All That I've Got

Things started to get weird about half way through December, though.

Instead of holiday spirit and excitement for winter break, the house was becoming a dunk tank of tension. Frank would walk in from the frozen, snow-frosted world and the apartment’s atmosphere would hit him the face- too many thoughts and secrets kept behind sealed lips. It made the whole beautiful place seem dim.

Some days, Frank would hear Chris talking on the phone through all hours of the night. He couldn’t make out the words in the dark, half-sleep mode he was in, but he could tell Chris’s tone was strained.

Frank asked about it one day, and the answer made his stomach heave. Jury activity was increasing, from nearly nonexistant, to the highest in the midwest. Frank knew that nothing good would come from that.

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It happened the day school was let out for break.

Frank came home to secrets in Natalie’s eyes. She hustled Frank away from Alex as soon as the stepped into the entranceway, and didn’t stop until they both ended up in her room.

Frank unwound his patterned scarf and wiggled from his jacket, then plopped down on her neatly made bed.

“Natalie, what’s going on?” He watched her bounce around the room, half-words falling from her mouth, and a stricken face to match. “Calm down, and tell me!” Frank said, exasperated.

She turned and came close to Frank. “Chris left for business, Frank.”

Frank just looked up at her, expression blank. “Yeah?”

“His office is unlocked. All of the rest of your answers are sitting in there, Frankie.”

Holy shit, Frank thought, she was right.

Jumping up, Frank started for the door, heart crashing like a tidal wave on his ribcage. “Let’s go, we need to go and see, c’mon-”

Frank was about to open the door when suddenly Natalie wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, trying to stop him, and he went flying back from the doorway.

He ended up on his butt on the floor, a heap of limbs and wide open eyes. “What the fuck, Natalie?” Frank finally choked out.

Natalie still stood by the door, looking down at Frank in shock. She looked close to tears. “Oh, Frank, I’m so sorry, I- I didn’t mean to.”

Frank shifted to his feet, and kind of brushed off his jeans, as if he could dust away the bruises he could feel blooming. He sighed. “It’s okay. You don’t know your own strength, or whatever the fuck those idiots say these days.” Frank gave Natalie a pointed look that shouted ‘watch it, next time'.

Natalie still looked like she might start sobbing, but Frank took her hand and tugged her until she sat on her bed.

“It’s really alright. But you obviously had something you needed to tell me,” Frank said pointedly.

Her face cleared a bit. “Yeah, I do. You can’t just go marching in there. Aaronlyn or someone will stop you. Even Alex would try to keep you from going in. You need to wait until they’re asleep,” she said.

“That makes sense,” Frank admitted, gathering up his winter clothes that he’d discarded. He looked back at Natalie. “Okay, I’ll probably need your help to access everything that you believe is in there. So will you come with me tonight?”

Natalie stood up and smiled, white teeth stark against her tan skin. “This is cute.”
She snuck the scarf from Frank’s hands and wrapped it around his neck, letting her fingers linger there. “Extra cute now. And of course I will,” she said, then turned away.

Frank walked out of the room with his mind too full to even think about how he felt about that whole encounter.