C O D E 2 6 L U P I N
1347 Words
"Mom, are you listening?" Lupin, the 18-year-old Mexican said in Spanish as his mother cooked him his breakfast. He had a baby face but a mature and a deep voice. He wore a white T-Shirt, with a denim jacket and blue jeans. He pressed his hands on the chair and his knuckles gave out a pink glow.
"I don't want to listen to anything." His mom reprimanded.
"I want to study programming and work as a hacker in the defence. I'm a natural at it." He tried to convince her, like every morning. But was fighting or resistance of any use anymore?
He was already in his first year of college. A medical college.
"How many times should I tell you? Your dad and I want you to become a doctor. You are smart so use that IQ of yours at the right places. And don't bring it up again. Now eat and go."
Lupin took a look at his tostada con tomate. His mom turned back from the stove but he was gone. And he didn't even eat his breakfast like every morning. She took a deep sigh.
"I don't know why nobody is ready to listen." Lupin threw a pebble at the pigeons. They flew away into the sky and he looked at them.
"Pigeons are lucky. They are free to do anything or go anywhere they want."
"You're skipping college again?" He saw a silhouette of a girl before him, hidden among the flying pigeons.
"What do you want now, Carmen," He looked at her.
She walked towards him and smiled. She had big brown eyes and black hair.
"I got you some cookies I baked yesterday. You skipped breakfast again, didn't you?" She opened a small box full of cookies. They sat at a nearby bench, watching the pigeons and eating the cookies.
"I don't want to fight with mom every day. If only she listens!" Lupin grunted in Spanish.
"So, what will you do now?" Carmen asked in Spanish.
"Obviously, go back home and fight once again. It's my future. I want to decide. I'm eighteen, I know what is good for me and what will make me happy."
"Independence comes with a price. I hope you won't question it when the time comes,"
"Hey, you believe in me, don't you?" He asked her.
"Of course I do. Even more than me."
"Then, just wait and watch me,"
She rested her face on her palms and smiled "I can watch you forever."
Lupin walked back home and opened the door. He saw his parents stand at the door, waiting for him. He looked at them as he slowly closed the door.
"Your father received a call from your professor," His mother said "Why haven't you attended any lectures? Where do you go?"
Lupin looked away.
"We're asking you something, Lupin Kuznetsov." His father said but Lupin stayed quiet.
"Lupin!"
"Then, what should I do? I don't want to do this! And you're not listening to what I want."
"We know, Lupin."
"But you don't understand! Then, what's the use of knowing?"
"We invested a lot of money for your college."
"Does money cost more than my happiness?"
"You don't earn yet, that's why you're saying all this. Have you ever earned a few cents by yourself? We're not going to stay around and feed you your entire life!"
"I never asked for that. I want to work—But not as a doctor!"
"You'll do what we say. We know the best for you."
"If this is the best for me, then show me what the worst is!"
"Lupin!" His mother slapped him "Is that how you talk to your father? Apologise!"
He ran towards the stairs and climbed up to his room.
"Lupin!" His mother shouted after him. She heard the door shut.
"Dear—"
"He'll give in eventually. Just let him be."
He threw his bag aside and fell on his bed, digging his face into his pillow as he cried.
"I can watch you forever."
"I might not stick for that long." He snorted "Because I am not doing this anymore. You, mom and dad, everyone is looking at me. And no one is ready to be disappointed."
A few weeks later, he was walking back home when he heard the screeches of skateboard tires. He turned back, it was Riley and Slaine.
"I heard you've been looking for us," Riley smiled.
Lupin had heard about that blonde boy on a skateboard who sold legal substances that could take away the pain. Drugs could take you to hell disguised as heaven. This was his last chance, but without second thoughts, he replied.
"Yes, I have."
Fuck it.
"Great, my boy will give you the supplies tomorrow evening. Come with five bucks, behind the skatepark in district twelve."
"Okay,"
That evening, Lupin went to district twelve. The sixteen-year-old Slaine sat at a pavement, while waiting for him.
Lupin looked at him. Slaine saw him and got up. He was much shorter than Lupin back then.
"You shouldn't have come," Slaine said in English. Unlike Riley, Slaine was pure American and he didn't know Spanish.
"Why not?" Lupin asked in English.
"Because you'll have to come back again and again, till you die."
Lupin smiled "It's nice to take a breath away from your struggles," He handed the money to Slaine.
"Don't let your struggle become your reality," Slaine passed him the packet. Lupin looked at him.
"You're different."
"But you're the same as everyone else I've met. You're a loser."
He skated away.
'You hit where it hurts.'
"What's your name?" Lupin shouted. He couldn't hear properly from that far. All he could hear was "Benjamin."
He never saw Slaine again. It was always some other guy who came to give him the drugs. As his tolerance increased, so did his doses. Soon, he ran out of money. But he needed the substance, even if it meant stealing his mother's ring and selling that for money.
He felt disgusted by himself and didn't meet Carmen after that. But she comes to him and again. He avoided her as much as he could. His parents would ask about the disappearing money or his falling grades. So, he ran, leaving a note behind.
"I'm sorry. I quit."
He got on the bridge, high and ready to jump when somebody pulled him back.
"What are you doing?!" It was Slaine. Lupin fell on the ground.
"Benjamin... Everything is gone and I can't go back anymore. I let my struggle become my reality." He cried as he lay on the ground. "I feel like I don't belong here anymore. I'm a loser."
"This world has shown you that you don't belong here, but you need to become a rebel and show it that you do! Nothing has changed. You're still you, just be strong and it'll all be over."
Lupin closed his eyes as Slaine continued speaking.
'You hit where it hurts but you hurt me enough to make realise that I'm alive.'
Teardrops fell from Lupin's eyes as he now looked at the eighteen-year-old Benjamin. He was much taller, taller than him but his eyes were still as blue.
"Lupin, are you okay?" Jimmy asked. Lupin ran towards Slaine and hugged him tightly as he cried.
Slaine looked at Jimmy, who himself had no idea what was going on. Asselyum and the others came to Slaine's room.
After Lupin was calm, he began writing down everything that he wanted to tell Slaine. How he stayed alive on bread crumbs for the next two years. He was alone for so long, that it had been months till he hadn't spoken while taking all those substances. Later when he tried to speak, the voice just didn't come out.
"I'm sorry for ruining everything." Slaine apologised.
Lupin smiled and shook his head "You fixed everything. I would have been dead if it weren't for you." He wrote.
"I am happy here," Lupin wrote, "Besides you."
"Then, leave drugs," Slaine said.
"I don't take drugs because I'm sad. I take them because I want to live.
And now I can't live without them,
I just can't. My life is nearing its end." Lupin wrote.
"Wayne W. Dyer said" Jimmy looked at Lupin, "The state of your life is nothing more than a reflection of your state of mind. Change your mind and your life will change, Lupe."
"We're here to help you, Lupin," Axel said.
Lupin turned and looked at Slaine.
"Feels nice to be alive, doesn't it?" Slaine smiled. Lupin smiled back.
"It does," He whispered.
-To be continued
- Writer
