Friends vs. Family

by C. L. Stone

  I turned, sitting on the floor, but faced the wall, staring at it. From behind me came sounds of a belt loosening, a zipper slipping down and cloth shuffling. My back stiffened. He was getting undressed?

  Trust him, I willed to myself. Gabriel made a promise. He’s here risking his own freedom, at the risk of getting the police called on him, to stay with me. Trust him.

  More shuffling. A tap on my shoulder. “Alright.”

  I turned. His shoes were off, sitting next to him on the floor. His pants were back on. His belt hung off of his knee as he held up a pair of boxers.

  He picked up his phone and hit a button to illuminate the screen. “Hold it up for me.”

  I took his phone in my hands, holding it over his shoulder. I shifted to block the light from the crack under the door with my own body.

  Gabriel held the boxers close to his face, pulling a pocket knife from his back pocket. He measured the width of the belt, and started cutting slots into the material of the boxers, like belt loops. He chewed on the edge of his lip as he worked. “Buy her a fucking new wardrobe, and she wears my clothes,” he mumbled.

  “I like your clothes,” I whispered. His were always so colorful. I couldn’t imagine the others wearing the bold oranges and neon greens and having the earrings to match the style he liked.

  “Shush or I’ll drag you out of here now,” he said, his focus on the boxers. When he finished, he threaded the belt through the makeshift belt loops. “Put this on. If we’re going to have to make a run for it later, it’ll be easier if you aren’t completely naked.”

  I sighed, turning around. I held out my hand, ready to take the boxers from him but instead, he ducked next to me, holding the boxers in place for me to step in to. My heart thundered as I stepped into the underwear, and he slid the material up my legs, adjusting them on my hips.

  When they were up all the way, he turned me around, yanking the belt together. He tugged it tight at my hips, frowning. “You’re too small.” He picked up his pocket knife, finding a sharp screwdriver tool and started grinding out another notch.

  When he was finished, the end of the belt nearly folded down over itself. He threaded it back again through the belt loops he made.

  The boxers were a comfort. I felt better prepared to run now, too.

  He dropped to his knees again, falling onto the carpet on his back. I slipped next to him on the floor. He held out his hands, wrapping his arms around my shoulder. He pulled me until I was resting on top of him, my stomach on top of his. My knees dropped to the floor on either side of his hips. His hand found my cheek and he held my head against his chest. It was almost cozy.

  My eyes drooped. I’d been stressed all night with Nathan, aware and terrified all morning with being stuck in the closet. Now I was with Gabriel. I was warm and exhausted. I knew I shouldn’t sleep. I needed to be awake and ready to go in case we needed to fly out or if my father showed up.

  “Sang,” he whispered.

  “Yeah?” I whispered back, staring off at the small crack of light coming in under the door.

  “You’re fucking grounded.”

  I pressed my face to his chest, clutching at his tank top and smothering a giggle. “For how long?”

  “Forever.”

  “Are you mad?”

  “Fuck yes.”

  I shouldn’t have been happy about it, but I was. I smiled against his chest.

  He tucked his right arm under his head, propping it up. His other hand massaged at my scalp, his fingers combing through my hair. “I give you a pretty haircut and paint some stars and do all this shit for you. ‘Hey Trouble, come on and let me save you.’ ‘No, Meanie, I’m gonna stay here.’ How the hell did you talk me into this?”

  “I told you to go back.”

  “Are you kidding? Kota would shoot me. Mr. Blackbourne would skin me. I’d never live through it.”

  We fell quiet. I listened for the sound of my mother. It sounded like she was on her bed. Maybe she’d fall asleep.

  “Meanie?”

  “Yes, Trouble?”

  I bit my lower lip. “What’s going to happen to us?”

  Gabriel sucked in a breath. He carefully picked me up and moved me until I was on my back on the carpet. He shifted until he was on his side, his back facing the closet door as if to put himself between my mother and me. He hovered over me, one arm propping himself up and the other on my stomach. In his shadow, I could only catch the outline of his hair, his cheek, his neck. “I’ll tell you what’s going to happen. Kota is going to find your dad. I don’t know what he’ll say, but it doesn’t matter. What will happen is you’re coming with us.”

  “I can’t live with you,” I said.

  “You will if you have to.” His hand at my stomach gripped me, his thumb smoothing over the shirt.

  “Your parents... I mean won’t they notice another person in the house?”

  “Is that what you’re fucking worried about? What my parents’ would think? Jesus Christ, Sang. You’re being held hostage by your own mo...” He stopped, swallowed. “Sorry.”

  “How can you be so sure I could stay with you?” I asked, not wanting to talk about her. I didn’t know how to think of her right now. “The police...”

  His hand slid higher over my stomach, fingers gripping at me and causing a cyclone of warm shivers. “Trouble, will you for once just trust me?” His head sunk down until his forehead was pressing against my shoulder. “Please? Pretty please? I’ll take care of you. You can stay with me. You can stay with Kota. You can stay with Nathan. What-the-fuck-ever you want. We’ll figure it out. We’ll do it together.”

  His words rattled me. It was what I’d wanted, what I thought of in the back of my mind. I cared about them so I wanted to be with them. Why was I scared when I finally was faced with that? If I left with him now, could they do it?

  I lifted my arms, wrapping them around his neck. I wanted to believe. I did. I was just exhausted and couldn’t take his begging any more. I knew I’d go wherever he asked, wherever they wanted me. There was so much I was grateful for with them. I was actually kind of sorry they worked so hard on my room. It felt like such a waste now if I did end up living with him or one of the others.

  He cuddled me, his nose nuzzled my cheek. “Don’t worry so much. I’ve got you now. I’m not letting go.”

  I sighed against him, willing myself to believe.

  Time passed. No word from Kota. Gabriel hovered his fingers over his phone often but never sent a message. He said if they were busy, it could be risky to interrupt. He just really wanted an update.

  I dozed next to Gabriel often. I forced myself awake every time, listening. I was worried if I fell asleep and if Gabriel did, too, we would get caught. I didn’t know what would happened if she opened the closet now and checked on us.

  Gabriel kept his arms around me, as if daring her to find us.

  At some point I was drifting. Gabriel nudged me awake. “Trouble, it’s time. We’ve got to go.”

  I sucked in a breath, getting a lung full of Gabriel’s scent. “Hm?” I asked, still half asleep.

  “It’s eight. Time to take you home with me.”

  My eyes parted, sitting up sharply. “Did they not find him?”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t heard from anyone.”

  “Maybe you should text them.”

  “No,” he said. “We’ve got to go. Kota’s orders.”

  “But he could be any minute.”

  Gabriel gave a painful sigh. “Sang, he’s not coming. They couldn’t reach him or he won’t come. Either way, we can’t stay here. If we leave, we could get a head start.”

  “But if we walk out...”

  “Oy,” he said, his tone growing to the point that it was scaring me that we would be heard. “We’re going.”

  “Give me a minute,” I pleaded, not sure what good it would do. Why was I stalling? If I were honest with myself, I knew why. In my heart, I thought if we left, that it wouldn’t be as simple as
Gabriel had promised. It was also a crazy feeling of rejection. Maybe I cared what my father thought of me after all. I couldn’t believe, even if he had left, that he had truly abandoned us. Part of me wanted to think he really was on a business trip.

  I rubbed at my eyes, yawning, stretching, stalling.

  “Trouble,” he said. “If you don’t get that pretty ass of yours up, I swear...”

  The house trembled around us as a door was shut hard somewhere in the house. Footsteps treaded through the house. We both drew quiet, waiting. Was it Kota coming in to swoop us out of there? Did Mr. Blackbourne get tired of waiting and send everyone in?

  My mother’s voice shot out over the murmur of the television. “Look who decided to show up,” she said.

  “What’s going on?” my father’s voice traveled through the air.

  My father showed up! My eyes widened, glancing over at Gabriel. I couldn’t tell in the dark but he seemed to be frowning.

  “You left something,” she said.

  Footsteps came closer. Gabriel scrambled up, pressing himself against the little bit of wall next to the door, standing out of view. I moved to my knees, kowtowing out of years of habit.

  The door opened. My father filled the space. I blinked up at him, shaking. He was wearing brown slacks and a short sleeve polo shirt, two sizes too big. His curly hair had been cut shorter. His cheeks were pink from too much sun.

  He frowned at me, turning back toward the bedroom. “You can’t keep her in the closet. Her school called me saying she missed some important tests and when they tried to call, they said you said she moved.”

  “She is moving,” my mother spat at him. “You’re taking her.”

  My father reeled his head back. “No. I’m not.”

  The silence that fell after sliced through me like a thousand paper cuts in my skin. My mother wanted to get rid of me, and my father didn’t want me.

  “You’re going to take her back, or I will call the police.”

  “Do it,” he said. “Do it and I’ll tell them you’ve got her locked in the closet. I’ll tell them why there’s scars on her wrists. I’ll tell them about how many times I’ve watched you put her on her knees...”

  “I think they’d be more interested in how you raped her mother.”

  My head popped up, my eyes locking with Gabriel’s.

  My father closed the door on me. “Don’t you ever say that.”

  Gabriel slid down to his knees, collecting me until I was standing next to him. He half held me up off the floor, ready to take me. I was ready to tell him to go. I wanted him to run. I’d go with him now. I’d do anything he asked. I didn’t want to know any more.

  “She was sixteen!” My mother howled at my father. “And she killed herself after she had that girl in the closet. You tell me how it happened. It doesn’t sound like she was happy with it.”

  “Is this why you wanted me back here? To throw it in my face?”

  “You bring that girl into my house, swearing she was your sister’s and I believed you. I can’t believe how stupid I was. I can’t believe you had me lie to the doctor about how it was a surprise home birth.”

  “Stop it,” my father shouted, his voice booming. It was the loudest I’d ever heard him. “I came back. What do you want?”

  “I want you to take that girl out of my house. You left money for us, I get that. You’re leaving me, go. I don’t care. But I’m not going to have her here for another minute.”

  “She’s going to stay here,” my father said. “Give me until the end of the school year. By then I’ll have enough...”

  “She’s sleeping around with boys in the neighborhood. She’s getting them to pay for cell phones for her. I found boy clothes in her closet. Marie said she’s sitting with a group of them at school. I won’t have her here. You’re not going to leave me with this mess, your mess. She’ll end up pregnant and the police will be here after her any way. I can’t look at her face any more, knowing that’s what she looked like. The whore you slept with. She’s a little whore like her.”

  Gabriel growled low in my ear, gripping me to him.

  “I’ve left enough money for all of you,” my father said. “You don’t have to do anything. Just let her go to school. After that, you won’t see her again. It’s only few months.”

  “I...” my mom shouted, but faltered. She cried out. There was a thud. She started screaming.

  “Don’t you give me that,” my father shouted at her. “If you’re faking it, I swear...”

  Her screams filled my senses, drowning out everything else. Gabriel slipped a palm to my ear, bringing my other ear to his chest. I wanted to tear myself away from him to see what was going on but he held me strong against him.

  There was more thudding, more screaming. My father started talking quickly, “Hello? Yes, we need an ambulance. My wife is sick.” He rattled off the address, repeating himself.

  The next few minutes became some of the longest and quickest at the same time. Gabriel held me as the only mother I’d known screamed in pain. My father tried to ask her what was wrong, tried to get her to take medicine but despite this, her screaming continued. Gabriel refused to budge. He didn’t want me to see what was happening.

  The doorbell rang through the house. It startled me again, since it was an alien sound. A thunder of knocking sounded at the door.

  My father’s footsteps echoed through the house. Voices sounded. The crash of a stretcher being brought in followed. Voices spoke. My mother quieted.

  Gabriel relaxed next to me when the footfalls disappeared down the hall again.

  “Let’s go,” he said.

  He opened the door, peeking out. I followed behind him.

  The bedroom was empty now.

  Gabriel turned to me, tucking his shoulder into my stomach and hoisted me onto his shoulder.

  “Put me down,” I said, dangling off of his body. I patted my hands against his waist and butt. “I can walk.”

  “Fuck you,” he said. “I’m dragging you out before you think of some other stupid reason to stay.”

  Upside down, I was taken through the house. I recognized the path to the side door of the garage. Gabriel stepped out. It was dim. The garage light wasn’t on and the sun had just set.

  Gabriel marched, carrying me across the garage and out into the open, heading across the drive.

  “Wait,” I called to him. “Put me down.”

  “No,” he said.

  “Sang,” my father’s voice shot through the air, “hey stop that.”

  Gabriel ignored him.

  “Gabriel,” I said. “Put me down.” I struggled, poking at his side.

  He grunted, stopped, shifting me on his shoulder but moved forward. Orders were given. Orders would be finished.

  “Sang,” my father called out.

  Gabriel stopped in mid-step.

  I wriggled. “Let me see what he wants. I’ll tell him I’m leaving with you. I’ll tell him so he won’t call the police or think you’ve kidnapped me. I’ll go with you.”

  Gabriel grunted but put me down. His hand found mine, his mouth tight, his crystal eyes dark. He squared off his shoulders and turned with me to look at what was happening.

  An ambulance was parked in the road in front of the house. The gurney was being hoisted into the back. The paramedics closed the back doors and turned to my father.

  My father was in the middle of the yard, staring after Gabriel and I in the drive. “Wait just a second,” he said, appearing half conflicted with wanting to address the paramedics or to talk to us.

  I nodded to him. Gabriel squeezed my hand.

  When my father seemed sure we would wait, he turned to address the paramedics, saying he’d follow in his car shortly. The paramedic guys turned to look right at my face as my father turned around to walk back toward us.

  Mr. Blackbourne and Dr. Green.

  The Academy was taking her. My father had no clue. Did they intercept the call?

  Where
did they get an ambulance?

  My father jogged across the yard toward us. “Sang,” he said, stopping a few feet from us, shooting a questioning glance at Gabriel. “Who is that? Is that your boyfriend?”

  “Yeah,” Gabriel said before I had a chance to respond. “That lady locked her in the closet all god damn day. Where the hell were you?”

  My father reeled his head back. “I was at work.”

  “You weren’t,” Gabriel barked at him. “We called and you weren’t there. What the hell, dude? You don’t even want your own fucking daughter.”

  “Gabriel,” I said, squeezing his hand, and pulling. “Don’t...”

  “Do you know what she’s been through? And I know you do because you just admitted it in there! You’ve seen her scars. And you’re walking out and leaving her to that crazy woman? Did you want her to die? Fucking great. No problem. Just let me take her and I’ll...”

  “Wait,” my father said, taking a half step back. “Just wait.”

  “For what?”

  “Let her stay,” he begged. “Please.” I didn’t know whether the sorrow in his eyes was genuine. I wasn’t familiar enough with him to know.

  A shallow echoing, mimicking footsteps, approached. Two figures jumped from the rail barrier of the front porch. Kota and Nathan. They’d been in the house.

  A cluster of footsteps sounded from up the street. A group of guys were dashing down the road in our direction. I recognized North and Silas, with Luke and Victor behind them.

  My father took a step back as Kota and Nathan marched around him toward me.

  “What is this?” my father asked. “Who are they?”

  “My family,” I said, the words slipping from my mouth. For a moment I thought maybe that would seem insulting to him. The thought passed quickly. I didn’t care what my father thought.

  Kota reached me first, wrapping his arms around my waist and picking me up off the ground, hugging me close. I let him take me. I couldn’t resist any more. The others surrounded me, I could smell them. I could feel their hands touching my back, my face, my hair.

  “Wait,” my father pleaded again.

  “She’s not staying,” Gabriel shouted. “Not another second.”