The Irregulars

Orion O’Mailey

“ Dr. Arina O’Mailey, huh?” It’s the summer before I go to college. In the apartment by the 19th street, and the heavy clouds are blocking the sun. It’s going to rain in a few minutes. The police are investigating my mother’s death and their theories vary, a lot. One cop says that she may have been murdered by one of her patient’s families. One cop theorizes that she may be murdered by her ex-husband, my father. The last cop says that she may have been killed by the government because she knows something. But I have something they don’t – her last letter. I’m beginning to think that she may have committed suicide, but who knows? Even I don’t know.

But her last letter? The Irregulars? That’s her research, her research for eighteen years now. Her secret research that the government asked her to work on, until she ultimately betrayed them. Her reason, is something that even I don’t know. “Orion, I’m so sorry for your loss.” One of the cops, Nikita Fukushima, also a neighbour of ours, gave me a tap on the shoulder. She’s with her sister and my classmate, Hikari. Nikita’s older than me, but she’s not any taller. She’s around 5”3, I’m around 6 foot. I’m tall, there’s nothing I can do about it. She has curved, half-moon eyes, and she wears lenses. Her hair’s kept down, and she’s wearing that passed-down leather jacket everyone in the Fukushima family seems to have worn. I used to go to school with one of her 4 sisters, and I swear I’ve seen Hikari wear that. Hikari’s the Fukushima sister who goes to school with me. People call her the hot Asian, and it’s obvious why. Among the Fukushima sisters, she has the beauty closest to the trendy beauty standard. She was a cheerleader when we went to school together and she was very popular among the kids in our batch.

“Did you call your father?” Hikari whispered.

I nodded. “I called him.”

“But you two didn’t talk much, didn’t you?”

I nodded again.

Then it happened again.

This isn’t the first time it happened.

I can see it.

I can see what Hikari’s thinking. I can see that she pities me. I can see that she’s sad and terrified for me. I can see her worries. I glanced around, and I can see the same thing from the cops. The same question, ‘what are we supposed to do with the kid the doctor left?’ is seen on their heads. It’s the same frustrations I’ve seen from literally everyone. Everyone’s the same except Nikita’s.

“Mrs. O’Mailey, what happened to her?” She’s the only one who doesn’t worry about me – but she worries about my mom. “Orion, by chance, did your mom leave anything behind? A journal of some sort?”

Never trust anyone but the Irregulars.

My mother wrote that on the final part of her letter. Never trust anyone.

I bit my lower lip and shook my head. She just smiled a little. “I see. I’ll leave you with Hikari.” She smiled before leaving me and Hikari by ourselves, watching the cops rummaging our apartment, and this isn’t even the place where my mother died. There are four cops in this apartment, which includes Nikita, then I’m here, with Hikari. Our apartment isn’t even that big. It just has two bedrooms, mine and my mom’s. Then the kitchen, the living room and the porch where my mom used to plant pea plants. It’s strange to know that she won’t be here to weed them or watch them grow.

“You don’t look good, Orion.” Hikari began.

I smirked a little. I can see what she’s thinking. She knows I’m not feeling good and she’s thinking of what proper words to use. “I think I’m okay.”

Her eyes narrowed, unbelieving. “You know, our door’s right in front of yours, so just knock when you’re hungry. Mom can always give you food. She actually wants you to come over for dinner.” Well, she’s not lying, at the very least. Looks like Mrs. Fukushima really wants to ask me for dinner.

But I have to say no.

I felt a familiar presence enter the building. He’s in the first floor. He’s already here. I can’t believe he came quickly. “I’ll be fine, Hikari.”

She raised a brow. “You sure?”

“My mom’s ex-husband is coming.”

“Your father?”

“I guess, if you call him that way.” Her mind’s asking me if I’m going to move to Chicago to move with my mother’s ex-husband, but she looks hesitant in asking it. “I’m not –“

“Orion!” As if it was on cue, he arrived. Xie Luixian. Luixian, as my mother called him. I’m just damned enough that my entire face is structured exactly like his. The only thing I got from my mother is my eyes. “Are you okay?” I read his mind. His eyes are filled with worry and so is his head. But on the back of his mind, he’s worried about my insurance and the money I’m going to get from the bank. Why the hell should he be worried about it when he’s five times richer than me and mom? Is it too late to take back my rejection towards Hikari’s invitation? “Did Arina sign your insurance? And her will?”

I narrowed my eyes in confusion. “Excuse me, but why do you care?”

“Whether you like it or not, I’m still your father and I have the right to know.” He glanced at Hikari. “I don’t think you should be here, listening to this conversation.” He glanced back at me. “Tell your girlfriend to go.”

“Hikari’s not going anywhere, we’re in the damn living room.”

“I-I’ll go.” Hikari gave me a small smile. I gave her a sad look, which she seems to have understood, so instead of leaving the apartment completely, she left for the kitchen.

I crossed my arms. “How did you get to here in such a short period of time?”

His mind says he’s been here for weeks now. “By plane.” I rolled my eyes. He knows I can see through lies. I’ve seen through his lies for a long time, this doesn’t work on me anymore. “That’s not the conversation here, Orion.” He crossed his arms back. “What does the insurance say?”

“I have enough insurance to send myself to college.”

“Her will?”

“I get some weird lot downtown, cash and the apartment’s rent for a few years so you don’t need to worry about adding your ex-wife’s son into your household in Chicago.” I continued, “I also enrolled myself into a law school, so don’t even think about moving me out.”

He was flustered, but he nodded. “I see.” His head’s been cleared out of my insurance, now, he’s – no way. “After the cops are gone, let’s go to the airport.”

“Why?” I asked, pretending not to know why, but I actually know why.

“Paul and Rebecca are in town.” He smiled a little. “I know you won’t talk to me unless I have Paul and Rebecca with me, so here we are, Orion.”

Damn, he knows well.

The rain’s beginning to drop heavier as we drove to the airport. Paul Pemberton and Rebecca Campbell are my two childhood friends who I left when my mother and I left Luixian in Chicago. I kept in touch with them primarily because they’re the only people I trusted there. My mother and Luixian divorced when I was twelve – it’s been seven years since then. It’s been seven years since I’ve last seen them in the flesh. In their social media accounts, Paul seems to have grown taller than Rebecca, which shouldn’t be surprising. Paul, when we were younger, had the lightest-coloured hair. Rebecca, on the other hand, has a bright set of colours on her head. She just had lots of choices. A week ago, she had white streaks on her hair, but yesterday, she tweeted that she changed it again. I hope she’s not yet bald. While her distinctive characteristic is definitely her sharp nose, her hair’s important, too. “I just have to ask, Orion. If she’s not your girlfriend, then why is she here?”

Right, I brought Hikari with me. “Just because.”

She nudged me and whispered. “Yeah, why me?”

“I just didn’t want to be left alone in a car with my mother’s ex-husband.” Although that is somehow the truth, another thing about being left with someone alone is really annoying. I can see everything that runs through their heads if they’re thinking about it, so it’s really off-putting. It’s not like I can stop it. It just pops out of their heads like a notification from Facebook. Right now, Hikari’s over-thinking. Multiple thoughts keep popping out, and it’s a chain of thoughts, it’s inter-connected. She’s thinking if what if Rebecca will hate her, then what if she’s too shy to even approach Rebecca, and the likes. I’ve been living next to her, and we’ve been going to the same school for seven years now and by the time we were in high school, Hikari began getting too anxious for her own good. It’s always the same, the chain of thoughts. It’s unbreakable and unbearable for her. Sometimes, I just feel sad for her. “Hikari,” When I called her out, her chain of thoughts stopped. “You’re doing great, don’t worry.”

She smiled a little. All the thoughts were pushed back into her head. “Thanks.”

“We’re here.”

Hikari and I got out of the car and headed for the arrival area. When we got there, it was flocking with people. I noticed diplomats I’ve seen on the news, people whom I didn’t know that can come here, and a pink-haired girl with a caramel-haired boy – familiar faces I’d never forget. “Hikari,” I called out for the girl next to me.

“Yes?”

“Wait for me.” I headed to where they were, and my eyes went wide upon seeing them again. After seven years. “Rebecca…” She stood there, with her sharp nose, her tall physique, and her smile that seems to block the sun. “Paul…” He was there, not taller than me, but you can feel the warmness of his face. They’re here.

“Oh my god!”

It was the first time in years since I’ve felt their hands and arms around me. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this way, since I’ve heard their voice, since I’ve felt their warmth.

It would have been nice if their thoughts were slow, but they’re not. Both of them were overthinking.

“Is Orion okay?”

“Is he hurt?”

“Will he be fine?”

“Will he leave for Chicago?”

Those were the words that were on top of Rebecca and Paul’s heads. Even though their hands are on mine right now as we sit parallel to each other in this booth in a pizza place near the airport, I can feel the impact of the words. “You okay?” Rebecca asked and I nodded.

“I’m okay.”

Paul’s brows furrowed. “Your mom died and you’re okay?”

“I think I’ve mourned enough.” The rain’s still heavy outside, and Hikari’s sitting with me while my mother’s ex-husband is waiting for the order at the counter. “Why did Luixian bring you here?”

Paul crossed his arms defensively. “Aren’t you happy to see us?”

“Of course I am, it’s just shocking.” His head says he’s joking.

Rebecca tucked a lone strand of her hair behind her ear. Rebecca’s really beautiful. It’s the charming-type of beautiful, I guess. “Actually, Mr. Xiu had nothing to do with us being here in Parkerville.” Right, Parkerville, our state which is a plane ride away from Chicago. Her head says she’s not lying. “We were going to surprise you next month that we’re moving here for college, but your mom…” She’s still not lying. “Mr. Xiu notified us of Doctor O’Mailey’s death and then we booked the earliest flight to Parkerville. Did we miss the funeral?”

I shook my head. “No, the morgue has her body on hold, since they’re still investigating her cause of death.” It didn’t take long before Luixian brought the food to the table, and he sat next to Paul. His mind says that he needs to tell me something. “So, what’s the so important thing you wanted from me that you brought Paul and Rebecca here?”

“The lot.”

I raised a brow as I passed Hikari her drink. “What lot?”

“Your inherited lot.”

“What about it? Please speak faster.”

“No matter what happens, never sell that lot.”

His mind…

His mind is begging me to follow his instructions.