Chapter 27

The day of the fight.

On the way to school.

.

.

.

-Part 1-

Dinner last night was about what he expected; silent. The ice between them was solid and unyielding. Why was she even feeding him when she had all but washed her hands of him? It made no sense. Here he was, two days from leaving and she had made him another full plate of food. He poked at it with his fork a few times, the meal which normally would've been appetizing and would have been consumed with glee, now invoking nothing more than feelings of nausea.

Kit and Molly continued to hold hands while walking down the sidewalk. The morning was warm and bright but their walk today was unusually still. He looked down to Molly, but she kept her focus ahead, looking down every now and then to kick a pebble or acorn that caught her eye. He was sure she knew something was amiss, but he doubted she comprehended the severity, or that this would be the last morning they would ever be together. He debated between telling her now, letting her have a good day and telling her on the way home, or just not even telling her at all. He weighed his options and felt it best to say his goodbyes in his own way, letting her know that he loved her before she went home to her apartment tonight, sparing her the helpless longing to stop him from absconding yet again once the sun set this evening. He still had a few hours to make his choice.

Molly and Ms. Cunningham both ate their dinner, Molly looking back-and-forth between him and her as she slurped her noodles from the dish that had been prepared. Kit didn't even bother to return Molly's gaze let alone look across the table to Ms. Cunningham who apparently felt the same way. The two didn't even acknowledge the other's presence until Molly had been dismissed to take her bath. She was starting to get a bit older now and Ms. Cunningham was experimenting to see if she was finally responsible enough to be capable of taking a bath on her own.

When the two were finally alone the conversation that ensued was, for the most part, one-sided. She lectured, chastised, and carried on like it would make a difference, and he let her. At this point, what was to be gained or lost by fighting?

"Contrary to your belief" she said at some point, "I do actually care about you and want you around. But I need you to not only do your job here, you need to do your job at school too. You're a model employee Kit, but you could certainly do with some improvement in the "family member" and "being a normal kid" department."

He reflected on that while he walked down the street holding Molly's soft innocent hand. He wasn't sure what bothered him more: the fact that he didn't feel anything when she said that, or the fact that he no longer cared. He continued to sit and listen to her, clearly bored and unfazed by her words. Everything she said going in one ear and out the other.

Ms. Cunningham clasped her hands under her chin, her elbows on the table on either side of her dish, her voice tired and sincere from her rant. "Kit. We can't keep fighting like this."

"Who cares?" he snapped back, apathetic despair heavy in his voice. "It won't matter in a day anyways. I already told you, I quit my job and I'm moving out. So, are we done here? Can I go now?"

"Is that really what you want?" she asked softly with genuine concern.

"No, maybe, I don't know. But it's what you want." he said, still in his chair, his arms folded, pausing to gauge her reaction. "You think I can't tell that you're tired of me? I see it on your face every time you look at me! Every time you roll your eyes when I walk around the corner! 'Uggh,'" he said imitating and mocking her, staring her down as he did, his voice becoming louder and increasingly vengeful with each word that passed between his lips, '"I have to take care of the trashy little orphan boy', How Goddamn inconvenient for you!" he accused.

There was a stillness in the room that complimented the tension. Ms. Cunningham was appalled and disgusted at his contemptuous response. She had given him time upstairs to calm down, and now she had been trying to make amends before she lost him, but he was pushing her buttons. Ms. Cunningham fought through her surprise at his words with as much zeal as she was searching to discover where this conversation had gone so horribly wrong.

"Kit, you listen to me. Do you have any idea how much I have sacrificed to keep food on this table to keep you and Molly fed? To keep the doors to this place open and the lights on and the payroll supplied? What I have had to do to even meet the bare minimum?!" She didn't wait for a response. "I've been busting my butt every single day since Baloo went to the hospital and the last thing I need is you acting like an ungrateful little shit!" Ms. Cunningham had said what she needed to say to vent. She had hoped that Kit would get the picture, instead she was only met with more of his arrogant attitude and condescending remarks.

"So what?" he said with a shrug before leaning back in his chair and placing his right arm on the table. "Is this the part where you slap me around again? Or do I need to wait for you to make fun of me for eating out of trashcans and getting raped first?" Kit looked away from her as if he were viewing his past and spoke softly, "If only you knew the kind of sacrifices I had to make!"

He was starting to piss her off and although she did not foresee such a comment coming, she had to admit that he had a point. She sacrificed for college and for Molly, but at the end of the day she still had a warm bed, four walls, and a roof to go home too while Kit's safety and daily survival was not guaranteed from one day to the next by any means. They were setting each other up for a repeat from a couple months ago and she swore that she would never do such a thing like that to him again. Ms. Cunningham took a deep breath, counted to three, looked at her son, and did her best to alter the course of the conversation for what she hoped would be for the better.

"I love you, Kit. But you once said you wanted to live the life of a normal kid. Well, Kit, for starters, you're not a normal kid, we are not a normal family, and that" she said gesturing over to the stacked silver coins on her desk that had previously littered the floor, "is not any normal kid's income let alone the normal income of most adults."

Kit busted out in sarcastic laughter, interrupting Ms. Cunningham in the process, "So, you mean to tell me that I am making more money in sixth grade than a college graduate?!" Kit continued laughing at Ms. Cunningham's expense. "Why should I go to school?!" He was laughing so hard he was holding his sides. "I bet I got enough money that I could buy this place! I might as well as drop out of school right now since I am making more money than you anyways!"

Kit's laughter was an affront to all she had done to get where she was in life but for some reason, instead of anger, she became filled with pity and minor confusion for the boy in front of her. She took into account all Kit had done and the possibility that he indeed was making more money than she was, and her conclusion was that she was at a loss for where to go from here. "To tell you the truth Kit, you're right. You have so much going for you at such a young age that I don't know how to parent you anymore."

Kit's laughter came to an abrupt end as he yelled back at her, "And that's MY fault?!" he said, aghast at the insinuation she had just made to cast blame on him for her failing.

"No Kit." She sighed searching for the right words; she wasn't even sure that any existed. "I realize you are not a normal kid Kit, I get it, I do, and I have done my best to respect that, but I am not Baloo, I can't replace Baloo, and I'm not going to try to, I can't! You are an abnormal kid, Baloo was an abnormal parent, and what was between you and him was special, and for someone as he being completely ill-equipped, possessing NONE of the qualifications to be a parent, and living totally irresponsibly prior to meeting you, he stepped up, made it work, and somehow managed to not only make the cut with you with flying colors, but also raise the bar for other fathers to measure up to."

Although Kit had already written off Baloo, when she spoke about him, he couldn't help but feel a corrosive disdain and agitation build in his chest that demanded release. He had heard enough and couldn't contain himself anymore.

"Oh my God! Just stop talking!" he yelled at her, standing up as he did. "I'm going to school tomorrow, I'll bring Molly home, and then you'll never have to see me again!"

"Sit down young man, we're not done!" she said, raising her hand and pointer finger as she did, pointing down as she would to any normal child, not realizing her mistake until it was too late.

Kit drew back like a madman, his face burned like a brand. "NO! I'm done with you just like you're done with me! Kiss my ass, Rebecca!" Kit spun on his heal and started to make his way to the bottom of the stairs, leaving her all alone in her chair, hunched over the table, her head grasped by her hands, her elbows on the table top. Once he reached them, he placed his hand on the wooden rail, and spoke to her one last time before the evening ended, stabbing a dagger in his heart as he did, choosing his sacrifice and making his own fate, "Some mother YOU turned out to be." He removed the imaginary dagger, threw it to the side along with his dying feelings impaled upon its blade, raised his eyes to the top of the stairs and the future Clement would soon help him achieve, and when he made it to his room, he slammed the door and did not open it until the next morning.

The sounds of last night still rang in his ears as he went over it again and again and again. He went to sleep as soon as he had shut his door and had slept so heavily that he didn't even hear Molly get out of the bathroom let alone hear her and Ms. Cunningham leave for the evening. He and Molly turned the corner and the next thing he knew the school came into sight. Their walk had been quieter than usual and before they both knew it, they had arrived at the elementary entrance. "See you after school. Right here, just like normal" he said before releasing her and making his way around to the middle school entrance.

What Kit did not expect however was the long hug she gave him before going inside. "Why do you and Mom fight so much?" she asked before loosing her grasp around his waist.

Kit knelt down and looked into her clear, innocent, and unaware eyes, "I'll tell you after school when there is more time to talk about it."

Molly's heart sank, something was wrong. His voice was empty as if the future was ending and it contained no warmth like it normally did whenever he spoke with her. He always made her feel safe when he was close, but today it felt like he was somewhere else entirely. "I love you, Kit."

"I know Cupcake" he said, once more using Baloo's nickname for her. "I'll see you after school." He watched as she crossed the threshold of the elementary school entrance turning away only after she was no longer in view and making his way to the other side of the building and then directly to home room to start his day, unaware that someone and his two cronies had been watching him the entire time.

-END Part 1-

.

.

.

-Part 2-

Earlier that morning.

Ms. Cunningham walked into Higher for Hire with Molly in tow a few minutes later than normal to see Kit patiently waiting in Baloo's big chair. He was dressed in his normal green sweater and brown cargo pants, but he was not wearing the hat Baloo had given him, instead it remained undisturbed upon the desk where Ms. Cunningham had last placed it. His face bore no expression and when she had set her briefcase down, he stood up and approached her, but did not make eye contact. "You're late" he said, his voice still and without animation.

"We ran into some traffic" she said expecting a response but continuing when she got none. "We stopped for some breakfast croissants. Are you hungry?" she asked, attempting to appeal to him any way she could.

"I already ate" he said, clearly uninterested. He then picked up his backpack and turned to Molly and displaying the first smile she had seen on him in some time. "Ready Molly?"

Molly looked at her as if to ask permission. She could tell that she knew something was wrong, but still she nodded for her to go.

"Yeah" she said to him.

"Good", Kit said as he took her small hand, "Let's get outta here." And without so much as even a look to Ms. Cunningham, Kit and Molly left.

"See you after-" she called after them but was interrupted by the slam of the door behind them as they left, Kit ignoring her completely, "-school."

Rebecca sighed with the reality that she now faced. "I've lost him."

-END CHAPTER 27-