Fly High, Fly Low [ON-HOLD]

Chapter 8

FLY HIGH, FLY LOW
By GinoongONEGANI

CHAPTER EIGHT

A VOICE speaks in Jay's ear, ". . . You should try your call later." He's lost count of the times his parents have missed his calls. Of course he knows that saving a company from bankruptcy will demand most of his parents' time, but can't they spare a moment to update him at least? It feels as though they are intentionally avoiding him.

Jay's anxious about what's possibly happening in the city while he's stuck here with his grandparents. Out of the window, in the field below, he can see the two humped figures of his grandparents, angling their heads upwards as they laugh. Between them sits a table that supports a basket of what looks like roses. Beyond them is the sun that's beginning to set. Around them are pigeons, some are on the ground while the others are fluttering mid-air.

Grandma leans in so she can reach Grandpa's cheek. During Jay's stay here, he has witnessed nothing but the unproblematic mundanity of his grandparents' lives. Seeing them so happy while his parents are probably sleepless as they go on their day, trying to save the company, it does things to his sanity.

There's nothing wrong with being happy. But can't they be more sympathetic? Is it wrong for Jay to expect them to struggle with them? His mother says that's what families are for. They struggle together. In the face of a big challenge, your family will be there to fight with you, to cry with you. What he's seeing now is the big contrast of that romantic notion. It feels like they've been thrown aside to mind their own problems.

Or, this idea strikes Jay, maybe they think they already have a fair share of the problem when they take him under their care. Then they aren't family. They are simply business partners that work together to keep the entire thing running. Still, Jay believes that taking him for roughly two months isn't enough as a return for all the money his grandparents have milked off his parents.

After the incident with the calderta, Jay is rarely seen on the dining table. His grandparents seem not to notice it, if they have, they just basically don't care. Jay is convinced they will not say a word about his sudden hunger strike to his parents. After all, they need to take care of him. If there's someone who needs to be afraid here, it's his grandparents --- Jay might just run his mouth about them not properly taking care of him. But of course, he won't do that. The last thing he wants to do is to add another weight to the burden his parents are bearing.

That night, a head sticks in his room, and it belongs to his grandmother. There's a smile on her face which feels a bit condescending to Jay. It's a kind smile, an innocent one, but  it's those innocent things that make Jay rile up these days. She doesn't get to smile at him like that as if she doesn't know a thing.

"Can I come in?" she says.

He nods, focusing his attention back on the book he's reading. He let his eyes glide over the sentence until they become nothing more than a puddle of ink as he follows Grandma's movements in the corner of his eyes. The bed dips as she sits next to him.

"You didn't eat again," she says.

He doesn't react.

"Can we talk?"

"I'm sorry but I'm kinda tired right now," says Jay, slamming his book close. He just knows it isn't the best time for a talk. He puts it on the space next to his pillow, and gives his grandmother a fake smile. "Can we do that tomorrow? You must be tired too."

"I know you are stressed," she points out, running the pad of her thumb under his eye. It's a soft action but so short that Jay barely has the time to process it. "But you have to let them handle it. You are still too young to be of actual help. They don't need you there. They don't need you to worry about it, or them."