The Dangerous Secret

“Johnny… don’t ever let anything hold you down, darling. Keep your head held high and nothing will ever be able to touch you.”

His mother spoke softly to him as he stood out on the small, grimy balcony of his apartment, a half-burnt cigarette resting in-between his slender fingers. He’d heard those words so often as a child, and had always believed firmly that he was going to become something, someone, that could change the world in the most unbelievable way.

“You know, I tried. But look at me now, mother… twenty-two, living in a shit-hole, smack bang in the middle of hell-on-earth. What did I do to deserve this…?”

He took a long drag from his almost spent cigarette, closing his eyes briefly. His mother wasn’t really with him. He doubted if she even knew what had been happening to him. She was up there, in Heaven, along with his father. A place where Tea knew that he would never be welcome.
Breathing out the inhaled smoke slowly, he straightened up, tossed the cigarette butt over the edge of the railing, and turned to walk back into his apartment, closing the window to the balcony behind him.
The apartment itself was dark, just like Tea’s mood. Large plastic bottles of water with the sign of the cross printed onto them lined the walls, which themselves were etched with Latin inscriptions. If someone walked into the apartment unknowingly, they would probably think they had stumbled into some kind of secret occults’ meeting place.
Tea moved over to his table and poured himself a large glass of Jack Daniels, before sitting, running his free hand through his tousled blonde hair. He had been hearing his mother’s voice a lot more lately, ever since he had discovered that Zip, the young fruit bat that he’d met on the streets one night, was his brother.
He took a gulp of the amber liquid in his glass, squeezing his eyes shut as the alcohol burned his throat. It looked like it was gonna be another night of the same old thing; get drunk, smoke ten cigarettes, and pass out on the table.

That was until he heard a knock on the door.

He pulled his hand away from his head and stared at the door, not used to visitors. The knock came again and he frowned, taking another gulp of whiskey before placing the glass down and moving to the door, opening it a crack.

London tilted his head slightly as he watched the door open, one hand gripping tightly to Zip’s hand, and he beamed as he saw the green muzzle of Tea appear in the gap.

“Alright? Sorry to disturb n’ all, but Zip was insisting...” London’s cockney accent echoed about the hallway and Tea’s eye twitched at the noise, his gaze lowering to Zip who was clinging desperately to London’s hand.

“How did you…” Tea began, but he was interrupted by the hyena, who seemed to be intrigued by the symbols carved into the doorframe.

“We’ve heard yer’ name around so we just kinda asked where to find you. Hope it’s not a bother…”

Tea pursed his lips and glanced down at Zip again. “I’m not really in the mood for visitors.”

London squeezed Zip’s hand in support as Zip whimpered sadly. “I understand… bet you don’t get many visitors around ‘ere. Sorry to trouble ya.”

He’d heard a lot about Tea from the people in the marketplace where he worked. Most of them had told him they thought that Tea was in legion with the devil or that he’d murdered people up in his apartment. Others had said that Tea was simply rude and obnoxious, and others had never heard him speak to anyone. Despite all of the rumors, London wasn’t put off; he knew what some of the folk could be like around here. He’d managed to find someone who Tea had helped once, whose son was possessed, and he persuaded them to give him Tea’s address.

Tea thought through what London had said for a second. It was true that he didn’t get any visitors and that was the way he liked it, but this was Zip…
“Sure.” He murmured softly, unlatching the chain lock on his door and opening it, moving back into his apartment, letting London and Zip let themselves in.
Zip’s expression changed immediately from a sullen pout to an insane grin, and he bounded into the room, his long sleeves dangling as he clapped his hands to his cheeks. “Oooh…!” He giggled as he surveyed his surroundings, his eyes rolling with glee.
Tea glanced over at the young bat as he poured himself another whiskey, wondering why Zip wanted to come and see him. He turned his head to notice London watching him, and gestured to the whiskey bottle.
“No, ta.” London shook his head and smiled. “Not much of a drinker, me.”
Tea nodded and moved to sit down at the table again, but suddenly found himself with a very excited Zip attached around his middle. “Wha…”
“Tee…” Zip purred, nuzzling into Tea as he gripped gently to Tea’s waist, giggling softly to himself, unaware of the older bat’s discomfort.
A little taken aback, Tea gently patted Zip’s straw-like hair, unsure what to do. “Hey, kid…” He murmured, feeling that same pang of attachment that he felt the first time he met Zip out on the streets, gently pushing against Zip’s head to try and make him loosen the hold.
“Tee!” Zip held tighter, not wanting to let go of this beautiful brother of his, and Tea glanced at London for help.
“Zip, don’t suffocate the poor bloke! We came ‘ere to talk to ‘im, not kill ‘im!” London grinned and walked to Zip, gently leading him away from Tea, but Zip immediately pulled away from London again and moved to a corner of the room to sulk, his large ears drooped downwards.
Tea raised an eyebrow and took a sip of his whiskey, sitting down at his table. “Talk about what?” he asked.
“Well…” London began, as he glanced around for a second chair but found none, settling for standing, “… Zip’s been mentioning you to me a lot, ever since you brought ‘im home that night. And well, he was talkin’ about you… bein’ his brother…? Now I know sometimes Zip tells stories about things, but he seemed pretty insistent about this…”

There was a short silence, apart from the flick of a lighter as Tea lit up a cigarette. This was a question that Tea had been dreading since he found out himself that Zip actually was his brother, and he wasn’t sure how to answer it. He wanted to tell London that yes, Zip was telling the truth, and that he was pleased that he had finally found his long lost brother...

“What do you want me to say?” Tea took a drag of his cigarette and glanced over at Zip, who was still pouting in the corner. “I think I’d remember if I had a brother, don’t you?”

It came out, just like that. Tea knew that it was a mistake as soon as the words left his lips, but he didn’t correct himself.
Zip perked his ears at this and looked over his shoulder at Tea, wringing his sleeves together, his eyes wide and brimming with unshed tears.
“No… no, no, no….” Zip mumbled to himself, confused because he knew that Tea is his brother.
London frowned and peered at Tea through his glasses for a second.
“Well, ’scuse me if I sounded a bit rude… but you do look a lot alike! And Zip was positive that…”
This time it was London’s turn to be interrupted by Tea.
“He’s positive about it? Look at him. He’s insane! He’s probably positive that clouds are made out of candy floss, for Christ’s sake.”
There was yet another silence, but it was suddenly broken by the harsh sound of Zip sobbing into his shirt sleeves.
“You arsehole.” London growled. He rarely ever got angry, but right now he was seething as he stared at the exorcist. “It’s not his fault, you know!”
Tea flinched inwardly as London referred to the lab, but kept his cool exterior, gulping back the rest of his glass of whiskey.
“I have things to attend to. Door’s that way.” He looked London right in the eyes as he spoke, before leaning back against his chair.
London’s eyes narrowed and he turned away from the table to move over to Zip who was still sobbing in the corner.
“Shh, come on now, Zip… he’s not yer’ brother… I am, right…?” London murmured softly to Zip, stroking his back to comfort him. “Let’s go home, eh?”
He managed to calm Zip enough to take hold of his hand and lead him slowly towards the door, turning slightly to look back at Tea as if he was about to say something, but the silence said everything he wanted, and he gently pulled Zip out of the apartment, slamming the door behind them.

Stubbing out his cigarette, Tea poured himself yet another drink as London’s words echoed in his mind.

“It’s not his fault, you know!”

Downing the drink in one, Tea then rested his head on his arms, the glass still in one hand, replying to the hyena in his mind.

“I know it’s not his fault. Because it’s my fault…”

The only reason that Tea had told London that Zip wasn’t his brother was because he didn’t want to get Zip involved with his job. Tea was a tough nut for the demons to crack, but if they found out about Zip….
It had happened countless times before with old friends of his, and he wasn’t about to put his brother in danger again. Not when he had already failed in saving Zip once.

“Not again… it won’t happen this time…” he thought to himself, before he slowly slipped into a restless, tormented sleep.