SO COLD (18+) currently editing

Chapter 11.5

CHARACTER VIEWS DO NOT REPRESENT MY OWN. Please be civil in the comment section.

True to his word, any news of Dad never reached our ears. I didn't think Cole could be so petty but as the days merged into weeks, Seth and I settled into life with Jade and gradually, I came to the understanding I wouldn't be seeing Cole or James or any of the others any time soon, or if ever. I didn't know if I was glad realising that or sorry that I messed things up. Seth got miserable as people lost interest in the search to find Dad and more than ever, he resorted to staying in his room, playing video games. I had to coax him out to eat with Jade and I otherwise he'd be living in his own world, by himself and online players who all had fucked his mum.

I found myself isolated, too, but with my friends. Any messages I left were read and deleted, any calls I made were declined, and when the Christmas holidays made its way around, I had only Jade and Seth to wish a Merry Christmas too.

There was four days until Christmas, and Jade made a half-arsed attempt at decorating the shop but amongst the dark skulls, gore and blood on every t-shirt and anti-cross jewellery it looked out of place and tacky. I didn't have it in me to verbally dislike her half-an-hour attempt when she asked me my opinion as I came back from a take-away run. "Uh," I said, raising my eyebrows at the green LED lights outlining the doorway, and the red bobble hat on her head and the giant inflatable snowman she stuck in a corner. "Looks great!"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I mean, I feel festive already," I set the bags of Chinese food down, hands on my hips, trying to look impressed. "That snowman, I'm telling you, the customers' will love him."

She caught my ruse, narrowing her eyes at me and slipped off her hat. "You're taking the piss, aren't you, you little bitch? It's fine, I know, it looks awful. I just thought I'd make an effort for Seth, kid's looking like he's got an appointment with the angel of death later on."

"He's missing Dad, that's all."

Jade made a noise, grabbing onto the bags I had set down and walking upstairs. "I bet he is. How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay," I said, and as awful as it was to say, I truly did feel alright. I didn't have nightmares keeping me up at night and my days were suddenly stopped by pangs of longing for my father. I was okay. "Have you heard from James recently?"

"No, but I suspect it's because they've not got any new leads."

"Can I ask you why you trust a bunch of misfits instead of the police?"

Jade set the bags down onto the kitchen surface, and she seemed to sag, sighing. "I trust them, Shay. You wouldn't understand."

"I'm not accusing you of anything, Jade," I said, leaning against the door of the fridge and I shrugged. "I'm just curious."

"I do their tattoos, they provide protection for my shop and for myself, and now you two kids. You probably notice you haven't been smacked in the face with a pile of shit yet and your tires haven't been slashed. This is a bad neighbourhood and you need all the protection you can get. Inviting the police to your door will irritate more than one person. It's better to go to them instead of the police. Not to mention, they're not afraid of going through unusual methods to get their result. I would be disrespecting them if I didn't go asking for their help."

"So, you went to them out of fear more than anything?"

"Don't play around, kid. This isn't living with your Dad, alright? No baking cookies, no trimming hedges and having a barbecue in your back garden. I don't want you asking people questions and I want you to stay out of their way. And don't speak to the police unless I'm there. They might not be good men but they're a lot better than some police officers and others around here, that's for sure." Jade was incredibly defensive, firing her words at me and slamming the boxes down as if she was trying to emphasise the importance of her words.