In Another Reality Part 3
::WARNING: There will be mentions of domestic abuse, child molestation & suicide. READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED::
You came home after lunch to a surprisingly clean house. Not that you were expecting your new guest to trash the place but you thought that there would be some sort of mess considering he traveled a hundred years from his time and grew up in the literal underworld. Eric would definitely make a wonderful househusband to someone. You sighed thinking back to the conversation you had with Razilo earlier.
“SERIOUSLY?! HE DIDN’T HAVE A CLUE HOW THE SEASHELLS WORK?! HAHAHAHA!!” Razilo howled as he clutched his stomach. “Girl! He sounds fucking adorable!!”
You wiped away a tear from your eyes after calming down from laughing. “You should’ve seen him gawking at my microwave when I threw in the chicken dinner packet and pulled it out when it was ready! And don’t get me started on the computer screens! Can’t blame him since he traveled a hundred years from the p-“ a hand slapped onto your mouth as you looked at Razilo who now had a serious expression on his face.
“Shhh!” He looks around the booth they were sitting at relieved that nobody was near them nor had their attention on them. Razilo slowly lifted his hand off of your mouth before speaking in a low hush tone. “What the fuck did you just say? Are you saying this man is from the past?”
‘Shit’ You mentally reprimanded yourself for revealing your new friend’s secret. You had to think of something to salvage this. “I don’t believe he meant to break the law but he and his group look like they’ve been through a lot and I didn’t want to leave them alone.”
“You know damn well that if the council finds out about this, he’s going to serve life in the Helios prison!”Hissed Razilo.
“Not if he’s from another planet that no one has heard about.” You whispered back. Hoping that he would believe that little fib.
Razilo looked skeptical. “And what is the name of this unknown planet?”
“Makai?” Razilo repeated it. He mulled it over in deep thought. Thinking if he had heard of Makai before or not. After what feels like an eternity, Razilo let out a sigh. “Never heard of it. Did Eric mention if it was destroyed or something?”
“He said that a lot of wars happened there too many times that it left the planet’s air toxic and that only the strongest Makaian would survive in that harsh environment.” You said softly still seeing the hurt in Eric’s eyes as he recalled how many people had died from the polluted air.
“I see. Well if that’s the case then it should be fine. Just keep the time travel shit on the down-low. Besides he sounds like quite the catch.” Razilo winked at you.
You smiled amusingly. “Still no guarantee that I’ll date him.”
“Maybe not him or today but I’m hoping for the best. You deserve the best.”
“My husband was the best.” You mumbled to yourself while taking off your shoes. You walked in looking around for Eric when you spotted him in his makeshift room which was your husband’s office. Your husband had a thing for conspiracy theories but only for entertainment purposes. You smiled looking at Eric who was so focused on the screen which displayed a news article. You never forgot how the first time you showed him how to turn it on, he jumped back as the screen materialzed out of thin air. It was so cute that you couldn’t help but giggle at his expression. “How’s your personal history lesson coming along?” You asked with amusement in your tone.
“Good.” Responded Eric but sounded distant.
Curiosity getting the better of you, you walked up to him to get a closer look at the article. Your smile faltered as you saw the date. It was over a hundred years ago and it involved a scandalous incident involving a wealthy family. “The Anderson incident, huh?”
Eric turned to you. “Do you know them?”
You sighed. “That particular incident made the hotlines back then as well as the history books. They took in an orphan boy and when he disappeared one day they got the authorities involved to search for him. Only for them to wind up digging up some dirty secrets. Mr. Anderson was cooking the books and Mrs. Anderson had a shopping addiction. On top of that they have quite a history of bribing people to keep it all under wraps. As for the kid that went missing; no one knew where he was or was even found. Everyone believed that the Andersons murdered him.” You pulled up an extra chair and sat down next to Eric. “To this day no one has ever found out what happened to the kid.”
“I do.” Eric said. “He’s me.” He scrolled up to reveal a picture of himself as a child.
Looking between Eric and the picture of his younger self, you were speechless. “Oh…my……god….” A smile formed on your face as your mind was celebrating the fact that the mystery of the missing boy has been solved after over a century later.
“I was often bullied by their two sons because I was too smart. And Mrs. Anderson slapped me for accidentally spilling juice all over the dining table at one point. I begged Mr. Parker, the social worker at the time, to take me away from that place but he didn’t.” Eric’s jaw clenched at the horrible memories.
Your smile faded hearing Eric’s experience with the Andersons. “I’m sorry you were being abused like that. But at least now they’re all gone now and you won’t have to worry about running into them again.”
Eric nodded as a small smile grew on his face. He continued to look through the article until he saw the paragraph that mentioned Mr. Parker. It goes on to say that when interviewed the social worker admitted that he was threatened as well as bribed by Mr. Anderson that if he reported abuse to his agency he would be out of the job and he regretted not having the balls to ignore them. Then it went on to add that Mr. Parker was found dead in his home apparently he took his own life through overdose not wanting to live with the guilt any longer. “Forgive me for saying this; but, humans like them are what makes me hate humanity.”
“You aren’t the only one who feels like that nor are you the last. There’s plenty of people who feel like that after being mistreated and abused. Especially when in it involves children. Your case is no different from what anyone else has gone through.” You said softly.
Eric looks at you. “Have you been abused?”
You shook your head. “No but I had an older brother who was….by our uncle. I don’t know what was wrong with him but my uncle had this weird habit of touching him for long periods of time before letting go.” You felt queasy as you spoke. “And………….ummm….he would check to see if my brother was at what he would call ‘a good size’ after he hit puberty…”
Eric was mortified by this. “Did he ever get caught?”
You nodded. “It was only by pure luck that our dad forgot to take his wallet and when he saw what was happening………let’s just say that our uncle’s face was beyond recognition. He had it much worse when the inmates found out after he was sentenced to life in prison.”
You both sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Eric had to go through a difficult childhood with the Andersons and your brother was tormented by someone who was suppose to be family.
“Do you want to go check on your family?” You asked gently. “Just to take a break from all this.”
Eric smiled gracefully. “Yes.”
“Okay then let’s do that after you help me bring in the groceries I bought.” You said leading him to your car outside.
(I know this chapter was short but I figured it would be enough since it involves traumatic events. Next chapter will be more cheerful.)
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