Moonlit Water

“Louis, I having a hard time can you give me little money?”

“Louis, can you make me look pretty for my date tonight?”

“Louis, can you…”

It’s been the same thing I’ve heard my life. People asking things from me and not caring about the consequences I have to face because of it. No one ever takes care of me when I grow ill because of the things they asked of me. In fact, my classmates never question why I’m not in school for days after I granted them straight A’s on their report cards.

You might ask, Louis, why don’t you just say no? Well, It’s not that simple. There was a time when I did say no but then came the “Louis you have such a gift why not use it to help others?” “Louis, I’m only asking a small favour of you, why are you being so rude?” I soon decided that it was easier to grant them their wish and just be prepared for the horrible sickness that comes afterwards. Now I sit here with my “friends” in the school cafeteria hoping that they won’t ask me for too many “favours.” The more favours I do the longer and sicker I get, and I can’t keep being absent my attendance is already bad.

“Hey Louis, do me a favour and get me this really pretty dress real quick, can I just show you a picture?” I turned to look at one of my “friends” Natasha. She didn’t even turn from her phone while speaking and silently showed me a picture of this dark blue silky dress the was loose and tight at the same time on the model.

“Sure” pulled out a ballpoint pen I keep in my pocket for these kinds of things and wrote on my are ‘blue dress’ and watched as it sunk into my dark skin and disappeared. “It’ll be in your closet by tonight,” I said.

“ ’kay” she replied once again not looking up from her phone.

I sighed and got up before informing the other six people at the table that I was going out for a bit. None of them even noticed and continued their conversation as I walked out of the cafeteria to the outside benches that no one sat on during this mid-November weather. The cold was dry and piercing as I felt it seep through my thin jacket. I sat down on the cold hard seat of the bench and sighed deeply. I’m already feeling the effects of the favour I gave my mom this morning. As I inhaled again the cold air burned my nose and lungs.

“Too loud?” I jumped slightly at the voice that came from behind me as I turned around. The boy who spoke was small his cheeks, nose, and ears were red from the cold and I watched as attempted to warm up his also red fingertips by putting them in his armpits.

I must’ve looked confused as the boy took my silence as a signal to elaborate.

“The cafeteria, it’s always so loud. Who knew putting over a hundred teenagers in the same room would resemble the sound of a bunch of screaming monkeys.” He chuckled at his small joke, and I just smiled. I turned back to look at the crunchy, ice-laced grass that surrounded the whole school building.

“Not much of a talker then huh.” The boy continued to talk. “That’s okay, I am. I’m Vincent but call me Vin I always thought the whole Vincent name was just a tad too formal…”

Vincent continued to talk to me for the 40 minutes of lunch there was left. I occasionally chuckled at a joke he made or hummed when he asked me a question but I never actually replied to him in words.

“Bye Louis!” Vin said as he walked back into the warm cafeteria after the bell rang. I smiled to myself, I wonder if this is what it’s like to have a friend who doesn’t want something from you. But my smile dropped as I thought of going home after the two periods I had left of the day.

///

As I drove home I thought about Vin, would he come again tomorrow? If so maybe I’ll make him some cookies or something. I looked straight down the road as I tapped my leather wheel to a song that wasn’t even playing. I guess this is one of the things I liked best about my “gift” when I could I occasionally made myself something. This car was one of those things.

I pulled up a block away from my house as I always did. If my mom or Kaylee found out I had a car or that I could drive in general they’d definitely make me give the new cars or drive them everywhere, and I definitely didn’t want that. After locking my car I walked slowly towards my house as I dreaded walking through the door. When I was finally in front of the door I opened it as slowly and quietly as I could. I crouched down on the ground as I quickly took off my shoes and stayed crouched as I crawled through the house towards the stairs.

I clearly wasn’t as stealthy as I thought I was because as I passed the kitchen I saw Kaylee’s shadow hover over me as I froze. I looked up at her slowly and that she was the worst version of her, drunk.

“Helloooo little brotheerr” she slurred as she lifted her leg a put it on my back, almost falling over in the process. I grunted as I felt the weight of her leg on my back. “I hope you had an amaazzinngg day because I did NOT” she suddenly looked angry. I gulped.

“Actually, I had a horrible day.” She paused, glaring at the air as if it were her day.”I went to the corner store to buy some booze only for that stupid cashier to tell me that my card was fucking declined.”

Kaylee began to stomp her foot on my back somehow putting the blame on me. “Weren’t you supposed to put money in my account I thought I told you to that!” She hadn’t told me to do that but apparently, that was part of the job description as her little brother. Kaylee stomped harder yelling at me it was my fault she was so heavily embarrassed today.

I curled into a ball and waited for her kicks and stomps to weaken before I got up. Kaylee was struggling to stay standing up as she was already half-asleep. I picked her and carried her up the stairs to her room, she didn’t fight me but did make sure to swear at me some more as I tucked her into bed.

I went to my room and pulled out my laptop to finish some homework before bed. I sighed as I closed my laptop once again checked the time on my bedside clock saw it was 12:08 am. I walked to the bathroom down the hall and took a quick shower. I after brushing my teeth I turned in the mirror and lifted up the back of my shirt and saw my back littered with bruises from Kaylee. I sighed again and decided to just get some sleep instead of worrying about it. As I lay down I thought about Vin again and realized I never told him my name, I wonder how he already knew it.