Humankind_Saga 1 Page 4

  “Hey,” he said, surprised and angry, “you scared me kid.”

  “Ew,” he said, “change ya draws poop stain.”

  “Shut up,”

  “So, where were you?” he asked, noticeable concerned.

  “I just needed to be alone. I found some of my mom’s old things and I just wanted to…”

  “Oh snap, what’d you find?” Manny asked as he sat down on the foot of his bed, excited to have Michael open up to him for the first time in ten months.

  “Whoa, chill,” he replied, “you’re doing too much. Relax.”

  “Come on, man, you never let me do anything.”

  Michael paused for a moment and looked Manny up and down. He really liked the kid, but he couldn’t afford to get too close to anyone else.

  “Manny,” he said quietly.

  “Yeah, what’s up?”

  “You’re a good kid Manny. You’re gonna be a star one day. Now, get out my room. We got school tomorrow.”

  Manny looked over at Michael and cracked a smile, “You really think I’m a good kid?”

  “Yes.”

  “Thanks Mikey,” he replied. He stood up and walked toward the bedroom door, grabbing the pillow from the empty bed on the other side of the room, then throwing it at Michael and sprinting out of the room laughing hysterically.

  “I’m gonna kill that kid,” said Michael underneath his breath, throwing the pillow back onto the other bed across from him.

  He yawned a long, body shaking yawn. He was exhausted. “I definitely should have eaten something,” he thought as he folded over the top corner of the journal and closed it. He returned the contents back to the box and closed the lid, then put it into his bookbag. As he lay down on his side, one hand underneath his pillow, he started thinking about the stack of money. Maybe he could skip town…start a new life and not be monitored by the government. He was only about three and a half months shy of eighteen, so why stay in this crappy group home any longer? He had nowhere to go, but what did he have to lose? Maybe he would. Maybe. He knew there was nothing for him here.

  THURS, APRIL 27th, 2034

  Alexandria, VA, USA

  7:39 am

  T he next day was mostly uneventful. He had passed out so early the night before that he didn’t feel too drained. On his way into the school, he saw Cynthia hanging out by the bathrooms with her group of popular girls. Bucky leaned over and whispered something to her which made her hit him and then turn around quickly and wave. Michael lifted his chin and kept it moving. He still wasn’t sure if he trusted her.

  He had never had too many girls show that much interest in him before. Once there was a girl from his old school that his mother had tried to hook him up with. Their mothers were friends, and she hadn’t had much success meeting a nice boy, so they set it up. He remembered her being extremely awkward and always sweaty. If there were a sliding scale, Cynthia was on the opposite end.

  The morning breezed by easy enough. At lunch, he saw the foreign student heading into the cafeteria. His eye was black, but this time he was surrounded by a group of friends. It seemed that they had decided to band together. As Michael went through the line and scanned his free lunch pass, the lunch lady looked at him this day and spoke.

  “I’m really sorry for your loss,” she said with real sincerity.

  “Thanks,” he replied, smiling with only his mouth and not his eyes.

  “Just what I needed,” he thought, “to think about her again.”

  He walked through the cafeteria and sat his lunch tray down at the corner table, as usual. Poking at his meatloaf substitute with his plastic fork, he saw the chair opposite him slide out from underneath the table. When he looked up, Cynthia was standing there in front of him.

  “Is this seat taken?” she asked rhetorically.

  Michael looked at her, then shot a glance over to the table where Bucky and his girlfriend were sitting with their friends. Bucky was looking at him, but looked away after he saw Michael glancing in his direction.

  “Go ahead,” he said cautiously.

  She sat down with her tray and slid up until her legs were underneath the table. It was silent at first. He came to feel very awkward. This was the prettiest girl that he had ever talked to in his life, let alone sat with. He wasn’t sure what to say.

  “So,” she said, “how have you been holding up?”

  “I’m fine,” he replied, too nervous to look up at her. It was weird that someone would care. I mean, of course a friend would care, but a stranger? No one was that nice.

  “Well, you don’t seem fine,” she said, “are you sure?”

  Michael looked up at her. His eyes expression was stern, yet reserved, “Yeah, I’m cool.”

  “Okay. Well if you need to talk to someone you know I’m always…”

  “Just leave me alone, okay,” he said, cutting her off.

  “Umm, excuse me?” she asked.

  “Look, I said I was alright.”

  “Are you serious?” she replied, noticeably agitated.

  She slid the chair back and got up out of the seat. She looked at him one more time as if there was something more she wanted to say, but instead she didn’t bother. With a swing of her hair, she walked back over to the table where her friends were sitting.

  “Damn it,” he said under his breath, “I didn’t mean it like that…”

  --- 3:15 pm ---

  That afternoon as he walked from the bus stop, Manny ran over and caught up with him. He looked at him smiling, like he wanted to laugh.

  “What,” Michael asked.

  Manny just smiled.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “Yo, you gotta to be the craziest person I know. How do you turn down Cynthia? You can’t be tough every day, take a break sometimes!”

  “What? How do you know about that?”

  “Well…ok, you know that dude Bucky, right? Well, I see him and his girlfriend talking to Cynthia, right? And Cynthia’s like, ‘I don’t know girl, there’s something about him’. And Bucky’s girl is all like, ‘Girl, if he’s that mean I don’t care how cute you think he is, let him go’. And Bucky’s was like, ‘Yom I told you he’s lame’. Did you know Cynthia thought you were cute? What happened?”

  Michael looked away and shook his head. Just his luck. He took a deep breath and let out a long sigh, “I don’t know man. I think I messed up.”

  --- 5:10 pm ---

  That evening when he got in from school he had went straight to his favorite corner and put on his headphones. He didn’t play any music from his wristphone, he just wanted to be left alone as he cracked open the old, dingy black book.

  Truth, Honor, and Virtue, of utmost importance

  Not just to oneself, or to a part of Humanity, but to all of Humankind

  I am not alone here, others accompany me

  Carrying honor and courage in their hearts

  Yet I am like Alice, too deep might I have crawled into the rabbit hole

  Still I am prepared and I am willing to do my duty

  I choose service over sidestep, siblings over solitude

  We are all one, we are all in this together

  There is no room for discrimination, nor prejudice or partisanship

  Oh, how important this must be!

  “Come eat y’all,” said Ms. Tanya from the doorway of the kitchen. The children jumped up and made their way into the dining area. Michael sat there for a second and contemplated what he had read.

  It seemed to be a book of poetry, or possibly memoirs, about things she had experienced in her lifetime. It was apparent that she had integrity, honor, and courage. She always tried to instill these things in him. What more, he wondered, could he learn about his darling mother?

  “Come on Michael,” said Tanya, waving him into the kitchen with her hand.

  He stood up and folded the top corner of the page, shoving the book back into his bag. He had to figure out what to do with the money he had found. He couldn’t keep
it in his bookbag all the time; it was only a matter of time before one of the boys would find it and steal it.

  As he sat down with his food, Manny walked over to the chair next to him.

  “Hey Manny,” said one of the kids, yelling from the other side of the room.

  “Sup,” he replied as he placed his food down onto the table.

  “Rematch tomorrow,” he said, “this time we’re not getting stuck with little Sammy.”

  “I’ll take Sammy on my team,” he replied confidently, “it doesn’t matter, we’re still gonna win because y’all some bums.”

  As Manny was looking in the direction of his conversation, Michael saw his opportunity and slid Manny’s chair back from under him. He laughed to himself quietly in anticipation. Manny went to sit down and paused, reaching for his chair. He stood up and turned around, pulling the chair back up underneath him.

  “Swear you slick,” said Manny, “you can never get me.”

  Michael sucked his teeth, “Watch, I’m gonna get you, Man Man.”

  “Never ever,” he said, smiling confidently.

  --- 5:28 pm ---

  After dinner, some of the kids gathered around the SMART TV and turned on the popular music video stream. They were playing a ‘Throwback Thursday’ R&B jam from 2020. The old SMART TV had been donated by a generous man who picked it up at a yard sale in Norfolk. It was better than nothing, even if it weighed too much.

  “Look at how old those cars were!” yelled one kid, laughing.

  “Wait ‘til I get rich,” yelled Manny to the other kids as he walked over to the couch in front of the TV, “Lil Crazy Slime is gonna be way too old to work Cream Puff out like I can! She’s gonna come get this young meat!”

  “Hey,” yelled Ms. Tanya to Manny, quieting the room, “stop being fresh.”

  “She wants me auntie, she just don’t know it yet!” he retorted, flopping down onto the couch.

  “Doesn’t not don’t,” she said with a sassy attitude, popping her diabetes medication into her mouth, “and get your feet off that table!”

  Manny reluctantly moved his feet from the table, taking out his frustration by pushing one of the boys sitting next to him with his elbow.

  “Move, you got all that space next to you!”

  They bickered for the next few minutes. Michael shook his head and walked up the flight of stairs to retire to his room. The only thing he wanted to do was read more of his mother’s memoirs. It was all he could think about.

  If I had family, I suppose I would be with them right now

  Saying my goodbyes

  It is hard to look directly into someone’s eyes

  Knowing you will never see them again

  Knowing you aren’t coming back from where you’re going

  The Alpha and the Omega, Earth and Centauri

  Even now, as one life comes to an end

  I imagine I will find myself along this path

  If nothing else, I will have done my duty

  “Hey honey,” said Ms. Tanya from the doorway, knocking on the open doorframe, “what are you reading?”

  “Nothing,” replied Michael, closing the book and placing his hand over top of it, “just some book I picked up in the school library.”

  “Oh really,” she responded inquisitively, “what’s it called?”

  “Umm, Five Hundred and Seventy-Five Days,” he replied quickly, knowing she would never find it.

  “Oh, okay,” she said, “well, get some sleep it’s late.”

  “Yes ma’am,” he said.

  “Boy, I am only thirty-eight years old, I am not a ma’am yet,” she said, chuckling, “goodnight Michael.”

  “Goodnight Ms. Tanya.”

  She closed the door behind her as she left, her footsteps causing creaks throughout the old house as she descended the stairs. He contemplated the writings of his mother. What duty did she have to fulfill? What journey had she begun? What did it all mean?

  He held the site button on his wristphone, which made a high-pitched tone, and spoke into the speaker, “Roxy, what is Centauri?”

  “According to Encyclo-World, of or relating to any of the stars or star systems in the constellation Centaurus.”

  Scrunching his eyebrows in thought he mumbled under his breath, “That doesn’t make sense.”

  He laid back onto his pillow and placed his forearm on his forehead, thinking to himself. He had always known his mother to be a woman of compassion, and maybe this journal had been a way for her to explain her emotions. She was sick a whole seven months before he was given over to the state, and so these must have been her most personal feelings, written after she had received her diagnosis. It made sense. She had been a great mother, fulfilling her duty as such throughout the course of her affliction, even as she knew the impending doom of her passing loomed over her head like a dark cloud in a rainstorm. She wasn’t alone, either. Michael had been with her for several of the visits when she was administered her chemotherapy. There were others, just like her, and they gave her strength. She talked with them, shared stories, and even fellowshipped together until she was hospitalized. There was no discrimination amongst them. No division. They were the model of what Humankind should be, and it was a shame that it took such measures to bring them together under the commonality of cherishing life.

  FRI, APRIL 28th, 2034

  Alexandria, VA, USA

  7:38 am

  T he next day at school he didn’t see Cynthia in the morning by the bathrooms. He let out a sigh of relief. He didn’t want to see her, and he figured if she had been there he would have tried to slide past without her seeing him. He felt embarrassed, and he wondered how many other people in the school already knew about how much of an idiot he had been to mess that up. At lunch, he saw Bucky and his girlfriend sitting at their table, but no Cynthia. Maybe she was absent today.

  About an hour and fifteen minutes into last period, Michael raised his hand to get the teacher’s attention.

  “Yes,” said the skinny, well dressed substitute teacher.

  “I have to use the bathroom,” he said.

  “Okay, take a pass and hurry back.”

  He grabbed one of the hall passes, a small electronic GPS-like device with several buttons on the side, and gave it to the substitute. She grabbed the device and looked at her wristphone, then programmed in the time. Students who were caught in the hallways past their time limit by the school officers would be sent to the school’s detention cell. She input her teacher code, clicked the side button twice locking in the time, then gave it to him and sent him on his way.

  He walked through the hall, down the stairs, and into the closest bathroom. He looked in the mirror, checking his appearance and walked over to the urinal. After he finished and washed his hands, again looking in the mirror and playing with a pimple that wasn’t quite ready to be popped yet, he reached into the paper towel rack. It was empty.

  As he walked out of the bathroom, shaking the water from his hands, he rounded the corner and almost bumped directly into Cynthia. He felt his stomach drop. If it wouldn’t seem like the weirdest thing he’d ever done, he probably would have turned around and ran.

  “Move,” she said with attitude, pushing him out of the way and walking past.

  “Wait, hang on,” he pleaded.

  She turned around and looked at him, lips twisted like she already wasn’t listening.

  “About yesterday,” he said, “I’m sorry. I just didn’t know what to think because…”

  “No, little boy, let me tell you something,” she said, her voice rising, “I came over to you and talked to you, okay? I was trying to be nice and all you did was what…throw it back in my face like you’re hot shit? No, that’s not how this works. You don’t just go around being mean to people. So, you can take all that attitude and all that extra stuff and get out of my face!”

  He felt three inches tall. Not only did he blow it, but now she hated him. Thank God no one was around to see him get yelle
d at.

  “You’re right,” he said softly, “I deserved that.”

  She looked at him with one hand on her hip and lifted her eyebrows as if she was waiting for him to say more. He couldn’t think of anything to say that would make her feel better. He wasn’t a jerk, he was a nice guy, he had just been through a lot.

  “Is that it?” she asked.

  “No,” he replied.

  She looked at him and shifted her weight, dropping her hand off her hip and flipping her ponytail from one side to the other. He looked at her without hesitation and said the first thing that came to his mind, “you’re still pretty even when you’re mad.”

  She was completely taken off guard. She crossed her arms, looked away, and shifted her weight again. “Bye boy,” she said, turning around and walking away. He stood in the hallway, thinking about what he had just said. It was either the cheesiest or the smoothest, but, what did he have to lose? Unbeknownst to him, if he could have seen her face, he would have seen her trying her best to hold back a huge smile.

  The bell to signal the end of last period sounded. His book bag was still in the classroom. “Shit,” he said to himself, remembering its contents. If he was caught with that money, there would be a lot of questions about his activities. He couldn’t lose the money or the journal. He rushed down the hall back toward the classroom, moving through the crowd of students heading in the opposite direction, trying to not run anybody over. As he approached the doorway, he saw the substitute, lunch box in hand, locking the door to the classroom with her magnetic badge.

  “Hey,” he said to her, “my bag is still in there.”

  “Oh yeah, Michael, right?” she said, “Yeah, you left your bag, but I gave it to that little boy that you’re always hanging around. The ninth grader. You two live together, right? He said he would give it to you.”

  “Which boy?” he asked, stressfully inquisitive.

  “He said his name was Manna or Nana or something…”

  “Manny?”

  “Yeah, yeah, Manny. The goofball. He said to tell you his nickname is ‘young Kobe’ if you weren’t sure who I was talking about. Kept talking about Cream Puff being his wife or something.”