Young Writers Society

"Hello Eesa, how are you doing today?" she smiled at him, she put her papers away welcoming him.

"I'm fine miss Catherine, how are you?" He drew a faint smile on his face.

She chuckled aCybra.id, "Eesa, you don't have to call me with my full name, just Cath will be fine."

Eesa didn't know why his cheeks changed to thier red shade, but he was moved by her overwhelming causality towards him. He should have gotten used to it by now.

"Well...okay...Cath" he smiled like an idiot.

Catherine smiled and said "So how are you with the chemistry lessons?"

He pulled a chair from the desk near her and sat down in front of Catherine. "Brain wrecking," he sighed. "I can't seem to understand or solve any formula equations, It takes forever... also, I sometimes forget their symbols" he frowned looking away.

"Well, you won't be able to solve fast enough unless you're able to memorize the full periodic table" Catherine shooked her head in worry.

"I know...but I keep forgetting what is what..."

"Oh dear, I didn't know it was that hard on you...let me help!" she smiled.

After spending the thirty minutes of the break, explaining the formula equations in a more easier way.

"Oh! Now I get it!" His face lit up with happiness.

"See? It wasn't that hard" she smiled. "You just needed someone to help you memorize them in a better way" 

"Yeah...I was absent for few days, and my teacher is always too busy..." He scratched his head, remembering the endless worry he had due to his brother having fever, it was enough for him to skip school days.

"Good thing you have me here!" She rubbed his head gently. "If there is anything else you need in chemistry, come to me and I will explain everything for you" she smiled again.

Eesa rose up from his seat joyfully and smiled at his teacher. "Alright! Thank you baby!..oh, I mean... miss Catherine!"

Awkward silence surrounded them for few moments, untile Catherine broke it.

"It's okay, nothing happened" she looked away wanting to laugh, the bell rang without warining, announcing the end of the break.

"Oh the bell! I should go now before I get late, see you later!" He said running out of the teacher's room and to his next class.

***

After the school day Eesa walked his way home. He passed by the diner again to talk to Erika. it's not like he had anything importabt to do anymore; As he walked in, he saw Erika talking with someone who didn't look like he was from around this area, or even from this city. he walked to them and sat beside the man, waiting for them to finish their conversation.

"Sorry, I didn't see anyone like that..." She pointed out.

The man had something like a mask covering his mouth and nose, his reply sounded a bit late in timing. Eesa looked at them confused, but, he realized the mask was some sort of translator; he could hear the man's faint voice speaking another language as he reply, and the mask would to translate his words in English. He sounded a bit robotic though.

Eesa became very curiouse about the man. As for just sitting there looking at him, the man eventually noticed him staring, he turned to him and spoke "have you seen this person anywhere?" He showed him a photo of himself with someone, the other person had short black hair and ruby colored eyes.

Eesa shook his head "no sorry I haven't seen him"

Two big spheres like headphones were glowing as he spoke, and only in few moments the translated reply came out "alright, thank you sir" and with that, he got up and left.

"I love his smooth black hair" Erika watched the man leave with tempting eyes, Eesa looked at her with a disgust look on his face.

"what?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Who was that?" 

"He said his name is Sota, he came from Cybra city, the east part of it too"

His hole body jumped off the seat when he heard the name Cybra

"What? really?! I should have guessed from that mask..." He sat back down.

"Technology man, something we all wish we had" she shook her head and went back on checking him "damn those tight pants look great on his butt" she bit her lip. Eesa smiled at her awkwardly hoping she would stop "what? What did I say?" She threw her arms in the air. "Nevermind," he skook his head "Erika, do you have any jobs for me here?"

"A job? I thought your brother was very strict about the hole working thing"

"Well...I have to work if I don't want the house to be taken away..." He looked away, feeling a deep pain in his chest.

Erika's eyes widen, she was silent for a moment and then asked "what happened?"

"He left to work and...he left a letter, saying goodbye and... Not to look for him cause, he would be already gone" his lips curled up, closing his eyes, trying not to remember their last conversation.

"Did he...?!" Erika placed her hand on her mouth. "When did that happen?!"

"A week ago..."

It wasn't Eesa's habbet to lie, especially to Erika, but no one knew and no one should ever know. He didn't want to be a burden on someone's shoulders either.

"Oh sweetheart...GARY!!! WE NEED AN EMPTY JOB!!" she called out so loud, a lot of people in the diner including Eesa, were startled or covering their ears.

"For the love of pies, don't shout like that again!" Gary walked out of the kitchen, his red hair and green eyes gave him a foreign's reputation, besides his funny irish accent. But Eesa found it amusing to listen to his foreign accent.

He walked to her crossing his arms "what is this time miss perfect?" He stared angrily at her.

"We need a job for Eesa, his brother killed himself and he needs cash!" She slammed her hand on the table, warning Gary not to refuse.

"Wow Erika, thank you for caring about my feelings" he said in a mocking manner.

"Sorry kid, I don't do charity works" Erika then immediately stepped on his feet with her red high heel, Gary shouted jumping away holding his foot "are ya crazy woman?!"

"Give him a job you greedy old geezer!"

"What job?!" He thew his arms in midair.

"A waiter! A cook! A cleaner! Anything! You know how to cook right Eesa?" she turned to Eesa as she asked him.

"Yes I do" he said.

"Well the answer is still no! And if you don't like it m'lady, the door is right there!" He pointed at the exit with a hint of a smile on his face, feeling that he finally won the conversation.

Erika looked at him with a cold expression and she took off her apron and turned to leave. That's when Gary caught her arm; his huge hand looked like a giant handcuff on Erika's small thin arm.

"Where do you think go your going?!"

"What?! You said the door is right there!" She placed her arms on her hips in a sassy manner.

"What the fuck woman?! Are you serious?!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, making everyone in the diner have their eye on them.

"Yes I'am!" She snapped her fingers giving him her back.

"Alright! Alright! I'll give the kid a job! Happy now?!"

"Very" she grinned.

He rolled his eyes and turned to Eesa "kid, you're a waiter now, is this good with you?"

"How much is my salary?" Asked Eesa with hoped of a high number.

"Hundred dollars" Erika stepped on his foot again.

He held the scream in, almost failing. "Two hundred..." He glanced over her seeing that she was still glaring at him with her blue eyes. "Fine fine, I'll give you five hundred! You're satisfied?!" His voice was a angry and scared in the same time.

"Can I work as a cook too? Will this give me extra money?" He smiled at Gary trying to win him with a puppy face.

"Alright ya lucky bastard, you will get extra two hundred bucks for this, ya both sneekly little money suckers you" he glared at them both.

"You're welcome Gary" Erika sneered enjoying her victory.

Gary rolls his eyes a again "work starts tomorrow for you, come at three o'clock and don't you dare be late!" He pointed at Eesa with threatening eyes.

"Don't worry Mr. Gary, I'll be here on time!" Eesa gave him a salute with a huge grin.

"Ya better do ya little bastard" he then left back to the kitchen.

"What a cranky old guy sheesh!" Complained Erika.

"I feel kind of bad for forcing him to give me a job..."

"Don't be, let him do something human for once" she sigh as she leaned on the bar table in front of her.

"Omg... I just realised..." Her eyes widen.

"What?" Asked Eesa.

"We'll work together in the diner!! Now I'm gonna teach you all about how to get tips from all the costumers!" She winked at him and Eesa just couldn't stop laughing.

After a couple of hours of talking and waisting time, Eesa said goodbye to Erika and started heading home, finally glad to take off his mask when he gets home. hE reached their grey busy street he stopped, sighed and looked at his feet staring at the ground beneath him. People passed by him as if he was nonexistent, he wish he could be seen more than just a pretty face to there.

Finally reaching the building his brother lived in, he enters the empty elevator alone. His heart kept aching more at every floor he went, until he reached floor eight, the elevator door opened, taking the first step out of the closed room slowly and proceeded to his apartment.

He walked in as he opened the door and closed it behind him, he threw himself on the couch and placed his bag on the ground.

He sighed deeply as he closed his eyes letting his memories flow of his brother.

"We had so many memories...I remember when you used to put make up so you can become Williams Jefferson," he smiled at the thought "I even tried to do just like you once... " He smiled as his eyes got teary.

***

"Eesa? Where are you?" Ruben walked in and out of the house's rooms looking for the eight year old child, he then walked to his room and found his make up case a mess and so was Eesa's face.

"What...Eesa what have you done?" he said shocked, eyes wide and jaw dropped.

"Look Ruben! I'm now pretty just like you! Do I look pretty?" he smiled innocently, his face was a complete mess he put different tones of skin colors on his face. He looked like a bad mix of all races all together in one child, he was also putting on his black hair wig, you can clearly see his white hair from under it.

"What's wrong? Why are you opening your mouth like that?"

Ruben sighed and picked Eesa up. "Eesa, why do you think I put all that?"

He thought for a bit and said "my teacher said because you want to look pretty!" He grinned.

"Are you saying I'm ugly without it?" He smiled at him as he walked outside and heading to the living room.

"No you look pretty without it too"

"I need to show you something..." He walked to his cosy chair and placed Eesa on it "wait here, I'll go get it" he walked to one of the many book sheleves in the living room and got out a book that have paper scrubs sticking out of it in all directions.

"What's that?" He asked curiously as Ruben sat on the chair, Eesa moved and sat on the chair's hand. His small size didn't need much space anyway. He could even fit the kitchen sink.

He opened the book and they were all paper strips from newspapers with headlines all about Chrysanth and his crimes, Eesa examined the strips very carefully as Ruben slowly fliped the pages.

"Is that you Ruben?" He asked looking at him.

"Yes...Eesa, I'm not a perfect person. I make mistakes like everyone else, and the mistakes I did were very bad" his memories of his victims' screams came back to him like fload.

"I don't understand..." He said confused by his brother's words.

"I used to be a very bad person in the past...before you came into my life" he kissed him gently on the cheek.

"What did you do?" He moved to sit in his big brother's lap.

"Bad things...I killed people..." He looked down at the tiny Eesa, but he couldn't look straight in his eyes.

"Why did you do that?" He frowned feeling sad for his brother.

"Because....I hated people...but the truth is, I hated myself..."

Eesa was silent frowning and then said "you shouldn't hate yourself, you are a great person! and what you did is gone now right?"

Ruben"Not really...people will never forgive me for what've done" tears formed in his eyes, and with a faint smile he stroke Eesa's white hair gently.

"I forgive you for what you did..." He said as he hugged Ruben's neck, Ruben's tears fell on his cheels and he placed his hand on Eesa's small back, "you're are so kind Eesa, I wish we could always stay together..."

"I wish too..."

***

Suddenly his cell phone rang, his eyes shut open as he wasn't expecting anyone to call him right now. He got his mobile out of his bag and looked at the name.

"Vincent?" He picked up the call.

"Hello Eesa" said a guy's sound from the other side of the call, his voice was calm as usual.

"Hey Vincent, how are you?" He said in the most cheerful time possible

"I'm fine, are you free today?"

"Yes, I'm free, why?" He sat on his couch glancing at the clock, it was six pm.

"I was wondering if you want to stop by the library today?" He asked.

"I don't know, let me ask Rube-..." He just remembered, Ruben is not here anymore. "...nevermind, I'm coming over"

"I'll be waiting" you can hear the joy in Vincent's voice.

"Alright, Goodbye" he hang up not waiting for Vincent's reply. He sighed looking down at his cell phone. Then got up and changed his school uniform into his casual cloths, grabbing his keys and leaving the apartment.

After walking for a while he reached the library, it was named after the city, Eesa looked at the big carved name above the doors of the library "New Rule Public library" he pushed the door after putting his ID card in front of the digital scan,opening the door he slowly scaned the place to find him. His eyes finally set on Vincent who was sitting behind the librarian's desk. Vincent was the librarian of the New Rule library, his blond hair moved with the wind as a warm breeze flew from the two windows beside the entrance. His desk was beside the right window, his blue eyes gazed at Eesa as he walked to him.

"Good morning Eesa, how are you...today?" He asked him hesitantly.

He nodded and smiled. "Don't worry, I'm fine."

They both walk to the librarian's desk, Vincent sits back in his seat.

"You sound like you're in so much pain..."

"It's nothing..." He said not noticing that his eyes teared up.

"Hey...are you crying?" He sounded worried as he moved around his desk and faced him.

"Huh?" he touched his cheeks and found his finger tips wet "oh my! Hehe, I'm so bad at hiding it" he laughed.

"You know you don't have to do that when I'm around" he embraced him gently, a hand around his shoulders and another on his head. "Now tell me what happened, was it some bullies?"

Eesa shook his head.

"Is it some hard school times?" He started stocking his hair, giving him safety.

"No" he said with a  faint voice.

"Did you lose a friend?" He said confused.

"No" he pulled back from his embrace, looking him in the eyes.

"Then what is it?" Vincent hoped it wouldn't be something too much for him to handle in his own.

Eesa lowered his gaze, looking down at his feet he said "my brother... He died..."

"Mr. Jefferson?! Dear god, what happened?" He cried, placed a hand on his mouth.

"I can't tell you..."

Vincent was disappointed from his answer, but he said "Can I at least know when did he die?" He placed a hand on Eesa's cheek giving him a caring smile.

Eesa sniffed loudly and said in a voice mixed with crying "this... morning..." He burst into tears on Vincent's shoulder.

"Is he...lying in his bed right now and...I just called you...!" His eyes widen feeling enormous amount of guild crawling to his head.

"No! No! He died in a fi-... fatal accident" he couldn't spill the truth to anyone, even if he wanted to, it was his promise to his dead brother.

Vincent patted Eesa on the head and said in a sad tone "do you feel like going home?"

"I don't want to walk again in the house for now" he said sobbing, he stepped away from Vincent wiping his tears away.

"I'm sorry, you probably think that I came to you only to cry on your shoulder" he tried to laugh it off but failed.

"I know you don't, but even if this is the case I won't mind at all" he drew a sad smile on his face. "You can tell me all about your problems, I'm never too busy to listen to you," he walked to him placing his hand on Eesa's shoulder. "I'll sit with you through all of them if you ever need me"

His words triggered a memory that Eesa had with Vincent, one that he would rather not remember very often. His memory of Vincent crouching on the cold street late at night, holding his son between his arms with blood covering his cloths. He watched as his son took his last breathe. The ambulance arrived too late that day, Vincent cried over his son's dead body for hours, no matter how much he tried to calm him down he would cry louder. He was completely broken , blaming himself on his son's death; that day he said "if I listened to him more, if I showed him care, he wouldn't have died...he wouldn't have threw himself in front of that car!"

Eesa's eyes filled with sorrow as he remembered the reason behind his overwhelming kindness towards him. Vincent said that he is like his son, always pushing himself too hard. He even would bring him presents on his birthday, or if he told him he got a good grade. It was really embarrassing from him, but he didn't want to tell him to stop bieng like this towards him, he fears it would break his heart if he asked so.

"What can I do to make you feel better?" he said as he offered him a cup of tea.

"Eh, sure? When did you make that?" He held the cup in hand.

"Before you come, didn't you see me walking to get you some just now?" He laughed.

Eesa laughed in embarrassment rubbing the back of his head "It seemed I spaced out for too long"

"Indeed you did" he took a sip from his own cup.

They both sat down at a table drinking tea together, and Eesa was checking the homework he got on his school tablet, until he broke the silence "wait, is it not allowed to drink or eat in the library?"

"It's okay, you're an exception" he took another sip of his tea.

"Oh no! I wouldn't allow it for myself..." He said as he put his cup aside, looking at the window, it was cloudy as usual. Was he expecting The weather to be any different?

Vincent gazed at him and asked "what are you going to do now?"

"I'll live on my own, I need to depend on myself from now on"

Vincent was once again disappointed by Eesa's reply, he wished he could keep him as his own, but Vincent knew very well that this would be too much for him to ask.

Nevertheless he was the one who guided him to the path of truth, and he was happy for that. It made him smile that he was able to help his innocent soul grow stronger, and his brother seemed to have a good influence on him too. Eesa looked at him with a sad frown on his face, he looked like a sad puppy who wants someone to pat him.

"What is it?" He asked worriedly.

"Well...I can't find a decent job and...I kind of accepted two jobs that will give me eight hundred dollars"

"Only?!" He threw himself off his chair, his hands hit the table.

Eesa trembeted a bit at his sudden reaction and stuttered "i-is it too little?"

"Of course it is! You can barely pay for food with that!" He threw his hand in the air accidentally spilling his tea.

"Shit!" He got out few tissues out of his pocket and wiped the tea off the table.

"Well... I'm just a student, so I can't work much, I have to study too" he looked down at his tablet bag beside his feet.

"Eesa..." He sat down again. "You can't live with that amount of money especially with the apartment you have..." His expression was pained for Eesa's possible financial suffering.

"Then...I'll move to a smaller place, maybe I'll rent a smaller apartment"

"You don't have to" said Vincent looking at him, but Eesa didn't seem to get it as his reply was "what do you mean?"

He knew it was an innocent reply, but he also knew if he asked him to stay at his place, he won't agree. So he changed his reply.

"You can ask others for help, I know that your pride stops you from asking others for money..."

Eesa cut him off. "I'm not a beggar..." he hissed, but not rudely.

"No! Of course not! What I ment is-"

He cut him off immediately with a glare "Then please don't mention this again..." He then looked away at the window, at the cars and the busy street.

Yes, his pride, or that what it seemed like, was a good obstacle in his way. "Eesa you have others who care about you, do you know how good this advantage is in a time like this? Everyone nowadays would leave you when you hit the first obstical." He paused and walked to him, standing beside him, fixing his sight on the world outside "But you, you have people who are fully willing to help you, and that is something rare to see now days"

"I like to help, but not to be helped" he answered him dryly.

"..." Vincent was speechless from this boy's attitude. "As you like, but in the worst cases if something happened, my door is always opened" He looked at him and smiled slightly.

"Thank you Vincent, you're very kind" he smiled back at him.

"Don't mention it" he finished his cup of tea, took Eesa's unfinished cup and walked to his librarian desk putting them under it. He sat again were he always does, got out a book and started reading in it.

Eesa sat there for few moments then he got up and went to the myths and legends books section, he kept searching for a book he wanted but he didn't find it. He walked to one of the librarians in this section.

"I'm sorry miss, where did the books about man-made religions go?"

The woman looked at him with boredom and disgust and spoke in a displeased manner "Oh those books? They were removed" she faked a smile.

His surprise was beyond his ability to hide it "Huh?! Why would they be removed?"

"It was a government order to remove any type of books that had anything to do with the ancient people's ignorance" she rolled her eyes yet in a rather rude offensive attitude.

"...?!" That was a strong reply from her, one that left him more confused more than ever.

"but- but, those gave important information about how the past generations used to live their lives!" He tried to sound less suspicious as possible.

"I'm sorry, but the government orders are unquestionable"

He can't argue further with her unless he wanted police on his doorstep. "Alright thank you for your help" he smiled and left to be.

He walked to Vincent with a big frown on his face "what is it this time?" He said with a monotone voice looking away from his book.

"You didn't tell me that they removed religious books from the myth section" he said angrily and crossed his arms, glaring at him.

"Oh! I didn't? I was sure I texted you about this" he closed the book "sorry, it was a government order" he said sadly.

"Well...what happened to those books?" His foot tapped against the floor in impatiently.

"They ordered to dispose of them as soon as possible" he shrugged in disapproval.

"What?!" He said that a little too loud, the rude librarian girl could've heard him.

"Shhhh! Lower your voice! You're in a library!"

"Sorry! But I didn't knew that the government would go this far!" He whispered to him.

"They always did since the war," he said rolling his eyes "but I wouldn't dispose such precious books now, would I?" He winked with a sly smile.

"Really?! You mean you have them?" he almost jumped out of pure joy.

"In the library in my house"

 He suddenly reaches from vincent's desk, his eyes sparkled with excitement and hope. "This is great news! Can I pass by and take them?" Vincent had to back off a bit so they won't headbutt each other.

He then laughed and said "and leave nothing to me?"

"I promise, I'll pay you!" He said in persistence.

He pushed him away gently allowing for some personal space between them and smiled. "Eesa, these are rare books, and would cost thousands of dollars, no matter how much money you pay, it will never reach its real value"

"Oh..." He felt down from this fact, he wanted those books so badly.

"But you can come and read them anytime you want" he stated picking off where we left in the book.

"Really?! Oh thank you so so much!" he let his emotions take over him and hugged Vincent.