3. Aiden
“Move.” I jumped on the couch and grabbed the remote from the table. Gab groaned when I swapped her sappy telenovela for the football game the guys were coming over to watch.
“Aiden! That was the episode where Emilio and Silvia were finally gonna kiss for the first time!”
“Yeah and then they learn they’re actually half-siblings. I watched it last week with Mrs Delacruz, she has the premium channel option.” I smiled smugly, getting more comfortable.
Gabrielle let out what could best be described as a war cry before trying to hit me but all it took was the palm of my hand on her forehead to immobilize her. She still swung her arms around, mumbling about wanting to kill me but I was stronger, taller and had longer arms so she never even grazed me.
“Hey, shut up you two, I’m having tea with my friends over here!” Bibi’s small voice came from our left where mom put a little table for her to eat and play.
Several of her stuffed animals were displayed all around her as she playfully served tea into each of their cups. I even heard her mutter, “Some more Mr. Patchouli? Lord knows you need it with that week you just had.” to her favorite teddy bear.
“You’re the worst brother ever.” Gab muttered, slumping down next to me after tiring herself out trying to hurt me.
“No, the worst brother ever wouldn’t tell you that Matt, Oscar and Julian are coming over to watch the game in little less than fifteen minutes.”
She straightened up, eyes wide with interest. And to my dismay, she wasn’t the only one. Bianca also perked up at the mention of my friends. Well, one in particular.
“Matt is coming?” They both said in unison. I rolled my eyes and nodded.
“Oh my God, I gotta freshen up!” Gabrielle jumped up and ran towards the stairs.
“Me too!” Bibi screamed, her small feet thumping on the old, carpeted floor.
That crush all of my sisters seemed to harbor for Matt was weird –he was literally the grossest guy I knew– but it was also funny to watch it turn them into bumbling idiots. Chuckling under my breath and shaking my head, I made myself more comfortable and put my feet on the little coffee table my mom thrifted a few months ago. She would kill me if she knew but she was out grocery shopping at the moment and Lord knew it could take her hours. The table had seen better days, for sure, but somehow Mom thought it made it vintage.
To me, vintage was just another word for old, and following that logic, our whole living room was vintage. It was small, but still a bit bigger than the neighboring houses. We had the biggest state-appointed home in our neighborhood because of Mom fostering kids. Not by much, but it generally meant that out of all of my friends, it was usually my house that was picked for small gatherings.
That and because Julian doesn’t own a TV –his mom believes it gives off bad energy– and the last time we were at Matt’s house, his dad called us thugs and said he didn’t want his son to hang out with “foreign scum” like us. At least that time he tried being inclusive I guess, calling us foreign.
Being abandoned as a baby, I didn’t really know what I was or where I came from.
Our Columbian next-door-neighbor, Mrs Delacruz, was convinced I had some latin blood in me and has been saying it for as long as she’d known me, which was basically my whole life. She was like the grandma we never had and we spent a good deal of our childhood over at her house eating polvorosas and watching telenovelas. I guess, in a way, we filled in a gap for her too. Her husband was long gone and of all three of her children, only one still actively visited her and stayed with her from time to time.
Mrs Diaz, or Sara, as I was allowed to call her outside of school, married a Southie. She was a genuinely kind woman though, and unlike lots of shifters –that’s what we called Northies that left for the south side– she never turned her back on her roots. She visited her mother regularly and more than once begged her to come live with her and her husband in their nice, white picket fence, greener grass, house.
The old woman always refused though, saying she was born a Northie and would die one too. That’s some devotion I didn’t know I’d ever possess.
The bell ringing got me out of my thoughts and I got up before my sisters could rush to open it and make fools out of themselves. Lord knew they’d be making enough of that while we’ll be watching the game.
“Dude, you gotta deal with your friend, he’s a nutcase.” Was the first thing Julian said after I let them in.
“All I’m saying is DiMarco is ten times the quarterback Daniels will ever be! Aiden, back me up on that!” I ignored them and made my way to the kitchen to get some things to eat.
I thought we had some chips in there somewhere and maybe popcorn if the voracious monsters upstairs didn’t eat all of it.
Of course the guys followed me.
“Yeah and you should be trusted, why? Last week you put Gatorade in your cereals because you were out of milk.” I cringed in disgust, looking at my blond friend like he’d grown a second head.
“It’s a liquid! They’re both liquids!” Matt defended lamely.
“I–”
“Oh, hey boys!” Whatever Julian was about to say was interrupted by Gabrielle leaning against the kitchen’s door frame.
She had changed from her old pajamas into a pair of skinny jeans and a beige satin-looking top which she most likely stole from Sammy’s wardrobe. Our sister would probably kill her when she came back from her high-end boarding prep-school one town over for the week-end.
She was there as a scholarship student for a year in their preparatory program. It was intense and only the best students could attend –unless your parents were rich enough that they’d overlook your grades. Our whole neighborhood was proud of her for going there. Mom and Mrs Delacruz had already gotten started on preparing her graduation party.
“Hey, Gabi.” Matt smiled kindly, totally oblivious to the way my fifteen year old little sister blushed profusely as soon as he did so. I ground my teeth, rolling my eyes in annoyance.
“Hi.” She repeated dreamily.
Julian sent me one of his signature mocking looks, a stupid smile pulling at his lips. I could feel my fists tighten and my nostrils flare.
I loved my friends, and most of the time, I found the little crush my sisters had on Matt funny. Yet, I also hated the dreamy look Gabrielle would get every time she’d look at him. Because Matt never looked at her that way –she was a child to him, and would forever be my little sister– so I knew it could only end in heartache for her.
“Oh my God!” Bianca’s voice pulled me out of murderous thoughts and all of us looked at her standing in the doorway between the kitchen and living room. “Matt, you’re here! What a coincidence!”
She tried acting surprised but I knew better. She too had left her old My Little Pony pajamas and plastic tiara upstairs and changed into a ridiculously big, pink princess gown, with a blue feather boa around her neck. She even put on the fake little heels Mrs Delacruz bought her for her birthday… and was that–
“Did you put on lipgloss?” Julian asked, laughing.
Bibi immediately glared at him. It was actually funny how she went from smiling from ear to ear at Matt to glaring at Julian in such a short amount of time.
“Why are you here?” She spat. “You’re aware we’ll be watching football, right? Not chess, nerd.” Matt burst out laughing, clearly not expecting a five year old to say that.
See, Bianca and Julian had a really peculiar relationship. And by that, I mean they hated each other. Well, more like Bibi hated him and he was scared shitless of her –something he had trouble admitting, even to himself. I think that stemmed from the fact that, when she came to live with us, Bianca was super attached to me and I was spending all my time with Julian, hence she got jealous.
Julian’s eyes narrowed into slits as he glared back at the child. “For your information, I play football too, little girl.”
“No you sit on a bench while Matt here plays football, there’s a difference. Not like you could play anyways, you’re built like a twig.”
“Okay, I think that’s enough.” I swooped in and grabbed her, hoisting her into my arms. “You go upstairs and get back into your normal clothes. And wipe off that lipgloss before I tell Sammy you went snooping through her makeup, again.”
I placed her down on the stairs and gave her a look that had her rolling her eyes and thumping back to her room. Turning around, I caught sight of Gabrielle as she laughed at whatever stupid thing came out of Matt’s mouth. I gritted my teeth to keep myself from barking at him to shut up.
As mentioned, Matthew wasn’t the sharpest tool in the box, but he was funny and nice and good looking. He was a bit like a golden retriever I guess, his personality just made you wanna be friends with him.
“You guys seen Oscar on your way here?” I glanced at my watch, “He was supposed to come and watch the game with us.”
I wasn’t playing when I said Oscar was one of my best friends. He was younger but he was the brother I never had, so we included him in as many things as we could.
“Nope,” Julian jumped on the couch, “his bike wasn’t in front of his house when we passed it on our way here either.” I frowned, pulling out my phone and getting ready to call him when the front door swung open.
“Another one! Another kid disappeared!” My little neighbor seemed out of breath and distraught, placating a piece of paper on the table and drawing everyone’s eyes on it.
We all gathered around it. I spied a look of anguish on my sister’s face, and even Julian suddenly seemed worried, his dumb smile wiped right off his face.
“Again?” I asked, grabbing the paper with one of our neighborhood kid’s picture on it. Oscar nodded, lips pinching together.
“Ravi Muhammad. He didn’t come home yesterday after school, his parents called the police right away but they said there was nothing they could do about it until forty-eight hours had passed.” Anger coursed through my veins at his words. Our town was as divided as it could get, but for some reason, we only had one police force, and it was all funded on Southie money.
“Me and the guys spent the morning putting up posters all over town. That’s why I’m late, sorry.” He slumped down on the couch, exhausted.
How fucked up was it that a thirteen year old boy had been riding his bike all day trying to help with a disappearance case that our own police couldn’t give less of a fuck about?
“Don’t apologize.” Matt messed up his hair affectionately, “you did the right thing, bud.” Oscar tried smiling but it didn’t reach his eyes.
He wasn’t particularly friends with Ravi –at least his name never came up when he talked to me about his friends at school– but I could tell it affected him deeply.
“Man, I hate pigs.” I growled, getting up and pacing around the small space. Gabi sat on Oscar’s other side and rubbed his shoulder softly. “That’s, what? The fourth kid now?”
“Third. In two months.” My sister whispered, worry evident in her voice. And she was right too.
Two kids disappearing at different intervals? Could be they ran away, especially since they came from broken homes. But a kid like Ravi, with a good family life? A third disappearance? There was no questioning it.
“They care so little about us that a sociopath goes around our neighborhood stealing kids and nobody bats an eye.” I tightened my fist, frustrated with the fact that there was nothing we could do about it.
“It’s just one less thug they’ll have to deal with once he’s grown for them.” Julian muttered, eyes lost in the room.
I hated that he was right, that this was our reality.
“His parents are organizing a hunt tonight after they get off work. I said I would help.” Oscar informed us and I swear every muscles in my body coiled at his words.
I understood why he volunteered, and his heart was in the right place. But sometimes he tended to forget he was only thirteen. A fucking child himself.
“Absolutely fucking not.” I growled. “Tonight you’ll be safely locked in your house while you wait for your mom to come home. No, actually, fuck that, you’re staying over for the night.”
Immediately, he jumped to his feet. “Like hell I will! This is my neighborhood, Aiden. I’m not a kid anymore, I wanna help.”
Frustration and anger were evident in his voice. Fear, too. It broke my heart and only comforted me in my decision not to let him go. His mom worked tonight, he would be safer here with my family than alone in their house or, God forbid, scouring the streets looking for his schoolmate.
“You’ll be helping me have peace of mind while I’m there helping them, so I won’t have to worry about you.”
“You can’t tell me what to do!” he yelled
“Wanna bet on that?” I yelled right back.
I grew up with this kid, watched over him when he was five and I was ten, drove bullies away, taught him how to ride his bike… he might not have had my blood in his veins but he was my brother.
Oscar looked at me with resentful eyes before turning around and running towards the front door. I gulped when I heard it slam on his way out and closed my eyes, letting my head fall back.
I hated fighting with him, and that was bound to happen more and more as he grew older, but I wouldn’t go back on my decision. Ravi was around his age. Katarina, the first girl that disappeared, the one everybody thought ran away from an abusive father? She was a year older than him. Clearly, whoever took those kids had an age preference and I’d be damned if I let Oscar rummage through town and around the woods surrounding us alone at night. Even if it stemmed from a good intention.
“He just wants to help, Aiden.” Julian muttered.
The whole mood had gotten incredibly tense around us. No more jokes were told, no one was getting roasted for fun. We were all lost inside our heads, thinking up worst case scenarios and letting worry settle inside our guts. I had no idea when she had come back but even Bianca was burrowing herself against Gab, looking scared and uncomfortable which told me she had probably heard more than she should have.
Flexing my jaw, annoyed at myself, I went after Oscar first, hoping he didn’t get on his bike to wander around. I’d hate myself if my wanting to protect him actually drove him to do something as reckless and stupid as that, especially right now.
When I opened the front door, though, I was relieved to find him there, sitting on the stairs leading to our patio. Silently, I sat next to him and we watched the empty street in front of us. His mom’s old beaten car sat in their driveaway and he stared at it.
One of our neighbors, Mr Regans, was mowing his lawn. He had the prettiest front yard in our block and took great care of it, growing flowers, keeping it neat. He noticed us and waved his hand to which we both answered with a polite nod.
Neither of us talked for the longest time. I could tell he was still angry, he always hated being told what to do. But as I said, he was my baby brother. I’d rather have him well but angry at me, than in danger.
“Should’ve seen his mom, man” Oscar’s voice broke the silence. My little friend had a haunted look in his eyes. Elbows on his knees, he leaned over like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. “She couldn’t stop crying. And all along I was just staring at her, seeing my mom instead.”
He was everything she had. He didn’t say it out loud but we all knew it was true. Carmen did her best to give him everything he might need or want in life, and people, especially Southies, might judge her methods, but we weren’t much into judging what others did to survive and provide over here.
“Hey.” I squeezed his shoulder, giving him a hug. To my surprise, he let his head fall against my chest and didn’t move, like he needed to be held but felt like he was too old to admit it. “It’s gonna be okay, bud. Nothing’s gonna happen to you.”
“Do you promise?” He sniffled angrily, trying to hide the fact that he was crying.
I stopped, his question giving me thought. Reasonably, I knew I couldn’t promise anything, I knew life worked in ways that could prove to be devastating sometimes.
But I wasn’t known to be reasonable. I was passionate, I listened to my heart. And my heart told me there was no way I was letting anything happen to my best friend.
“Yeah. I promise. You and me against the world, remember? I told you we’d get out of here together. I’m the Rocky to your Creed. Always.” I hugged him a little tighter, like I was the one who needed the closeness suddenly.