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 Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 7:55 pm
Zack Meets Osha Zack sighed, staring at the wispy clouds scattered across the periwinkle sky. It was such a beautiful day out, he hardly wanted to spend it inside with some kid he hardly knew. He’d know him soon enough, right? He should be out fishing with Seamus during his last days of freedom. Instead, Seamus’ adorable fiancé had talked him into meeting his child. Great. Now that he said he would, he couldn’t just back out. With another exasperated sigh, Zack adjusted his headphones and pushed through the swinging doors.
He glanced over at the man behind the desk. He must be the one in charge of things. Damien? No. What was his name? Dacian. Yes, that was it. He tossed his head in the man’s general direction, a good a greeting as any. “Osha?” he asked, glancing down the hall.
The look Zack got was not entirely unexpected. However, he usually got the how-can-you-talk-to-me-with-your-music-and-still-know-what-I’m-saying look from middle-aged woman and Seamus. He sighed and nodded. “Yes, I’m Zack. And yes, I can hear you. The music’s not loud.”
That was a lie. Zack couldn’t hear the man at all. He’d been lip-reading for over a decade now. The man didn’t notice, or maybe he didn’t care. Whatever the case, he led Zack down to Osha’s room and paused before letting him in. Zack frowned. He was not taking his headphones off! They were the bread and water of his existence. “No. I’ll just turn them off.”
Fortunately, Dacian relented. He pushed the wooden door open, wishing him well. “Thanks,” Zack said, giving him a small wave. He entered the room, expecting something like one of those monsters he always had the misfortune to run into at the park.
Instead, he was barraged by the entire color scale. The pictures had clearly been placed with great thought. He felt as though he had just walked into a prestigious art museum. Zack winced; just how long had he kept the kid waiting, exactly? He strolled over nonchalantly, taking a seat in the kiddie chair next to the boy. “Hey,” he paused. “What’s up?”
The small child glanced up at Zack, offering him a smile. The black-haired man twisted to get a better look, his legs splaying to the side. Oh no. He couldn’t help but return the boy’s grin. Oh, Killian was a conniving little wench, wasn’t she? She just knew he wouldn’t be able to resist a boy after his own heart, an artist. Zack ran a hand through his messy hair. He peeked over the boy’s shoulder. “Whatcha workin’ on there, kiddo?”
Osha put down his crayon and the paper slid the paper across the table. Zack took it curiously. “Don’t like talking much, huh?” Osha shook his head, watching Zack inquisitively. Did he like the picture?
Zack was painfully oblivious to the boy at the time being, entranced by the colorful facets intricately splashed across the page. If he’d been more poetic, he’d have compared it to a forest full of fiery leaves in the crisp autumn sun, or something. Thankfully, he was not. “That’s really cool, Osha,” he finally said, handing the page back to the little artist.
The boy’s face split into a wide grin, eyes sparkling with delight. Art was best when somebody appreciated it. He pushed the paper back to Zack.
“Is this for me?” Zack asked, sounding slightly shocked. He was going to give him art? Osha nodded vigorously. Zack suddenly found his smile matching the one lighting up the kid’s face. “Thanks! I know just where I’ll put it,” he said right before his watch went off. Oh no! Time for work already?
Zack leapt to his feet, giving Osha an apologetic look as he startled the poor boy. “Look, I have to go to work now, but I’ll stop by after, alright?” He rushed through his words, attempting to stretch cramped legs. “See you later, kiddo!"
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 12:26 pm
Zack Moves InZackary meets Dacian again and he gets to meet Ari and her daughter, Inanna. Osha gets to meet up with his friend again and with the strange blue fellow, Ismet! What is that poor child to do with two toddlers? Fly kites, of course!Slacking Off
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 12:29 pm
A Visit to GavinOsha pays a visit to his best friend and gets to meet Gavin's new mommy. Zack gets to meet Gavin's less-then-friendly guardian. (Still in progress.)Paying a Visit
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Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 3:35 pm
Meeting a Real LadyZack falls asleep and Osha wanders off. When they finally meet up, Zack's horrible sense of direction kicks in. Instead of finding their way out of the garden, Osha gets to meet Elisa and Zack gets to meet Evie and Ivan. They all seem to get along rather nicely. Ivan is a man after Zack's own heart.Ladies and Gentlemen: The Proper Thing To Do
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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 8:32 pm
Zack, King of the Kitchen
It was noon. Osha looked up from his new Crayola paint set, his stomach growling. The redhead sighed and pushed himself away from the table. Lunch time. Now, he just needed to find Zack because he wasn’t allowed to make lunch himself. That was okay. Knives were scary. He’d seen what happened when they got mad at Zack. Speaking of, where was his guardian?
The redhead blinked and peered around the corner. Well, he wasn’t in the kitchen. That’s when he noticed music coming from the other room. Rule number one when living with a Zack: find the music, find the Zack. The six-year-old learned it right early, and he wasn’t going to let such a valuable lesson go to waste. Once again, it didn’t fail him. Zack was flopped on the couch, headphones on, a video game on the television and the volume blaring. Osha sighed and covered his ears. He’d have to get the black-haired man’s attention the hard way. He wandered across the living room, standing by Zack’s side. No response. He frowned and drew one hand away from his head.
“Zack,” he said, reaching over and tugging on the man’s sleeve. His guardian nearly jumped through the roof, startling the redhead a bit. He tugged on the worn sweatshirt again, making sure his guardian was watching him before he spoke again. “Lunch.”
Ohhhh. He wanted lunch? That, Zack could do. Or, at least, he thought he could. “Sure thing, kiddo.” He ruffled Osha’s hair and stood, stretching like a great cat. “Whaddya want to eat?” he asked, strolling across the all-purpose room to switch of the television and game consul (the couch had claimed the clicker earlier that week and neither Zack nor Osha had been clever enough to locate it).
The child waited until Zack was facing him again before even bothering to answer. He shrugged, watching his daddy make his way into the kitchen. “How does soup sound?” the man asked, rummaging through cupboards.
Osha considered this for a moment. Soup sounded pretty good. And all his dad had to do was pour a can of condensed chicken and noodles into a pot, add some water and turn the stove on for a few minutes. If he knew how, Zack could certainly handle it. Excellent. A meal without ordering out. “Good,” he answered, nodding, just in case the black-haired man hadn’t turned around quick enough to read his lips.
Zack safely making one of the easiest foods in the world, Osha wandered back out to the small, round table and crawled up into his chair. Hmm. His painting still needed to dry. While it did that, he could color! He jumped right back down from his chair and trotted down the hall. He knew he stored his markers somewhere. It took a solid ten, fifteen minutes of rummaging, but the redhead finally found what he was looking for before emerging from his safe hold.
…what…smelled like smoke?
Osha blinked, his eyes stinging a bit. Cautiously, he padded down the hall and peered into the kitchen, eyes widening at the scene. Zack…was on fire.
“O-Osha,” the man was failing at keeping an even voice, “call the fire people or…or what not.”
“…Zack…?”
“Now, please.”
The quiver in the man’s voice was unmistakable as he flailed, trying to put himself out in vain. (Shame he never learned stop, drop and roll.) Osha nodded and set his markers on the floor, trotting to the kitchen to grab a chair. He went around the long way, not willing to risk dragging said chair by a flaming Zack on his way to the hallway phone. Perfectly positioned underneath, he climbed up at picked it up. He’d never been allowed to use the phone before.
“9-1-1, please!” His guardian’s voice was more urgent. Osha followed the instructions, pushing large buttons quickly.
“Please state your emergency.”
The child blinked, giving Zack a quick once over. “…um…my daddy’s on fire…”
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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 8:36 pm
Making Memories #1
Dear…this is stupid. I can just write here, yeah? I don’t need to actually write ‘Dear Journal’…or even worse, ‘Dear Diary’. No one's looking.
I know, I know. Let’s make this a little more interesting. So here we go. Soundtrack of my life, hell yes.
Here we go...really.
Currently listening to: Get Yourself Together – Faces Small
Is the song stupid enough for you? Yeah, I thought to too.
Here’s the thing, though. I’m like…what? Twenty-five? Twenty-six? Twenty-seven? (********, I don’t even know my own age.) I think it’s twenty-four, twenty-five. Whatever. No one cares. The problem with this is that I take care of myself. Weird, right? And the weirder part is the six-year-old kid I come attached to. I mean…jeez. He’s an awesome kid and all…but what if I kill him?
…I think I’d feel bad, if I did that.
I set myself on fire about a week ago. Poor Osha had to call the emergency line and I spent a good deal of the day in the ER. Good thing he’s such a quiet kid. When I finally got home, I realized there was no one watching. And you know what? He didn’t do a thing! Everything was in its place and he was just sitting at the table, coloring. Poor guy must’ve been starving by that point.
…if he became anorexic, I totally wouldn’t blame him. After weeks of eating my own cooking, I’m ready to fast too. God. I’m surprised no one’s died yet. The take out people KNOW ME BY NAME. I don’t even have to order anymore, just say ‘hi’ and they know who it is and what I want. That’s just…ug.
On the bright side, burnt arms are apparently good for meeting people.
Okay. Not really. But Ari offered to give me a few cooking lessons. I don’t think she realizes what she’s getting herself into. Whatever the case, I’m gonna take her and Ina out to dinner sometime. You know. As a thank you.
I’ve met some other guardians too. Elisa’s parents…parent and brother? Evie and Ivan. They’re pretty nice. They have strange accents…and Evie’s a little emotional, but they’re both very nice. Much nicer than Patricia…like that Ivan fellow. Man after my own heart, if I do say so myself.
So. Yes. That was like…a rant, I guess. That’s what we call these? Yeah. Does that sum up what I’ve done while I’ve been here? Burning? Yes. Meeting people? Yes. Taking Osha out the play? Sorta.
…I need to get him those drawing lessons like Ari said…or at least some new crayons.
You know what that means? A ********. This is like…Gaia to Zack, re: Time to Grow ******** guess it’s a good thing I like him.
And now, I leave you with another piece of music: Get Off Of My Back.
(By the next entry, I’d better be cooking at least simple meals.)
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Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 4:53 pm
Deluge of the New GuysZack and Osha go to meet the new people moving in. While Osha gets to play with Elisa, Zack gets to help Bran move all his heavy furniture up to the top floor. God. Work. But hey, he gets free booze, so it's all good. (Still in Progress.)Mass Migration and Housewarming
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Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 7:23 am
Zack, Expert Botanist
“Dad? Why are you talking to the plant?” Osha stood next to Zack, eyeing the small cabbage.
Zack shrugged. “I don’t know. I figure, if it’s gonna sprout a kid, or something, it might be able to hear me.” He wasn’t sure. He had to admit, he wasn’t paying that much attention when he had gone to pick up the little thing…well, it wasn’t really that little. It was actually as heavy as a sack of potatoes, only slightly less lumpy and a good deal more leafy.
Zack glanced over at the redhead. “What? And you don’t talk to plants?” he asked the boy, raising his eyebrows.
Osha blinked, and shook his head. Why would he do something silly like that?
The black-haired man snorted, ruffling the es’ hair absently. A second child. Hearts. He wasn’t ready for this sort of thing. Hearts! Now he sounded like a pregnant woman! Holy hell! Shifting uneasily, he reached into his jacket pocket and grabbed his mp3 player, flicking through a couple songs until he found an appropriate tune. One that did not label him as Pregnant. He resisted the urge to crank the volume. Osha didn’t talk much as it was, it wouldn’t do to discourage the poor kid.
He looked back at the cabbage sitting in the middle of his living room floor. He felt sort of bad, leaving a pot there. However, it was the sunniest place in the entire apartment. Osha didn’t seem to mind; he spent most of his time at the table, coloring or painting or something of the like. He himself certainly didn’t care. The plant might have been heavy, but it was low to the ground and didn’t interfere with the video games, so Zack didn’t mind at all. All he needed was his video games and his music, and he was a happy camper. If the thing wanted sun, hell, it should have sun! It had a right to be happy too!
…wouldn’t too much sun dry it out, though?
He suddenly remembered the spray bottle sitting on his dresser and trotted down the hall to his room. He appeared a few moments later, victorious. The bottle only managed to roll to the floor in the time Zack had forgotten it.
“You want to spray the plant, Osha?” he asked, offering the plastic bottle to the kid.
Osha shrugged, glancing at the plant again.
“You can’t hurt it by spraying it. Just don’t like…drown it, or something. Which is probably hard to do as it were,” he rambled, handing the spray bottle off.
Osha nodded, giving a tentative squeeze. A light mist settled over the cabbage. Grinning, the redhead repeated the process a few times before handing the bottle back to his guardian. That wasn’t hard at all!
“Good job, kid.”
Huh. Maybe a second child wouldn’t be so bad after all…
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Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 8:22 am
Making Memories #2
[machine clicking on]
Why yes, I’m using a voice recorder now. Why? ‘Cos I want to, tha’s why! Writing in a book was stupid! A’sides, I’m more likely to loose a silly little book than my laptop. ‘sides, no one can hack into my laptop. S’safer, n’stuff.
Anyways. So. Lots a’ stuffs been changin’ since I moved outta Shay’s house n’ met Osha. Met Bran. S’a guardian to be. He makes good food, n’ stuff. He was real nice to Osha when we met him, too. Let Osha rummage around in his moving boxes n’ even let Osha take a knickknack home with him. He liked that. Picked a colorful one, a’ course. He started drawin’ it as soon as we got home.
Anyways, I like Bran. S’my friend. I go over to his place a lot after I put Osha ta bed. Sometimes he comes over here, but na’ that often. My place is all messy n’ stuff, so I try not ta have guests. Y’should see the paint stains on the table. Osha thought it looked right pretty. I mean, maybe it does if yer like, six, but Iunno. I tried to wash it off, but I haven’t been successful yet.
I like Ivan too. I met Ivan and Evie a’fore Bran. They’re Elisa’s guardians. Actually, I think just Evie is and Ivan bums around? M’not sure. But he shared his booze with me, so he’s awesome in my book. Evie’s really nice too. Kinda emotional, though. Iunno. Maybe I just don’t understand girls and s**t.
Oh! There’s Ari too. She’s Ina’s mom. Ina and Osha are friends. She played a drawin’ game with Osha and Ina. They really liked that. When she saw my bandage and I tol’ her about my…little accident in the kitchen, she offered to teach me how to make simple stuff and stuff. It was cool. At least I don’t have to worry about accidentally poisoning Osha now…and he eats again n’ stuff. He used to run every time I called him for dinner.
And there’s one more. Patricia. [grumble] I think she’s the only one I’ve met I don’t like much. At all. She’s Gavin’s new guardian, or something. Anyways, Gavin and Osha are like, best friends, so I guess I’m gonna have to deal with her. Still. She acted like I was such a pain in her a** just ‘cos m’all new at this s**t and stuff. [snort] Women.
Bran’s my favorite, though. I wonder when he’ll get his kid?
S’not the only one getting a new kid. There are two other new guardians, but I dun know them. I should go meet ‘em.
Anyways. I’m go another new kid myself. Came out of a cabbage, or somethin’. Osha seems okay with. M’glad. Putting up with a jealous kid and a toddler would prolly drive me batty. M’not even sure I can take care of a toddler.
…maybe I can recruit Bran to help me.
Anyways. Osha seemed to like spraying the cabbage. I mean, it’s not much, but it’s all I was supposed to do with it and Osha wanted t’help. So I let him. I mean, he’s a good kid. I wasn’t afraid he was gonna hurt it, ‘er nothin’. And when Devakanya came home, that’s her name, he was real good about that too. He was careful not to be too loud when she was sleepin’ and offered to help and stuff. He tries to play with her, but she’s right shy.
I oughta take ‘em to the park sometime.
Oi! Lookit that. Lunch time.
[machine clicks off]
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Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 8:25 am
Baby Girls All AroundBran comes for a visit. What's that he's got with him? (Still in progress.)Welcome to the Family
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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 6:55 am
Memories Past, Memories Fading
Everything was different now. Osha didn’t know why it happened. He didn’t know how it happened, it just did. It came out of no where, out of the blue, and really, he should have noticed, but. Well. He was just a kid. But it had happened before, and. It. It wasn’t fair, that’s what it was! It wasn’t fair his mother was taken away, it wasn’t fair Gavin’s mom or Gavin’s weird lady or…or… It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t mommy-snatching aliens, either. It was stupid, that’s what it was. It was mean, it was unfair, and it was stupid. And he didn’t like it. He didn’t like it at all, actually. And he never would. And he’d never forgive any of them. Ever.
His mom had gone away and disappeared. Gavin…he never saw Gavin any more. Besides, Gavin liked Ina and all of those girls better anyways. He didn’t want to hang out with him as much, right? Yeah. And now it was Zack. Stupid Zack. He had gone and gotten sick. Bran and Hlao were never around, so it wasn’t like there was someone to take care of him. Well…who did hang out with sick fathers anyways? Oh well. It didn’t really matter. Zack was always…what was the word he used? Drunk? Yes. He was always sad, and it made him drink, and that made him drunk. Idiot. He never wanted to play. He rarely tried to cook. He lost his job and didn’t really try to look for a new one. Devakanya went away. (Zack said she was taken away and she’d never be coming back…) Zack got sadder. And sadder. He wouldn’t even play music any more. He had even tried to play Zack’s guitar once, to get him to play instead, but Zack just stared at him. And the sadder Zack got, the drunker he got. That’s when his colors started to fade away.
…and that’s when Osha found him on the floor face down.
It was just a normal day. Zack was feeling sick, but it was nothing new. Osha asked if he needed anything, Zack said he was fine, Osha shrugged and gathered up his sketchpad and his pencils and he went outside to draw. Zack was always feeling sick, it made him cough and wheeze. When Osha asked what it was, Zack would just shrug. He couldn’t explain it, he said, it just felt like he was always out of breath. He’d cough really hard sometimes, and that made him feel dizzy, and sometimes he was really, really tired, but that was all. When Osha asked why he didn’t take some medicine for it, Zack would just shrug again. He said he’d need to go to a doctor to get medicine for it, and he didn’t feel like that. Doctors were bad news. Besides, it was just a cold, he’d insist. Or sometimes, he’d claim it was allergies. Osha would take Zack’s word for it. After all, he was an adult. He did know what he was talking about most of the time.
But what Osha didn’t know was that Zack had already been to the doctor quite a few times. And there was medicine for the cough, but it wasn’t working. It wasn’t stopping the same, crippling thing Zack had watched take away a good number of his friends way back when. But how did you tell a kid you might not live to see him grow up? How did you tell a kid you had no idea how long you’d actually live? How did you tell a kid you were heartbroken and you didn’t even really feel like fighting it that much anymore? And how did you tell that same kid you were pretty damn sure he’d be much better off without you?
You didn’t.
You just tried to forget it all in the first place. You get drunk. You tune the world out. You fall asleep. You wake up to the same nightmare and you start it all over again.
What Osha didn’t know couldn’t hurt him.
Well, that was until you broke the pattern. Osha came back inside in the middle of the afternoon. He was a little surprised Zack hadn’t called him in for lunch, Zack could actually manage making lunch without Osha having to call the fire department, but he figured maybe Zack had finally taken a nap. He was looking quite pale today. So Osha put his pad and pencils away, and he went rummaging through the fridge. After helping himself to a yogurt and a cookie, the boy decided he might go to the park for the rest of the afternoon. The flowers should be blooming by now, and it might be nice to bring some home to cheer the dreary apartment up a little. Maybe they’d lift Zack’s spirits, even. Honestly, Osha wasn’t that hopeful, but he’d never knew if he didn’t try. He should tell Zack before he left, though. He didn’t want Zack to worry about him. He was already sick enough.
Osha went to Zack’s bedroom and knocked on the door. There was no response. He sighed and knocked harder. Zack was such a heavy sleeper. He even slept though the smoke alarm that time it decided to go off in the middle of the night for no reason. Osha waited for a few minutes before slipping through the door. He might as well just wake him up and tell him, then he could just go back to sleep. Zack never minded when Osha woke him up. After all, he always said-
Osha mouth opened, but he couldn’t make a sound. Zack was curled up in the middle of the floor, like he was sleeping, but Osha was pretty sure that wasn’t the case. His breathing was all weird and raggedy. The air was heavy and smelled like a bag of copper pennies. There was blood bubbling from his lips and dribbling from his nose and there was a big, red wet spot next to him on the carpet. Osha trotted over and shook his shoulder, before he made a beeline for the kitchen. He dialed the number he knew best, and he didn’t ask for the firemen this time. He needed the ambulance this time.
“…yeah. He’s bleeding everywhere. And he won’t get up.”
…it wasn’t fair. Not at all. That was the last time Osha saw Zack awake. It had been a week, and a variety of Zack’s friends had coming to check in Osha and take care of him. It was funny, but, suddenly Osha felt the same way Zack always looked. Sad. Lonely. Lost.
Funnier still. That was the last time anyone would ever hear Osha talk. It wasn’t worth it anymore. He just wanted everything to go back to the way they used to be.
But that would never happen, would it?
He wouldn’t be Zack’s son any more. And he wouldn’t be Gavin’s best friend any more.
This fairy tale was over. It was all over. He had to take what was his and he was never going to give anything back. His colors had changed and Osha was the only one around to see it. It wasn’t fair. Life wasn’t fair. But life wasn’t over.
He’d just have to try again.
…for a third time.
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