Unpredictable Match 2

Forty Three

"Some guy was bothering Aj and um—um he kept—like—" Leah sighs, and then hesitantly looks at Aj who's looking out the window. Tyler looks at Aj as well.

"Something with Aj you said?" Tyler asks. Leah nods.

Tyler frowns, "He got in a fight?"

Leah shakes her head.

"A argument? Somebody did something to Aj? What happened love. I'm tryna understand but I can't if you not clear about it."

Leah sighs. I don't think she's sure of how to tell this information either, because there's speculations but none of it is confirmed by Aj, who is in no mood to speak. "Some man. I think Aj knew him. He was calling Aj's name, and when Aj saw him he got scared and the man kept bothering Aj and then daddy came and went to the fitting room and ki—killed the guy." She explains quickly.

Tyler glances at me in fear then at Aj, "Who's the man?"

The car goes silent at the question. Nobody knows for sure. There are only speculations until Aj decides he's ready to speak about it. Tyler asks the same question again—who's that man—and it sends Aj into another fit of tears. Aj buries his head into his shirt making everyone in the car on high alert. I saw Aj cry when his daddy was physically violent with him. It was heartbreaking, and foreign. I didn't think anything could be worse than seeing him that hurt, but I think this tops it off. His cries alone—uncontrollable sobs, gasps, hyperventilating are so new—so new for my son. So new for who he portrays himself to be now. When he was younger, he did have a lot of meltdowns when he was angry, and he would pull on his hair as he wept away. Since then, as he grew older, those tears turned into swearing, anger, and yelling. That was the way he expressed that anything was wrong. It's almost as if I'm sitting in a car with my seven year old son again.

"Aj," Tyler reaches out to Aj's shoulder.

"Leave me alone!" Aj hoarsely yells through his tears. "Leave me the fuck alone bro! The fuck!" He yells louder. "Just leave me alone." He says again as his voice trembles. I don't think right now is the right time to be asking him questions. I don't know when the right time will be, because Aj won't volunteer information. All I'm hoping is that my assumptions are wrong. I hope he feels like he can talk to his sister, or even his uncle about whatever that man did to trigger him. And if he doesn't want to talk about it, I at least hope he's able to accept comforting from somebody. I don't know what to do right now. I don't know what exactly is the right or wrong thing to do, or say.

"Okay. Okay, come here." Tyler pulls Aj into his chest, where he continues to sob as Tyler rubs his back. We make eye contact and there's a very clear expression of concern written on Tyler's face. I wish I had an explanation for him. I really do. Aj starts to pull away from Tyler, so he lets him go. Aj returns to looking out the window, covering his face with his hand. The rest of the ride is completely silent, with only the sounds of Aj sniffling filling the car.

When we make it back to Tyler's house, much to my worry, Aj disappears off into a room somewhere.

"I'm gonna go try to talk to him." Leah says. I don't know if that's a good idea, but she's already on her way to find Aj. I guess it's better to try than not. I nod as I take a seat on the couch, watching her walk off. Tyler sits beside me, on the edge of the couch with his phone in hand. He tells me he's going to make some phone calls and locate Ant.

"Okay," I say.

"He's gon be fine Cam. I promise." He reassures. I shrug in response. I'm tired of being fed these reassurances when it comes to Ant. They're like empty promises. How many more times can he be fine after doing something completely wreckless? How is he going to be fine after he just got himself arrested? How?