The Peacekeeper

Chapter 20

There were boxes stacked up on one another neatly in the center of the living room, waiting for Karkat to walk out of Dave's room. Dave had left hours ago already. He had to work a double shift at his part time job in a small clothing outlet that sold things only edgy preteens would wear. It was an okay job. The employees were nice and most of the customers were too but every once in a while there was that one bitch who walk in demanding a refund even if the refund date had expired just before she walked in. Other than that slight problem, Dave loved his second job.

Of course he didn't have to work just there today. He also had to head out to DJ some sweet sixteen birthday party of a rich family. Not that he didn't mind, the richer the family and the later he stayed meant the more money he received. Of course this all came with a downside. The downside here being Dave didn't want to leave Karkat alone but he also needed to leave him alone. Karkat had to learn how to be independent. He had to learn that Dave wasn't going to hold his hand for the rest of his life, even if he desperately wanted to. But today was the day that Karkat learned at least a sliver of independence.

There was a note laid on top of the very top box. It was written in Dave's trademark red and read: "I'm going to be all day. Food's already prepped for you, all you have to do is heat it up. These boxes have some of our old shit, I figured you may want to look through some things and reminisce. Call me or Kanaya if you need anything. Stay safe. -D.S."

Hours later, around noon, and Karkat finally got up and marched out the room. Upon seeing the boxes and the note Karkat read the small piece of paper. He scoffed, shoving the paper in his pocket. Stay safe. Dave was delusional. As long as anything involved Karkat he would never be safe. Whether it be physically or mentally, he was never safe.

He looked down at the boxes, a grimace on his face. Did Dave honestly believe that Karkat would want to spend his day looking through boxes that held pieces that created Karkat's old life. He felt offended honestly. It felt like Dave was telling him 'Here! Spend your entire day looking through whatever form of a somewhat normal life you used to have! It's a shame you can't have this anymore isn't it?' Karkat knew, however, that that wasn't Dave's intentions. He probably hoped that it'd bring the cancer troll some form of closure so he could move on with his life. Of course this sad attempt at doing so failed miserably. Karkat just picked the boxes up and one-by-one carried them to Dave's room and stacked them in the closet. Out of sight, out of mind.

"Out of sight, out of mind. Don't you wish all the pesky things in your life would follow that same motto?" Karkat's clenched his jaw and slammed the closet door shut.

"You know Dave," he turned around, resting his back against the door and glared daggers at the evil twin, "you're just being a big fat nuisance and I'm getting awfully sick of you. Do you even have a proper purpose here or do you just stick around to annoy me?" Dave chuckled and walked away from his spot against the wall.

"Of course I have a purpose darling. Of course you don't need to know none a that right now. I just want to tell you something."

"And what would that be?" Dave snickered pointed to a picture of the original Dave. His arms were slung around Rose and Jade with John's arm around Jade. It was a nice picture that looked like it was taken shortly after coming here. Karkat glanced between the photograph and the doppelgänger, confused.

"I know something. About you and him." He pushed his shades up to the top of his head. His iris' were deep purple and very unsettling. "You may not know it yourself but I know it. And it's fucking hilarious. You're here for such a short amount of time and you're already acting like a twelve year old girl with a silly school crush."