Po nudged the lifeless hand on his head. Silent in his demand for attention.

Roman doesn't share the same enthusiasm. His boyish features harden into a scowl. So much anger already lacing his tongue.

"What's it matter to you, Bo?"

Hateful for no reason.

Panicked for plenty.

So, he lies, "I've been with Uncle Cian. The one you didn't tell me about." or he would be if he'd been able to find CIAN MAHER.

He took a step back, "Come here, Po. We're leaving." reluctantly, the canine attempted to move away.

boruta maher - Blocks Your Path

Rockruff at his side, Roman's ready to bolt, but he stops midstep. All he should be doing now is running, find a taxi and head back to jayden cross. Leaving Jayden's house in Sootopolis on his own had been stupid.

But CIAN MAHER made promises too. Promised to be there if Roman needed or wanted him to be. Yet here stood his dad, telling him the man who'd bought him a phone, and offered kindness and freedom posed a threat.

Why wouldn't his legs listen to him? Why the fuck were they turning around to face boruta maher?

Why did he care?

Frozen in place as if hit by an ice beam, Roman stared up at his father, furious greens clashing with the man's melancholy golds.

"You're lying." he fired, "Uncle Cian isn't dangerous. He bought me a phone, told me I could come to visit whenever I wanted." Roman clenched his jaw. "He didn't lie to me or keep anything from me either." they'd swore on it.

Cross Cian's heart, hope to die, stick a Weedle in his eye.

"Tell me." Roman didn't ask but ordered.

boruta maher - Blocks Your Path

"I won't run."

For now.

The option remained loaded and ready at the back of his mind.

Things weren't off to a great start. There was another uncle that Roman didn't know? Seriously, what the fuck was wrong with his family? They didn't think he had the right to be informed about anything.

His heavy scowl from earlier returned painted in shades of distrust as well as anger.

"I don't want to know about Caden. I want to know about Uncle Cian."

Don't change the subject on him, Boruta. The truth, that's what you promised him, and that's what Roman wanted. Not about some uncle he hadn't met but on the one he had. The one who'd promised him that he'd be different than the deadbeat walking next to him.

"Why's he dangerous? Is he some sort of super villain?"

boruta maher - Blocks Your Path

"Family's Important."

The dark bush of Roman's brow bristled at the words. His dad had no right to speak on the value of family. Not to him. Not when he'd spent so long away, a distant figure in the background - spoken of but rarely seen. Anger returns, a shaken-up bottle of soda hissing underneath a plastic cap ready to explode. Roman reaches to undo the seal but stops short.

Something in the old man's apology plucks a cord on his heartstrings. Maybe it's his face, how his eyes are glossy with the hint of tears that threaten to spill but never come. Perhaps it's the hesitation to get the words out. How when they're finally spoken, they're filled with pain, the kind Roman can feel like a Beedrill's sting in his chest. Whatever the reason - the young Maher holds his tongue.

For the first time in his life, Roman does nothing but listen. Oh, how he wished he hadn't. Because what he learns is that despite the promise, despite crossing hearts and threats of Weedle pokes, CIAN MAHER is a liar.

No one in his family can be trusted.

Black shoes come to a sudden halt on the pavement as if hit by a Thunder Wave. Fingers are tight, coiled like an Arbok into Roman's palms. All that sugary, anger-filled Root Beer from the soda bottle inside his chest leaks out from the sides of the cap. There's something else mixed into the liquid. Forcing emerald greens to act like mirrored reflections of his father's eyes. A conflicted concoction of melancholy and anger.

But why? Roman asks himself. Nothing his father has said about Uncle Cian is any different than the things he's done. Roman's hurt others. Lots of kids his age and older met the end of his fists. He'd lied, stolen - so then why does this hurt?

Why did he want to cry?

"That it's a place where criminals go when they've been caught."

Where everyone said he'll end up sooner or later.

boruta maher - Blocks Your Path

The same ones I made.

The words echo in the silence that surrounds him. Suffocating in their presence and how they cling to him, drag him down, and force Roman to see his father in a way he never has before.

As himself.

They rock the very foundation of who Roman perceives his father to be. A man who doesn't get it. Who couldn't possibly relate to the struggle of feeling alone and unwanted, of feeling hated.

But he does, doesn't he?

Pain stings his heart. It jabs like a dagger into the depths of his soul and curls fingers into palms. If that's the case, then why? Why couldn't he be around? Because of danger? "Bullshit."

"This is all bullshit!"

Everything he's feeling channels into his legs, and Roman darts blindly down the road. He'd promised not to run, but Mahers were liars - so his dad shouldn't be surprised. Po is somewhere behind him, barking, but the child's too distracted to notice. Too busy trying to put as much distance between himself and his father to heed the canine's warning.

He's heading into danger. Roman's emotional charge sends him straight into the path of a shifting Snorlax. He entered Rusturf Tunnel just in time for the Snorlax to move in front of the entrance. Trapping him inside and surrounding him in darkness - alone.

A familiar place.

boruta maher - Blocks Your Path

Surrounded by the familiar ocean of darkness, his feet grow roots, momentarily stopping Roman in his tracks.

"Wait for him."

He peered over his shoulder back to the sealed exit. The screams of his father twitched his ears from beyond the dark.

"Go home."

His mom had to miss him, right? And his dad took the time to care, and yet -

"I can't trust anyone."

Roman gritted his teeth, the trickle of tears down his cheek staining the unseen stone below. Emeralds hardened at the exit before he threw his head forward and continued to dash on ahead.

What good was family when all they did was lie?

boruta maher - Blocks Your Path