The twenty mile stretch felt more like 5 miles due to Ime having the tendency to be an easily frustrated driver. As I arrived to my destination I can feel the heaviness that Ime was giving. I gathered my things, my laptop, my cleaning supplies, and gloves. As soon as I jumped out of the truck, she was already backing out and leaving me alone at the strange house.

"You bitch! " I muttered, knowing if this goes south it would be Ime's fault in a heart beat.

I heard the door open from behind me and it caught me off-guard. The person I seen was much less of the person I expected to see living here. This human was so ambitious with how they look they could pass off as any gender they wanted. Hair that resembled the cool autumnal days of October. Dressed in the most basic grocery store clothes with a Woo-tang Clan shirt from decades ago. The only thing that gave him away, granted I shouldn't have been staring was the way his jeans where against his body.

"Are you here to help me? I posted something on the internet about needing help with de-cluttering my grandma's whole horde." The blonde questioned holding a small mug of hot cinnamon tea taking occasional sips out of it.

"I'm here to help you out wit the horde. It was a last minute decision to help you out since my co-worker slash roommate got incredibly agitated with me."

"I feel like I have seen you before but I can't put my finger on it." He tilts his head to his left pointing a finger at his cheek

"I work at I.W.B. I was on television last night and it was the most out of character thing I have done to this date."

"You don't look like you should be working there, just saying. Anyway, what I mean is that I feel like I have some kind of connection to you that I can't seem to put my finger on." His negative comment didn't hurt me like other peoples have in the past. It was like he knew how to not offend me. I started to realize that he was right about our connection because he was making gestures that only one person I know has done in the past.

Standing outside was giving poor blondie the chills. They where gesturing me to come into this garage type building. I followed their footsteps and my eyes where in total shock from the intricately designed time capsule. The floor was obviously cleaned up before I shown up as blondie had enough pride in this room to show it off like a magazine show piece.

Curtains that where quilted in oranges and scarlets with hints of a tobacco stained color. Bed was dark wooden framed with a Headboard with built in shelving. that housed an alarm clock and a few prescription bottles. The room was gently caressed by two light sources and a old-school grey cathode ray tube television with a set top box on the top of the television displaying the current time.

Blondie sat down on the bed and then began to introduce themself to me.

"I'm Ashton Caeden, I work for multiple high end clients as a cyber security expert for some and as a software engineer, for others I work at Le Fleur as their main barkeep in my spare time."

"Jonah Ryder, Like I said and I won't repeat my self, but I'm the voice of the Satellite Radio Service, and I have provided my voice for broadcast alerts when severe weather hits. In my spare time I do crafts but mainly I draw. "

"That's impressive, with your work for being weather boy for the day really painted a bad picture for you, especially since that meteorologist Ime got shot."

"We had no other choice, our newly hired meteorologist is incapacitated, Ime got shot and almost died, and our former chief meteorologist well he's dead now. For all I care Ime got a promotion."

Ashton looked at me and checked his personal digital assistant, before long I could hear the noise of the large dumpster being dropped off outside . He gathered a few things to uplift the mood like air fresheners, laundry detergent, and a small AM/FM weather radio.

I opened the door since he was carrying a lot of thing in his hands.

As we entered what seemed to be a micro mansion, you could tell it was horded to a certain extent but It wasn't something that I haven't dealt with before.

"Welcome to now my brand new house, please ignore the weird rotted onion smell, the former owner passed just this week and thankfully she was dealt with and shipped back to Canada where she belongs." Ashton said with a gleefully sarcastic tone that was both funny and confusing.

"I don't know whether to start laughing or asking questions." I hesitated questioning aloud my weird thinking process.

"Diabetes, type two, and its okay to laugh. I hated the bitch's guts."

"That's all I need to know for now. Thanks." I would have laughed even without clarification but out of respect I kept my peace.

Ashton then begins to discuss the plan of action for the house. He is going to work on getting all the unnecessary crap and broken garbage into the dumpster as well as figuring out the areas that may need attention. All he asked of me is to clean the kitchen and any room he is finished with so we can start moving him into the house. He places the weather radio on top of a wood-grain television beside an old black GameCube and plugs it into a dated surge protector.

It was obviously set on the rock station, I could tell due to "In the End" by Linkin Park was being played. As I walked into the kitchen, There it was a puddle of onions, the smell was so bad but I couldn't help but laugh at it because onions are the weirdest vegetables ever. Ashton looked at me like I was some sort of nut job but I was laughing so hard I actually aggravated my tics and started coughing.

"You good Jonah? " Ashton showed a lot of concern.

"Yeah… I'm fine. Just a tic disorder. " I said in between coughs .

"I know a few people from the special needs class I was in had a few people with severe forms of Tourette syndrome. Makes sense now why some of them cough so much."

The kitchen Island was the first thing I started with when cleaning. As I slapped a sponge into water the cleaning came natural to me. Scrubbing the Granite chopping block and polishing the Wooden cabinets with a wood polish gave it shine like no other. Wiping out the crumb collection units and generously putting in some dividers that I have seen on the counter brand new and never used. I started humming one of the songs that was being played, but I did hear Ashton come into the kitchen and start singing the song, then the connection clicked for me.

He stopped singing and noticed the work on the kitchen island. His eyes where drawn to the luster of the wood finish that had been renewed. Never have I heard a man so giddy over shiny wood you would have to have the most dirtiest mind to be excited over wood but here he was , staring at a partial reflection of himself in the sheen.

"Did you… Looks like you've already taken care of those drawer dividers I bought. I'll label them real quick."

While he was clicking away at the label maker, I thought to myself his hands are so delicate looking. Would be a shame if he accidentally cuts one of them off. I knew I shouldn't have thought that because the next thing he did was pull his sleeve up, and confirm he had the same idea in the past.

"Onions" I murmured then I twitched my head.

"Yes, what about my onions?" Ashton turned to me, a bit confused. Checked his left leg to see if his pants where actually at his waist.

"I'm sorry what? " I wasn't sure if he meant the onion stench that still lingered, or something completely different.

"You said onions, I didn't know if you read my tattoo or not. Sometimes I forget about wearing pants. "

"Why would you… Nevermind, it's not like anyone is going to see you in your boxers checking the mail anyway out here in Tumbuktu."

There is a soft and gentle finger that gently glides across my face. Ash just looks at me with soft eyes. "You're crying Jonah, should we take a break?" I didn't realize I was crying, I'm not sure if it was from the chemicals we where using or the onions.

"If you want to as well I guess…"

Ashton leads me back to the guest house. I couldn't control the floodgates, it was only a matter of time before he handed me a crystal clear glass of water that had been filtered.

"No crying on my watch, if you cry I cry." Ashton pointed at me and had a sad look on his face, the blunted affect gave away the memories and the bond I had with him before. It wasn't a new person I was hanging out with. It was an old friend that I have not seen in years at this point.

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