Outlaw Blues: Mythophobia

Note to the readers: Thank you for reading Outlaw Blues. I originally wrote this to work as a scripting work. Upon changing my mind however, I’m finding the writing format to be more of a hassle than it’s worth, so starting from now on, I’m going to be shifting to a more natural writing style. I hope you like it. If you don’t, let me know.

“Well, that went well,” Reuel said as he walked back into the apartment from walking the social working from the building. Kiaria wore a salmon colored day dress, and Kenneth was dressed a pair of khakis and a white short sleeved polo shirt. They stood waiting anxiously at the kitchen table and looked up with concern in their eyes. Walking over to the young girl, the fallen angel laid his hand on her soft brown hair.

“Don’t frown so. You’re too beautiful when you smile.”

“What did he say?” Kenneth demanded. His face darkened even as his sister smiled as her intrinsic happiness began to return at the man’s praise.

Reuel pulled back a wooden chair from the table and sat down as he unbuttoned the first two buttons the dress shirt he wore. He rubbed the right side of his face wearily, and the arching tattoos above and below his eye slowly became visible once more. Kenneth’s concern was easily detectable within the narrowed eyes and clenched fists lying on the pine finished table.

“Well, he’s not going to take you away,” Reuel said with a rolling shrug to stretch his shoulders. He half-smiled at the golden haired boy’s sigh of relief. “I don’t think I’ve had such a talking down to since I left the heavens.”

“Was he very mad?” Kiaria asked as she crossed her arms on the tabletop.

“Not so mad to worry about,” Reuel said with a grin at the girl. The hour long berating that he had received from the irate social worker wasn’t something he wanted to share with the little girl. He made no illusions for himself that she could not understand what had been said, but he didn’t want to see that worried smile on her face any longer. Her face when it wasn’t cheerful disturbed him greatly. She seemed most natural when she was laughing and seeing her frown was painful.

“Kiaria, why don’t you go change out of your dress and get a shower for the night? You still have school tomorrow, and I’m sure Ms. Key gave you homework to do tonight,” Kenneth said ruffling the girl’s light brown hair gently.

Though she whined slightly about the math assignment she had been given, Kiaria hurried out of the kitchen to do as her brother asked. The pale blonde angel smiled after her in bemusement, his attention only recalled with the scrape of the chair legs across the table from him.

Green-blue eyes met gray-violet as a knowing smirk twisted Kenneth’s face. Running a hand back through his loose golden hair, the teenager propped up heavily against the table and stared hard at Reuel until the fallen angel felt his face begin to burn with a light blush.

“You’re a terrible liar you know.”

“It helps that you’re empathic,” Reuel frumped as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest, pouting like a small child.

“It also helps that Kiaria is beginning to hero-worship you. If I had tried a dodge like that, she would have hounded me until I had caved out of guilt.”

As the young boy across from him relaxed, Reuel half-smiled and lifted one shoulder in an apologetic shrug. “I take it you were ‘eavesdropping’ during our conversation down stairs.”

“Only enough to know that he was satisfied with you being our guardian for the time being, and that you have a very shallow depth before you begin to feel very guilty,” Kenneth said with a smile.

Reuel laughed gaily as a red blush blossomed across his cheekbones. He nodded at the truthfulness of the boy’s words.

“He had some pretty choice words to offer me, and I do believe he was holding back admirably. From what I gathered, he had expected to be taking the two of you with him today. They had done their homework pretty well, but I guess that’s their job. Speaking of which, they know about your part time job. He wasn’t too happy about that one.” Reuel paused thoughtfully. “Actually I don’t think there was much about this situation that he was too pleased about.

“Seems that I’m a bad example for you children, and that I should try harder to think of your feelings instead of setting the two of your as secondary priorities since your parents are already not here for you.”

Kenneth’s lightly tanned face darkened, unhappily at the mention of his parents, and Reuel leaned forward to prop his elbows on the table.

“Now… I have acted as your guardian, and I must admit, it’s rather nice to have that title again. However, there are some things that you need to explain to me. The first and foremost being your parents.” He held up a hand as the boy started to glare at him. “Don’t start that. I know your mother doesn’t live here, and from what I’ve been able to gather, you and Kiaria have different fathers. Can you please tell me more?”

With a sigh, the golden youth waved a hand weakly at the angel. The greenish-blue eyes closed for a moment before they opened again to meet Reuel’s gaze levelly.

“As you’ve guessed, Ki and I have different dads. Mom never talked about them much, but I think she liked my dad more than Ki’s dad… or at least that’s how it always seemed to me.” Kenneth’s face clouded with a difficult emotion for a minute before he brushed it aside to continue. “To put it simply, Mom was a whore.”

Taken aback by the unexpected statement, Reuel could only stare at the youthful face returning this gaze with an earnest expression. Sighing heavily, the pale blonde man rubbed the heel of his hand against his temple.

“That would explain why neither you nor Kiaria have a guardian angel. They don’t assign guardians to children born to born out of wedlock. I take it your fathers were her um—customers,” Reuel said uncomfortably.

“Yes,” Kenneth said with a thoughtful nod. “That’s a nice way of putting it. Neither of us has met one of our fathers, and it’s never really affected us. I think it’s better that we don’t truthfully.

“Anyway, five years ago, Mom started seeing someone. She never brought him here, and I don’t think he even knew that she had children. She started spending more and more time away from the apartment, and eventually, she told me one day that I was going to have to look after Ki for a while.”

The boy frowned thoughtfully. “After that, she would come around every few days to prepare meals for us and make sure we were okay. Two years passed like that, and the intervals between when we would see her kept lengthening. When I turned thirteen, she told me that I would have to take care of us on my own. After that, she would send money for the apartment, food, and clothes—anything we needed, but we never saw her much after that. Occasionally, if one of us were sick, she might come to take care of us, but she stays away mostly.”

“So you’ve had no constructive contact with your mother in three years?” Reuel asked as his narrow eyebrows drew together in concern.

“No, I haven’t had any letters from her beyond the notes she sends with the money each month and our Christmas presents. I don’t think she even communicates with Kiaria any longer—”

“Yes, she does.”

Both men’s heads came up at the little girl’s voice from the doorway. She smiled brightly at them, her damp hair from her shower dripping onto her teal pajamas. She walked over to the table and sat down beside her brother.

“Can you make me some hot chocolate?”

Kenneth nodded, rising from his chair. “Ki, what do you mean? You still talk to Mom?”

The brunette shook her head as she pulled her feet up to hook her heels on the seat of the chair. “No, but she sends me a present every year on my birthday.”

“You never told me,” Kenneth accused in a hurt voice.

Kiaria shrugged slightly. “They were just books. There weren’t any real letters or anything. Just the novels, and I can’t read them yet. If you want to see them sometime, they’re on my bookshelves.”

The fallen angel had to fight back an amused grin at the boy’s poorly hidden pout. He obviously didn’t like the idea that Kiaria had secrets from him.

As he began heating water on the stove, the boy said, “That’s okay. Why don’t you get your homework and bring it in here? I’ll help you with it okay?”

“Okay!”

“You’ve done well by her,” the fallen angel said watching the little girl hurry from the room. He smiled at the boy, who blushed slightly and turned away from the man to concentrate on the water boiling in the saucepan. Faint though it was, Reuel could detect the pride in Kenneth’s stance as he moved quietly in the kitchen.

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End Chapter Mythophobia
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