Second Life

Chapter 16

Life Goes On: Stressful Days

The day was drawing closer but was still far off. Why were human woman pregnant so long? They were sadists.

Bardock couldn’t wait for it to be over. Chi-Chi was moody and liable to bite his head off at a moment’s notice, or break out in tears. He didn’t dare disturb Gohan from his books and Raditz seemed to disappear at the drop of a hat these days.

Kakarot’s friends still dropped by when they could but it wasn’t as necessary, the news of her pregnancy two months ago had breathed life back into Chi-Chi. She was here and there and running everyone ragged, Bardock especially.

He’d been forced to chop wood, fix leaks, catch food, till the garden, plant seeds, gather dinosaur droppings to fertilize the garden, scrub his skin raw, move furniture, carry over filled shopping bags, and  play fetch for Chi-Chi’s every whim. Raditz had abandoned him to these tasks as soon as he was able. He sometimes spent days away from the house.

Bardock stopped contemplating his eldest son’s eventual murder only long enough to gently sit the crib he was carrying on the ground. He’d just flown with it all the way from Fire Mountain, Chi-Chi had insisted on a family crib. The crib was definitely made for a baby the size of Ox-King though so Bardock had no idea where it was supposed to go or how he was even supposed to get it through the door.

“Hmm, I forgot it was so big,” said Chi-Chi from the door. She was nearly ready to pop, but even waddling she was intimidating. She looked at the frame of the door, which was much skinnier than the solid wood crib in the front yard.

“Oh, I hope dad can find Gohan’s old one. I know I gave it to him to store, he better not have broken it,” she said to herself as she waddled back into the house.

Great, now what was Bardock supposed to do with it.

“Oh, Bardock, could take that back to dad’s? There’s no way it’ll fit in here,” called Chi-Chi from inside the house. Bardock collapsed into the dirt beside the crib. She was driving him insane.

“Raditz!” yelled Chi-Chi angrily.

“I know he’s done it, I’m going to, ooh, that selfish, lazy, inconsiderate…” mumbled Chi-Chi as she stormed past Bardock and straight into the house next door. Bardock pulled himself up and followed her.

In contrast to the house next door, Bardock and Raditz’s was nothing short of a pig’s sty. Clothes were everywhere, paper, wrappers, odds and ends, and magazines littered the floor. Usually Chi-Chi would rant and rave about this but now she walked over all of it and straight up the stairs. Raditz’s door was locked, just as it always was, but the way Chi-Chi was banging on it would give soon.

“Raditz, open this door!” Chi-Chi yelled. She banged for a full minute before she stopped, growled inhumanly and kicked down the door. Bardock decided not to intervene.

She stomped into the room a tongue-lashing poised to strike, but she froze in her tracks. Bardock stuck his head in the door.

Raditz was fast asleep. He was covered in blankets which didn’t make sense considering the warm day, and Raditz’s own preference for cold, outside of showers. He and Chi-Chi came to the obvious conclusion, illness. Chi-Chi stepped forward just as Bardock pulled her back and out of the room.

Bardock stepped into the room and walked to Raditz’s bedside. The feeling brought up unpleasant memories both recent and long in the past.

“Raditz,” he called as he gently shook the other saiyan.

Raditz’s face twisted up but he opened his eyes a crack after a few seconds they opened wide, full of shock and was that a hint of fear?

“Father what are doing in here?” he asked. His voice was rough with sleep, or was it disuse, he hadn’t actually held a proper conversation with Raditz in a month at least.

“How long have you been sick?” Bardock asked as he sank to the floor on his knees. Raditz’s eyes shifted from one side of the room to the other, before settling on the floor between them.

“Not long, just a week or so maybe. I’ve just been tired, I’ve been…training,” said Raditz.

He was lying, Bardock could see that but he decided that now was not the time. He put his hands up to Raditz’s face to force him to look at him. He expected clammy, sweaty skin but was surprised to feel a chill on Raditz’s skin. He felt like he’d just stepped out of a walk in freezer.

“Raditz-” he started

“I’m fine, it just happens sometimes,” said Raditz

Bardock nodded, they’d talk later. Chi-Chi was waiting. Bardock stood and walked back into the hall. Chi-Chi had drifted downstairs and was cleaning away her stress. She stared at Bardock as he entered the barely used kitchen.

“He’s fine, it’ll pass in few days,” he said in response to her silent question.

“Oh, good,” she said as she went back to cleaning.

“What was it he did?” asked Bardock, he was sure he’d regret it.

“I made cookies for Gohan but Raditz went ate the whole batch,” she said off-hand. She clearly wasn’t upset about it anymore, Raditz being sick was enough to let it go. That was a good thing because Bardock had eaten those cookies but he wasn’t about to confess to doing it.

What was important here though was that Raditz was acting strange again.

A red sky and the smell of burning flesh.

A population of moderately vicious inhabitants, a spotty moon pattern, exhausting humidity.

A shallow grave, a short life.

Kojack. The planet’s name was enough to send shutters down Raditz’s spine. The people were dead, he’d killed them, the boy was dead, he’d killed him. The sky was blood read the same as the color on his hands.

There was dirt in his cupped hands to fill the hole. It was dark, deeper than he’d dug. He looked down, down into the hole. He leaned forward and fell.

He was falling

Then there was pain…

Raditz woke with a start.  He couldn’t fully remember the nightmare he’d been having but the little he did remember told him all he needed to know about it.

He looked out the window it was dark outside. The sunrise was hours away and everyone was more than likely asleep. He looked around at his room, just as barren as the day he moved in but familiar, safe, it sure beat the middle of the woods on a strange desolate planet. The pain came again just as he began to doze off again.

He stared down at himself, his lower body blocked by the budge of his middle, covered by the soft bulky blanket Chi-Chi had dug out from somewhere. A swift kick to his insides made him sit up. His time had run up.