That Are Left Unknown
A few days later, in an afternoon, Phesx Caolia was in his computer, when he saw his sister's shadow move through the living room. She opened the house's entrance and then rushed back to the bathroom. He wasn't sure if she closed it, but he didn't pay it any mind, turning up the volume instead. Phesx didn't want to get into things that would only annoy him.
“Aaah!”
“?!” Suddenly, Phesx Caolia heard a sharp scream even through his headphones’ loud volume. He immediately took them down, with his chest beating hard once, and his eyes widening. Immediately, he saw his sister’s figure pass through the living room and run outside.
‘So, she left it open.’ Phesx Caolia frowned a little as he realized, intending to go back to his stuff, feeling better inside his chest. However, he felt like more wind than from just having the door open entered the house. His eyes slightly widened before he finally stood up after a minute of considering. He opened the curtain and went to check the patio.
“…” Phesx Caolia’s eyes were widened further. His body paused, but his eyes slowly darted towards the entrance. He walked out, calmly and without sharp screams coming out his mouth. He checked both sides of the street but found no one on sight.
After considering for half a minute, standing on the sidewalk, he finally walked towards one of the sides but still saw nothing. He took a few turns to where another branch of his mother’s family lived, where he finally found what just happened.
There was an old-fashioned car, a middle-aged balding man, his sister, his uncle, aunt, and cousin together, forming a circle around the car, with a pitbull puppy’s body in front of its left front wheel. Its belly was burst open, with some organs showing, especially some intestines and a bit of blood, already obscuring on the dry street.
Its little head kept trying to rise up, and its eyes looked at Cansa Caolia, who appeared exasperated while continuously pointing at the car, the middle-aged man, and her dying puppy.
Phesx Caolia walked forth, instinctively. Otherwise, he would’ve just turned around and return, as this did not matter to him. He wore a frowning expression, with the corners of his mouth slightly hooking backwards.
“Phesx? Oh, have you told your mommy?” Phesx’s aunt seemed to notice him first. She called him out, and after that, Cansa turned her head as if she had just seen her nightmares personified. Phesx Caolia stopped, feeling his ears and the back of his head tingling, numbing.
“Uhh, no…? What… happened here?” Phesx Caolia said, not really wanting to have a say in this. But his uncle nodded and understood the situation. He also looked at him with more sense than his sister or mother ever did to him. “An accident. Your sister’s dog was ran over just now. Is your mother home?”
“Aha, want me to go look for her?” Phesx Caolia twisted his torso and pointed backwards, stopping walking, wanting to be told to do so and not return. But his sister seemed to want something different for him.
“Why couldn’t you be more careful?!” She screamed, louder than before, albeit not as sharp. She started tearing up, holding her hands down to her face. Her voice sounded rough and heartbroken, “How dare you walk out calmly like this isn’t because of you?!”
“Cansa?” Phesx Caolia’s aunt called out, gasping. His uncle looked at Cansa with a frown, while the middle-aged man looked at them with a side eye. Phesx Caolia, on the other hand, was petrified on the spot.
‘What?’
Yet, just as he wanted to shake his head and start defending himself, however he could with his always low and stammering voice, Cansa looked at their aunt.
“I was going to show my puppy the park nearby, wuuu. But I had to rush to the bathroom quickly. I put Samson in the patio and told him to check the doors were closed.” Cansa emphasized ‘him’ with venom and similar emotion. She pointed at Phesx Caolia’s face with her right index fingertip. “But when I came out of the bathroom, wuaa. My puppy was gone, and I heard someone say ‘what a cute puppy’ outside my house. So I hurried out…”
‘…What?’ Phesx Caolia felt his back and neck sweat. It could be true, because he had his volume up, so he would’ve had a hard time hearing her. Phesx considered it and felt it might be his fault if that was the case. Although they never talk, unless their mother makes her ask him if he wants some food her boyfriend usually orders, Phesx Caolia always maintains himself and their relation ‘neutral’ and decent. Always being the bigger person and behaving mature.
After Cansa’s cute stop to explain what she heard, she continued, making Phesx Caolia’s eyes shake for a second before becoming hardened.
“But I remember closing at least the patio door, while the security gate was also closed from the entrance. I was only worried because my puppy could peek his head through the gaps and get stuck. But when I came out, both were fully open! Only he was downstairs, so he opened them while I was in the bathroom!!” Cansa shrilly screamed. At this point, Phesx Caolia heard footsteps on the dry street, filled with some rocks, behind him. He didn’t give it much thought, as he was too startled by his sister, and thought it was a random person walking by.
“What?!” But when his mother’s shout resounded, he felt even more lost. His sister started bailing out immediately. She was barely able to walk to their mother while his uncle and aunt looked at him, judging him.
“Is that true, Phesx?” His uncle asked, looking down at him with a ‘disappointed father’ look. Meanwhile, his aunt didn’t even doubt it. “Ah, my heavens. Phesx! How could you have been so careless? You cost your sister a life! Don’t you know how horrible is that? Would you like that happen to you? Oh my heaven, how can this be? I can’t believe you.”
“I didn’t do anything!” Phesx Caolia lifted his shoulder and spread his arms, but he saw their unchanging expressions and immediately gave up any further. He slouched and lowered his head, feeling the sides of the back of his head as if they were trembling, and tears trying to rush up his lacrimals. He forced them to stay beneath his skin.
“You damned spoiled boy!” Rubena screamed, moving to her son’s back, making him turn around. Phesx Caolia’s light black eyes’ contents shrank when he noticed her right arm was lifted, and further as he looked at her hand, relaxing from a fist. He stood there, motionless.
Cansa was no longer in the picture as their uncle and aunt looked at this scene. Rubena stopped her actions in the end, putting her hand on her hip, and looked up at Phesx. “Get to your room, no computer, no TV, and you’ll apologize to your sister after we return!”
Phesx Caolia looked at his mother a few more seconds before walking away with his hands never again leaving his pockets. He always wore a jacket that covers even his neck when coming out, and almost always zips it up. Today was no different, but today, he felt really stupid for walking out.
He was sure that if he hadn’t, this would have just been an accident. Now, it was maliciousness everywhere. From whom didn’t matter. It’s all his fault.
As he left, a head from a young girl his age, peeking from her house, looked at his back before looking at the other Caolias. That was naturally his cousin, but he couldn’t care now that things were like this.
“Oh, ma’am. Are you this lady’s mother? How sorry I am, I couldn’t see it from the car, I want to apologize.” The middle-aged man felt most of his cold sweat disappear by now. He sneaked a glance to the kid who was berated before looking at Rubena, thinking she was an old lady above 120. “Please, call me mister Medina. How should we deal with this, ma’am?”
“Oh, I can understand well. As you can see, this was a commotion caused by my son. I don’t mean to be greedy, but my family needs compensation. I think this can be fixed with the payment fee for accidentally killing an animal, and emotional damage compensation. That should be enough.” Rubena Caolia said, looking at her sister and brother-in-law and nodding.
“Ah, ma’am. You’re a very kind person to someone like me. Of course, should we talk about it?” The middle-aged man said, thanking her however he could. Cansa walked towards them at this moment, wearing a sad face, and pulling her lower lip out.
“Oh, sister. You’re truly nice. Let’s see, we’re lawyers, so we can smooth this process. Don’t worry, we won’t threaten you, this was a tragic accident. Nobody wants to go through this, hahaha…” The aunt said, lightening the mood a little and caressing the poor Cansa, still crying.
. . .
A month later.
“Recently, news of stealing, assault, and even sexual abuse on the streets have been more and more recent. The last week, 11 women of varying ages were found in the morning, lifeless and alone. The rural zones in Preut are seen with more and more trucks with people holding weapons in them.”
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“Military appearance has never been clearer than ever. Prona and Prequa are being vigilant. Could they be too paranoid? Or is there something happening? Lately, Preut has been seen more trouble because of ‘the withering’, but the section who has had it the hardest, Prei, has already shown signs of distress even among their civilians.”
“The rich households of Prona, where the largest wealth of the nation state lay, have been seen scheduling for long trips lately. However, 3 families have been stopped at the airport and denied exit through the borders with Lýmoca. Those who were in Lýmoca on vacation have been returned to Preut, of which some claim they were treated awfully upon returning by the military, and some have been lost for days…”
“How many days can the population go like this? It’s incredible to know the people aren’t doing anything! Our nation state is in decline. Just…”
“Lýmoca has grown excited over the last week. We’ve seen multiple cities become filled with people like never before! It has happened in the past, but never have this many people attended those marches. The country knows what they want.”
“Exactly. So what if President Luis has shown a horrible start? He is still the prince that wants to lead us into the future we deserve. Doesn’t everyone know how amazing those projects are? The people have seen some really expensive food down a credit, or two. It never happened before, but what’s more, there’s no increase every few weeks. That is progress!”
“Preut has no hurricane or tornado threat. It has all been a group of trolls from the outside who only want to fan the flames. Before deciding to believe some news, you should verify them…”
In the house, Phesx was just finishing his daily hours watching TV, when he heard the gate and door open from the entrance. He looked at it and wanted to rush to his bedroom, when the door suddenly opened and revealed his sister and her boyfriend.
The tall man entered first, bringing heavy, long plastic bags into the kitchen. He looked at Phesx Caolia and nodded, saying no more. Cansa slowly walked in, looking at her phone, before going to the mirror near the bathroom door. She lifted her shirt from the back to reveal another large tattoo, freshly finished.
“Aww, it’s so good. Haha. Hey, can you give the birds their food? My mom should be about to wake up.” Cansa smiled to herself in the mirror, sneaking eyes to see her brother wasn’t seeing, and cutely added. “Let’s help her a little, you know?”
“Aha,” Jord nodded after taking some things out from the bags.
“…” Phesx Caolia thought they were groceries, but they were all things only those 2 eat, and fast. Some junk food, healthy stuff his sister likes, and some fancy devices. After looking at these, Phesx Caolia was about to enter his bedroom, when he heard Jord’s voice from the patio as soon as the small dogs to the left of the house barked.
“Shuuuut it!” His hardened, deepened, manlier shout reached all the way upstairs, let alone to a sensitive Phesx Caolia.
Phesx Caolia rolled his eyes before moving the curtain and returning to his obscure little cave. The ample space within it caused comfort in the irritated Phesx Caolia, who hadn’t noticed his stomach was twisted from their sudden arrival.
He walked and turned around to sit around his desk, when he felt his right leg go through an electric shock-like sensation. This wasn’t the first time, but he was never suddenly paralyzed. Phesx Caolia’s body stiffened as he waited until the sensation subsided.
When he sat on his chair, he felt tense again. Only, he didn’t notice because he was so used to tensing his stomach, always maintaining his legs in a non-relaxed pose when sitting, and pressuring his upper back, harming the rest of it.
Phesx Caolia began feeling pain in his right knee, but just thought of it as walking erroneously for the past weeks, or something similar. He cracked his neck and leaned back on his chair, when he felt as if air grazed his heart, making him stop breathing altogether. He forced himself to breathe out twice while thinning down his breathing in motions.
A little more than a minute later, he was finally fine again. Phesx Caolia relaxingly sighed before putting on his headphones on. It was time to lose himself.
Even then, Phesx Caolia started thinking about what he was doing. While he didn’t mind doing nothing instead of… instead of things he didn’t like, he felt a strange sensation every time he watched or heard about some things, be it movies or news. Right now, though, he was just a kid.
. . .
A week later. Year 1,020, 4th week, 6th day.
“?!” Phesx was just eating some carrots while watching the news, when a last notice appeared on one of the news channel. Phesx Caolia’s light black eyes remained rippleless until he saw the profile picture of a woman and the censored corpse of her body on the TV screen. The host began elaborating.
“The missing host of the TCC channel, R. Fárez, has been found dead after a crowd shooting in ANS…” The host continued reporting, but Phesx Caolia could barely slowly calm down.
That was the host that had spoken up about President Luis Heartez before, and was shut down by her co-host. Now, there she lied, as dead as Cansa’s puppy became a few seconds after he appeared.
However, nor she or the TCC channel were from ANS, but from and in Lýmoca. Phesx Caolia could only know this as he had the knowledge of the internet, albeit limited, to his disposal. He grew a little interested in her and searched for her public information, but now she was dead.
There was indeed a shooting that only severely injured 18 people. However, almost a day after those news, they now reported 1 person dead, and not from one of those 18 severely injured. No matter how one saw it, it was a shady thing that reminded everyone what kind of world they were living in.
Today was just the evening, but because Phesx Caolia had hurt himself in the kitchen where everyone else was also moving around a few days ago, and his right leg couldn’t move again, they would go to the hospital. Of course, having other things to do, the hospital trip had to be postponed until today.
However, even today, it was delayed to until night, as his mother, sister, and Jord went to a new, renown restaurant that was copying food from one of the renowned restaurants in the world. The other days, they either went to buy clothes or groceries to Prona, where the best things were sold. The money from that ‘tragic accident’ wasn’t just a few thousand credits, after all.
As for Phesx Caolia, although he would rather not come out, the only matter making him tense and annoyed was that he was caught in such a condition. Even more so because it happened when he least expected it.
“Sigh…” Phesx lied on the sofa with his right leg down. Whenever he put it on the sofa, it would hurt, so he let it rest diagonally. Now, however, it was nearly 6 pm, and the rainy clouds were making everything grayer and with less light than anticipated.
To many, this was something negative, be it a lot or a little. To Phesx Caolia, he adored these days. One of the few things he couldn’t deny these days.
‘What a world…’ Phesx Caolia thought. His eyes became a little vacant, looking at the wall beside the TV. He shut it down before taking his phone out. He immediately opened a video on an app. It was about survival skills. Although he wasn’t paranoid enough to think he would just go homeless because of Preut’s crisis, he grew curious to know about some things.
He couldn’t learn everything. He was either too dumb or lazy, as others always say. But to Phesx, he just couldn’t learn those things because they ‘didn’t go well with him’. That was the only thing he could believe in regarding himself.
Phesx Caolia watched a minute of a video he already studied, just to repass it again, for over a minute before he heard 6 different footsteps approach the house. His eyes blinked and stared up, before calming down and returning to indifference as his mother opened the gate and doors.
“Why is it so dark?” The mother exclaimed after stepping in. She saw her son looking down at the phone, ignoring everything else. She put on a bothered face and turned the switches from the living room and front yard on.
“Come on, what are you waiting for? Get ready. Can you walk with that leg?” Rubena’s gladdened face after a feast was erased immediately. Cansa and Jord continued to feel pleased and continuously kissed each other’s mouths as sensually yet casually as they could.
Phesx Caolia rolled his eyes a little, knowing that even if he was a fine, growing child like 2 years ago, he would still be blamed for not being born in 1,000 so she could have a child turn 101 one day. Things he has long become numb to, despite their stupidity.
“Yes, can we go now?” Phesx Caolia stood up, with difficulty, and said. His mother harrumphed a little and said with a light, sharp tone, “13 minutes more before the transport arrives. Now, if you’ll excuse us. We’ll change into more comforting clothes.”
Phesx Caolia was left on the spot, beside the sofa. He looked at them go upstairs before shrugging. He resumed the video from before and studied it, never moving his eyes away, with his jacket already on and zipped up.
About 10 minutes later, they returned downstairs, with Cansa and Jord acting playful, chasing each other around and making noise everywhere. Be it their from their mouths, footsteps, or grabbing onto the walls to move around, it all entered Phesx’s ears as he looked at a finished video for several minutes.
“… Okay! Let’s go. The car taxi will be here soon.” At last, Rubena Caolia came downstairs and semi-shouted. She brought a jacket folded around her arm as she walked to the exit. Phesx Caolia stood up but stopped and asked as she opened the entrance. “Car? Can it be a helitaxi? I’ve never been in one, and they are faster and safer…”
“Heng. Money is not to be wasted for every trip we make outside. And what, are you crazy now, too? There’s news of a tornado or hurricane appearing somewhere in Preut during these few weeks. We don’t wanna die, are you crazy? No, no, no. You’re mad.” The mother said, shaking her head and flicking her hand to let Phesx Caolia walk out first.
“They are not the same, and those news weren’t the truth. It’s only because ANS’ west goes through many of these that some group on the internet fu- played around with it, nothing more.” Phesx Caolia commented.
But his mother immediately bashed back, “I know what is truth! Do you think it’s anything you can tell me? I’m your mother, respect me!”
Phesx Caolia looked at his mother with his head low, almost as if he was pouting. However, he wasn’t feeling berated, only disliked and once again proven how unremarkable he was. If he disappeared, how much would his disappearance be used to let his mother gain more approval from her cherished family? Hell, even his sister would turn into a brother complex figure.
“Okay, sorry to ask.” Phesx Caolia said before limping out the house. Jord watched, now calmed down, with Cansa. He wore his military, white blank shirt, which he always boasts to Phesx for being part of the military once upon a time. Even then, nowadays, Phesx has some doubts about it.
“Yeah, yeah. Just don’t ask for things we cannot spend on, and that’s it.” Rubena Caolia said to her son before addressing her daughter. “Come on, we’ll be back quick. I’ll make u-… you hot chocolate, and you can watch something while I rest upstairs. Doesn’t that sound good?”
“Oh, motheeeer~!” Cansa smiled and bashfully accepted, exiting the house a little later, almost at the same time the car came, about 5 minutes later, while Phesx Caolia remained on the light rain. However… while Cansa gave her brother some glances, Phesx Caolia enjoyed the light tickle, closing his eyes and ‘staring’ ahead.
‘Sigh. I wonder how it would feel like to live in a hospital. Ah, but I would only be there 1 or 2 days at most. But since I’m unlucky, it won’t even be past the night. How does returning at midnight feel like? I wouldn’t have anything of value anyway. Only problem is being targeted by a sick random. Hmm.’ Phesx Caolia thought in tranquility as his eyelids were constantly caressed by the drizzling rain.
…