Chapter Text
The sun drips into a cluttered but cozy apartment on a quiet Saturday morning. The fan hums its faint buzzing tune in the corner. The place is lived in- the sink with a few dishes and the laundry filled to capacity, but there is a soft rhythm to the mess.
In the kitchen is an (11 year old) fox girl named Cherri. She was dressed in a clean oversized t-shirt that was poorly tucked into the patterned sweatpants. Her pink long hair was still disheveled and fluffy.
She had in her hands a stool, and stood on it. She then gathered a glass pitcher with some water in it, a small bowl of lemons, and her notepad. Cherri then went back to the stool and started to meticulously squeeze the lemons, focusing all of her strength into getting as much juice into the pitcher as possible.
Once she finished squeezing the lemons she jotted down some notes in her notepad. The notepad reads: Barry’s Hydration Plan - Day 3, Less soda, more lemon water.
Cherri took a sip of the lemon water and said, “Ugh, this is missing something.” Then it clicked, she went into the pantry and dug out a small bear-shaped bottle that was half filled with honey. She squirted honey onto a spoon and stirred it in. Then when she took a sip she made a face of satisfaction. “ Perfect, zesty but not too aggressive.”
She wiped the counter of any water that she spilled, and then turned to the clock. 8:42 A.M. Cherri pauses and then furrows her brows causing elevens to show on her forehead.
She then raises her voice and calls out, “ Barry, you said that you were going to do the laundry before 9! That gives us 18 more minutes before we are late!”
“Ungh” Barry sighed.
Then the very tired (21 year old) short, lean wolf fella begrudgingly started to wake himself up. His black hair was slightly messy. His blue eyes staring up with a serious stare at the ceilings, and purple bags under his eyes. He was wearing the same black shirt and work pants from the day before. He moves his beat up messenger bag that was on top of him to the side. Then - without words - he gets up.
They grab their shoes, Cherri groping at the laundry basket, and head up the stairs to the laundry room.
Once Barry grasped at his pocket for the keys he opened the door, and the two went through separating their clothes. Barry piles what’s his and places it to the side, and Cherri sorts all her clothes from the lights and darks.
Cherri whispered with a voice of concern “You worked late again” she paused. “You came home at 2:07.
Barry does not look up from the clothes in his hands. He then stopped and then pointed out, “You should have been asleep then.”
Cherri then grabbed another pile of clothes and started sorting while stating, “I was, well, sort of. I’m a light sleeper.” Barry, without saying anything, put a load into one of the washing machines, and Cherri watched. She then proceeds to stand up a little straighter and then asks, “Are they making you pull double shifts again?”
Barry shrugs tiredly, “It’s fine.”
Cherri then tosses her lights in a machine and then stands up and says, “That doesn’t mean anything, and you know that. Saying ‘I’m fine’ is what we call emotional masking.”
Barry gives her a sideward glance, a mixture of drained and amused. “Where did you learn that?”
“ Health class, oh, and YouTube. There’s this one therapist who explains it with cartoons.”
Barry does not respond, the machine beeps, and he pours the detergent into the load.
Cherri then tries to lighten the mood. “If you burn out, then I’ll have to get a job. And I’m pretty sure that it’s not legal for a pre-teen to get a job. Barry looks at her, opens his mouth to say something, and then closes it again.
Later on in the early afternoon, they waited back in their apartment for the loads to finish drying completely. Cherri sits at the small dining table working out some math problems on her homework, and Barry is fixing a wobbly chair, tightening the screws. The smell of the grilled cheese cooling on the table for lunch lingers in the air, even with none of the windows open. The radio was playing softly of an acoustic melody.
Cherri pauses on her homework and puts the pencil down on the table. “I was invited to Daisy’s birthday party next week. It’s roller skating.”
Barry replied, “Sounds fun” while trying to place a screw back in its place.
“It’s 12 dollars for the rink, plus a gift. I was thinking we could get her a sketchbook, since she likes drawing girls and birds.
Barry nods. “Okay, I’ll make sure you have it.”
Cherri getting out of her seat to get a cup to fill with water, stated, “And don’t work another shift just for that. We can budget, because I made a spreadsheet.” Cherri grins while pulling it up on her Chromebook. “See.”
Barry stops what he is doing and goes over to look. He studies what is on the screen. To his surprise, it was very organized. There were color-coded tabs, tiny graphs, and notes in the margin. He raises his eyebrow. “You scare me sometimes, you know that?”
Cherri then replies, “You should be thanking me, I’m saving us from overdue fees and bad impulse purchases. Like 5 pounds of sour gummy worms and knockoff earbuds.
Barry chuckles under his breath. “Fine, Budget Chief Cherri it is.” Barry grabs a cup to fill with water and then adds, “It’s too bad your room isn’t that organized.”
Cherri gasps, “Don’t bring that into the conversation, that does not have anything to do with my title, Barry.” Then there is a playful fight between the two, and the small apartment fills with laughter. Then they eat their grilled cheese.
Later, after the clothes are folded, the sun sets. The two of them went to the roof of the apartment complex. The city hums in its business below. Cherri takes a sip of the sweetened lemon water concoction she made in the morning from a cup. Barry drinks some straight out of the pitcher.
Cherri asked “The weekends are harder, aren’t they? Without Auntie Sandra and Grandpa Frank.”
Barry’s face is unreadable for a moment, his gaze fixed in on nothing. “It’s not that I don’t love them. I do. But I needed to leave and make my own path. I’m just so tired. They don’t need to be roped into this. It’s not them Cherri.” There was a pause, “It’s just me.” He curls in on himself slighly
Cherri feeling sympathetic, leans on his shoulder. He doesn’t move. Cherri softly responds, “You know that you don’t have to carry all of it.”
Barry gives a look, “You’re eleven.”
Cherri jokingly bounces back saying “And I am competent, that’s not illegal”
Barry gives an almost imperceptible small smile.
The two of them sit for a moment feeling the wind blow slightly to the east, and the bustle of the people below.
Cherri, breaking the silence, asks, “You think we’re doing okay?”
Barry looked out at the horizon, the sun setting, and then looked back at his sister. “We’re still here.”
Cherri responded with, “That is not an answer, and you know it.”
“It’s the best one I have for today” Barry concurred.
They both sit and admire the sky which was filled with many shades of orange and the clouds becoming more pinkish in hue. The wind picks up slightly more, hair slightly moving in its direction.
Cherri pulls out a folded piece of lined paper from her sweatpants pocket. “I made a ‘house rules list’. Do you want to hear it?” Barry sighs but still listens. “Rule 1: Eat something healthy every day. Rule 2: No secrets too heavy to hold. And Rule 3: Don’t ignore the good stuff, even if it's small.”
Barry looks at her. “That third one... that's a good one.”
Cherri softly adds, “You forget it sometimes.” softly elbowing him. Barry did not deny it.
They watched as the sun slowly disappeared behind the skyline, the breeze slowing down, some siren’s echo could be heard, but from that rooftop it felt quiet.
Once the sun was almost gone Barry got up and signaled for Cherri to get up. “Come on, it’s almost dark.”
“Okay.”
Cherri then goes up behind Barry and hugs him, and then whispers, “Thank you Barry, I love you, and I felt that needed to be said.” Barry first was caught off guard but then embraced it replying with, “Love you too sis, thanks for sticking around.”
As the night ended there were the house rules put on the fridge with a magnet, and beside it a doodle of the two of them hugging, made by both of them.