To his surprise, he heard voices coming from the end of the kitchen. He recognized them. He hid behind a wall connected to a hall that led to the open area. He peaked out and saw Rebel facing the high table. He was looking at the new flag of the guild. With him was Zelda. She was facing the flag too. Why were they by themselves? Did they hear him come in? He cupped an ear and listened carefully to their conversation.
“Marcel was crying about Tina again,” said Rebel heavily. “Damn it, no matter how much political power we get, we can’t bring them back. I haven’t given up on finding her, but I’m being real with you. Why is Trent taking students outside of the guild? I love Nick, but if he doesn’t tell us where he’s been going, the guild will go insane.”
Zelda remind silent and continued to stare at the flag. Rebel spoke again.
“All things go to shit eventually. You saw how Tyshawn’s own division treated him today, and how Mew was treated. Do you really think Metro will ever just forget?”
“They have good reason not to,” Zelda said, turning to him, “you arrested their whole division during your rein of terror.”
“You know why I did it,” said Rebel, angrily, “which proves that it’s only a matter of time. None of this is Nick’s fault, but it’s not helping that he’s leaving us.”
Zelda turned to him with a smile.
“The moment you give up on people, you give up your ability to understand,” she said, softly.
At that moment, Seth felt his heart ache. He felt weaker. He had heard those words before. Then he put an image of Trent in his head and focused on it until the feeling in his heart went away. Then he heard Rebel speak again.
“Oh really? Well what if I told you that I heard a rumor that a Metro pedophile has been dipping his tail into a certain underage Phoenix.”
A mixture of shock and fury hit Zelda’s face.
“You’re lying!”
Rebel shook his head. “Hexen and Trent aren’t our only problems. Still have faith in people now?”
“Who told you this?” she demanded.
“Someone from Sea Shore,” said Rebel, quietly.
Seth saw Zelda storm out of the front doors with Rebel at her heels. Seth remained behind the wall, letting their conversation sink in. It didn’t surprise him in the least. The rivalries between the divisions were nothing new, but all of these disappearing students only made things worse. With Nick gone, most of the time it was maddening. He’d have to step up his game. How could no one know anything about where Nick had been going? Why wouldn’t he tell even his best friend? Seth would have to find out where Nick was going. He’d have to find his older brother too before the guild fell apart. All the while he remembered the image of Trent’s face and focused on it.
Chapter 7
My Big Brother & I
Josh
It was a beautiful morning on the first day of April 2018. The sun's rays hit the small private cul-de-sac as birds chirped in the trees around the white house.
Inside, Josh slept, drooling on his pillows, snoring mildly. His room was the size of a den with white and light blue decor and no windows. Everything was organized and neat: from the tall bookshelf, to the neatly stacked folders on the white desk at the end of the room, to the neatly folded clothes in his walk-in closet.
He heard an annoying buzz and groaned. He turned to his alarm clock and slapped it off the nightstand, along with a stuffed koala bear, and went back to sleep. 6:00am was always a terrible time to wake up.
"Josh!" called the voice followed by footsteps.
His eyes opened slowly, but something was wrong. He felt wet. He ran a hand under his sheets. He pulled back his covers and saw that his entire lower body was covered in, what he thought, milky pee.
"Oh God, not again!" he said irritably.
He jumped out of bed still looking at the wet mess on his bed and briefs. It had a strong sweet bleach smell. The footsteps came nearer.
"Crap!" he whispered.
He rushed over to his desk and grabbed a bunch of yellow papers and stuffed them in a bottom drawer. Then he pulled off his briefs and attempted to dash to his closet to change, but tripped over his guitar on the floor. He stumbled into his bookshelf, causing it fall onto his desk, knocking that over too. He tripped again and landed on his bookshelf, face first. He heard the door fling open and saw Nick stick his head in and pause. For a moment neither of them spoke. Then Nick opened his mouth.
“Ten minutes.” he chuckled.
The door closed. Josh dropped his face into the books, letting out a sigh.
Ten minutes later, Josh stood in the backyard dressed in a white tank top and baby blue sweat pants, letting the morning dew on the grass tickle his feet. The embarrassment he had suffered earlier melted away as he inhaled the viburnum farreri flowery scent that came from the garden opposite him. Nick approached, wearing only grey sweats and no shirt. On his chest was a tattoo all in black ink.
(Mother 1973-2008, Laugh)
"Alright, you know what to do. But this time I'll only be speaking to you in different languages. Respond back to me in the language I use or I'll add more to your workout," said Nick.
"Okay!" Josh replied, pretending to be excited.
“Comience con de seis vueltas alrededor del patio y luego se vuelve a mí,” Start with six laps around the yard and then come back to me. Nick asked polity.
Josh didn’t fully understand what his brother had said, but from the way he gestured his hands, Nick wanted six laps around the yard. Josh hated this time of the day for two reasons: the pain from each exercise and Nick's muscles.
It wasn't fair that Nick had a better build than his own skinny, wimpy frame, but he couldn’t let Nick see that he really hated mornings like these. Like always, Josh had to remain eager to avoid his brother's wrath.
He took off with Nick jogging next to him. He saw his brother pass him, but he didn’t care. His brother always did that just to rub it in his face, so he thought. When he finally finished, long after his brother, Nick gave him his next workout.
"Ahora, usted va a hacer cuarenta repeticiones de cada ejercicio. Descanse durante dos minutos, y luego hacerlo de nuevo. Repita esto tres veces,” said Nick pleasantly.
“Um, huh?” said Josh.
“What do you mean, ‘huh’?” snapped Nick. “I said, now do forty reps of each exercise. Rest for two minutes, and then do it again. Repeat this three times,” he ordered, pointing to the homemade gym on Josh’s left.
There was a pull-up bar, a squat area, and a bench press all at the far end of the yard.
"Oh.” said Josh, unenthusiastically.
“Si!” groaned Nick.
“Uh—yeah. Si! I sorry,” said Josh, purposely using I instead of I’m to sound amusing. Nick did not find it funny.
Josh walked over to the homemade gym with his brother. I hate this freaking crap. But he had a plan up his sleeve. When he started the exercises, he only did sixteen reps for each one. He rested, then went back and repeated the process. He glanced over to Nick every now and then and saw the intense glare he gave him each time he finished a workout. Nick approached him.
"What are you doing?" demanded Nick.
"Qué?" Josh asked, mockingly.
"Don't act stupid!" snapped Nick, twisting Josh’s left nipple. Josh flinched back with a smirk.
"I'm doing exactly what you asked, dear brother," Josh said, still playing dumb.
"I said forty reps! You keep stopping at sixteen! Why are you being lazy?" Nick snapped again.
"I sorry,” said Josh trying to sound humorous again, “sixteen is a good number, especially for me. Yep, good old sixteen,” he smirked. “Yep."
Nick crossed his arms. Josh backed away, still smirking.
"Now you're going to do a hundred—" Nick stopped in mid-sentence and pondered for a moment, and then he rolled his eyes.
"Really?" asked Nick, smiling slightly.
"I just wanted to make sure you didn't forget."
"I w
ould never."
"You almost did last year, and the year before that!" Josh chuckled.
Then Josh grabbed Nick by the shoulders and smiled. Nick looked at him suspiciously.
"So can I ask for something? And it would be like, really cool if you said yes. So pleease say yes," Josh asked, shaking his brother in excitement.
"What is it?"
"Can I leave the house? I know how you feel about it, but just hear me out. If we both—"
"No!" said Nick, sharply.
"Come on, Nick. Please? Why are you always like this? Can't I have just one day—"
"I said no, now drop it! Don't ask me again, do you understand me?" Nick snapped, beaming into Josh's eyes.
How could he be so cruel? Josh thought savagely. When Josh was young, he had once asked Nick to leave, but Nick shouted at him so viciously that he'd been scared to ask him ever since. How could he still say no after all this time? Josh stared at him in disappointment and went back to his workout without a word. All throughout the workout, he avoided eye contact with his brother. The few times that he did, he saw Nick staring off into space with a pained expression. After he was done, he and Nick went back inside the house.
“I’ll be upstairs in a moment,” Nick said suddenly.
Josh nodded and walked upstairs back to his room, exhausted. A few minutes later, Nick came up holding a plate of scrambled eggs, three slices of bacon, steamed brown rice, and blue berries in one hand, and a cup of green tea in the other. This was always the best part about mornings. Despite all the torture his brother put him through, Nick was a fabulous cook and always had something mouth-watering for him as a reward.
He placed the plate and cup on Josh’s desk. The smell was absolute heaven. Josh sniffed the bacon first, then the eggs, then the rice, and then finally the blue berries. He did this two more times before putting the plate on the floor. He sat down, gripped the fork with his left foot, and began to eat the strips of bacon. He looked at his brother every now and then and saw he was trying to hold back his laughter.
“What?”
Nick shook his head and said, “You’re using your piggies to eat piggies. Get it?”
Oh, here we go. Josh suddenly burst out in sarcastic laughter, throwing his hands in the air.
“Ha! Ha! ha! Oh! You’re so funny! Oh wow! That was hilarious!”
He kept laughing for a while and then stopped abruptly before stabbing another slice of bacon with his fork. This was the best way he could let out his frustration towards his brother without throwing insults at him. Humor and his brother never mixed.
“I’ll be back in a few. Have your books ready,” said Nick.
Josh nodded again and continued to eat. Once he finished, he searched around his fixed bookshelf and took out a math book, a science book, and a music book.
There were still three more days until his birthday and the days building up to it were the same: In the mornings it was a workout, breakfast, and lessons. In the afternoon it was video games, chores with Nick, and lunch. During the evening, it was more lessons, movies, dinner, and then bed. He mixed things up from time to time, but it had been still the same stuff every day for nearly ten years.
Each day, however, Josh did more chores than usual to butter up his brother, thinking he could ask again about leaving the house, but Nick didn’t even care.
Finally, it was the day before his birthday. Josh was sitting at his desk. Today’s lessons: speaking and writing in Japanese. Nick strolled in with a Japanese workbook and sat down next to him.
“Let’s begin,” said Nick.
Josh braced himself.
“Ohayō.” Good morning.
“Ohayō no otōto,” Josh said, in a bored tone. Good morning, brother.
That was the easiest thing he could remember. Nick took out a sheet of paper with all the Hiragana characters.
“Okay, warm up time. Always start with the basics. No matter what we do, always start with the basics.”
Josh took the sheet and looked at it unenthusiastically and then placed it on his desk.
“After that, we’ll have a short conversation all in Japanese, so I can see how far you’ve gotten.”
“Why?”
“Because we’re going to move on to more advanced things next week.”
“I mean what’s the point if you’re the only person I’m going to be talking to for the rest of my life?”
Nick paused.
“I mean it’s not like I’m going to talk to other people or actually go to these places,” Josh continued.
“You can never have enough knowledge.”
“Are we going to these places for my birthday?”
“Didn’t I tell you—”
“I don’t care!” Josh snapped.
“Excuse me?” said Nick, crossing his arms.
Josh cowed in his chair a little, making sure he didn’t catch Nick’s intense glare.
“Just…tell me why!”
“The matter is closed,” Nick said sternly.
“Then I don’t want to learn this crap!” Josh said, snatching the book and throwing it against his bookshelf.
Josh opened his mouth to speak again but Nick cut him off.
“Excuse me! Don’t you dare act that way towards me, and if you ask me about this again…”
“You’ll what? Lock me inside the house? Lock me inside my room for another ten years? Oh no! Please don’t that. I’m so scared,” Josh said sarcastically.
Nick stared at him in silence, wearing the same sad expression he had worn two days before. He picked up the book and put it in front of Josh.
“Just finish this and we’re done,” Nick said.
Josh was a little baffled. Usually, Nick would punish him for that kind of tone, but he looked so unhappy.
“And then you’ll tell me?”
Nick looked irritated.
“Listen to me very carefully. I will not put up with this kind of disrespect and further more—”
“How is it disrespectful?” Josh interrupted.
“I’m speaking,” Nick said, calmly.
Josh went silent. He saw the seriousness in his brother’s eyes that had always terrified him, but he had to get an answer.
“Furthermore, I have my reasons. One day I will—”
“How am I being disrespectful? I just want to know why. Why can’t you tell me?” Josh interrupted again.
“Alright,” snapped Nick.
Josh watched Nick pop up from his chair and take his guitar from the side of his bed.
“No music, no video games, no nothing until you understand what respect means. Dinner will ready around six, and then you’ll go to bed early, and that’s that.”
Nick closed the door behind him. Josh got up and opened the door again and then slammed it with all his strength, muttering swear words. Fucking asshole!
Later on, around 6:00pm, Josh sat in front of a plate of grilled salmon, salad, baked potatoes, cold mangoes, and a glass of ice water. Nick ate quietly at the end of the table, while Josh, who sat to his right, picked at his plate with his fork. Suddenly, Nick stopped eating and glanced at Josh.
"Josh," he said somberly.
"I'm not hungry," groaned Josh.
Nick paused. For a moment neither of them said a word. Then Josh looked at the salmon on his plate.
"Salmon. It's been what, three weeks since we've had salmon? You've been shopping huh?"
He saw Nick go back to eating, and could tell he was trying to ignore him, but Josh continued. His anger surged so fast he just said whatever came to mind.
"Must feel nice to go outside, to get out anytime you want—"
"That's enough," Nick said, his voice rising.
"Do you hate me or something? What did I do to you?" Josh asked, staring at Nick.
Nick paused again, now dropping his fork and staring at his plate.
"If mom was here she'd hate you for—”
Before he could finish, Nick slammed his fist down onto t
he table and stormed away. Josh sat there, still angry, but also miserable. He didn't mean to upset his brother like that. The topic of their mother was always a sensitive subject. The bits of memories of her always made him happy, unlike the recent memories of him and his brother.
He finally concluded he’d never leave the house with his brother’s approval. He’d have to go through with the plan he had come up with. A plan that would give him the freedom he desired, but would hurt Nick in the worst way. His eyes watered as he picked at his food again.
Later that night, Josh sat at his desk, proofreading a letter under the light of his lamp. It read:
Dear Nick,
I'm sorry that it’s come to this. I can't stay in this house anymore. I know you love me, but you're hurting me at the same time. I promise to come back after a few months. From your loving brother, Josh. Please don't hate me.
He folded the letter and then looked over his copied version of the blueprints of the house he had retrieved from under his bed. The main security panel was in Nick's office in his room.
Okay, it's almost time. He always goes to the bathroom before bed. I'll lock him in and then go into his office. The trick will be the code panel.
He stuffed everything into a large backpack and waited by his door.
At 9:15pm, Nick stepped out of his room in his black pajama bottoms and walked down the hallway and into the bathroom on his right. Once he closed the door, Josh approached it with a chair and placed it under the doorknob, then tiptoed quickly into his brother's room.
He never liked being in there. It was depressing with those grey walls and black furniture, not to mention that it was extremely messy. The only redeeming quality was the large painting of a cherry blossom resting above Nick's king sized bed. He crept further into the room until he located the small office to his left. Two glass doors sealed the office with a code panel on the left side.
Here we go. Let's try Nick…
He typed in 12151992, Nick’s birthday. The panel flashed red and made a low beep. Okay, let's try mom. He pressed in 04141973. The panel flashed red again. He was starting to get nervous.
The Son of Light Book 1: Rebirth Page 7
