Status: Critique greatly appreciated, nitpickers welcome! Don't be a silent reader!

The Key Chased the Blade

Silence

Simon and I went back to his house and we played some Minecraft on his computer and he drew some random stuff while I watched. I wasn't exactly in the mood to do anything productive. I asked Rico to bring me my Gameboy when he dropped some of my clothes off, but I wasn't in the mood to play Pokemon either. I realized, though, that I had left my phone on silent all day, and when I finally checked it, I had four missed calls from Rico.

I called back while Simon was doodling some birds. I knew I was in a lot of trouble, so I spared Simon from hearing the wrath of my older brother and left the room to the hallway. My brother answered after the second ring. "What did I do this time, Rico?" I asked dryly.

"You didn't do anything. I'm glad you called back, though," he said. His voice sounded really odd. "Did you have your phone off?"

"Yeah, I turned my ringer off. What's going on?"

Rico's silence told me more than his words could have.

Something bitter sank into my gut and that was when I knew something very serious was going on. For only a few seconds, I could only hear Rico's soft breathing on the other end of my crappy speakers, and I knew from experience that Rico's silence meant he was thinking about the best way to explain something that could not be explained easily.

"Are you in a room by yourself?" Rico asked.

"I'm in the hallway. Tell me what's going on."

"Okay, good. I don't want Simon to know this just yet. I'll have you tell him when you decide to. I just want you to do something for me."

"Why? What's happening?" I tightened my grip on my phone.

"Noah, I want you to make sure the doors in the house are locked. Simon's parents are going to leave work early to watch over you. But for now, just make sure you're safe and don't answer the door if someone knocks. Do you understand?"

"Yes, yes, I do. What's going on, Rico? Tell me what's going on!" My voice escalated. "Why do I need to do this!?"

Rico was silent again. I wanted to scream. I could hear my own breath fizzling in the speaker along with Rico's. And I couldn't say anything. I could only wait for Rico to speak.

"John's escaped from his room. I told him the police were going to question him and he went out his window in the middle of the night and left. We don't know where he went, and he smashed his cell phone to pieces. He's probably just upset but I still don't want him trying to find you. Just stay calm. Don't answer the door if someone knocks and call me if something happens. Dad and I are dealing with this right now. We didn't want to tell you earlier, but now I thought I should."

I sunk down against the hallway wall and pulled my knees to my chest. "Okay." My voice was weak.

"Do you have all of that, Noah?"

"Yeah."

"Good." Rico paused. "I love you. Call me if you need anything."

"I love you too."

"Alright. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay."

Then he hung up. I slid the phone from my ear and let it fall into my lap. I gripped onto my knees until my knuckles turned white. My heart pulsed in my ears.

And a few seconds later, I heard a knock on the door.