The Aftermath

“What do you think is wrong with my dad?” Ryant asked.

We’d made it back to his house and Lion had gone up to bed. It was just past six pm and we were in the house.

Ryant’s house was beautifully modern like a lot of homes in our neighborhood with clean white lines, cool furniture pieces, and lots of pictures. I ran my hands over a bowl of marbles, feeling the round clear orbs.

“I don’t know. Maybe he’s got the flu or something…” I muttered.

The room was unusually silent and Ryant plopped down next to me on the couch. Tears were running down his cheeks. I’d never seen him cry very often, if I thought about it, maybe this was the first time other than when Brett Wiggins had held a gun to his head.

His strong hands rested against his lap and since our five months in Washington, he’d managed to put on a tad bit of muscle. He seemed fit even though before he’d been well enough to handle himself.

“What if he’s sick… what if he…”

I swallowed, feeling as sorry as ever for my best friend. “Ryant, your dad is not sick and he’ll be fine.”

“W-what about those people at that interview? W-what if it still exists?”

I sighed, pulling him closer so our shoulders touched. “Then, we’ll do whatever the hell it takes to bring it down. Do you hear me?”

“Okay.” He took the deepest breath in and sighed. “Do you wanna watch movies?”

“Do I ever not want to watch movies?! Come on!”

The mood lifted at our usual ritual. Lion’s house had its own private and small movie theater with large cushion chairs and all. So, we popped all the popcorn possible and brought as much candy as we could manage to carry.

The small movie room was dark and comfy. Lion could be heard coughing as we walked past the stairwell leading upstairs. Max was upstairs sleeping soundly.

“Let’s watch romantic comedy?” Ryant suggested.

I groaned, setting down the toasting bag of popcorn to a chair. “No, we need horror. Something with lots and lots of blood, remember?”

“Remember what?”

“Last time we watched a romance you said you wanted to throw up and next time lots of blood would need to be involved.”

He thought for a bit. “Oh yeah… It was that gushy movie with lots of clichés. Okay, action it is.”

We decided on Fight Club, which seemed to be a classic when it came to a good movie. Ryant kept on laughing whenever Brad Pitt did something crazy and I’d throw popcorn at him. The movie neared its ending and Ryant started to complain how there was no cereal in the house.

“Do you really need cereal right now? It’s…” I checked my phone. “9:30 at night. Doesn’t sound like much of a dinner?”

“Have you seen what we’ve eaten already, especially you! One bag of popcorn, seven Nerdburgers, 2 boxes of Whoppers, and a chocolate milkshake that belonged to Max which he’ll be very upset about.”

I patted my stomach. “And that’s why I’m happy.”

“Well, I need some cereal type food to eat soon.” He was already walking out the door and I rolled my eyes while tugging on my shoes which I’d taken off for comfort.

“Ryant! Wait!” I stumbled out the movie room doorway to see him scribbling a note on the fridge.

“That way my dad won’t wonder where I am.” He’d already pulled on his own red high top Converses and a light jacket.

“Do you really wanna walk to the store now?”

There was a storefront street about a ten minute walk away which happened to be slightly bustling during the day. This time of night though, it’d be quite empty.

“Yeah. I really want some Cinnamon Toast Crunch or I’m going to die. I’ll buy you something too?”

That was all I needed. “Alright, come on.”

We were out the door want walking within the next few minutes. The sky was dark and stars were a resource above. They glowed like tiny lanterns and cars smoothed by in no hurry.

“Do you like Washington more than where we used to live or before that?” he asked me. His hands were in his jacket pockets and we walked steadily beside me.

I shrugged. “I think I do. Like this could be home for me finally, like I could get used to things and finish off school here. What about you?”

“I don’t know. I guess it just takes a lot to get used to. My mom not being around, making new friends and all.”

“But, you don’t have to make new friends? You have us.” I said.

I wondered why he seemed so sad, just so sad right now.

“I just don’t want things to fall apart again. I don’t wanna feel like I’m gonna lose myself. I mean, did you see what happened to Rodney and Jesse?” he exclaimed. “Jesse doesn’t even talk to us anymore. Last anyone’s heard of him he may be in Seattle and Rodney...”

“Rodney’s what?”

We were nearing the store front street. North Omen was the street’s name. I even remembered Cece and I coming here for coffee on multiple occasions.

“Nothing. It’s nothing.” He said and opened the door to the small convenience store for me.

Inside the store was regular looking with overly bright strobe lights that reminded me of the Lexicon facilities. I actually had a squint my eyes to adjust to the different hue. The cashier was an Indian man with a large fabric wrapped around his head. He was leafing through an X rated magazine that he thought no one noticed.

Ryant walked ahead to the aisle of boxed foods and I followed.

“Ryant, what were you about to say?” I badgered. He looked frantically for his box. “Ryant.”

“What?!” he snapped. “Can I not look for something in a store?!”

“What is wrong with you?”

He grabbed a random box from the shelf. “Look, I don’t wanna talk about it, okay? I’m sorry if I’m being rude, but I don’t want to end up like Rodney.”

“What does that mean?”

He threw his hands up. “Rodney’s dad is dead. He doesn’t even know his mom. I mean, just look at him, he’s practically mute sometimes.”

“You’re not being very nice.”

“Well, sorry. I can’t help the way I feel. The dude freaks me out sometimes. Plus, he likes to stare at people a lot. It’s freaky. I even heard his uncle is like some fugitive.”

“Fugitive?” I questioned as he put the anonymous box of cereal back and I looked for the rightful one. “What are you talking about? On the video at the airport, it had-“

“It had the uncle saying he wanted to leave the company, but Kyle told me he heard some reporter talking about Brett having some law disobeying brother and it has to be the other guy.”

I wasn’t exactly sure if Ryant or Kyle’s logic made much sense. I’d probably have to ask Cece about it since she was better at knowing about this type of stuff.

“Well, at least try to be nicer to him. Rodney saved all of our asses once upon a time and it could happen again.”

“Yeah, yeah. What do you want from the store?”

Then, he and I walked around for a good ten minutes until the cashier urged that the store would be closing soon and the area got dangerous late at night.

“You two kids should take a cab home.”

“It’s only a ten minute walk!” Ryant called out.

The cashier shook his head with a smooth chuckle as the door to the store chimed.

“Excuse me, sir. We’ll be closing up soon, so you’ll have to find your items quickly.”

I swallowed as the scary looking man walked into the store. He wore a dulled blue hoodie that had to be a size or two too large. His pants were wet with some sort of liquid and arms didn’t reach out past the sleeves of his hoodie. The hood itself was pulled over the man’s head.

His boots clattered against the tile as he brushed past us, nearly knocking over Ryant. My heart pounded in my chest as the man made a grunt while he took a case of beer from the freezers.

Ryant and I both followed slowly, letting the man get to the counter before us as we walked near the aisles.

“This man gives me the creeps.” Ryant whispered.

“Me too.”

He slammed the case of beer down on the counter.

“That’ll be $9.87, sir.”

“Is that what you Towel Heads charge these days?” Ryant and mine’s eyes widened.

“Please buy or escort yourself out of my store, sir. I can easily call police.”

“Call the police, huh? Shouldn’t I be reporting you for terrorism instead?”

“Get out of my store.”

The man reached into the back waist of his pocket and pulled out something black from there. It pointed steadily at the cashier’s face now.

It was a gun.

“I want all the money in the register now.”

I forced my hand into Ryant and moved us back a few steps. The cashier looked frozen in place and I felt my heart pounding in my chest.

The man holding the gun, his fingers were black with skin peeling. His fingers were trembling.

“Give me the money. Now.”

“Okay.” The cashier said. “J-just don’t shoot me.”

The gun moved as the man’s neck did a spasm to the side. It was only then that I noticed the droplets of blood on the floor following the man’s footsteps. He was bleeding.

“Ryant, I think we need to leave now.” I spat under my breath.

The cashier was rushing to the register, hands scrambling for all the cash he could the man. The hand with the gun did hard jerk and a bullet tore off as the gun flew from his hands.

“Here. Here’s the money. Just leave.” The cashier’s hands were filled with the bills. “Take it.”

The man dove out, lips digging into the cashier’s neck and blood spewing from the skin.

“Ah!AHHHHH!”

They both flew back, knocking over shelves of cigarettes and prepaid cards. Inhuman squeals and sounds of horror radiated the store walls. Blood splattered and flew as things knocked over behind the counter.

Ryant’s cell phone started to ring and tears filled my eyes. With a blood smeared face the man behind the counter rose, eyes not human and jagged breaths wheezing out its lips.

“Move!”

Ryant’s hands yanked me back with such force my entire world rippled. We both flew back as glass and cinder exploded from the store’s right wall. Shelves and metal could be heard toppling over. I was screaming my lungs out when the world seemed to shovel down over us. My arm came pinned down and Ryant was grunting.

Darkness filled everything and I just couldn’t stop screaming.

I only wish I could understand what was becoming of my life.