Chapter Text
Chiwa had lunch alone, her parents busy with work in the district.
She reheated some leftovers and munched absently: her only worry now was to find a good hiding place for Rudo’s tools.
A place where her mum wouldn’t look into.
Chiwa sighed.
Her mum would ask her too many questions or just dump everything into the street.
Chiwa couldn’t just shove all the stuff under her bed, nor could she hide it in her closet where her mum could reach it.
She needed a place to hide it outside her house, at least for Rudo’s tools since she could keep the journal in her bag constantly.
The thought of selling Rudo’s stuff crossed her mind for a brief moment: probably he would have been happier to see someone using his tool rather than seeing them collecting dust somewhere…and yet…
“People would ask too many questions if I try..” she meditated, observing the pile of tools she had collected.
That was just an excuse: deep down she knew she wouldn’t be able to depart from his objects.
It would meant departing from him somehow.
She brushed the puppy’s head softly while reflecting.
There might be a suitable place in fact..
Chiwa placed everything in her messenger bag, keeping the stuffed toy comfy between her arms and hurried towards her destination.
She was nervous someone might recognise and follow her, well aware how suspicious she seemed: a little girl with a bag full of whoever-knows-what couldn’t go unnoticed.
Chiwa avoided people as much as possible, always smiling innocently while sweating cold.
She chose the “panoramic” route, taking a few more turns around, assuring she wasn’t followed.
“When have I become so paranoic?” she asked herself, arriving at her destination.
It was an abandoned hut with stone walls. It would have been still in use if it wasn’t for the collapsed metal panel that was once a roof.
Rudo and Chiwa used to spend entire afternoons there, chatting undisturbed by adults and rude kids, but they stopped going there after weird seniors started using the shack for their convos.
Chiwa crossed the threshold, stepping into the hut with her boots. The six meters total of walls were covered in shelves, most of them broken, rusty metallic planks leaning on each other under the weight of ages of dust.
The floor wasn’t visible anymore hidden by a thick layer of dirt.
Particles were hanging in the air and the only trace of life were the silky nets of spiders hanging everywhere.
Chiwa bended over the first shelf and carefully placed every item on the metallic surface, little thuds echoing in the room.
Then the girl got up, scoffing off her dress from dust.
She wasn’t sure Rudo’s things would have been completely safe there but that was the best she could find.
She felt both proud and sad and instinctively hugged the plushie tighter.
She took a deep breath, allowing memories to flood in her mind.
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“Rudo!” a younger Chiwa warmly greeted the young boy peeking out from behind the door. Her face was glowing with a smile.
The younger Rudo looked at her, his eyes widened with surprise.
“Chiwa, uh…you here?”
She chuckled: “Come here, look what I’ve found!” she invited him to sit in front of her, pushing a checkered grey and beige square.
Rudo’s eyes shone as he took it with his gloved hands, inspecting it.
“What’s this?” he asked, curious.
Chiwa smiled at him, proud of making him happy.
“My grandma gave it to me. It’s called a chess board. And look!”
She took some scratched plastics disks from her pockets, some black and some beige and layed them on the ground.
“Those are its pieces. To play you have to move them around that board, something like that”
His ruby eyes were fixed on hers, listening carefully to her words.
“That’s cool, Chiwa”
“You don’t seem that excited…” she noticed.
“It’s not something I can fix…” he lowered his gaze.
She frowned but her smile widened: “Rudo, I want to play with you, not fix it!”
“Oh, really?” He looked genuinely surprised and that made Chiwa giggle even more.
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“Chiwa! Why are you dirty?!” Her mum asked angrily that evening.
“Oh…I’m sorry, mum…I fell over and-“
“Even your bed sheets are a total disaster. And you were up so early this morning!”
Her mum sighted, her gaze scanning the kid.
“Please, Chiwa, is there something you need to tell me?”
“Mum, no...no, it’s fine. Everything is fine” she lied, forcing a weak smile on her face.
“Chiwa, you can you can tell me if other kids are mean or-“
“I am fine, mum.” Chiwa lied again, masking her real feeling into the warmest smile she could make. “I assure you”
Her mum’s expression relaxed a bit.
“If you say so. Chiwa, then it’s fine. Can you help here now?”