“Hello, little brother!”
Elkay sighed as he opened the front door. Standing there quite calmly was Retvik Rethianos, a living legend and Elkay’s older half-brother. He was too tall to enter the small, Skyan house normally and had to duck under the doorway to come inside. Elkay led him into the house and closed the door, sighing still.
“What are you doing here, Retvik?”
“I came to make sure that you are happy and healthy. Is your friend around?”
Elkay shook his head. “Teekay had to go to the capital. Did not mention why but I assume it is to do with his pension. Are you really here just to check on me?”
Retvik nodded, looking for somewhere to sit down. Eventually, he pulled out a chair and sat at the tiny dining table, the chair creaking under his weight. After all this time, Elkay just noticed that the furniture in this house might have been a problem for other Rethans.
“You may be dead to the rest of the universe but you are still alive in my eyes. I want to make sure that you are continuing to live.”
“Well, I am alive. And I am happy and healthy. So you can go home now!” Elkay grunted. He had been looking forward to having an evening to himself.
“Do you not want to talk?”
“Not really.”
“Why?”
Elkay sighed and sat down at the table opposite Retvik. “I am living my own life now. Yes, it is small and basic. Yes I have no friends outside of Teekay and no social life aside from some online aliases but believe it or not, when things are going right, I am happy. I do not want or need the drama the rest of the universe wishes to throw at me.”
“What about family?”
“This will sound mean, but I do not care much for family. I love you, Retvik, as a sibling and an old friend. Despite what Rethais threatened me with, I care for him as well. I care for everyone and have spent most of my days working towards bettering others. But it is time for me to look after myself.”
“Are you looking after yourself, or are you just fooling yourself into thinking that?”
Retvik’s statement made Elkay freeze. It had caught him by surprise. Surely it wasn’t true… was it? Elkay thought to himself, trying to think of a way to defend his own words. He was happy, yes? Sometimes he felt sad. Sometimes issues from the past would come back to haunt him. Sometimes Elkay felt bitterly lonely and horrible. Occasionally those feelings would make him think…
“Maybe I am not completely happy. But there are times that I am happy.”
“Are they moments of sorrow in a field of happiness or moments of happiness in an ocean of sorrow?”
Retvik’s questions were quickly starting to bother Elkay.
“Can you please stop?” Elkay hissed, feeling his temperature rising and his body beginning to react. The last thing Elkay wanted right now was one of his horrible incidents in front of his older sibling. “Yes, things tend to lean towards the latter but things are changing! And I would appreciate you NOT MAKING ME ANGRY.”
“All I am doing is-”
Elkay slammed his fist into the table, silencing Retvik. As he lifted his hand up, the two Rethans both noticed a small trail of slime.
“Fuck…” Elkay cursed under his breath. “Why did you have to do this…”
“What is-”
“Yisini’s curse. The horrible thing the Allbirther gave me. The ability to adapt to threats and environments, against my will. Here, right now, I am normally safe from everything, enough to not have… incidents. But you coming here and stressing me out? Well, things tend to get messy very quickly…”
Retvik nodded solemnly. “This is why you will not come home, is it not? You do not want anyone knowing this.”
“I lost control, Retvik. Had I not been saved, I would have died a horrible death and I would have taken others.”
“You ran.”
“I did. For everyone else’s sake.”
After a moment of silence, Retvik closed his eyes. “What really happened, when the Allbirther took you?”
“I cannot tell you.”
“You cannot tell me?”
Elkay sighed, feeling deflated. “Not enough time has passed yet.”
“Do you want me to leave?”
“Yes.”
Retvik got up, doing as he had been asked. “Very well. Look after yourself, Elkay.”
Before Elkay could say anything, Retvik was gone, having closed the door behind him. As the engines of a small ship burst into life outside, Elkay put his head into his hands, letting out a small sob, then picked himself up and started cleaning the house.