Kano

　　Kano was walking on water. When his soles became chilly, the path gracefully transitioned to rainbow-hued ice. Then, when his feet got too cold, he stepped onto a path of burning coals, which was soothing until it became painful, and then the coals sprouted into Dewey meadow grass. A surreal bounce colored his every step, as if the sky and ground were fighting for custody over his body.

　　Despite Cabbage`s warning, Kano couldn`t help but to steal the occasional glance away from the path ahead. He did so deliberately, with the promise that he`d only look away for a second, returning to Cabbage immediately, no matter what he saw. He glimpsed fractals and patterns that reminded him of how he felt on certain herbs he`d get from the Weathermen. Creatures passed by in shapes that made no sense, pointed cut-outs resembling animals he knew, but seemed to have too many sides. The landscape was just as impossible. He saw the fronts and backs of mountains simultaneously, rivers turning into stairwells that seemed to lead to nowhere, stars dotting the hills like flowers, flowers filling up the sky. Mind-bending sights sent shots of pain through into his head, intense enough that he thought it might kill him if he didn`t look away. So he always looked away. And Cabbage either didn`t notice, or didn`t care, as long as he kept following.

　　Soft melodies meandered along the Dream`s currents, as if part of the realm`s fabric was woven in lullaby, forever rocking its children to sleep. Kano would sometimes watch the notes float through the air like bubbles, popping when the time came to release their unique sound. He heard notes he`d never heard before, notes which might not exist in his world. He committed to remembering them anyway, so when he made it back, he could write a song to do justice to the strange, delightful, terrifying land - but the moment the sound vanished, so did the memory of it. He kept forgetting that he was forgetting, so he kept committing to remembering. If nothing else, it kept his mind busy.

　　As time went on, the whispers that had tugged him before began to feel hollow and false, of no more interest than any stranger begging his attention in a crowded bar at the end of a set. Occasionally, he`d hear his name, but he recognized it for what it was - a trick of the Dream, nothing more. So, he kept his eyes fixed on Cabbage, he hummed along to the melodies, he skipped across the paths and even let his feet loose enough to dance. Anything to pass the time&

　　"Hey, peanut."

　　The voice ripped him away from it all. He hadn`t heard it in so long. Nothing else mattered. Cabbage couldn`t be further from his mind. He whipped around to find her sitting in her ragged wicker chair, exactly where he saw her last, feet propped up on their ancient, beaten coffee table. She was just as gray, just as wrinkled, just as shriveled, but her eyes still had their kindly crinkles. Life still shone across their surface, reflecting in her gold-flecked brown irises.

　　"Look at how you`ve grown!" his mother said, clasping her hands together. Kano cracked, knees buckling, overwhelmed with tears. This isn`t fair, some faraway thought echoed, eclipsed by the shock, love and sorrow that overwhelmed him. He took a few shaky steps towards her, shoes dusted by the dirt floor of their tiny house on the Wall.

　　"Mom&?" He stumbled towards her, sniffing, reigning his voice to speak. "I`ve missed you s-so much&"

　　"I`ve missed you too, my sweet boy," she said, taking his sunshine-yellow hand in hers to squeeze with strength surpassing her age. "Sit with me, won`t you?"

　　Kano took his place on the floor beside her, pulling in his knees. They couldn`t afford another chair, so that`s where he always sat when they`d read together, and she`d make sure to keep the book slanted so he could still see the pictures.

　　"If I`d known you were coming, I`d have fixed a plate for you," she said. Kano watched her wrinkled hands tremble. By this point, she hadn`t cooked in years.

　　"It`s okay, mom," he said, disguising the sadness in his voice. "I`m not really hungry, anyway."

　　"Have you been saying your prayers?" she asked.

　　"Yes," he said, scratching his head. Not often enough, he thought.

　　"Good, good," she beamed. "It`s important to pray. Keep the Spirit with you in all you do. I`ve been so worried& You were still so young when I left." She shook her head. "Looked it, anyway."

　　Kano winced.

　　"Have you found yourself a girl? I always wanted you to find a girl, even though I knew I wasn`t going to live to see my grandbabies."

　　He stayed still, his short, pointed ears turning hot, a familiar weight pressing on his chest. He never knew what to say when she went on like this.

　　"Oh dear& I`m sorry, peanut," she said. "I know that`s not your fault. Just weighs heavy on my old heart."

　　"It`s okay&"

　　She chuckled and turned to lean towards him, resting her elbow on the arm of the chair. "Well? Have you married yet?"

　　"No. I`ve had a few girlfriends over the years&" He cleared his throat. "A few boyfriends, too."

　　"Boyfriends? Must be your elf blood," she said. "But I just knew you`d be a heartbreaker. You`ll settle down some day, though, once you meet that special someone."

　　Kano stayed quiet, cheeks flushing a funny orange color. His mother tilted her head.

　　"You`ve already met someone, haven`t you?"

　　Kano glanced up. She seemed to have aged backwards. Some of her wrinkles had filled in, and her hair regained most of its chestnut color. She smiled, showing teeth she hadn`t had for years.

　　"It`s alright, peanut. We`ve got plenty of time."

　　"...Okay," he said. She tucked a piece of his wavy red hair behind his ear.

　　"Human or elf?"

　　"Elf."

　　"Oh, good. I was so worried about that. Wouldn`t want you to have to watch your soulmate shrivel up and die like your old mother."

　　Kano bristled.

　　"Oh, there I go again," she said with genuine remorse.

　　"It`s fine, mom, I get it&"

　　Someone shouted just outside their door. He tensed up and looked towards the sound, but he couldn`t understand them. His mother shushed him gently, stroking his cheek.

　　"Neighbors," she said with a groan. "They`ll quiet down once the moonshine hits, I`m sure."

　　"Something isn`t right," Kano said. The shouting had a muffled quality to it. He always used to hear the neighbors crystal-clear, with how thin their shanty`s walls were. And the shadows in his home didn`t seem to have the right shape, as if they hadn`t considered the light leaking in from under the door, or from the crack in the roof that kept coming back, despite all their attempts to fix it. His childhood drawings weren`t tacked to the wall anymore, either. She would never have taken those down. They were still up when he found her.

　　"Nonsense," she said. "Tell me more about your elf-love, sweetheart. When can I meet her?"

　　Kano lowered his gaze, flicking between the red dirt and his mother`s dry, cracked toes nestled in the straps of her cheap driftwood sandals. He rested his chin on his knees and sniffed.

　　"I really screwed up," he said. "I don`t know if you`ll get to meet him. He left a few months ago&"

　　"What did you do?" she asked.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

　　"I got all caught up in the glamour, and& I was really full of myself. I pushed him away. I didn`t mean to - I just stopped paying attention, and he& He just disappeared. He didn`t leave a note or anything."

　　"It`s okay, sweetheart," she said, leaning down close to rub his back. "Some things just aren`t meant to be."

　　Kano looked up to find his mother`s eyes frigid and dark, chilling his heart. A second later, they brightened again, and he forgot that they`d ever changed.

　　"I want to make it right," Kano said, straightening up. "I can`t just give up-"

　　"Maybe you should," she interrupted softly, gently pressing his shoulder down to keep him from standing. Kano furrowed his brow.

　　"Come on, mom-"

　　"Well if you worm your way back into his life, what`s to stop you from breaking his heart again?"

　　Kano scoffed and pulled away.

　　"If you really love him&" She gave him a tired look. "Maybe you ought to just let him go. Think about it. If he`s a full-blooded elf, wouldn`t he have to watch you shrivel up and die? That`s not fair to him at all, is it?"

　　Kano stayed quiet.

　　"I wish it could be different, peanut," his mother cooed. "You`ve got nobody to blame but me. And your father, I suppose&"

　　"This is bullshit," Kano muttered.

　　"I`m sorry. I don`t mean to upset you." She turned the chair to face him and reached for his hand. She hadn`t had strength like this in so long&

　　"You know I love you, Kano. I`m your mother. I`ll never love anyone else more than I love you."

　　The wrinkles and age spots cleared from her hands, and her face was smooth, smoother than he`d ever remembered.

　　"Now, how about you let me braid your hair?" she said with a wide smile. "I never got to while you were growing up. It just never got long enough. But it`s perfect now. You`ll be so handsome with braids!"

　　"But-"

　　"It`s okay, peanut," she said, turning his face towards her. "We`ve got plenty of time, see?"

　　Morning light poured in through the shack`s alley-facing window. Kano glanced around. His drawings were on the wall, after all. He`d just missed them the first time. He never was much of an artist, but his mother thought they were the most perfect pictures any child had ever drawn - stick figures of them holding hands, with his little pointed ears and her little round ears sticking from their heads like wings.

　　HEY!

　　Kano jumped and glanced towards the disembodied voice, but there was nothing there. His mother shushed him gently.

　　"And after we`re done, you can play me a song on your fancy guitar," she said, nodding to the guitar case by the door, though he was sure he`d lost it when the Du閚 had picked him up. "I`m so glad you got to learn. I know how badly you wanted one of those when you were a boy."

　　Kano shook his head. "H-he`s the one who got it for me," he said, struggling to stand. "I need to find him-"

　　"Didn`t he kill someone?" she asked, her voice different, now - low, gritty, otherworldly. Kano`s stomach flattened. He checked his surroundings, as if something might have stolen him away to some horrifying hellscape, but he was still in his childhood home, surrounded by its bare necessities. His mother was still watching him with eyes full of kindness and worry.

　　"I just don`t want you getting hurt," she said, back to sounding like his mother.

　　"It wasn`t like that," Kano argued, flustered. "He didn`t kill her - he was defending himself - and anyway, he`d never hurt me-"

　　BULLSHIT!

　　Pak`s voice cut through the room like a crack of thunder. Kano cried out, his heart pounding, like daggers splintering his dormitory wall - THUMP THUMP THUMP - and suddenly, he was face-to-face with the red X`, barely recognizable beneath the deep gashes left by the weapon. He spun around to find the room exactly as it was, with the window wide open, the tree still within reach, the mouse hole barely obscured by the leg of the table. His mother sat on his dusty covers, though she was withering again, her tan skin going pale, her brown hair going gray. Across from her sat the shadowy form of his only friend, staring at the target-

　　THUMP

　　Kano yelped, dodging the dagger just in time, and stumbled back towards the window. The weapon disappeared and reappeared in Pak`s hand. He threw it again. It stuck in the wall. It disappeared. Pip. Reappeared. Pip&

　　"He`s not stable, Kano," his mother said. "Just watch him. Do you really think he doesn`t have anyone in mind while he`s staring at that thing?"

　　Kano`s gaze drifted from his friend`s intense red eyes - he swore they weren`t red before, but he couldn`t remember their color - to the target. But, where the target used to be, he found the featureless face of a white-skinned elf. Or was it black? It kept shifting. He couldn`t keep track. From each of the weapon`s punctures, a thick stream of blood poured, collecting into a deep red puddle on the floor. Kano shut his eyes.

　　"No& That isn`t fair, mom. You weren`t even there!"

　　"I`ve always been with you, my love," she said. "In your heart, in your mind& I`ve been with you for every day of your life."

　　Tears streamed freely down Kano`s reddened face. He couldn`t bear to look.

　　"Why don`t we just go home?" his mother said. "You`ll have to help me up, but these old bones can still take me-"

　　"Shut up!" Kano cried, his voice cracking. He covered his ears and slid down to the floor, whimpering with every muffled thump that rattled their dormitory wall. It was all wrong. His mother had her flaws and her regrets, but she`d never been like this. She wouldn`t have kept him from someone he loved, even if he was a boy or an elf. She would have been happy he`d found someone at all.

　　The world around him went quiet. Kano fluttered his eyes open, lashes sticky and wet. He was in his house again, sitting where he always sat, and Pak was rocking back and forth next to his guitar, facing the front door. Kano glanced up to find his mother in her wicker chair, motionless, unblinking - just as he`d seen her last.

　　"Mom!" he said, scrambling to face her. He took her hand - her freezing, lifeless hand - then shook her shoulders. She wouldn`t wake up. He shook harder, but she wouldn`t wake up. He crumpled over, sobbing, and buried his face in her skirt, holding onto her leg like the child who found her dead all those years ago.

　　Hey, peanut&

　　Her voice echoed from somewhere far away.

　　I`ve always been with you, my love&

　　"It`s not fair," he squealed. "It`s not fair&"

　　He felt the ghost of her fingers softly snake through his hair. The house went quiet, but she was still there. He was sure of it.

　　"You would have really liked him if you just gave him a chance&"

　　He looked up. Her body disappeared, and he was slumped over the front of the empty chair, bands of wicker pressing deep grooves into his arm. His home was cold and silent, exactly as he`d seen it last. His words hung in the air like unfinished business, unacknowledged. She was dead. He knew she was dead.

　　A cold tickle grabbed his attention. He turned towards the door, where Pak`s shadowy form sat rocking back and forth, and a white light flickered at his side. Kano rubbed his bleary tear-stained eyes, squinting, and for a moment he was sure he saw her kneeling beside him, whispering something. He saw the faint trace of her smile. He saw her eyes glimmer and look up to meet his& and she vanished. Pak faded, too. Kano was alone in his childhood home, aching, with no tears left to give.

　　"HEY!"

　　Cabbage poked his head in from outside the front door. Kano cursed under his breath. He knew he was wasting time. The Dream had snatched him again. It seemed so real when it happened, but he knew, now, that it wasn`t.

　　He headed for the door, bending to pick up his guitar case. It was like new, unpierced by the snake`s fang, and Pak`s book of poetry was still tucked safely in its front pocket. He gave Cabbage a weary, apologetic look. Cabbage huffed and spun around, leading the way once again.

　　Although Cabbage was thoroughly irked, he knew, with how deeply Kano had wedged himself into the Dream, there was no way he could have been extracted - not unless he made the decision to leave. He could have stayed with his mother for eternity if that was what he wanted. But he chose to keep on, as he`d promised. Perhaps he was suited for this journey, Cabbage thought, though his tail flicked impatiently all the same.