FICTION #2

Eleven-year-old Danny Garcia lay in his bed staring at the ceiling fan above. It moved fast, but if he concentrated hard enough, he could follow one blade. Was it boring? Absolutely. Was it better than going to school? Absolutely. 

“Danny!?” From outside his room, down the stairs, and in the kitchen, Danny heard his mother.

With an exaggerated sigh, the boy stood up in bed. He pulled off his comic book character-laden covers and sat on the edge of the mattress. His small feet dangled as he wiped the sleep and disappointment from his eyes. 

Strewn about the bedroom floor were Danny’s toys. Most kids his age didn’t have many. A TV, phone, tablet, the playthings of the young seemingly all involved screens. His mother insisted on at least getting the boy some action figures, something tactile that would force him to utilize his imagination.

Danny removed his phone from its charger and started going through his daily rounds. Through yawns and hard blinks to focus his vision, he saw what was going on on social media, his favorite video game sites, and tube sites Just like that, all the information he needed in just a few minutes. The young man was armed for the day.

“Danny!? C’mon, breakfast!”

The wood floor was cold against Danny’s bare feet. With not even a hint of haste, he walked over to his drawer. One benefit of being raised by a single parent? He got to dress himself. 

That morning felt like a long one, even though it’d just begun. And like any other, Danny didn’t want to go the school. No one picked on him or anything like that. He just hated having to be someplace for a certain amount of time. Even though he was too young to realize it, every second at John Barr Elementary made him feel trapped. The little wild animal had an overwhelming desire to run free.

A wrestling t-shirt and sweatpants that’s what Danny chose to wear that morning. As far as he was concerned, it was not only an acceptable choice of attire but a damn good one. With phone and earbuds in his pocket, mismatched socks on, and no shoes, he was all ready to go.

“F*ck him,” said Emily Garcia. She sat in her computer chair, feet up on her desk, smartphone to her ear.

“Is that what you’re gonna say?” asked Stephanie Myers, Emily’s best friend. “Why are you late, Ms. Garcia,” she said with a poor impression of Professor Lindquist. “Because fuck you.” Her impression of her bestie was a little better, considering they were the same sex and age. 

“Exactly!” Emily spun around in her chair. 

“Em!?” Emily’s mother screamed from downstairs. 

“One second,” Emily put her phone against her chest. “What!?

“Get your brother! I’m gonna be late!” 

Emily rolled her eyes and then pushed against the side of her desk sending her rolling across the room to the far wall. It was all that separated her room from Danny’s. She pounded on it with a closed fist. 

“Wha!?” answered Danny, slightly muffled. 

“Go downstairs and eat, you little monster. Gonna make mom late.” 

“Shut up!” yelled back Danny. Instantly he regretted it but it just kind of came out. 

“What’d you-!” Emily brought her phone back up to her ear. “I’m gonna kill him. Be right back.” 

Danny ran over and locked his door. He knew what was coming and his only defense against the giant next door was that knob. Each stomp that came down that short distance between their rooms made him take a couple of steps back. 

“Open the door,” Emily said calmly after slamming her fist against it several times. “Danny? Open up. Seriously? That’s cool. You don’t want to open up? Maybe I mosey downstairs and say hello to your precious Xbox? Maybe if you don’t want breakfast, it will? Give it some eggs, toast, pour some orange jui-” 

Danny’s door unlocked and slowly opened up. “I hate you,” he said as he looked down at the worn rug on the second-floor hallway. 

“Love you too, you little asshole. Now go, eat.” Emily pointed towards the stairs. Danny started to walk past his much bigger sister. She grabbed him by the back of his shirt. “Wait. Shoes?” After a grunt, he went back into his room and picked up his sneakers. Pouting all the way, he went downstairs, shoes in hand. 

“There you are. Hurry up, sit down and eat. Before it gets cold,” ordered Aubrey Garcia in the nicest, most mom way possible as her son entered the kitchen.

Aubrey was at the sink washing dishes. All the while, she was being careful not to splash any water on her nurse’s shirt and colorful but comfortable pants. The faster she got those done, the faster she could get Danny to school and the quicker she could get to work. The last thing she wanted was to get chastised again for being late. 

From where he was sitting, past his mother, outside the window above the sink, Danny could see the backyard. There weren’t many leaves left on the tree. He preferred that to the heat and green of summer. The now cold toast crunched as he bit into it. 

Once she put the last dish on the rack to dry, Aubrey wiped her hands off on a towel that hung from the handle to the stove. Hands-free, she cracked her neck and turned to her son. Somehow she both loved him more than anything in the world and wanted to strangle him. Only the bacon was eaten off his plate with a single bite out of the toast. 

“You didn’t eat,” pointed out Aubrey, annoyed. 

“It’s cold.” 

After a brief but intense death stare, Aubrey grabbed Danny’s bag off the back of the other kitchen table chair and tossed it to him. “Let’s go. I’m gonna be late.” 

“You know if you ever do kill him, I know a good spot to hide the body,” said Stephanie. “We can cut ‘em up really good, hide him in the storm drains by Bradshaw Creek.”

“Thank you, Steph, but if I ever do kill that lil brat, I’ll willingly turn myself in. Shit, they’d probably give me a medal.”

“You working tonight?” asked Stephanie. 

“When do I not work?”  

“Seriously. When was the last day you had a night off?” 

Emily legitimately had to think hard for a minute. Week or weekend, she tended bar every night, sometimes if she didn’t have class, during the day. It was a necessity. Her mom couldn’t afford the mortgage, food, and everything else alone. Danny was, of course, too young to work, and their father, well, he fucked off when she was twelve. 

Helping her mom was the only reason Melissa still lived at home. She was twenty-one, ambitious, single, and about to graduate from college. But her family, though she loved them, were like an anchor mooring her in the shallow end of life. 

“We’re going out.” 

“I can’t-” Emily’s excuse was cut off.

“I know you can’t go out tonight. Tomorrow night.” 

“I dunno, my mom works the late shift Fridays and-” 

“Shut up bitch. You’re going out tomorrow night. We’ll take a road trip down to the city. Bokeem and the Woodbines are playing at Reggie’s. It’ll be fun.” Emily had known Stephanie since they were in preschool. One thing she’d learned over those long years was that her best friend doesn’t take no for an answer. Ever.

“I wanna. But who’s gonna watch Danny?” 

“What? Fuck Danny. He can come hang out with Ellie and their pack of weirdos. My mom won’t even notice. What’s one more wolf in the pack?” 

“Maybe.” Emily got out of her pajamas which consisted of boy shorts and an oversized Ravenswood Ravens cut-off sweatshirt. 

“No maybes. You’re coming. I’m buying the tickets right now. Four tickets,” there was a hint of giddy mischief in Stephanie’s voice. 

“Wait…why four?” Emily looked at herself in her mirror. She was a little tall for a young woman. Her jet black hair was cut short, with a female version of a man bun, sides of her head shaved. In her face, she was a spitting image of her mother except for her almond-shaped eyes. Those were all she had left from her dad, along with painful memories and a lingering sense of abandonment. A few small tattoos were scattered across her smooth tan tan-hued skin. 

“Well, me, you, Deshawn, and…Rey?” 

“God damn it Steph!?”

Stephanie laughed. “What’s wrong with Rey?” 

“Nothing’s wrong with him. I just hate when you do this shit. If I wanted to go out with him-” 

“It’s not a double date or anything. He’s cool. Give him a chance. I know he comes off-” 

“Like a dick?” 

“Yes, he comes off like a dick.”

“Like a douchebag? A super-sized bro?”

“Sure. Fair enough. But he’s a decent guy. Trust me. He can be funny too. Mostly when he’s drunk, but we’re gonna get trashed, so it’ll all work out great.” 

Emily looked at the scar across her stomach. Her finger ran over the raised tissue. “Sure. Fine. Not like I have a choice, do I?” 

“No, you do not.”

Having to get ready for school, just like her little brother, albeit college, Emily had to finish getting dressed as well. Stephanie kept yapping as she got ready. Over the sound of her voice, she heard the rumble of a car engine. 

“Hello? Em? Hell-oh?” Stephanie noticed that Emily was not paying attention to her best friend.

“Huh?” 

“I said we’ll make Deshawn drive. Always bragging about his new car, he’ll jump at the chance to show it off.” Again Stephanie was met with silence. 

Like a real creep, Melissa stared out her window at the dark brown 1974 Chevelle that pulled into her neighbor’s driveway. She watched and waited for the driver to come out. It was the best part of her day. 

Danny Garcia ran out the front door, backpack on, straight towards his mom’s boring but economical sedan. Aubrey walked up to Karim’s, the Garcia’s neighbor’s, passenger side door, hands in her jacket pockets. She bent over and smiled and waved at him through the window.

“Good morning Audrey,” greeted Karim. 

“Morning, Mr. Roman,” Audrey put some runaway strands of hair behind her ear. 

“Running late, huh?” asked Karim being both observant and polite.

“Yet again. It’s like pulling teeth trying to get that little monster up and out of the house. Pull another late one?”

Karim nodded his head and wiped his eyes. God, he wished he could sleep. They wouldn’t let him, though. They never let him get a wink.

“Long night.” Karim’s voice practically dripped with fatigue and wariness.  

“If you don’t mind me saying seems like you’ve had a lot of those lately. Long nights.” There was concern on Audrey’s face. 

“Does it now?”

Emily watched her mother talk to the man who had been integral to formulating her taste in the opposite sex since she was a teenager. To her, the tall, dark, quiet, and mysterious man who lived next door was absolutely gorgeous. His beard was well-kept and thick. Well over six feet tall and, according to her, spying on him mowing the lawn during the spring and summers, in very good shape. His vibrant green, almost jade-colored eyes cut through her with the casual ease of a Ginsu knife. The wide variety of runic tattoos that covered his body made him more irresistible and even inspired her own occult-style ink.

“Why don’t you take one night off? Come have dinner with the kids and me tonight.”

“Dunno, there a lot of work I still need to do at the site and-” 

“And nothing. Six o’clock. I’ll see you there. I gotta go,” with one last smile, Audrey hurried away to her car, where her son waited. “Six!” She said as she turned back towards Karim’s car while walking to her own.