Ravages

by Kit Bladegrave

  “No, I’m fine,” I insisted. “Even the paramedics said so.”

  They glanced at each other then back at me and seemed to be silently having an argument about what to make of this entire situation. They’d been nice since getting here, but the last thing I wanted was to bring cops to the apartment for a number of reasons.

  One, they might realize that Mom was gone, and a couple of underage kids were living alone—bad. Two, they might realize I was illegally stealing my mother’s government assistance money—really bad. And three, people who brought cops around my neighborhood for any reason got labeled as snitches—worse.

  None of those things seemed like a good idea to me, but these two cops were insistent. The woman was probably in her late thirties or early forties and had that motherly air about her. The other was a rookie cop who I could tell had a beef about being put under a lady officer. He kept trying to talk over her, but I kind of adored the way she shut him down and called him a stupid rookie when he dared to interrupt her. But I started to like them less the longer they stood around debating on what to do with me.

  Officer Rosa, the woman, kept her gaze on me, watchful as if she was waiting for me to take off running. I wasn’t about to do that. I hadn’t done anything wrong, but I did want to get out of there and get home, alone. From the tone she’d used so far, I was sure she had kids of her own, probably a few teenagers, and it was clear my wanting them not to drive me home was sounding suspicious to her.

  The other cop, Officer Stenson, was her polar opposite. He was annoying and a little rude, but seemed just as ready to cart me off to their patrol car just so I would get out of his hair and let him get back to his night.

  “What, did you sneak out of the house or something and don’t want your parents finding out?” he asked.

  I crossed my arms and lifted my chin. “No, I was on my way home from work, at the museum. It’s not that long of a walk from the bus stop to home. I do it almost every night.”

  “Just let us drive you home,” Officer Rosa said. “And, then we’ll be on our way, okay hon? I’ll sleep better tonight knowing I saw you to your front door.” She handed me back my ID with a smile, and I tried to think of a lie, any lie that would get her to back off, but nothing came to mind.

  Reluctantly I agreed.

  While another group of officers handled the scene of the crime, these two drove me the three blocks over to my apartment building. Officer Rosa asked a few more questions on the way, double checking I didn’t recognize the car, or the man who’d been driving. If I could describe the one that ran off, but I told her it’d been too dark. She asked again, too, about the guy that saved me, but I kept his name to myself.

  Slade.

  Interesting name for my hero of the night.

  As Stenson parked out front, my nerves ratcheted up another notch, and I couldn’t stop shaking. I knew that absolutely nothing good was going to come from this, but I didn’t have a choice.

  Officer Stenson looked at my rundown building with a smug smirk on his face, his eyes judging it and me all over again. He huffed, muttering something under his breath and I was pretty sure I knew exactly what he was thinking, that I was some statistic his ass was wasting time on.

  By the time they were walking me to the door, I sensed Officer Rosa had read right through me. The tired, overworked eyes. The way too mature attitude for my age. The fact that I had no cell phone and was working such a late shift. I could tell that she knew before we even made it to the apartment that there was no parent present. I was silently thanking myself for finally getting around to throwing away the booze I collected the past few months. At least the apartment was mostly clean for when I opened the door.

  I fumbled with my key, buying a few more seconds to gather my thoughts and hoping they’d just take off now that we were here, but Officer Rosa cleared her throat loudly. I stuck the key in the lock and opened the front door. They entered our apartment right behind me, and the noise woke up Mason who was asleep on the couch.

  He looked terrified as he glanced past me to the two cops. “Everest, what’s going on?” he hurried over to me, rubbing his eyes. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, kid. There was just a bit of an incident with a car, but I’m good,” I said, pleading for him to take it in stride with my gaze. “Go wake Mom up.”

  It took barely a second for his head to nod subtly. He gave me a knowing look and recited a little speech for the officers.

  “Aunt Julie called a few hours ago, and she’s about to have the baby. Mom isn’t here. She told me to wait up for you and to let you know.” He nervously glanced in the officers’ direction.

  I turned, expecting to see the officers satisfied and about to tell me to have a good night, but both of them shifted on their feet, staring around the apartment then back at me and Mason. Rosa clearly wasn’t buying it.

  “Now, son, you and your sister aren’t in trouble, okay? But can you talk to me for a few minutes?” Rosa asked as she stood in front of my brother.

  He looked to me, but I wasn’t sure what she was about to ask, so he nodded. “I guess so.”

  “Good. How old you?”

  “Twelve,” he replied slowly.

  “And your mom, is she gone a lot?”

  “He told you, our Aunt’s having a baby,” I said stiffly, but she didn’t even look at me.

  “Mason, are you often left home alone?”

  “Well… sometimes, but it’s just because Everest works so much.”

  I mentally groaned, but it wasn’t his fault. They were cops. Mason was scared, I saw it, and I wished I could make this all go away, but there was nothing I could do short of making the situation much worse.

  “She does. Does she go to school, too?”

  Mason cringed, but nodded fervently.

  “You’re not lying to me are you, Mason?” she asked.

  He shook his head, but his eyes were nearly bugging out of his head. “Where is your Mom, Mason? Tell me the truth now.”

  Before I could say anything to cut him off, tears glimmered in his eyes, and he sniffed hard, but the truth poured out of him, and my heart ached for my brother.

  I thought I’d been carrying all the stress since Mom up and vanished, but I hadn’t realized how badly it was affecting him, too. Defeated, I sank onto the couch and hung my head, holding it in my hands as he confessed Mom had been missing since the beginning of August.

  “It’s alright, son, it’s alright,” she soothed and handed him a tissue. “Three months, that’s how long she’s been gone?” She directed this question to me, and I managed a weak nod. “Well, this changes things.”

  I had nothing to say and simply watched as she tried to console Mason. All while this was going on, Officer Stenson had been walking around.

  I had no idea what he was looking for when his brow furrowed, and he reached into a potted plant by the couch. I frowned, not sure what he had in his hand when he pulled out a bottle of vodka.

  I cursed silently and wiped a hand down my face. I thought I’d found them all, but apparently not. Who would’ve thought she’d stick one in the damn house plant?

  “Everest, it’s better if you tell us what’s going on here,” Officer Rosa stated firmly, after she guided Mason to the couch. “Does your mother drink?”

  “Drink, nah. She tries to drown herself in booze,” I uttered, disgusted with her all over again.

  “Does she run off often like this?”

  I ground my teeth and nodded.

  Officer Rosa sighed while Stenson continued walking around the apartment.

  I had no idea what he was looking for and just sat there as our fragile world started to come apart before my eyes.

  When I heard papers shuffling behind me, I whipped around to see Stenson rummaging through the stack of bills, pay stubs, and check stubs on the counter.

  “What are you doing?” I snapped, jumping off the couch and snatching the papers out of his hands. “That’s none of
your business! Get out of my apartment. You don’t have any reason for being here!”

  Rosa looked at me with these sad eyes. “Honey, I think I do.”

  My insides churned. I felt like I was going to hurl. We’d been so careful, and then that damned car had to come out of nowhere and try to kill me.

  Stenson gently reached for the papers again, and I handed them over without a fight.

  He handed them to Rosa. “They’ve been cashing their mom’s welfare check to get by,” he said, and this time he sounded sincerely sad. His judgment had vaporized into pity; he just saw us as pathetic kids now, and even though that complex of his was gone, I still wanted to punch him.

  I made it back to Mason and as he gripped my hand, and gave him a reassuring squeeze.

  “I just got a promotion today,” I lied, as though that would somehow matter. “We don’t need that government money anymore. I can even repay them if we have to. Just please, pretend you didn’t see any of this. She’ll be back, I swear she will.”

  “You’ve only just turned seventeen,” Rosa said. “You’re still just a kid. You shouldn’t have to be worrying about stuff like this. And what if there’s an emergency? What if something happens to you, Everest? You’re risking your little brother’s safety.”

  “It’s not a big deal,” I insisted. “We handle things just fine here, and nothing’s going to happen to me.”

  “Just like nothing almost happened to you tonight?” she challenged, and my blood ran cold. “Tell me, if that car had hit you, if you’d been severely injured or heaven forbid killed, what would happen to Mason?”

  I gulped and squeezed Mason’s hand harder. I hadn’t even thought about that. What would he have done? We had no emergency contacts, no one to turn to.

  Rosa whispered something to Officer Stenson, and he stepped out into the hall to make a call.

  “Hey, how about I have someone bring some doughnuts up here while we talk? Does that sound nice? I think they have some leftover at the station from earlier,” Rosa said. “We’ll get this all sorted out, promise.”

  That bull worked on Mason, but it wasn’t going to work on me. I glared at her. I knew the sort of thing that was about to happen. They were going to talk all sweet and calm, but then they were going to tell us to come down to the station. Then we’d have to sit and listen to them talk about how our situation was not ideal—how the state was going to be stepping in.

  Our game was over. My plans were ruined. I was angry and terrified all at once. Mason was quiet, and I knew he was feeling guilty for not playing by the rules we had established in case anyone ever asked where Mom had gone. He was just a kid. I guess, technically, I was too, but I was seventeen. I felt like I could take care of my brother just fine, but Officer Rosa didn’t seem to think so.

  And if I wanted to be honest, she was right. I could’ve died tonight, and Mason would’ve been left all alone in this crappy neighborhood, with no way to get money, no way to survive. We pushed our luck, getting away without Mom for this long.

  Another pair of officers arrived, and they brought doughnuts as promised. They gave one to Mason, and he smiled slightly. A chocolate-coated doughnut. That’d keep him happy for a little while, at least. They offered me one, too, but I couldn’t bring myself to eat.

  Officer Rosa had been sitting there talking for a while about her two kids, away at college, when the other two male officers arrived. By then she had learned very little, mostly from Mason, but she had managed to gather that he was looking forward to seeing the new Spiderman movie and that he had a small superhero action figure collection.

  “Say, Mason,” Officer Rosa said, and then nodded toward one of the officers. “This is Officer Phillips. He loves superheroes too. Why don’t you show him that cool collection you told me about while I talk to your sister alone for a second?”

  Mason looked to me for confirmation that this was okay, and I gave him a reassuring nod and a forced smile, but my insides were screaming.

  Once Mason was out of the room, Rosa—Officer Rosa, I reminded myself—turned to me. The other officers were snooping around my apartment. “You’ve done a good job, Everest,” she said. “I can tell you must work really hard for you and your brother to stay afloat, but you had to drop out of school and from the look on your face, you’re working far too much for someone your age.”

  “I’m working as much as I need to,” I argued, not wanting to look at her.

  “I’m sure you are. Why don’t you and Mason come down to the station so that we can try to figure some things out?”

  “There is nothing to figure out,” I insisted. “We’re fine. I’ll be eighteen next year, and I can take care of Mason. There’s food here, and the place is finally clean since she hasn’t been here. Really, we’re doing a lot better than we were before. If you make us leave here now, they’ll put us both in foster care, and it could take me years to get him out. If you just wait until I’m eighteen, the courts will be more likely to sign him over to me than if he’s not with a foster home.”

  “Sounds like you’ve been planning this for a while.”

  I finally lifted my gaze to hers. “Yeah? I’ve been planning on taking him away from our mom for a while. She doesn’t deserve him, but I can take care of him. Just leave us be, please.”

  “I can’t do that, Everest,” Officer Rosa said sadly. “You know I can’t.”

  “I know.” I tried to keep up glare, but the concern in her eyes was too much, and the walls I built to keep myself safe these past, however, many years started to crack. I started to cry, not bothering to wipe the tears dripping down my cheeks. “Why do you think I’ve tried so hard to keep this a secret? I’m sorry I stole the money, but I needed to pay rent. Besides, this is my mom’s apartment, so the money was going to her rent. I was just paying it for her with her money. Please.”

  “Everest, you’re not in trouble,” she promised me. “We just want to help.”

  I was crying pretty heavy now, feeling the eyes of the other cops on me and not caring, not anymore. I knew my resisting was not going to help the situation. She had made up her mind. I could make it worse for Mason by throwing a scene, or I could roll with it.

  “I hate you,” I told her, and wiped my tears, but that wasn’t really true, and when she pulled me into a hug, I sensed without a doubt she wasn’t offended by my outburst.

  She was just doing what she had to do.

  “He’s doing well here, you know? He has straight As. I paid for him to join a club too, so he stays away from the local gangs,” I rambled against her jacket. “I started a savings account this month for both of us to go to college. You take us away, and all of that is going away. What foster home is going to make sure he studies every night and spends his Saturdays at the library studying? I do that. Me. No one else is going to push that hard and work as hard as I do for him.”

  Rosa nodded. “You’re probably right. But, Everest, this isn’t just about Mason. It’s about you, too. Sweetheart, aren’t you tired? You have to think about yourself, too. Working like this, you’re more likely to wind up in an early grave than at college. Trust me, I’ve seen this before, and if someone doesn’t step in, it rarely ends well.”

  I was tired. I was exhausted. I kept wiping tears away.

  If that guy who had tried to run me down hadn’t died, I probably would have hunted him down and killed him for putting me in this situation. But, there was always the other one out there. I could make a go at him, too.

  “Fine,” I said, as though they were giving me a choice. “Let’s go down to the station.”

  Chapter 5

  Everest

  The talk at the station was brief, but thankfully Rosa—she said to call her that—stepped up and offered to take us in for the night. Better than the police station, I guessed.

  The chief had seemed uncertain at first, but she told him Mason and I needed time to let everything sink in before they started coming up with a game plan on where to place us.
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  Truthfully, I was pretty grateful for it. I crashed on her couch and let Mason sleep in the guest bedroom down the hall. She tried to talk with me some more, but I curled up under the quilt she gave me and shut my eyes, wishing this would all just go away. But life was never that easy.

  In the morning, I woke to Rosa in the kitchen making coffee and breakfast. There’d be no school today for Mason, and before I even opened my mouth to ask, I was told I wasn’t going to work, either.

  “Mind if I use your phone?” I asked her, not liking being told what to do as if I hadn’t been running my life perfectly fine for the last three months.

  “Sure thing, hon.” She nodded to the cordless on the wall in the kitchen.

  I took it into the other room and called Jensen. “Hey, Everest. You missed your shift this morning. You alright?”

  “I’ve got some news,” I started and found myself crying all over again as I told him what happened last night.

  Everything came out in a rush, and he did his best to comfort me over the phone.

  “Do you need me to do anything?” he asked, when I finally calmed down. “Can I offer to take you two in at all?”

  “No, really, you’ve done enough for me. But I’m not going to make it into work for a few days at least.”

  “Your job will be here, don’t worry,” he promised. “Maybe this will be a good thing.”

  “Like what? A blessing in disguise?”

  “You never know.” He told me to keep my head up and if I needed anything else to call him.

  I said I would, but I doubted he could do anything to help me now. I hung up and returned to the kitchen to find Mason already tucking in at the table and happily stuffing his face with eggs, bacon, sausage, and biscuits with gravy.

  Rosa smiled kindly at me as I joined the two of them.

  I picked at a few bits of bacon on my plate.

  “You should eat something.”

  “Just not hungry,” I mumbled.

  “It’ll all work out, Everest,” she promised, and patted my hand. “It will.”