Saturday afternoon.
Mum and I walk over to the Chan house with two bowls of biscuits. She's more happy than she's been throughout this last week and maybe that has to do with dad being home now. He came yesterday and not when she thought he would come. But at least he's home.
"I'm really happy Ava took the girl and her brothers with her. Do you think she'll adopt them?" mum looks up at me. I shrug, careful not to throw away the contents of the bowl.
"I don't know."
"I think she should. For her sake and the kids."
"Why? Because her own daughter hasn't come back yet?" I give my mum a bored look. She sends me an apologetic look before nodding.
"I'm just worried okay?"
"I didn't say anything," I laugh at her paranoia. She huffs in reply because we're already too close to Avery's house to make conversation. I ring the doorbell and in less than a second it springs open to reveal River.
"Woah big man! Is it just me or do you look taller!" I say as a greeting. River seems to float at the compliment but yeah, he does look bigger. His big brown eyes survey my mum carefully before he bows comically to greet her.
"What are you doing?" Mum laughs.
"Mrs. Chan says this is how they greet in China," he replies eagerly.
"I'm not sure it's exactly like that though. Where's Ava?" Mum asks him, stepping into the house. I hand River the bowl of biscuits and walk in as well, closing the door behind me. The missing members all come downstairs together looking exhausted from unpacking. I know they're unpacking because Reyna had told me so earlier this morning.
"Kylie! Adonis! What an amazing surprise!" Mrs. Chan squeals. She gives mum a big squeeze and is about to do the same to me when I side step her so she's left to hugging the air. "You thug." she jokes.
"Hey Adonis, do you guys have anything planned for today?" Reyna asks me as everyone chatters away. I go to grab a bottle of water and shrug.
"I'm supposed to meet up with Nick to fix up the park but I've got nothing else."
"Has Jordan said anything new?"
"Yeah, she sent me a text this morning but he's been okay. Nothing odd."
"Can you trust her?" she eyes me, all judging.
"I want to. At this point she's our only option," I shrug again.
"I want to help. Isn't there something I can do?" She pleads.
"Reyna you need to stay here with your brothers. We don't want those people to take you away."
"Mrs. Chan is staying today so when they come she'll be with them. I just really want to help find Avery."
"I know but honestly nothing's happening yet. Stay back. If we need you I'll call you. Okay?" I add firmly. She reluctantly nods. Satisfied, I greet the others a quick goodbye and head towards the park. I only wanted to see Reyna after the whole social worker fiasco but I do need to get to the park soon to help Nick. We might probably be staying there all day.
I'm about to reach for my phone to call Nick when it starts buzzing in my back pocket. Maybe he's already waiting for me. I pick it without a glance at the phone.
"Hey Nick, I'm on my—"
"Adonis," a ghostly whisper of a voice comes from the phone. And it's not Nick's. I freeze on the spot, ignoring the fact that I'm not on the sidewalk anymore, I'm on the road. "Adonis. Please don't hang up we need to talk..." she continues, more agitated. I don't hear the rest because my phone conveniently slips from my hand and crashes on the floor. Mabel.
"Adonis!" Mabel. But that's not from the phone. I unfreeze and turn around in a second and there's Mabel. She looks like she's been running, her dirty blonde hair isn't dirty anymore. It's honey. She's bigger, her hourglass shape more enunciated. Mabel, she looks divine. She looks good. Happy.
These realizations do nothing to calm me down. I feel my anger rise, the rage inside of me. Mabel is happy and my brother is dead.
"Stop," I warn her when she keeps walking towards me. She falters and hesitates.
"I just want to talk."
"I already told you to leave me the hell alone Mabel. I swear to God if you try to speak to me I will not be responsible for whatever happens." My voice is shaky but the message is clear, at least I think it is. But Mabel's always been stubborn and so when she steps forward again I'm not surprised. I pick up my phone and turn around, ready to walk away (run away if necessary) but I'm not ready for the speeding truck zooming towards me.
Not another accident, I mentally groan. I should jump off the road or something but what I've learnt is that accidents happen fast and only I can see everything in slow motion. Except I don't think I'm seeing anymore, am I having a panic attack when I'm about to die?
"ADONIS!" Someone—Mabel? Screams as I close my eyes for impact. But the only impact I feel is my body crashing to the floor. A big weight over me.
"What the fuck dude?! Why were you just standing there?" I open my eyes a bit to find Damien kneeling over me. His eyes are wide with panic as he considers me.
"Are you hurt? Did you hit your head?" Mabel kneels next to me and tries to touch my arm but I quickly snatch it away from her grip. I sit up and blink myself back to my senses.
"Thanks bro," I say sheepishly to Damien. He nods but his eyes hold all the questions. Who is she? What's happening? "What are you doing here?" I ask Damien instead.
"Oh, I came to see a friend and thought I'd hop by to see you. Are you headed somewhere?" he takes in my clothes.
"Yeah," I grunt as I stand up. "The park. Someone says they have something about Avery. I'm going to wait there."
"Information? Do you know the person?"
"Anonymous. We're taking everything we see at this point," I shrug. He nods and lets his gaze fall on Mabel.
"Adonis, let's talk," she says suddenly like now's her chance.
I give her a dead look.
"Whenever you try to talk to me Mabel I end up almost dying. Do you want me dead too?"
Her breath hitches.
"Adonis—"
"Back off Mabel. I really have nothing to say to you." I nod curtly at Damien before walking off, thankfully she doesn't follow me this time.
||
I'm supposed to walk to the park but when I manage to escape from Mabel the last thing I want to do is plot how to catch a psychopath. All I want to do is... I don't even know what I want to do. I definitely don't know how I boarded a bus to Pop's. I still believe I didn't even know what I was doing until I found myself standing in front of the store. Buzzing with life, the place is as loud as ever. I stand right across the street and imagine Avery walking outside casually, cup of coffee in her hands as she laughed at something Reyna said to her. The image of her half smile flashes through my mind and I realize I never saw Avery smile.
I never saw Avery. She was an accessory, I never knew she existed beyond school. And now that makes me feel freaking terrible. Maybe if I'd taken a few moments to actually look at the people around me I would have been able to help. Maybe I would've said the right thing, done the right thing, maybe I would have been there.
But I wasn't even there for Andy.
"Hey! It's you!" a sharp voice screams from the end of the street. Instinctively I turn my head to the direction of the voice and I find a tween standing with his elder brother...pointing at me?
Me? I place my hand at my chest to ask and he nods. His brother looks wary of what's happening but doesn't stop him when he starts walking towards me.
"You're that guy from the other day. The one watching that red house." the boy doesn't even wait to cross the road before he starts speaking.
"What?" I frown at him.
"The red house. Eight Avenue, don't you remember?" He gives me a disappointed look. I blink rapidly and nod, finally placing his face.
"You're that kid! What are you doing here?"
"We came to get some stuff. By the way, my brother and I kept an eye on that place like you asked. And guess what?" he widens his eyes in anticipation and some part of me wants to tell him that this isn't a game but I suppress the thought and raise my brows, matching his vibe.
"What?"
"Someone came. Twice," his brother announces flatly.
"Hey!" the boy cries. I turn my attention to his elder brother who looks like he's in his early sixteens.
"For real? Did you manage to see the person's face?" I prod.
"Heck yeah. I didn't even have to, all I needed to see was that bike."
I freeze.
"A bike?"
"It was Declan. Declan Jones. He came there twice and seemed even more frustrated whenever he was leaving."
"Wait wait. How—how do you know Declan?"
"I'm a sophomore at Isle High. I know you too, Adonis King. And I know the accusations leveled against Declan," he says with a straight face. I'm not surprised I've never seen this boy in my life. I'm not even trying to process any of this, Declan was there. With that bike. Declan will come.
"I've got to go. Thank you dude. Thank you a lot." I pat his back real quick and flash a smile at his brother before dashing off.
As I run through the streets, bumping into random people and crossing streets without looking twice, I fish out my phone and speed dial Jordan.
"Jords!" I shout the moment she picks up.
"Adonis what's wrong?" she shouts back.
"Where's Declan?!"
"Huh—he's playing. The game is on."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, what happened? Why do you sound so exasperated?"
"I'll tell you later. Just don't let him out of your sight and please don't do anything at all. Just watch him."
"Sure but—" her voice dies with the click of my power button. I allow myself to slow down and breathe. It's 4:50pm. I'll have to wait but Declan will come.