Desperado: A Holes Fanfiction

Ty

I was sitting on the laundry room floor with the old journal, waiting for Stanley to show up for our nightly hang out, when my brother appeared at the screen door. He was hasty, his hands shoved into the pockets of his orange jumpsuit that he preferred to sleep in while the other boys slept in their boxers. I'd been flipping through the pages all night, trying to connect with it's contents.

"I need to talk to you," he said. I looked at him blankly and he continued, "About us leaving. I can't do this anymore, Ty."

"But wait," I stumbled over my words as I processed the look in his eyes, "What about our plan? You finish your sentence and I-"

He cut me off, "Everyone hates me here." Hectors eyes nearly filled with tears. He sniffed and averted his eye to control them.

"That's not true," I looked at my nails as I lied to him. The other boys, with the exception of Stanley, did hate him and he hated them. Mom was no help. I stood to my feet and said, "Hector, we have a home here. We have somewhere to sleep at night. We have three meals a day. We are safe–"

"We are slaves," he retorted.

"No, we earned our way in here. You didn't have to steal those shoes and you damn sure didn't have to get caught. Like I told you before, we are in this together. I can't be here without you..." I trailed off, "I don't know how to live without you." I held out my pinky waiting for him to link his with mine, our own secret handshake. He let out a sigh and complied. "Maybe when you finish your sentence, Lou will adopt you too," I hoped but wasn't confident, "I can ask her. We can be a family."

He scoffed and shook his head, "And forget about mom?"

"She left us, Hector."

"She was coming back. You said she would be back."

"It's been over ten years," I gazed into his big brown eyes as I pet his curls, enviably softer than my own. I kept my voice calm and stern, "She's moved on and we need to do the same."

What he didn't know about our mother is she wasn't coming back. She didn't have any plans to see us again. I was pretending to be asleep the night she left. She brushed my bushy hair from my forehead to make room for a kiss. I saw everything once her lips touched my skin: She made plans to run off with some guy who promised to take care of her, not us. I saw all of her dreams to travel the world with him, wearing expensive clothes and sparkling jeweler; None of which involved myself and Hector. She was gone by morning. We waited days, weeks for her to come back. I never had to heart to tell Hector the truth. He was her shadow. I guess part of me thought if I kept saying she would come back, it would come true. Hell, even I started to believe it before we met Lou. With Lou's touch, I felt love, real love. Not the same love I feel when I touch Squid. The type of love that can't be explained with words, only intent. The type of love that comes only with trust like a package deal. With mom's touch, I felt nothing but obligation and opportunity. She couldn't wait to ditch us. She didn't even know who our father was.

I remembered the journal at my feet and held it up for Hector to see, "I don't know what this is, but I feel close to it," He flipped through its pages, glancing over the words, gnawing at the inside of his cheek as he tried to make sense of them. I knew he couldn't read, but he did a good job at faking it; a survival technique we picked up on the streets. Weaknesses were always to be kept secret. Hector eventually gave up and asked, "What does it say?"

It wasn't so much what the words on the pages say, but what the journal says when it speaks to my soul. When I flip through its contents, I feel the spirit of a motherly figure behind me, her breath cold on my neck as she whispers "Stay."

"Just a bunch of spells and recipes, I think. A lot about peaches and onions; revenge even. The words don't make sense on the surface but this thing holds a lot of dark energy," I kept my eyes on Hector as I had an epiphany, "I think this has something to do with Kate Barlow!"

"So maybe you should put it back," Hector spoke slowly, his eyebrows raised. He looked at me like I was mental, "You said it yourself. We shouldn't steal," he made way for the exit and I grabbed his elbow before he could leave me.

"I didn't steal it. Lou gave it to me. She's been wanting me to read it and I don't know why," my voice trailed off as I leaned against one of the dryers and sank into the floor, "Whoever wrote it is trying to tell me something. We are here for a reason and I'm gonna figure it out."

"You're losing it –"

"Maybe," I said, "But one thing is for sure, I can't do this alone. This journal, that tube, speak to me in my dreams. Vivid dreams that scare the crap out of me," I squeezed my eyes shut as memories about the school house fire flooded my mind. "That's why I don't sleep."

Hector bit his lip and took a seat next to me with hesitation. "If I stay," he started, "If I give you time to figure this out –"

"Please stay," I begged as I buried my head into his lap, holding the journal close to my heart. "I know this holds the key to getting us out of the mess we're in. I just know it," a yawn took over as I tried to finish my thoughts. A week of no sleep was catching up to me quickly.

Kate Barlow ran as fast as she could through the woods of Green Lake, Texas until she reached a small cabin. She banged on the door with her fist until and small brown-skinned woman answered the door. Her eyebrows formed a stern V as she looked at Kate with great concern. "They killed him," Kate said to the girl, "They killed Sam and they're gonna kill me too if they find out," Kate's voice trailed off as looked down at her stomach and cradled it with her hands. The girl's face grew with horror. "I'm so sorry," Kate cried. The young woman hurried Kate inside before peaking around the woods for a possible threat.

"Did anybody follow you here?" Kate took a seat on the floor at the fire and cried hysterically. The young woman crouched to her level and took her flushed cheeks in her hands, shaking her back into sense, "Huh?!"

"No," Kate sobbed.

The young woman's voice rose with rage, "I've told you and Sam time and time again you have got to be careful out here," she sighed and collected herself, lowering her voice, "My big brother never listens and now he's-"

"Dead." Kate finished the sentence, her eyes glistened and empty as she stared off.

"How far along are you?" the young woman asked as she frantically ran around the cottage grabbing several cannisters of herbs and oils for the ritual.

"A couple weeks," Kate said, "I just found out."

The young woman took a deep breath and placed her hands on her hips as she looked at Kate with loving eyes, "You stay here until you have that baby, you hear?" Kate nodded. "Once it's born, if anybody asks, I'll pass it off as mine." Kate looked at her with sad eyes and reluctantly agreed. "It's very important we stick to this. Trust me."

Kate continued to stare off, like she was looking through the young woman rather than at her, "They can't get away with this," she said softly.

The young woman ignored her and sat at an alter next to the fire place, decorated with old family photos, crystals, and candles, as she combined the ingredients for the ritual. She sprinkled dust into a gold bowl and chanted, "Dust of the land." Then she took a knife and sliced her palm, squeezing her fist over the bowl to release a few drops of blood, "Blood of the creature."