Blood Brothers

The next day the kids were at the lot again, though this time there were a few more of them. I watched them as usual, even though I was unable to follow their game at all; the rules seemed to change every few minutes.

“I shot you!” shouted an older boy with scraggly dark brown hair. He glared down at a much shorter girl.

“No, I blocked it with my shield!” she cried back. I guessed her to be around Mikey’s age because they were almost exactly the same height.

“We’re not using shields!” The girl glared back up at the boy.

“It doesn’t matter anyway, Gerard,” said Mikey. I suddenly saw the resemblance between the two. Their faces were fairly similar, though Gerard’s hair looked like he had recently been through a tornado. I couldn’t believe that Mikey’s own brother was the one torturing him every day at school. Gerard thought for a moment before something clicked in his mind as well.

“Yeah, forgot. Ten second rule if you’re killed, right?”

“No, it’s twenty!” shouted the girl. Gerard walked over to her, towering over her ominously.

“I say it’s ten.” She didn’t respond, and after a few more seconds, the game continued. Strangely enough, Gerard lay down on the ground with his fingers crossed on each hand, counting to ten with what I was sure were less than one-second intervals. He jumped to his feet and began chasing one of the other kids nearby.

Alicia picked up a clod of dirt and launched it at Gerard, hitting him in the back of the head. He turned around swiftly and marched over to her with an angry look, then picked up some dirt and threw it in her face. She started whimpering at the stinging pain in her eyes.

“That wasn’t nice, Gerard,” said Mikey, running over to him. Gerard smugly approached his younger brother, straightening up to appear taller.

“Oh yeah? And what’re you gonna do about it?” he asked condescendingly, folding his arms and smirking. Mikey stared at the dusty ground while his brother nodded.

“Exactly. You’re too much of a wimp to do anything. Just like your little girlfriend.”

“Alicia’s not my girlfriend!” Mikey shouted. Alicia began to blush, causing Gerard to break into hysteric laughter. His friends followed suit.

The next thing I knew, Gerard was on the ground screaming for help as Mikey tried to simultaneously rip his hair out and punch his face at the same time. Alicia pulled him away from his older brother, who had suffered a bloody lip and mild hair loss. His friends were laughing so hard that tears were coming out of their eyes.

“C’mon, Mikey, let’s go,” said Alicia, pulling him away from the scene. He chanced a look back at his brother, then quickly turned back and broke into a run towards his home, dragging Alicia behind him. Gerard finally stood up and brushed himself off, shooting glares at his friends and hitting one of them on the back of the skull for good measure.

“Don’t be such an idiot, Ray,” I heard him say darkly. “It wasn’t that funny.”

“What are you talking about?! It was fucking hilarious!” It seemed strange to hear that from a ten-year-old, but considering he was friends with Gerard, I felt I shouldn’t have been so surprised. At that point I stood up and went inside, remembering that I was supposed to meet with one of the parents on the other side of town later that day. Their son had been easily getting into fights at the school, and since the regular teacher decided it would be good for my “learning experience” to handle it, that’s what I had to do. I decided I should get all the necessary paperwork together before I left.

Just when I had finished this task, the phone rang, startling me out of my concentration. I sighed and answered it.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Bob,” Ms. Way’s voice said softly from the other end. I blinked a little in surprise. “I was wondering if you might help me with something.”

“Sure, anything,” I answered.

“Well, y’see, I know Mikey’s been sneaking off to play with his new friend even after I told him not to, and the idea of the two of ’em wandering around the city alone makes me worried sick. Any chance you could look after them and make sure they don’t get into too much trouble?”

“Uh…sure,” I responded. I certainly didn’t want anything to happen to the kids when they were so young. It wouldn’t hurt. I felt I could handle it. “I’d be happy to.”

“Thanks, Bob,” she said warmly. “Once they get back near that lot they always play in, they should be fine.” The phone clicked and the line went dead, so I hung up as well. As luck would have it, just as I glanced out my window, I saw Mikey and Alicia skipping along down the sidewalk. I made sure I had my house keys and locked the door behind me, following at a leisurely walk. Mikey seemed to know many shortcuts to the Iero household that I would never even dream of, but after a while I decided that as long as I didn’t stop for coffee along the way, my normal route would suffice.

I stood near the back of the house as Mikey and Alicia took turns throwing rocks at Frank’s window. Most fell short, but when the young boy finally tossed a handful of pebbles at the glass, two or three of them hit and caught Frank’s attention. He rushed to the window and opened it, using all of his strength to do so. He saw that it was Mikey and smiled.

“Hi Mikey!” he said in a low but still excited tone.

“Frankie, are you gonna come with us or what?” Mikey asked impatiently. Frank’s smile dropped from his face.

“But…my mom says I can’t play with you…”

“My mom says I can’t play with you either! Don’t listen to mothers; they’re crazy.” He grabbed Alicia’s arm and pulled her forward. “Come on, I’ve got Alicia with me. She’s a girl, but she’s alright.” I smiled as he spoke. Frank’s grin returned to him in full force, and he climbed down from the window with the agility only a small child or a gymnast could manage.
-
They played harmless games for the entire day, never straying far from my line of sight. Young as he was, Mikey was incredibly street smart, as was Alicia. Since Mikey certainly didn’t want anything to happen to his new friend, I knew they wouldn’t let him get hurt or leave him behind. Eventually they chose to return Frank to his home; I decided to follow a little more closely since it was getting dark. The city seemed to grow more ominous once its crowds of people retreated inside for the night and the street lamps cast their glow upon the maze of asphalt.

The children appeared oblivious to this foreboding danger, still bouncing along and laughing as though the sun had never left.

“So, the only way to keep gypsies from getting you is to always have a gold piece with you,” Mikey explained as they walked. I smiled to myself at his story.

“Why is that?” Alicia inquired.

“They’ll let you go if you can pay them enough. Gold’s their favorite. But they can only see out of one eye, so they won’t know if it’s just painted.”

“Oh.”

They were clearly reluctant to return Frank home, but once the sounds of his mother calling for him filled the air, they hurried him to climb back up to his room.

“Frank…Frank, where are you?” Mrs. Iero said frantically from within the house. I rolled my eyes. Had she not noticed before now that her son was missing?

“I’m right here, mom,” he said loud enough so she would hear. The lights in his room flipped on and I knew she must have tackled him in a hug.

“Where were you?! I was so worried! I thought you’d been kidnapped or something!”

“Relax, mom. It’s not like anything’s gonna get me. Afraid of gypsies?” he asked jokingly. I sighed and left the scene to follow Mikey and Alicia home. Mikey’s little story reminded me of a poem I’d seen somewhere. I remembered a few lines from it and chose to write it down once I returned to my own home, but after a solid five minutes of thinking, it escaped me and I was forced to improvise.

There’s gypsies in the wood,
And they’ve been watching you.
They’re gonna take your baby away.
There’s gypsies in the wood,
And they’ve been calling you…

“Can Frankie please come out and play?
Please can he come with us and play?”

Now you know the devil’s got your number.
You know he’s gonna find you,
You know he’s right behind you.
He’s staring through your windows,
He’s creeping down the hall…