Turtles (Green)
Grayson looked up at his mother hesitantly, noticing the kitchen knife in her hand. "Ma, you tell me everything right?" His mother looked up at him, a dazed look in her eyes.
"Well, that's silly, of course not!" His mother laughed, but Grayson just shook his head. "Why are you even asking? You should know the answer yourself. All parents lie to their children at some point to either hide guilt or keep their children safe. It's just a fact of life."
"But I don't care about that anymore! If you're hiding something, you need to tell me!" Grayson stood up and shook his head again. "I'm not a little kid anymore!"
His mother walked up to him and smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Son, please shut up." She kissed him on the forehead and walked away, smiling to herself.
"I don't have a favorite color."
"Green," Grayson whispered, just loud enough for his mother to hear him. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. He knew that affected her every time.
"Please, don't."
"Remember when we got those turtles for Orange? We let them run around in the tub and one of them accidentally died from the loofah and you decided not to tell me and tried to get another one but I found out anyway and it just made things worse?" His mother nodded, her eyes still closed and gripping the knife tight and keeping it close to her body, as if she was trying to protect herself from his logic. "This is the same thing."
"Except, Gray, it's not. It's not the same at all." And that was the end of the conversation.
"You have to have a favorite color, Mason! Every person in this world has a favorite color!"
Mason just rolled his eyes. "Your obsession with color isn't very 21st century of you, Gray."
"Hey, I'm not racist!"
After dinner was over, his mother went downstairs to the basement, where he wasn't allowed. He knew his mother was hiding something, and he was going to find out. He went upstairs and pretended to go to sleep, waiting three hours before he finally heard his mother drive away to whatever she did at night. Grayson jumped out of bed and walked quietly down the stairs. When he reached the door to the basement stairs, he felt himself hold his breath. He was never one to break his mothers rules, but she left him with no choice. He needed to know what was behind the door and he needed his mother to tell him the truth like she used to, or at least more than she usually did.
"Maybe I like them all, or maybe I like none. That's for me to know and you to shut the fuck up."
"How do you feel about the color, Red?" Grayson watched as Mason tensed up. Mason covered his face for a second before running his hand through his hair.
"Red is a pretty beautiful color. But it can be so goddamn dangerous sometimes."
Grayson opened the door and peeked down the stairs. The basement light was on and there was an occasional flicker that made him assume there was a candle lit. Either that, or their house was just falling apart. Grayson began quietly going down the stairs, afraid of taking too long and his mother coming home, but just as afraid of being too fast and not really wanting to find out what was in the basement.
"Gray, what do you think about fire?"
"Mason, I thought we were talking about your favorite color."
"You already know you're not going to get an answer for it, so just drop it."
Grayson looked down at his computer and shrugged, trying to pretend he wasn't hurt. "Well, fire is ok I guess. Never really had much of an acquaintance with it. With my line of work, we shouldn't really be friends in the first place, because that fire would probably kill me." When he looked up from his computer, he was surprised to see his boss laughing.
"Have you heard about the arsonist going around town? I'm kind of worried Ruby is doing it."
"Well, as ironic as that would be, I don't think she's starting any fires."
"I've got to go, Grayson. It's not safe for me to be here. People will get hurt."
"Well, not to deny that fact, but people will also..."
"I''m leaving next week."
"Mason, if you would just.."
"I got you something."
Grayson kept walking down, feeling warmer as he reached the bottom of the steps. He actually felt a bead of sweat on his forehead already. He was shocked to see someone tied to a chair, their long black hair facing him, along with their back. Grayson was pretty sure it was a woman. He slowly but quietly crept forward, not sure what to do or what to think of his mother right now.
"Turtles??"
"Yeah, you used to talk about how much you loved them. So I figured I would get you some mascots that you can take care of. What do you think?"
Grayson was shocked. The boss used to never notice him. This was all really fucking weird, but at the same time he couldn't help but smile. He ignored the sinking feeling in his gut. He ignored the fact that the last time he had recieved turtles, it was only to cover up the devastating news he would eventually find out about later. That he would no longer have a sister. That he no longer had a leader. It didn't matter because he had cute turtles.
"Excuse me, who are you? What are you doing tied up in my basement?" The woman was silent and Grayson took the silence as an ok to move closer. "I'm gonna turn you around, so please don't hurt me." Grayson grabbed the back of the chair and moved it around, facing the woman towards him. "Are you ok?" The woman just laughed. "Who are you?"
Upstairs he heard his mother calling out. How long had he taken to get downstairs? He had felt like he was in a trance. "Gray, I got you something!"
The woman who was tied up just shook her head playfully. "Guess what she got you?" she asked, tapping her feet. She was so carefree, and it made Grayson confused. But then it dawned on him.
"Grayyyy!?" she sounded more urgent. He heard the basement door being opened.
She had gotten him turtles. His favorite animal. She was going to kill this woman tonight.
"I'm Cassie," the woman said, Cassie, said, before she brought her legs up and kicked him in the face, making him blackout.
"Thank you, Mason, they're perfect."
Mason just smiled sadly at Grayson before turning around and walking away. "I've got to go see Ruby, tell her I'm leaving."
Grayson just nodded as he scratched the head of his turtle and giggled like a child again.
He wished Orange were here to see this.
