Cali stormed off, her thoughts a chaotic mess after the events at the warehouse. She needed to think. She needed air. Cali walked away from the warehouse, but not to her home–she didn't need drunken baggage weighing on her right now. Instead, she headed to the one place where could feel peace and calm her chaotic thoughts at the moment. The…graveyard.
HOPEWELL MEMORIAL. The graveyard was situated not too far from the centre of the town to disturb the deceased, but just around the edges for people to walk. Just in the middle.
Cali arrived at the graveyard in just a few minutes. Her pace slowed. The familiar chill of the cemetery air felt foreign after so much time. Of course, with all that had happened, she didn't have the time to visit. But now, after the events of today, she needed it.
Walking forward, she made her way towards the back of the graveyard. There, a small maple tree was situated, and positioned just in front of it was a small gravestone. Written on it was the name, "LUCERO VALERIO ROSE"
A faint smile touched her lips. It was just as she remembered. A simple white stone head, his name slightly faded. Just beneath it, a small inscription of a guitar.
Cali's gaze moved to the tree's branches, there, a small hummingbird chirped happily. Almost welcoming her. She smiled faintly at it.
She carefully approached the tree. Cali sat, the bark easing her shoulders, giving a warm embrace. She closed her eyes, just listening. The soft chirps of the hummingbird, the soft rustling of the leaves by her feet, and the soft wind embracing her.
She let out a short chuckle as she said softly, eyes still closed, "Hey…papa, it's been a while."
Cali opened her eyes as she looked at the gravestone longingly, "You always told me I should come to you whenever I'm in a pinch. Said you'd hear me out. Well, I'm in one now." She muttered, before a smirk made its way to her face, "Sorry for dumping all of this on you like this, I'll make it up to you next time. Promise." she chuckled.
She sighed once more, recalling the events. "Today…today, shit happened. Hurt more than any physical pain. I felt all kinds of anger, heck even sad. Sad!" She beat her chest, "And you know I don't feel sad. Normally, if it were anyone else, I would've sucked them in the face, just like you taught me." She grinned, then her smile dropped. "But unlucky for me, he ain't someone random. And that hurts the more."
She gazed at the clouds in the sky as she continued, "Never been good with this emotional stuff, you know that." She looked back at the gravestone, then she threw her hands to the side as she sat back in defeat, "Ugh, I just need some advice…papa. What'd I do?" She stared at the grave longingly.
She sighed, her gaze dropping to the floor, "I know, I know. 'Anger is like a fire, you'll only get hurt'. I've already heard you say that like over a million times. It's just…it's just…" she threw her hands to the side. "I was just trying to look out for him, you know. Those two just get on my nerves. But what does he do, he yells at me, even called me a thug. That…hurt. You get what I mean." She stared back up at the gravestone.
Cali hugged her knees, "I…I wish you could meet him. You'd have loved him papa, well, if you didn't try to kill him first." She chuckled. She closed her eyes, letting the cool breeze wash over her.
SNAP! The sound startled her as she immediately shot to her feet, "Who's there?" she snarled.
Peeking out from behind a tree, "I'm so, so sorry; I didn't know you'd be here." Mary's figure appeared, immediately apologizing.
Cali's eyes dilated, "How much did you here?"
"I…"
"Don't lie!!!" she snapped, "You were listening weren't you?"
Mary opened her mouth to apologize, but couldn't find the words to do so. So she nodded.
Cali snarled, shooting up and walked past her. Mary's hand shot out to her. Cali snapped her head towards her to tell her to fuck off, but paused as she saw the pleading expression. "W…wait, P…please Cali, let me explain.
Few minutes, the two finally settled on a bench not too far away from the site. Mary turned towards Cali, "Cali, I'm really sorry for that. I promise I wasn't trying to eavesdrop on you, I would never.
"Then why were you here? Were you following me?" she questioned.
Mary shook her head, "No, I didn't even know you were here."
Cali paused, inspecting her expression. She knew when someone was lying and it was all a trick. But she could tell that she wasn't lying, but that confused her all the more so she asked. "But then why were you here?"
Mary smiled, not one of her usual smiles, but one of contained sadness. "Well, same reason as you actually. Came to talk to someone."
Her eyes widened, understanding the implication. Immediately, Cali felt guilty. She opened her mouth to apologize, but Mary quickly cut her off. "No, Cali it's okay. You shouldn't be apologizing, I should."
Cali didn't know what to say, so she just nodded.
Mary smiled at the girl, "Would you like to meet her? She would love to see you."
Hesitating, she nodded.
***
The two walked towards the opposite end of the graveyard, there, they met with another tree. A beautiful white tree stood, its bark almost glowing in an otherworldly colour. Cali couldn't help but be mesmerized by it. Then her gaze fell on the grave stone situated just in front of it, similar to her Dad's. On it wrote the name, "ALORA FLETCHER"
Cali's eyes widened as she read the name, she turned towards Mary. But the girl simply smiled mournfully. "Cali, meet my mother."
Cali froze. She didn't know what to say at the moment. Glancing at the gravestone, the surname stood out to her, her mind going back to Mylo.
Seeing her reaction, Mary asked. "I guess Mimi never told you about it."
Cali shook her head, "Far…Mylo never brought it up. Thought made they had bad beef and he didn't want to bring her up. But…." She winced, realizing what she had just said.
Mary simply smiled, "No, its okay. It's like him not to tell. He's always been like that. Even if he's in pain, hurt, or sad, he would never share it with anyone." She then turned to Cali, "Cali, I know this is selfish of me to ask, but please look after my brother for me."
Cali paused, staring at Mary.
"I know it's selfish, but every time he talked about you, I can tell he really likes you. I don't know what he said or did, I'm not asking you to forgive him. Just be there for him."
Cali nodded, "Yeah, he ain't gonna look after himself."
Mary smiled, "Thank you."
***
Cali walked up to the duo just as they were about to leave. Her gaze fell on Risu, then finally on Mylo.
She spoke up before Mylo could even utter a word. "Mylo, we need to talk."
Mylo gulped slightly, fearing the worst. But he managed to nod his head.
Cali glanced at Risu. Risu blinked, "Oh, Oh, right, I'll check out some frogs, I mean fishes…uhm, bye" She stuttered out, going to another part of the park.
A stifling silence fell on the two. Words wanted to be said, but neither knew whether to say it or not.
"Cali I…I'm sorry." Mylo blurted out, "I shouldn't have said those things to you, I shouldn't have shouted at you like that, or treated you like that. I'm really sorry."
After he finished, Cali kept quiet, not interrupting a word. She just listened. After a few minutes later, she spoke up. "Honestly, you're a piece of shit you know that."
"H…huh what."
"You think an apology will just make me forgive you Mylo? Is that what you think?!". She jabbed a finger at him.
Mylo opened his mouth to reply, but she cut him off.
"I was hurt, more than any punch I could bare. The name calling, I don't give two shits about that!" she snapped, scrunching her nose. "The damming bit of it all was that you couldn't even tell me the stress you were going through. Huh!"
Mylo's eyes widened at that.
"I'm still pissed at you for that, but mostly at myself for not even noticing. Never asking more. You're stressed and I couldn't even see it. And I just added to that. I know I'm not the best at this feelings and what not, but you should've told me."
Mylo looked down in guilt.
She grabbed his collar, forcing Mylo to see the tears that ran down her face as she shouted with a trembling voice. "Am I that terrible of a person that you couldn't even tell me? Huh? Am I Mylo?"
Mylo's head snapped up, holding her by the shoulders, "N…never! I have never ever thought you as that. Every day, every damn day, I think I don't deserve a girl like you. How you're too good for me. I have never thought of you once as inadequate. Never! I'm sorry."
She tightened her grip on his shirt and she shouted. "Can you just stop saying sorry dammint? Just fucking stop. I don't need apologies, I need you." Her voice cracked towards the end, as more tears trickled down her face. She weakly rested her head on his chest as she spoke softly, "I just want to be there for you Faro, so please, let me be there for you. If you're weak, I'll be your fucking support…"
Mylo felt his tears falling as he pulled her in for a tight hug, "I…I'm sorry."
"Dummy," she whispered, hugging back, "What the fuck did I just say about apologizing."
Mylo sniffled slightly and just chuckled slightly. The two stayed like that for a few minutes before letting go.
Mylo stared at her in appreciation, "T…thank you Cali."
"it's me job, no need for that." She held his hand.
He nodded lightly.
Sniffling tears emanated from a nearby bush and out came Risu. "Oh, that was so sad." She balled her eyes out,
"Oh, for fucks sake." Cali grumbled under her breath earning a chuckle from Mylo.
Risu walked up hesitantly to the duo, then bowed. "I'm really sorry." She gazed at Cali, "S…sorry I was annoying to you. I just like getting to know my friends, so I tend to ask a lot of questions and I tend to spiral. Oh sorry…"
"Ugh, it's okay parrot. We'll work on your…well, everything. But you're at least tolerable." She said.
Risu instantly beamed, throwing herself at Cali for a tight hug. "Yeah, we're now friends, best of friends. So we can now do like girl things, like shopping, nails,…" she rambled on
Cali could only sigh, letting the girl hug her and ramble on things that she would likely not do. She turned to Mylo and mouthed out, 'Help me'. But Mylo just gave a sheepish shrug.
Risu let go of Cali, then spoke up with a wide smile. "Let's get this picnic started!" she jumped for joy. The two, infected by her joy, smiled at the action. The three sitting down for a quiet, peaceful picnic.
"Hmm, it's too bad Noah wasn't able to show up. Guess he's still upset." Mylo commented.
Cali scrunched her face at the statement, "Ugh, not that douche." She grumbled under her breath.
"Well, we need him for the challenge. But he keeps ignoring my texts." She glared at her phone, angrily biting into her sandwich.
"As much as I hate to agree, we need to dushbag for the challenge." Cali said.
Mylo nodded, they couldn't just continue the challenge without him. So they really needed him on-board. Mylo sat forward, hands clasped. 'How to get to him? He's not answering any texts or call, so how do we…'Mylo paused, Jonathans image entering his head, 'Mr Jonathan might be of help!'
He turned towards the two, "I'll ask Mr Jonathan about it. He may be able to help." He shared his thoughts.
The two nodded. Mylo went through his phone, finding Jonathan's contact and called.
The phone rang immediately, {Mylo my boy, how are you?}
{O…oh, I'm fine sir.}
{Well that's good. So what do I owe the pleasure of this call?}
{Well sir… } Mylo then explained everything.
{Oh, I see. Well I'm glad you were able to resolve the issue with the rest of your team. As for the situation with your fourth teammate, I'm sorry to say but he's been disqualified from the competition.}
{What!} Mylo shouted in shock. Cali and Risu, startled by the sudden shout, looked at Mylo in wonderance. {B…but why?}
{He was illegally involved in the competition. He was never there from day one, and only entered recently. So he was removed from the competition.}
{I…I see} Mylo replied plainly, too shocked for more of a response.
{I know you're saddened by the news Mylo, but you guys can still continue the competition with the three of you.}
{U…uhm sir, is there any way we can still talk to him?. Visit?}
{Sorry Mylo, I can't give you any information about him. It's against the rules to share private information.}
Mylo's head dropped at the statement.
{But that doesn't me he can't.}
Mylo perked up.
{I'll see whether I can arrange for you guys to meet and talk. But the decision is up to him Mylo.}
{T…thank you sir.}
Jonathan smiled behind the phone, {No problem Mylo, and good luck on the challenge.}
Mylo nodded, the call ended.
"Myloo, what happened?" Risu asked, immediately the phone dropped.
Cali also looked towards Mylo for answers.
Mylo explained the call to them. Few minutes later,
"Fucking knew that guy was sketchy from the beginning." Cali scoffed, folding her arms tight across her chest.
Risu shuddered, clutching the edge of the picnic basket. Her cheerful demeanor evaporated, replaced with a sharp look of betrayal. "But why?" she whispered. "I know he was annoying, but... I thought he was our friend. Was it all fake?"
Mylo scraped a nervous hand through his hair. "I don't know, but I have to find out. I can't just pretend this didn't happen, Cali."
Cali shook her head firmly. "Faro, that ain't a good idea. We don't know who he is, or who he's working for. Look," she pointed at the low sun. "Two days left. This day's almost done. We need a song. Not a rescue mission."
Mylo gripped his knees, frustration warring with duty. "She's right, Mylo," Risu mumbled.
"No," Mylo argued, his voice tight. "I promised you guys I wouldn't run. But I can't write, I can't think, until I know what we were up against. I need to face this."
"Then let me him!" Risu surged forward.
"I'll go talk to him! He's still one of us! Maybe I can convince him—"
"Absolutely not, Parrot," Cali snapped, cutting her off. "You'll just confuse him with questions."
Cali sighed, standing up and dusting crumbs from her jeans. She met Mylo's eye, her expression softening into a calculated challenge. "Look. You two need to write the damn song. You need to focus. I just promised to be your support, didn't I?" She tilted her head. "I'll go meet the douche. I'll get the information, and I'll make sure he doesn't mess with us again."
Mylo stared, shocked. "Cali, I can't ask you to—"
"You're not asking. I'm telling." She shrugged carelessly. "I'll try not to pack him up. Meantime, you and the parrot crank out the song. Simple."
Risu grumbled under her breath, accepting the nickname.
Mylo nodded slowly, the worry still heavy on his face, but the choice was clear. "Okay. Be careful, Cali."