Session 24

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

We didn’t get to see Aaron until that following Saturday.

Believe me when I say that I was set to meet him after my little encounter with James. I had this elaborate plan to go straight into the school and ask for him by claiming to be his second cousin or something. Keenan voted against it, of course. James isn’t a thinker, but Aaron is. I wouldn’t risk it. That’s what he told me, but I wasn’t really listening, to be honest. He was ruining my vibe.

Anyway, back to that Saturday. Keenan and I were sitting out on the porch, waiting for Lorna to talk to the housemothers about our departure. With the knowledge that she couldn’t tell a blatant lie, we settled for the ‘we’re off to meet a good friend’ excuse.

With a little bit of magic, of course.

Keenan and I didn’t talk much. In the home there were few chats, scarce teasing, and he never smiled the way he did back at Cillian’s. He wasn’t ever sour, though. There were times when he’d come into my room while Finn wasn’t there, absently staring out the window as I read.

Even now when I sit in my room reading, I always end up putting my book down to try to find him there looking out the window or something. He’s never there, of course. I guess old habits really do die hard.

Lorna came out several minutes later, looking more irritated than she was going in. She pulled out her keys from her coat—which was hellishly fancy, by the way—and unlocked the car door, allowing Keenan and I to enter.

“The boy is way different from his friend,” Lorna said as she turned the car on. The engine had this soft purr unlike the roar of Cillian's old van. “He’s so introverted that I couldn’t get much information on him about his personality or past dealings. You’ll have to find that out on your own.”

“It’s a good thing I came then,” muttered Keenan, who had his eyes trapped on the window. There was space for him to sit at the front, but he chose to stay at the backseat with me. I didn’t mention anything about it, though, since I didn’t feel like embarrassing him.

I had to be real careful about things like that. If you don’t know this already, cautiousness around people like him is key. You know, the ones who seem all nice at first but they turn into something else in a matter of seconds. Switchblades is what I like to call them. They can stick your head right in the gutter if you don’t take care.

“He’ll most likely be hostile towards the two of you,” Lorna continued, acting as if Keenan hadn’t said a word. “You’ll probably have to use some kind of method to get him talking.”

“Or force,” Keenan said, allowing a slow grin to settle on his face. “Nothing works better than force.”

I could see Lorna’s displeased frown through the rear view mirror. I didn’t know if she took a liking to anything. “Do what you will. This isn’t my problem.”

The car fell into an unnerving hush at that point. The silence weighed down on our shoulders, but no one dared to say anything against it. It wasn’t that we didn’t like each other; it was more of the fact that we all had nothing else to say.

It took a few minutes for us to reach where we needed to go. Lorna parked the car at the side of some street filled with beautiful houses, each one different from the other. Every lot seemed to have an obnoxious tree or a fantastic looking garden. At first I thought we were in the wrong place or something, but my assumptions were killed as soon as Lorna shut off the engine.

“On the school reports, I’ve seen that he has permission to leave the premises now and then to go home. It isn’t every weekend, but there’s always a pattern. Today is probably one of those days, and his house should be along this street.”

“So he’ll be coming down—”

“Ah, there he is,” Lorna interrupted Keenan, pointing down the road. We saw a rather scrawny looking kid walking towards us from the other sidewalk, his head hung low and his shoulders bunched up and tense. I could finally understand why a kid like him would need a friend like James. He seemed too weak to fend for himself.

“Time to make a show,” Keenan muttered, already heading out of the car. I nervously followed his actions, keeping a safe distance behind him as we crossed the road. I wouldn’t have admitted this to him, but I was sort of glad that he was there. I mean, my palms were already sweating and I hadn’t even spoken to the kid yet.

Keenan and I stood awkwardly on the sidewalk as we watched Aaron’s small figure zoom in as he walked. “Just think of him as a block of talking meat,” said Keenan suddenly, his voice nothing but a low rumble. “That’s how I view things, which is why I’m able to do the things you can’t.”

He looked over at me then. I really hated that look, to be honest with you. His eyes held a certain message, as if he was expecting more from me. Hell if I knew what else he wanted.

Anyway, Aaron didn’t even notice us standing there until Keenan grabbed him. You would’ve seen how crazy it was if you were there; he nearly walked right by us. It was as if he was trapped in his own mind, not even shaken when he noticed a hand on his shoulder.

His eyes went in all directions as he took a good look at us. Soon enough, he shoved Keenan’s hand off of him, his face holding a foul look. “What’s your problem, man?”

Keenan ended up smiling even though the situation didn’t call for it. “Your friend James referred us to you,” he began. “I think we need to have a chat.”

Aaron backed away from us, but he didn’t run. Instead, his demeanour contorted into someone that held at least an ounce of interest. “James sent you?” He shook his head. “I-I don’t do the stuff he does, alright. So whatever you’re looking for, you won’t find it from me.”

“All we need is your time.” Keenan looked around the neighbourhood. “I’m not sure if you want to do it here, within earshot of people who know your parents.”

Aaron ended up gritting his teeth, pushing past us. “I’m not going anywhere with people I don’t know. You guys better get out of here before I call the police.”

“Isaac Russell,” I said hurriedly, causing Aaron to stop in his tracks. “Remember him?” When Aaron didn’t say anything, I added, “Don’t bother trying to deny it, because James told us that you had some problems with him. We’re just here to find out why.”

“That stuff happened years ago, man. Why are you trying to stick your nose into people's business?” He turned towards us with a scowl. “I’ve got nothing to say to you about anything, especially about that guy.”

Keenan’s smile went away with the wind, his irises growing into an intense shade of gold as he stared down at the kid. Aaron seemed to freeze in his spot, his look of hostility contorting into something distressing. His features seemed to grow pained the more he stared at Keenan, as if he was being physically beaten down. Colour seemed to shed from the boy’s skin as minutes passed by until he was nothing but mass of pale flesh and terror.

“She was your girlfriend?” Keenan finally asked, his eyebrows furrowing together. “You were the other guy Isaac was talking about.”

Aaron’s eyes went as wide as the sun above us, eyelids blinking wildly as his lips quivered in fear. “I-I felt you in my head. You were poking through things and—stop it! Get out!” Aaron grabbed at his hair, but he still couldn’t take his eyes off of Keenan. “What are you?! I said get out of there!”

“Stop,” I told Keenan, putting a hand on his shoulder. “We’re still in the neighbourhood, remember? You don’t know who’s watching us right now.”

Keenan bit his lip hard enough to make it bleed, but it didn’t. “Shit,” he muttered, looking away from the cowering boy. “I think she was playing them both.”

“You don’t know anything,” Aaron spat. “I don’t know what you guys are and who you’re working for, but you better stay out of this business. You can keep searching, but you’ll never find the truth. I won’t sell him out.”

“Him? Who—”

But Aaron was already gone, his figure growing smaller as he dashed down the sidewalk as if his life depended on it. I was actually about to go after him until Keenan caught me, shaking his head.

“I got most of what I needed from him, but he was purposefully blocking me out of one little thing.”

“Is it the ‘him’ he was talking about?”

Keenan shrugged and stepped onto the road, already heading back to the car. “I don’t know. But I think I know who does.”

 ***

We ended up going to Skye’s house after that. Just to get this clear, I wasn’t for prowling through a dead girl’s room, but Keenan said it was a necessary measure. You and I both know by now that once he makes up his mind about something, it’s going to take a hell of a lot more than just words to change his mind.

Her parents seemed to be home, so Keenan dropped his glamour and cloaked me with shadows again. The thing is, once he touched me I sort of lost my cool. It’s really embarrassing, but I think I should still explain it to you anyway. He did his usual thing with coming near me and all that other crap, but then when I looked down, old faithful was standing at full attention.

Keenan acted like he didn’t see it, but I knew he did. It was sprawled all over his face and the way he stifled his laughter. I can’t explain why it turned out that way, but I can tell you that my face didn’t lose its redness for hours. You’re probably feeling a little embarrassed for me, but you don’t have to. I don’t want you to.

Anyway, their back door was open, so we managed to slip through from there. It was this huge house that fit in with the rest of Rosebay, so finding her room would be difficult. Keenan said we would be able to do it, so I trusted him.

We slipped past the father easily—his mind was too focused on the television in the living room. The mother, however, paused at her station in the kitchen, her eyes moving to the exact spot Keenan and I froze at.

“Don’t worry about it; she can’t see us,” Keenan said to me. “Keep moving.”

We travelled up the stairs and visited many rooms, none of them Skye’s. After a few minutes of prowling through the house, I came across a locked door. “You think this is it?” I asked Keenan as he came up behind me.

“It would make sense if it was,” he responded. Keenan crouched down at an  eye level with the lock. Holding out his palm, he blew greyish black shadows into the small keyhole. I was about to question him until I heard the soft click of the lock turning, allowing us entry.

“Wipe that look off of your face, Jack. You should be used to this by now.”

Damn, he loved to be smug, and I kept feeding him opportunity after opportunity.

We entered the room then, closing the door softly behind us. “If you think anything will be valuable to us leaving this city, tell me. Don’t debate with yourself.”

“Yes, captain,” I muttered, running my hand along pink and white bed sheets. I went over to her nightstand, flicking the light of the lamp on and off for a while before I decided to actually open the drawer. There weren’t much in there other than a few pens and pencils, some wrapped post-its, and a crumpled report card.

I saw Keenan at a calendar that hung on one side of the wall, some dates circled in red. “What do you think that means?” I asked him.

“I don’t know. Keep searching.”

I went down on my knees and checked under her bed, but it was spotless. I started wondering if her parents ever took anything out of the room, since it was hard to believe that they kept it the same way she left it for two years. Then again, what did I know about losing a child?

Running my fingers over the metal slates supporting the mattress, I stopped short when I felt something off. Without even thinking about it first, I shimmied under the bed, coughing out dust like a chain smoker before my eyes focused on what I found.

A diary.

A diary, for Christ’s sake.

I grabbed it instantly, careful to not damage the pages as I came up from under the bed. I didn’t waste time flipping through it. It was all good juice, really, but that didn’t stop me from feeling dirty about it. “Shit, Keenan. Come look at this. Turns out Isaac was creeping on her while she was with Aaron. That’s what set Aaron off.”

“I know that much,” Keenan muttered over my shoulder. “What else?”

“There was this guy Aaron made a deal with to handle Isaac. She never mentioned his name, but she calls him dangerous a lot. Apparently, they all made a plan, but that guy blackmailed them so they couldn’t get out of it even though they wanted to. That’s where it ends.”

Keenan swore under his breath, moving away from me. “There’s nothing else there?”

“Well, there’s this one page on the back, but it’s only Aaron and James’ names. Some of the letters are written in red, though, but I think she just wanted to make them look cool.”

Keenan shook his head. “I don’t trust it. We’ll bring it with us and analyse it later. Oh, and look what I found.” He held up two plate numbers. The holes where the bolts belonged were cut, as if someone desperately tried to remove them.

I took them from him, inspecting them side by side. “They’re the same number. Why would she have this?”

“I don’t know, but she obviously didn’t want anyone else finding it. I found them jammed in her closet between—” He stopped short, pulling his eyebrows together. Before I could even ask him what was wrong, he went towards the window and looked out.

“That bastard is standing there,” Keenan said, though it was more of a growl. “I’m going to get him to speak. I’m not resisting iron any longer just because some kid can’t get words out.”

“Wait, Keenan. Don’t do anything stupid,” I said, but my protests were futile. He already had the window open, kicking through the net and jumping straight out like some kind of goddamn maniac.

The next series of events happened so quick, sort of like a weird dream. I watched in horror when his glamour materialised mid-air as he dropped right in front of an already shaken Aaron. Keenan grabbed him by his throat, yelling something to him. I think it was along the lines of tell me the truth or who is he but I don’t remember it much. I was too busy shitting rocks.

I do remember trying to tell him to stop, because I could see Aaron’s face turn into an inhuman shade of purple and blue. His mouth was opening and closing like a fish out of water, but Keenan couldn’t hear me. He couldn’t hear anything. The agitation and frustration were blocking his ears and common sense, causing him to act up.

And then Aaron stopped moving.

It took Keenan a moment to figure it out; to clear his head enough to let go of the kid. Aaron slumped to the ground, nothing but a lifeless form of swollen skin and bugged eyes. I remember watching Skye’s parents run out of the house at the same time Keenan dropped his glamour, crying for a boy who couldn’t cry back.

I remember putting my hands over my mouth to stop myself from screaming or vomiting; I couldn’t tell the difference. I saw Keenan back away from them, the tattoos on his arm moving faster, then slower, then faster again. He didn’t know what to feel.

Keenan looked up at me then, and not a force on earth could stop the trembling of his hand.

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net