but it's inside the mall."
"A mall?" he slightly tilted his head, "what's that?"
"The mall it is." Kendall said as he started to walk. "Make sure to stay close, trust me you don't want to get lost here."
"You got lost?" he asked with a surprise tone.
"Yeah, it took me hours to find my way home."
"Where do you live?" he asked making Kendall raise a brow. "Sorry."
"It's alright, first day, you're bound to ask questions," he smiled. "I live in the outer city. I usually take the bus to go to school, it's close to the park and the mall."
He gasped, "can we go to the park?"
"If we have time."
As they walked to the mall Kendall explained what the things he was pointing at and what they do or are used for. He was a bit confused when Kendall grabbed him and ran past a Play Boy store he pointed at earlier. Carlos was about to ask what Play Boy was until his jaw dropped when they went inside a large building. The first thing he saw were a two floors of stores with people going in and out of them buying clothes, shoes, books, toys, and other merchandises. Kendall continued walking making sure that Carlos was following him as they past clothes and vendors trying to sell their products.
Carlos quickly kept up with Kendall when he heard the familiar sound of battle cries, numerous buttons being clicked, screams of triumphs, and the YOU LOSE! voices, he gasped when they were in front of an arcade, Game Arena in neon colors displayed at the entrance. It was dark inside except for the numerous colors from the rotating disco balls, and the screens of the game consoles, it was filled with noises of kids and teens trying to win the game they are currently playing. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Kendall with two cups in his hands one of them for him.
"Let's go, I've been dying to go against you." Kendall said as they went inside.
Carlos smirked as he took the sup filled with golden tokens, a look that surprised the blonde to see in the latino's face. "I have to warn you I have been playing for most of my life. So don't be upset if you lose."
"We'll see."
The first game they played was Terminator Salvation, after depositing their tokens they both grabbed their weapons and fired on the enemy both trying to out-match the other in how many enemies they can kill. Carlos won by killing twice the number of enemies they fired than Kendall.
Afterwards they played air hockey, Kendall was sure that he was going to beat Carlos until they were tied after fifteen minutes of playing. Carlos laughed when Kendall won resulting in a victory dance, he didn't care that he lost and decided to against him in another by playing another game, preferably racing.
They played against each or together by playing PAC-Man, a pinball machine, fighting the undead, assassins, motorcycle races, or skee ball, it was the most fun Carlos had playing games other than with Logan.
When Carlos's stomach growled he blushed while Kendall chuckled and called it a day much to his disappointment. He quickly cheered up when he turned in his tickets and got a medium sized water gun and striped green glasses, Kendall got a teddy bear for his sister and his own water gun. They both left with their prizes and headed straight to the food court.
"What kind of food do they have?"
"A lot."
To Carlos that was understatement, it was a large stadium of restaurants to him as he looked around to see the familiar fast food chains, such as McDonalds, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Panda Express, Jack in the Box, and more. His eyes lit up when he saw a corndog; Kendall immediately knew what he wanted. They both got in line and talked about the different games they played and made a promise to play Call of Duty.
They both sat at an empty table, Carlos with his three corndogs and Sprite, and Kendall with three hotdogs and Coke. Kendall nearly choked on his food when Carlos finished telling his story when he tried to bungee jump out the window with a large elastic rubber band that Logan got for an experiment for his science class. Luckily Logan stopped him before he could do the stunt resulting in no television and video games for two weeks.
"He said I needed a long time to think about my actions before I do something stupid, in reality he gave me more time to think of stunts I can pull with my limited resources."
He shook his head with a chuckle, "I can believe you nearly jumped out your window."
"You should've seen Sapphire, the poor thing nearly got a heart attack when she realized what I was trying to do."
"If you think that was funny, wait until you hear about the time I nearly caused a black out in the county three years ago."
"When the power was going on and off all over the city? That was you?"
He nodded sheepishly. "Yeah I was trying to light my living area with Christmas lights for the holidays, ever since that incident Logan helps me put up the lights whenever the holidays are close."
"Man I wish I was there to see it."
"I'll let you know if I have another stunt, Sapphire will be happy she's not the only audience."
"Good, we'll freak out together and have the first aid kit ready."
They both laughed, "Kendall!"
The blonde turned to see Guitar Dude walking towards them.
Carlos instantly became nervous as he saw him, he had long hair reaching his shoulders, a dark blue t-shirt with regular jeans and black converse and a guitar strapped over his shoulder. "What's up dude?"
He smiled, "hanging with a friend of mine. Guitar Dude, this is Carlos."
Guitar Dude grinned and grabbed his guitar strumming the chords, "hey hey heeeeeey Carlos." He sung.
"Hi," he greeted nervously.
Putting his guitar over his shoulder he turned to Kendall, "a couple of us are heading to a party, you in? You could bring your friend if you want."
"Maybe another time, I have a lot of stuff to do today."
"That's cool, if you change your mind just text me."
"I will."
"Nice meeting you Carlos." He waved at them both before walking away.
"He smells weird." Carlos said when he was out of ear shot.
Kendall chuckled, "he probably got high earlier today."
"High?"
"Nothing, anyway what do you want to do next?"
I AM SO SO SO SO SO SO VERY VERY SORRY!
I know that this chapter is long over due, I had another story I was working on and I got a huge writer's block on this chapter. By the way I don't play games so I got stuck in that part and haven't been in arcade in four years. Yes, I have no life. And I had to work on college applications ugh! I am very sorry I am planning to write chapters more frequently so this won't happen again, no promises, but I'll try. Thank you for reading and I hope I haven't lost anybody.
Sorry again for the wait. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter.