As a multiethnic kid, Keon Wesley has always had to straddle two worlds. He just never expected that metaphor to become a literal reality.
Ever since his dad left five weeks ago, he's struggled to adjust to life in a single parent household. When a...
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As it so happened, Keon got little rest that night. Avana had forged a multi-layered mat of parchment that served as an unusually soft mattress. Everyone slept on similar mats, their gently heaving bodies wrapped in their shawls like spring rolls.
Keon sat on the edge of his mat, awaiting the rising sun. The night was beautifully cool, like the height of summer; the temperature perfectly balanced by a gentle breeze.
He wondered, had Dad ever sat up to watch a similar sunrise? When had he first come to Underland, anyway? Was it as a kid? Did he crawl underneath his bed every night when he was a boy? What if he met another woman here and had a whole other family they didn't even know about? Was that possible?
No. As complicated as his feelings were for his dad, he wasn't like that. If he was anything, he was faithful. Faithful to his friends. Faithful to his colleagues. His peers. It was this faithfulness that made the biting bitterness of his absence that much more agonising. He'd been faithful to the end. All the more reason Keon had to bring him back.
"Can't sleep?"
Zahara took the spot next to him, hugging her knees close to her face.
"How could you tell?"
"You're awake, genius."
He chuckled.
"Think I'm tryna make sure," he said, staring at his boots, "was kinda hoping I was dreaming."
"Listen, about before..." she said, her voice muffled by her knees squeezing against her cheek.
"Nah, it's cool. I was being a bit of a wasteman."
"A bit?" she said, raising her head. He smiled as she elbowed him gently in the ribs. "So... your dad." He tensed at the mention of his dad, retreating back into his shell. "At least it wasn't Gabriel Reid, right?"
"Might as well've been," he scoffed.
"How d'you mean?"
"We had a fight—me and my dad—about the fight. It was pretty bad." his chest heaved as though filling his lungs for one last breath. "They said I might've broken Gabriel's nose..."
She grinned, nodding a 'not bad.'
"Nah, it's not good. It puts me on the radar in a bad way. My mentor—Mr Kersey—he said the school's just waiting for a reason to exclude me. My parents are afraid I'll end up in a PRU or something and 'waste my potential.'"
"Well, it depends," she shrugged, "what do you wanna do with your life?"
"You mean, other than being a librarian?" they chuckled, "I like to travel and I like seeing other cultures. So, maybe something where I get to do that. Like, building housing overseas or something."
"Or—you could be a travel vlogger."
"Or that," he said, wagging his index finger. "You're right... What about you?"
