Almond(41)

I heard a rustle. Then our eyes met. Gon. He sat hugging his knees on the floor. Small, pitiful Gon, more ragged than he had been, and alone. Déjà vu. That was the term I had been searching for. Family Game coursed through my mind. The shopkeeper’s cry. The younger me, lost. The moment when Mom pulled me into a tight embrace at the police station. Fast-forward, and two women collapsing in front of me . . . I shook my head. Now was not the time to think of those things. Because before me was not the shopkeeper’s dead son, but Gon, who was still alive.





67


Gon glared at me. Of course, I must’ve been the last person he expected to see there.

“What are you doing here? How did you get here, dammit . . .” he barely spat out in a gruff voice. Somehow he had bruises and scratches all over him, his face pale.

“I went to see Steamed Bun. Don’t worry, I didn’t tell anybody, including your dad.”

Before I even finished the word “dad,” Gon seized an empty can next to him and chucked it. The can flew through the air, hit the dusty ground, and spun a few times.

“What happened to you? Let’s call the police first,” I said.

“The police? You’re fucking funny. Hunting me down like the fucking fuzz.” Saying that, Gon burst into strange laughter. Unnecessarily loud laughter with one hand on his belly, throwing back his head and howling. He spat words like “You think I’ll thank you for this?” I cut his laughter short.

“Don’t laugh like that. It doesn’t suit you. It doesn’t even sound like laughing.”

“And now you’re telling me how to fucking laugh? I’ll do what I wanna do and be where I wanna be so why don’t you mind your own business, you fucking psycho. Who do you think you are, huh? Who the fuck do you . . .”

Gon’s voice was quieting down. I waited, watching him trembling slightly. His face had changed a lot in just a few days. A black shadow had settled on his now-rough skin. Something had drastically altered him.

“Let’s go home,” I said.

“Fuck that. Don’t act all cool. Get the fuck out of here while you can. Before it’s too late,” Gon growled.

“What are you going to do here? Do you think enduring all this will make you strong? This isn’t strong. It’s just pretending to be.”

“Don’t talk like you know everything, asshole. Who are you to be fucking preaching at me?” Gon shouted. But strangely, his eyes started to freeze. I heard faint footsteps. They were getting closer by the second and stopped at the gate.

“I told you to fuck off,” Gon said, his face contorting. Then he came in.





68


He looked more like a giant shadow than a person. He could’ve been in his twenties or even his mid-thirties, depending on the angle. He wore a thick, shabby coat, khaki corduroy pants, and a bucket hat. His face was barely visible, as he had on a mask. It was a strange outfit. He was Steel Wire.

“Who’s this?” Steel Wire asked Gon. If a snake could speak, it would’ve sounded like him. Gon bit his lips, so I answered for him.

“I’m his friend.”

Steel Wire raised his eyebrows. A couple of wrinkles appeared on his forehead.

“How did your friend find this place? Forget that, why is your friend here?”

“To get Gon.”

Slowly, Steel Wire sat down on a creaking chair. His long shadow folded in half too.

“I think you’ve got the wrong idea, kid. You think you’re some kind of a hero?” he muttered in a low voice. His tone was soft, it could even come across as friendly, if you didn’t pay attention to what he was actually saying.

“Gon’s father is waiting for him. He has to go home.”

“Shut up!” Gon shouted. He then whispered something to Steel Wire, who listened and nodded a few times.

“Oh, you’re that kid. Gon’s told me about you. I don’t know if that kind of disease really exists, but no wonder your expression didn’t change a bit when I walked in. Most people who see me don’t react like you did.”

“I’m taking Gon home,” I repeated. “Let him go.”

“What you gon’ do, Gon? You wanna leave with your friend?”

Gon bit his lips then smirked. “You think I’m crazy? There’s no way I’m leaving with that asshole.”

“Great. Friendship only lasts so long. It’s just a word. There are many meaningless words out there.” Steel Wire stood up from the chair, bent down, and fished something out of his coat pocket. It was a sharp, slim knife. Every time its blade reflected the light, it glinted with a blinding flash.

“Remember I showed you this? Told you we could use it one day.”

Gon’s mouth opened slowly. Steel Wire pointed the tip of the blade at Gon.

“Have a go at it.”

Gon swallowed hard. His breathing must’ve quickened, because his chest began to heave.

“Oh, look at you, all scared. This is just your first time, so you don’t have to go all the way. Take it easy and just have fun with it.”

Steel Wire grinned as he took off his hat. There, I saw a familiar face. It took me a second to realize whose face it was—either Michelangelo’s David or one of the many faces known for their iconic beauty I’d seen in textbooks. That same beauty was in Steel Wire’s face. His skin was fair and his lips rosy. Light brown hair, and long, lush eyelashes. Deep, clear eyes. God had given the face of an angel to the wrong person.