The beast emerged. Squinting glares were shot
as the body stumbled, tripping over itís own lethargic feet. The
mass of hair atop its head was a colony of ratís nests, bits of which partly
masked the top half of its groggy face. Hands flared out in an attempt
to help stretch the tired body. A low grumble gurgled from the throat.
Still squinting, it lazily stretched out the energy-deficient arms to identify
the objects it was running into as walls. One hand slowly rubbed
its eyes, as if in attempts to wake them up. It took a great amount
of strength for the being to open the refrigerator. There was a pause
as the now more awake eyes stared into the vat of cold air. A growl
proceeded.
"Thereís no food." Spoken but quiet realization.
Lily looked up. She had been watching the
Beast, only to be disgusted by its sloth-like motion. She had returned
to her magazine only to now be disturbed once again by its presence.
"NoÖThere isnít." Calm reply.
The Beast squinted and glared again through the
tangled hair.
"Iím hungry." Mumbled repetition.
"So am I." Abrupt response.
They held a stare. Silence.
Pause.
"Iím hungry." Repetition for emphasis.
"You already informed me." Aggravation.
The Beastís brow knotted in disgust.
"Thereís no food." Old realization.
"You already told me that too," Lily sighed.
Lily just wasnít helping the situation, the Beast
thought.
"Kyle, Iím sorry, but yes, there is no food," Lily
didnít want another confrontation.
"Arenít you hungryÖ?" Another low grumble.
"I said I was, yes. But I ate an apple.
Again, Kyle, Iím sorry, but I didnít know you considered that a foodÖ"
Tired attempted reply.
"Hmph." A scowl and glance at the apples on the
nearby table.
"Suit yourself." Satisfactory finalization of idiotic,
slow, drawn-out conversation.
Kyle vanished for about 7 minutes...not that Lily
really counted the minutes of peace that she got. Lily was a bit
agitatedÖit was Kyleís fault there was no food; this was HIS place of residence,
not hers. Kyle was Lilyís cousin; a fact that she still couldnít
seem to understand how it was possible. They were complete opposites;
Kyle loved to do spontaneous things, was loud and obnoxious at time, and
seemed like a kidÖLily was reserved, quiet, and sensible. But then,
of course, her parents had to go on a trip and stick Lily with her older
cousin to baby-sit her. For some reason, Kyle seemed to despise being
in the presence of his younger cousin. The age gap was only 3 years,
but it seemed to make a difference, at least to him. The way he acted,
it sometimes seemed that Lily was the older one. She was an only
child as was he, but in his presence she felt she had gained a rat of a
big brother. Lily had no reason to like Kyle; he had never given
her any reasons to. She sighed. She told herself that she would
be stuck in his apartment with him for only 4 more days.
Kyle reemerged into the kitchen with the same scowl
on from when he left. His face had been washed, but that was still of not
much change. The only real difference this time was that his hair
wasnít as messy; it as if he had tried to tame it somehow with only the
use of a brush that was not fit for such a job. He looked freshened
up, though still in his nightclothes like Lily wasÖhis morning attitude
remained. Lily braced herself for another small argument.
"Hey, Squirt, gimmie a damn apple." Kyle spat in
causal annoyance.
"Here." Lily sighed in relief and chucked of apple
to her opponent.
The Beast hungrily bit into the fruitís flesh.
He abruptly stopped munching, and his face became contorted.
"Eww! This is oldÖ! You Twerp...! YOU MEANT TO GIVE
ME A BAD APPLE!"
Lily shrunk in her seat.
"N-no I didnítÖKyle, I just gave you an apple closest
to meÖ" She whimpered.
Kyleís scowl became more prominent in his face. He gave a huff,
threw the bad apple away, grabbed another one, and sat down by the table
in a chairÖthe chair farthest away from Lily.
"Happy muchÖ?" Lily muttered returning to her magazine.
She truly didnít know exactly how she had survived in the apartment in
the presence of the Beast for so long already.
"What did u say?" A growl came from Kyleís direction.
"NuthinÖ" Lily whispered not looking up.
"Good. Remember, respect your elders." He
gave a satisfied huff.
"Itís only 3 years, not 3 decadesÖ" Lily mumbled.
"WHATÖ?" Kyle roared.
"NuthinÖ" Lily meekly replied.
"NO, You said SUMTHINÖ" The Beast threatened to
get up.
"NoÖI said nuthinÖnuthin, nuthin, nuthinÖ!" Retaliation.
"You didÖbut you should be LUCKY I didnít
fully catch itÖLittle TwerpÖ." Kyle warned her and slowly rose. Lily
was afraid of why he had gotten up. He headed in her direction but
she tried not to notice. Relief swept her when he continued his course
past her sitting spot and onto the kitchen.
He seemed to be shuffling through the various cupboards
to find some edible substance. He reopened the refrigerator and took
out a milk carton. He cautiously opened it, peeked in, and smelt
it. His nose shriveled at the stench. He checked the expiration
date and grimaced. He poured it down the sink. Lily watched
in disgust as chunks and liquid emptied out of the container. Kyle
looked at the empty carton in his hand as if to decide what to do with
it, then chucked it into the nearby, almost overflowing, trash container
as if attempting to make a basket.
"HE SHOOTS!Ö.HEÖmissesÖ"
He tried to be a sports newscaster. He grumbled
at the miss but didnít bother to pick it up. Kyle returned to the
fridge and checked an unopened milk carton. He opened it and smelled
it, and seemed to be satisfied with the odor. He immediately chugged
some down right then and there, right out of the carton. Lily wrinkled
her nose; he wouldnít even bother to get a cup. It seemed that just
because he was 19, he though he could do anything. Kyle gave a satisfied
smile and returned the carton to its home in the fridge. He continued
to look through the cupboards, not wanting to just live on a bit of milk.
He stuck his head deeply into each one, desperate for more nourishment.
Lily was surprised at his efforts; he was one to give up, he could never
find anything. She was the one that usually had to find anything
and everything for him. He gave up too easily. He usually didnít
have patience, period.
"Ah-HA!" She heard a muffled cry of joy. All
she saw was his rear end outlined by one of the bottom cupboards. "OWW!
DammitÖ!" Kyle hit his head while trying to crawl out of the position he
had gotten himself into. He proudly presented a small box to no one
in particular and praised himself. Lily focused on the box.
It was a box of chocolate Jell-O Pudding mix. Oh great.
Kyle ripped the packet out of the box. He
looked form the packet to the box a few times, and decided that the latter
was of no use. He chucked it onto the trashcan, but didnít try to
make it shooting practice Kyle then attempted to find a bowl to conjure
up the mixture. He shuffled around, finding and discarding odds and
ends, by first casually looking at each and trying to register in his mind
their functionÖthen figuring out they were not needed for his present situation
or that they were too dirty. Some of these objects included pans
or bowls of some sort, Lily couldnít fully identify all of them.
There was more scraping around before he found a decent, clean one.
He grinned proudly to himself, observing his find. He stubbed his
toe on one of the lower cupboardís doors and swore. Having a fixation
of pain on his toe, he didnít pay attention and rammed his elbow on the
countertop. Now, mulling over tow pained areas, he lit the stove and almost
burned his hand and yelped. Lily was enjoying the show. She
covered her mouth at times and was trying not to laugh for fear of getting
his attention. He tried to get a stirring spoon but ended up emptying
the contents of the silverware drawer on the floor. He looked at
her, realizing she was still there. A smile crept onto his face and
he pointed at the mess with a short shake of his head. Lily shook
her head. He nodded. Lily gave a pout. He frowned and
indicated the mess with his head again; a silent warning. She didnít
want to mess with him, not now anyway. She sighed and got up and
went to help him. She told herself she had nothing else better to
do. She crouched down on the floor and began to reorganize the drawer.
"Thatís right you little idiot, you get to clean
everything up."
Lily hid her scowl.
"Thatís right, shut up!"
He attempted to light the stove again. He carefully
balanced the bowl on the grids.
"Why are you heating the bowl?" Lily timidly asked.
Kyle gave her a "what do you care?" look.
"You just add the Jell-O mix and milk into the bowl,
as instructed on the boxÖbut you donít have to heat either the mixture
or the solution upÖ" Lily quietly commented.
Pause.
"I-I knew THAT. Just testing you lilí missyÖDonít
be getting all proud of yourself now," Kyle retorted. He took the
bowl off the heating grid and took the bowl to another counter, having
placed the packet inside it so he could carry the bowl in one hand, and
the milk carton in the other. Lily sighed and got up to turn the
stove off noticing that Kyle of course had forgotten to do so. She
remembered the time he almost burnt his parentsí house down when he was
8 years old. And the time he almost blew up hers with a rocket.
She shook her head. It was amazing that the apartment, let alone
the whole building, was still standing with a young, absentminded, non-caring
tenant like Kyle. She glanced over at him to notice he was fighting
with the small package.
"You could use scissorsÖ"
He ignored her and continued his fight. The
package finally gave way, but not without revenge ? it burst open and powder
flew everywhere.
"Aww shit!"
"GreatÖNOW look what I get to clean up," Lily grimaced.
"Squirt, get the 2nd packetÖitís in there," he pointed
to the cupboard where he had found the first one. She rolled her
eyes but obeyed, and produced the requested packet with less effort than
he took to find the 1st one. He made a face at her and snatched the
packet. Lily glared at him, but he didnít notice. She couldnít take
much more of this. Kyle knocked over a mug that had been sitting
too close to the edge of the counter; itís home for the past two weeks
or so. It shattered.
"Dammit. Another messÖHey, Twerp, go clean that
upÖ"
Lily looked up.
"But Iím busyÖ"
"You are so slow, you now that?! You are a horrible
cousin, you canít even HELP me."
Lily stood up.
"You must have been some kind of mistake. I donít
DESERVE a cousin like you!"
Lily blew up.
"FINE!"
Kyle froze.
"HATE ME FOR ETERNITY! SEE IF I EVEN GIVE A CRAP!"
She threw her hands up in disgust. She had had just about enough
of Kyle. She wanted to go home. But she couldnít, not now at
least, and this maddened her even more. Kyle had never heard Lily
cuss, and he was caught off guard. She stormed out of the kitchen
and back to her original seat to take up her reading once more. Kyleís
TV only had 5 channels, and he wouldnít let her touch it anyway.
She despised his apartment. She despised him.
"Yeah, yeahÖgo pout and be madÖsissy!" he screamed
from the kitchen. He threw the 2nd packetís box, with the instructions,
into the sink. It sank into the drain, into the curdled masses of
milk. It then hit him that he needed the instructions after he poured
the mix into the bowl. He needed Lily to help, but he wasnít just
going to ask. "Hey Squirt, come clean up the mess you made!" he called
to her. Lily looked at the ceiling and weighed the consequences for not
obeying him and for helping him. She was just too nice. She
got up.
"YOUíRE the one who made it," she muttered, stomping
into the kitchen, heading for a towel to wipe up the powder mix.
She was trying to control her anger.
"Yeah, whatever."
She rolled her eyes. She had had just about
enough of his pride for one day. She began to clean the counter top
first.
"Hey, I donít even know WHY Iím asking you, Twerp,
as if you would knowÖ" Kyle began.
"What is it," Lily put her hands on her hips in
exasperation and waited.
"Hmph, why AM I asking you of ALL people?
Cuz Iím crazy, thatís whyÖ" he continued. "ÖAnyway, how do you make this
crap?"
"YOUíRE actually asking ME? Wow, should I be HONORED?"
Lily began.
"Shut up and spill it."
"If I shut up, then I canít tell you!" She paused,
"Ah-HA!" Lily grinned, and pretended to zip her lips shut. Kyleí stomach
grumbled and he looked at her pleadingly.
"Aww, címon! Coz?Ö My little coz! Tell me!ÖIím hungry!ÖYouíre
hungry!ÖW-we can make this delicious chocolate Jell-O pudding if you just
tell me HOW!" Kyle actually begged. Lily had him, but she was not
the mean type. She sighed.
"IdiotÖfine. Iíll tell. But only if you agree to
stop treating me like shit!" she almost screamed. Kyle again was
taken aback by her language.
"You cuss?" He asked. Lily rolled her eyes.
"Iím 16, genius. Not a squirt OR twerp mind youÖ" she stated.
"Yeah, yeah, now tell me" Kyle was getting more hungry.
"Why SHOULD I? You wonít even be nice to me."
"YESÖI will."
Lily raised an eyebrow.
"HEY! I can be nice, Iíll have you know."
"Uh-huh." Lily wasnít convinced.
"Here, Iíll shake on it, I promise not to be the
all high and mighty Kyle anymore."
Lily looked at him quizzically and then at his outstretched hand hesitantly.
"CímonÖ!"
"I donít know WHY Iím doing this or how I can believe YOU of all peopleÖ" She mumbled shaking his hand.
"GOOD! Now, letís get to work." Kyle expectantly rubbed his hands together, as if ready for a task for Lily to assign. Lily found the bowl with the powder mix in it. She glanced up with Kyle with a bit of a smile and he looked at her with a confused face. She took some milk and poured it in and began to mix the contents of the bowl. After a few minutes, she stopped stirring and stuck the bowl in the fridge. She looked at him and headed out of the room.
"WhatÖ?" Kyle asked.
"Itís done. It has to be in there for about half an hour." she stated with a smirk.
"That was itÖ?"
Lily had to laugh at Kyleís utterly confused face.
"Hehe, yeahÖ"
Kyle grinned at her.
"Boy, do I feel dumb!"
Lily was shocked as she saw a genuine smile from
Kyle. The two went and sat at the table to wait for their breakfast.
There was mainly just silence. Kyle stared off into space and Lily
attempted to read her magazine once more. She was happy there was
peace, but was not going to count her chickens before they hatched.
Kyle checked his watch.
"Squirt, itís been about half and hour."
Lily frowned.
"You promised."
"What?"
"Iím not ëSquirtí."
"Oh yeah, whateverÖLILY, timeís up and Iím hungry." Kyle sluggishly got up from his seated position, as if just the act of sitting had drained all his energy. He trekked into the kitchen. "Twerp, you cominí?"
"KyleÖ!"
"SorryÖLILY, you cominí?"
Lily looked from the mostly forgotten rotten apples on table to the kitchen area and thought. She sighed.
"Yeah, yeahÖ" She got up, following the path of her chocolate pudding Beast.
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