Impress Me Not: The Handyman

Chapter 73

"Solomon!" Maya closed the door to the condo. The lights were all out. That was never a good sign. "Solomon!"

He had texted her to tell her to take the bus that day. It was weird, because lately he had been getting days off early. She had no clue why his work would ask him to work late today. It just didn't make sense.

And she got a bad feeling from it. It didn't help that she saw both of his cars in the parking spots. He never went with anyone other than Niko. He was always the type of person to drive himself around.

And Maya couldn't seem to get ahold of Niko either. Which worried her to no end.

She set her bag down on the couch and took off her shoes. She would change and put everything back where it belonged as soon as she figured out what was going on. The worry was eating her away, like a slow ache that was starting to turn into panic. Her thoughts only egged this feeling on, as she thought about all the possibilities that could have happened.

What if they got into a car crash? What if Solomon hurt himself? What if...?

The list was endless. And it only made her heart race more. But, as fast as her mind and heart were going, her legs moved at a snail pace. Fear gripped them as she inched closer to Solomon's room. As much as she needed to know if he was there or not, she wouldn't know what to do if he wasn't.

The doorknob slowly turned as she willed herself to open the door. Her heart beat all the more louder in her chest as she held her breath.

Then she let it go. Solomon was in bed. He was there. The room was dark, but she could make out her brother in the blankets of the bed.

Then she had a whole new reason to be worried.

"Solomon!" she ran over to him. He looked like he had been crying for hours. He was hugging onto one of his pillows, his face only half hidden in the case of it. She hugged him for dear life. She didn't know exactly what was going on. But she didn't have to. All she knew was that he was in pain. And he didn't do well with this kind of pain.

"Maya?" his voice was hoarse as he tried to sound normal. He tried to sit up a little to get a better look at her. "Is school out already?"

She just took him moving as a chance to hug him tighter.

"What happened, Solomon?" she whispered. It had been a long time since she had seen him like this. She knew that it had happened when she was at school about a month ago, but this time Niko wasn't there to help him. He had been working later than usual. But she still wished he'd answer his phone.

"Nothing," Solomon shook his head and tried to smile. "Don't worry about it, Maya. I'll be fine."

She didn't believe that. Most of the time she never wanted to leave him alone by himself because of this reason. She thought that with Niko, it would help him be happy. But something happened. She could see it in his eyes.

"Please tell me, Sol," she begged. She kept her voice small and quiet. "I'm not a little girl anymore. Please."

He must have been in really bad shape, because he cracked so easily to her pleas. He hugged her tightly and started crying into her shoulder. She held onto him just as tightly as her heart reached out to him. Solomon had always been her hero. No one was as strong as him, or as smart as him. No one was as talented as him. He was the one that she had always looked up to.

But, even hero's cry. She learned that when she was thirteen. When she first saw him cry, she had no clue what to do. She had no one else to call for help. All she could do was curl up to the one person who had always made her feel safe.