Freezing Bonds that Tie our Hearts (Blood and Water #2)

11. Aiden

It was pouring by the time I got to the football field where Oscar’s practice took place and he was nowhere in sight. As a matter of fact, the only person that was still there was his coach, Mr. Jackson, his body leaning inside his trunk, shoving what probably was football equipment inside. In his late fifties, Mr Jackson was an institution in this town.

He was one of the few Southie teachers to treat everyone equally, regardless of what part of the town they came from. He’d been my middle school PE teacher and also coached two times a week in his spare time. He had been the one to suggest I start boxing when I was twelve and angry at the world.

After the altercation with Nova in the closet, I was late to pick up Oscar, but I couldn’t say I regretted it. What happened at school had been out of this world. It encompassed anything I would have ever imagined and I couldn’t fucking wait to see her again tomorrow.

A part of me did feel slightly guilty for leaving Oscar in the rain for so long. He had been waiting for close to thirty minutes now, and make out session aside, I would’ve been only ten minutes late if I hadn’t ran into traffic on my way there. Someone wrecked their car, probably because of the pouring rain, and the thing about living in a town as small as Ravenbridge, was that the slightest road inconvenience created monster traffic.

Still, as soon as the field came into view, I parked quickly and got out of my car, making my way towards Coach Jackson, thinking maybe Oscar was waiting for me inside his truck, away from the rain.

Jackson’s back was to me and when I called his name a few feet from him, that must’ve startled him because he sprung upright, hitting his head on the open trunk in the process.

“Fuck!” He swore, rubbing the spot where his bald head hit the metal of the car and I frowned. He seemed on edge for some reason. “I didn’t hear your car.” He explained and then quickly slammed the trunk of his car shut, smiling awkwardly.

“Sorry, the rain makes it hard to hear anything, really.” I shrugged, “You mind calling Oscar? I’m supposed to take him home tonight.”

That seemed to confuse him, “Oscar?” When I nodded, he continued, “Aiden, Oscar left twenty minutes ago. You were late and it was pouring so he said he’d walk home with some other kids from the school.”

A sick feeling churned in my stomach as dread settled into my bones. “What?”

“Yeah, said he didn’t want to wait in the rain and might as well just start walking home.”

“And you let him?” I spat, anger quickly pulsing inside my veins. “You know kids have been reported missing, Jackson, so why the fuck did you let Oscar go home alone? You should’ve told him to wait for me.”

“He wasn’t alone and I had other things to do.” He gritted his teeth, “If those kids helped me gather all their fucking football gear once in a while maybe I would have been able to keep an eye on them. I’m alone here, Aiden and I got a daughter to get from her nanny soon, so yeah, time is precious, okay?”

That was no fucking excuse and I wanted to yell that to him but I chose not to waste my time and get back into my car instead. If Oscar had left twenty minutes ago, that meant he was probably home by now, or close by, so I didn’t wait any longer and drove like a mad man to get there as quickly as possible. I spent the entire car ride dialing his number but the phone never even rang and just went straight to voicemail. I gritted my teeth and resisted the urge to throw mine out the window, knowing it would only be counter-productive.

Once our neighborhood came into view, my eyes were everywhere, looking for him, but no one in their right mind would stay outside in this rain.

I didn’t bother parking and simply stopped in front of Oscar’s house before I started knocking at his door. Carmen’s car was not out front which meant she had probably already left for work. My fists kept on banging on the door, but it was useless. Nobody answered.

“Oscar!” I called, internally praying that he would answer.

Maybe he’s taking a shower to warm up. If he walked home in this rain, he had to have been soaking wet by the time he arrived.

Not waiting any longer, I grabbed the spare key they hid inside a dead flower pot and unlocked the door. The familiar scent of spices and sugar greeted me as I jogged upstairs to what I knew was Oscar’s room.

“Oscar, buddy, you there?” I opened the door but the room was empty, only the scarce, second-hand furniture stared back at me.

Silence.

That was all I could hear. There was no shower running, no TV, no music, just… deafening silence. I immediately grabbed my phone and tried to call him again, but like before, I only got his voicemail.

Instead of giving in to my anger, I dialed Matt’s number and ran out of the Vasquez’s house and towards mine.

“Yo.” My best friend picked up just as I was pushing the door to my home open and calling for my mom.

“Have you seen Oscar?”

“Oscar? No. Didn’t he have football practice tonight?”

“He did but I was late to pick him up and Coach said he walked home with kids from school.” My mom rounded the corner, a frown marring her face, hearing how frantic and anguished my voice sounded. “There was no one on the way there and there’s no one at his house.”

“Have you called Carmen?” Mama suggested and I shook my head.

“I came straight here thinking maybe he’d forgotten his keys and came to our house instead of going home.”

“Nobody came by, Aiden.”

My heart beat faster with each word. I was probably overreacting, maybe this was nothing, maybe he went to one of his buddy’s place to play video games. Maybe his phone just died and he didn’t have anywhere to charge it. The list of possibilities was endless, but none of them eased the churning in my stomach. No, I had a bad feeling about this.

“Matt, can you go around the neighborhood and ask the kids if they saw him? He might be over at one of their houses, playing Fortnite or whatever.”

“On it.” Was all he said before the line went dead.

I threw my phone on the couch, raking my fingers through my hair, anxiety taking hold of me.

Fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

“Aiden, sit down, you look like you’re having a panic attack.” Mom pushed on my shoulders, forcing me to sit down and take a deep breath. “It’s okay, baby, I’m sure Oscar is just with some friends.”

“His phone goes straight to voicemail, Ma’. I was late to pick him up, I should’ve called him but he usually waits for me and—”

“You need to calm down.” I shut my eyes, slumping down on the couch.

She was right. There probably was nothing to worry about. Matt would call me back soon telling me that Oscar was over at one of his friends’. Better yet, my phone would ring anytime now and I would see his name appear on the screen.

Everything would be fine.

***

The son of a bitch laughed in my face.

He didn’t even try to hide it, just plainly laughed, throwing his head back like I’d just told him the joke of the century.

“This is fucking serious, what the fuck is wrong with you.” I slammed my hands on his desk, ready to get in his face for acting like such a dick. “Three kids are fucking missing already, why the fuck are you not taking this seriously!”

Mom’s hand on my shoulder reminded me not to lose my temper because these men were unpredictable. They did not see us as equal. Fuck, they barely saw us as people. I fucking hated Southies.

My screaming in his face seemed to sober him up and Chief Richards glared at me.

“You better watch that tone with me, young man.”

“Then do your fucking job and start looking for my brother! He’s been gone for hours and nobody has a clue where he is! His fucking phone is dead, the friends he started walking home with said they separated because he didn’t want to go with them to the diner so he left alone, in the fucking rain! He could be dead already and you fucking pigs are laughing, acting like this is not serious!”

From the corner of my eyes, I saw two of the standing officers on our left put their hands on their guns, like I was some kind of danger to them. Never mind that we were in a fucking police station and that I wasn’t armed, unlike them.

“I said watch that fucking tone.” The cop in front of me, Chief of Ravenbridge PD, Mark Richards, stood up, no longer lounging in his chair like some useless fuck and put both hands on his belt like I was supposed to be intimidated by him.

I wanted to tell him to fuck off but then remembered I needed their help so I clamped my mouth shut.

“Oscar Lopez is a troublesome kid, we’ve had some issues with him damaging public property before and he’s gotten into his fair share of fights too. He’s probably out there wreaking havoc and will show up in a few hours. Go back home and stop acting like a mother hen. Lord knows his mother will be too busy sliding up and down that pole to give a shit about him.”

That was my last straw.

Before I could think, I gripped his collar and yanked him towards me, ready to send my forehead smashing into his bitch mouth but my mother’s scream stopped me.

“Aiden, please!” Her hands gripped my arm and the evident fear in her voice had me looking around, only to see that two officers already had their guns pointed at me.

I immediately yet reluctantly let go of Richards, gulping down my anger and putting my hands up to show I meant no harm.

Well, that was a big fucking lie because I did mean harm. I wanted to fucking kill him in that moment.

“Get the fuck out of here, boy, before I put you in a cell for the night.”

That wouldn’t be the first time, I thought, but spending the night in a cell simply because I wanted to spit on him would be counterproductive. I had to find Oscar first.

“We’re going. Please put down your weapon, we’re going.” Mom all but begged them and I fucking hated that.

I fucking hated that a woman as strong and independent as her had to plead for the fuckers that were supposed to protect us to not point their guns at us. My jaw was set as I watched Richards give a slight nod to his officers, after which they reluctantly dropped their arms.

“If anything happens to these kids, it’s on you.” I spat before turning around and walking out of the police station. Out front, I nearly ran into Mrs Richards who held a box, most likely her douchebag husband’s dinner, in her hands.

I looked up into her startled hazel eyes and mumbled an apology. Her gaze didn’t falter and she looked at me.

Miranda Richards was a beautiful woman, at least twenty years younger than our chief of police, if not more. People often speculated that she only married him for the money and honestly, I believed that too. Not because I thought all women were gold diggers but because I simply couldn’t find anything else to like about the fucker. Miranda was a soft-spoken woman in her mid-thirties, she dressed like the fucking first lady and acted like it too. Her and her husband didn’t have kids but she often volunteered at school functions and seemed to love them.

But their marriage was just another one of Ravenbridge’s mysteries and I simply didn’t have time to dwell on it tonight. I side-stepped her, not bothering to greet her, rushing towards the parking lot.

Mom followed straight after me and as soon as we were back in the car I punched the wheel in frustration, letting my head fall back in my seat.

“I told you this would be useless! They don’t care about us, mom. We’re not rich enough or white enough to matter in their eyes!”

“We had to report him missing, baby. If, God forbid, Oscar doesn’t show up in twenty-four hours, they’ll have to conduct an investigation.”

“Like they did for Katarina, Stevie and Ravi, you mean? They’re so fucking convinced nothing good comes out of the North that they’re just sitting on their asses all day instead of protecting us. I—” My phone beeped with a text and I grabbed it as fast as I could, thinking maybe it was Oscar reaching out.

It wasn’t.

AK: I tried taking a look at the cameras around the field and the woods but they don’t work. Haven’t for a few years now. Oscar’s phone stopped working midway between the field and his house, I’ll text you the exact coordinates asap. What did the pigs say?

I typed back quickly:

Me: Fucking nothing. They’re useless.

AK: Go to Lakestone. Ask for Detective Brooks. He’s helping a friend of mine, I have a feeling he could help you too. Good guy.

I didn’t answer. I felt so desperate that I didn’t even mind the thirty minute drive to Lakestone to talk to that guy. Neither me or my mom spoke a word, both of us were clearly lost in our own thoughts and worries.

***

He didn’t look like any cop I had ever seen.

Detective Maddox Brooks was tall and built like a fucking line-backer, with tattoos peeking from underneath his dress shirt and dirty blond hair buzzed short. The picture of a little girl with long black hair and light brown skin was displayed on his desk, but that was the only sign of life in his office. Everything else looked almost… surgical. Plain and white.

He looked at me like a hawk, trying to assess me and I stood a little taller under his scrutiny. A part of me had to admit I felt almost… intimidated.

“My name is Aiden Walker, sir. I’m from Ravenbridge and I came to report a disappearance.”

The man in front of me frowned, obviously confused as to why I went to another county to report it.

“I’m sorry, kid, you’re in Lakestone here. You’ll have to report this to the Ravenbridge police department.”

Gritting my teeth, I looked away in frustration, “I tried. They’re not taking me seriously.” I came further inside the office and closed the door behind me, making him frown at my sudden spur of confidence, so I continued, “My neighbor, Oscar, was supposed to come home from his football practice at four but it’s six and he’s nowhere to be found and not answering his phone.”

I couldn’t believe it had only been two hours. It felt like a lifetime.

“We have to wait twenty-four hours before opening a kidnapping case, even for minors, that’s protocol.”

“Not when three kids have already been reported missing in the same neighborhood.” That seemed to get his attention and he sat up straighter.

“Sit and talk. I don’t have much time, gotta pick up my girl from dance class in an hour.”

A weight seemed to lift itself off my chest as I sat and started talking. I explained everything to him, from the first disappearance that had been ruled as a runaway, to Ravi and how his family were threatening to go to the press with their story. He didn’t interrupt me once and seemed to listen intently, even taking notes from time to time. When I was done, I almost felt out of breath, waiting silently for him to speak.

“I can’t guarantee you anything, but I’ll look into it. It’ll have to stay between us though because as I said, Ravenbridge doesn’t fall under our jurisdiction.”

I nodded, relieved to have at least one cop on our side.

“Thank you. I really appreciate that.”

I got back to my car where mom had been waiting and slumped down on my seat, staring at the distance until I decided to break the silence, “What if Ravenbridge cops were right, mom?”

She looked at me from the passenger seat, the frown of anguish never left her face from the moment I came home. She tried calling Carmen a few times but couldn’t reach her. When she called Tatum’s club where she worked, the line was busy. She told Gabrielle to keep calling until she could get a hold of her while mom came with me to the station. She didn’t want me to go alone for obvious reasons.

“What do you mean, baby?”

No matter how old I was, my mom calling me baby will always warm my heart. “What if Oscar is just out with friends or waiting for the rain to slow down to go home? What if we’re doing all this for nothing and tomorrow he’ll just appear on our porch like usual, ready for me to take him to school?”

She pinched her lips and tipped her head down, “Is that what you feel this is, Aiden? In your gut, do you think this is nothing and not worth alerting the police over?”

The immediate answer was no. No, I didn’t think this was nothing.

But I wished I did. I wished my stomach wasn’t in knots, waiting for the other shoe to drop. I wished I didn’t have this horrible, foreboding feeling that this morning was the last time I ever saw and talked to my best friend, the boy I considered a little brother. The last time I heard his laugh, the last time I ruffled his hair and teased him for wearing a bandana in winter.

A knot formed in my throat and I suddenly wanted to cry.

I had never felt so useless in my life.