The weeks since I met those two boys at the park were gone as I closed my eyes to blink. In that time, I came to the realization that I hated everyone at school, which was why I decided to go back to that park and hang out with the kids known as Ricky Rodriguez and Noah Esposito. And let me tell you something, Ricky was a cool dude to chill with, plus he always had my back when Noah kept coming at me with a rusty knife to stab me with... of course figuratively, at least to my knowledge of.
You see, Ricky had this charm about him, it attracted people his way. It was a breeze to talk to him, even if you were an introvert with horrible social anxiety. He had a smile that welcomed you and kindled a feeling of immediate friendship, immediate trust and loyalty to do you no harm.
Noah, on the other hand, his aura strikes and snaps at just about anyone. In other words, a complete freaking dick! He has this way of talking to people with subtle mockery that makes you think twice if he was actually being nice or belittling you with his words. His hazel eyes always made you question yourself, because no matter what you were saying or who you were talking to, his beady little eyes burned into you, and when your eyes connect with his, he always held this look of superiority that ridiculed your mere existence.
... Complete dick.
Ricky said it was just how he acted around people he didn't know well, but he was like that to Ricky too.. and Noah knew him for twelve years, since they were practically born. I figure I'll just have to deal with it, at least until he loosens his teeth from my ass.
But despite all that, the three of us knew how to have fun. We went to the movies, we went skating, we played on the playground and shot some hoops, all pretty fun stuff. We even like playing basketball, but our favorite thing to do was to box with each other at the gym in my school.
Noah loved to repeatedly punch me in the head until I saw black dots engulfing my vision, Ricky loved to beat Noah after he would knock me out for minutes, and I liked how I was learning moves to defend myself as time went on. Eventually, fighting became my everything. All it took was my hurt sister to make me realize I had to become stronger, better, and undefeatable.
So it was just after 3 o'clock when me, Ricky, and Noah were walking back from the gym. We always took the same path, considering our homes were in the same direction, mine being the first. I was just a couple houses away when I saw Annalise.
My eyes only caught the back of her figure, but I could instantly tell something was wrong. She wasn't walking upright and elgantly like usual, Annalise's back was noticably hunched and her right foot was dragging at some moments while she limped.
She turned into the narrow stoned pathway that directed people to the porch, and just seconds after she did, I found her name rolling off my tongue in concern. "Annalise!?"
Her head whipped my way as her body jerked up, surprised at my unexpected appearance. It was as if time ceased to move forward, giving me a perfect freeze frame on Annalise's face.
Baby blue eyes that resembled the color of a perfect clear sky, stared at my indentical orbs, the only difference were that hers were glassy, coated with a thin layer of liquid, and were an irritated red. She'd been crying, no mistake about it.
Even though time felt as if it stopped soley for me to process her current state, it didn't. By the time I snapped out of it, I realized she was falling and Ricky was running pass me.
"I think that girl is hurt!" He had shouted in alarm, swiftly going towards my sister to give his assistance.
Shortly after, I followed in pursuit, hearing Noah ask, "Who the hell is Annalise?"
My steps smacked against the concrete and halted once I reached my destination. Ricky's hand was extended out to Annalise who now had her weight settled upon her elbows as she stared up from the ground. The dried blood staining her ripped jeans were unmistakable to the eyes.
Her eyes spotted Ricky before me.
"Are you ok?" He asked her with no hesistation. "Let me help you."
Her eyes widened in panic as she sunk more against the ground. "W-Who.. I-I don't know you."
I jumped into action and grabbed her elbow, lifting her up and examining her for any other injuries. "It's ok, he's my friend. What happened?" I questioned softly, watching as tears surfed their way down her cheeks.
She sucked a deep breath in before releasing a string of shaky, struttering words, "I-I was at s-school... and and--"
A shadow loomed over the three of us, blocking the sun from meeting our skin.
"Jeez, who's this mess?" Noah's disapproving voice sounded from behind us.
"Shut up," Ricky growled in reponse.
Ignoring the both of them, I dug my keys out my pocket and rushed up to my front door with Annalise, several steps chasing after my own. I wasted no time helping her to get to the couch, she plopped down once we stumbled there.
Before anything could be said out in the open, I shouted out, "Father are you home!?" Knowing full well he probably wasn't, most of time, day and night, he was working.
And mom was at school.
"You know daddy isn't here," Annalise sniffled.
"Is this your baby cousin?" Noah spoke soon after, and when I located him with my eyes, I found him casually laying down on the couch near the window spilling light.
Ricky, who was beside me, glared at our mannerless friend.
"Sister," I gritted out through my clenched teeth.
"You never told us you had a baby sister," Noah slyly grinned, briefly judging Annalise with his eyes.
Confusion washed over her face as she questioned why he was saying the word baby the way he did, but before more thought could go into it, I responded.
"Yes, my younger twin sister," I concluded, paying my attention back on to her.
"I can't believe you have a twin and didn't tell us," Ricky said, shocked at the information.
"Yeah, well, we never talk about our family with each other, so that's why."
I looked back at the two knees that were cut open in front of me. "How did this happen, Anna?"
She quickly met my line of sight and muttered words. I looked at Ricky with my brows furrowed in confusion, he just rose one of his brows in return, not knowing too.
"Can you speak English and project your words louder? I'm curious to why your blubbering like a newborn baby," Noah demands, slicing through the silence.
I shot a death glare at his scrawny little body, only praying for a time I can throttle his throat.
"You better shut the fuck up, Noah. That isn't funny and I mean it," Ricky warns perilously, his voice sounding strangely deep.
Puberty was coming early for someone.
Noah's lips were sealed with invisible glue as he glanced away from Ricky's daring eyes, he shifted on the couch and scoffed. During the same time, Annalise was gasping at the curse falling from his lips.
"Please answer me. Who did this? I can tell this wasn't an accident," I pleaded, failing miserably as she let her hair fall to her face, almost covering her features entirely.
"It's nothing. I don't want anyone to get in trouble," she explained, twiddling with her thumbs.
"Uh, ok. If you don't want to talk about it then there's nothing I can do," I shrugged, awkwardly standing there in front of her, wishing to somehow urge her and get answers to who hurt my sister.
"Wow, what kind of big brother are you? If someone even looked at my sister, Hannah, the wrong way, I'd gut them. Make her tell you," Noah stated as if it were the most obvious thing to do.
For the first time, I could agree with Noah.
"I need to know, Anna. You have to tell me," I ordered her, finally taking a page out of Noah's book.
Her eyes grew three sizes as she stared at me again, hesitantly shaking her head. When I was going to try again, Ricky joined in, having an alternative way of dealing with things.
He crouched all the way down in front of her fragile figure, going just below eye level with her.
Soft and tender words steadily released itself from his mouth, flowing through the air and settling comfortly into everyone's ears. "Hey, it's alright. We don't want anyone to get in trouble, we just want the person's name so we can ask them not to hurt you the way they did today. That's all, just a name."
A few seconds of silence skipped by until a little voice broke through, "Only a name?"
"Only a name," he confirms, gently placing a consoling hand upon her own.
The twiddling of her fingers come to a halt as her nervous movements decides to tone down a notch.
"Eli... son," she mutters, the last word she said muted by the hair shunning her face from us all.
"What was the last part?" I asked, my eyebrows crunching together in clear confusion.
Very hesistanly did Ricky bring his hand up to my sister's face, swiping her lose brown waves behind her ear, making Annalise become on full display. Her eyes descended down to her lap as her brows were slanted upwards, revealing the down-hearted face before us.
"Can you please repeat that one more time?" Ricky requested, his tone remaining compassionate.
Her pitiful eyes briefly captured the ones talking to her before connecting with mine. An instant feeling of discomfort riled up the insides of my stomach, the sight of my sister's smileless face delivering a hefy blow to me.
"Eli Wilson," she confirms more confidently, rising her bowed head up.
I glimpsed at Ricky who then glanced at me as I then stared at Noah, a wide smirk tipping the side of his lips.
"I know where to find that kid," he whispers, and I wasted no time in shaking my head as Ricky nodded in agreement.
"Do you have a first aid kit?" He asked me, rising from his crouched position.
Both our face were once again on the same level, his blue eyes staring at my own.
"Yeah, I should go get it but I don't know how l'll clean up those cuts," I truthfully said, slightly queasy at the blood.
"That's ok, I know how to, my dad taught me. But your sister should change into some shorts or a skirt, it'll be easier to clean the cuts," he suggested.
He turned in the direction of Annalise, offering a small, kind smile as he complimented her. "I'd bet a skirt would look better on you then those bloody ripped jeans."
***
The place we entered was filled with plenty of folks, none of which I had ever seen walking about in Bellton. Most of these giantic men and women were tall, but then again I was 12 and short. Some of the men's faces I had seen were stone cold, lacking human traits as their scrutinizing eyes slithered around people threateningly, daring someone to make the wrong move and become their enemy. A cloud of smoke hovered down from the ceiling and fog the air, almost everyone had a cigarette or cigar hanging from between their lips or fingers.
I spotted a bar where several muscular adults slapped down piles of cash, sipping liquior that swished in their glass as they pointed to the far end of this run-down establishment. My eyes trailed after the direction that was gaining the attention of multiple people, to the far right of this area was a boxing ring with two steroids looking people sitting on stools, their veins pratically popping out as they did little actions.
One of the indiviuals sitting on the stool, in the ring, was a girl with short cropped hair, and grey sweats on with a sport bra. The other, who was staring dagers into the woman, was chewing her up with his eyes. This guy's shirt was off, revealing his built figure, and with his shorts riding up as he sat, you could tell his thighs were thick with muscles, just like the girl's.
What kind of place was this?
"He must be in the back, probably hiding from his dad since he's not suppose to be here," Noah explains, walking to the back of the bar with Ricky.
With my heart thumping abnormally fast, I scurried after them, not missing the bartender's observant eyes trailing the three of us, saying absolutely zilch at our trespassing to the back. Anyone eles who notice didn't think twice or even attempt to open their mouth as they resumed what they were originally doing.
Why wouldn't they question our presence at a bar made for sketchy 21 year olds?
I followed in their steps, entering a poorly lit hallway before they sharply turned left, making me stumble over my feet as I tried to catch up. I turned the corner and saw Ricky and Noah standing before a wooden janitor closet door, Ricky turned the knob only to be prevented from twisitng it completely, the door was locked.
He looked over to Noah who had a devilish smirk plastered to his lips, watching as Ricky sighed and took a step away.
"This is gonna be so fun," he smiled sardonically, before lifting his foot up, exposing his black nike sneaker as he roughly kicked the wooden door.
A loud thud resonated throughout, bouncing off the walls and back into our ears. My body instantly flinched back and my eyes grew to the size of bowling balls. The harsh collison left a large crack at the door.
"Dude, what are you doing?! Those people are gonna kill us because of this!" I hollered, staring at the two of them like they escaped from a mental hospital.
Not even moments after, a voice shouted from the other end of the door. "Honestly, what the fuck! A knock would do to get me-"
As soon as the door was thrown open, Ricky elbowed Noah out of the way, causing him to shuffle to the side as he growled out at the rough touch. Ricky grabbed a fistful of Eli Wilson's black T-shirt at the collar, forcefully pushing him back inside.
I protested immediately, afraid of the actions that would occur next and the consquences of them. No time was needed as I raced forward into the room, a silent Noah following after, closing the door behind us.
"Ricky, what are you doing?!" I squeaked accidently, my nerves controlling me.
"What's wrong with you, Eli? You hurt someone just for stepping on your stupid, worthless pokemon cards? Yeah, I found out the story," Ricky sneered, his face twisted up as if a bitter sweetness was resting on his tounge.
"What the hell are you talking about, psychopath?!" Eli's chubby face shouted into Ricky's, his black glasses sliding to the bridge of his nose.
"Anwer the question, Eli. Mr. self righteous here isn't playing around," Noah mumbled, mocking the words of Ricky from earlier.
He was leaning against the door, his foot resting upon it.
"M-My sister, Annalise, you gave her two bloody knees," I reminded him shakily, crossing my arms to appear somewhat intimidating under his diabolical stare.
"Oh," he smiled sickly sweet. "That girl. She's cute but easy to mess around with, not my fault."
Ricky growled at his reply, releasing Eli from his grip as he placed his hands upon his chest and shoved him back into the wall. "You're a fucking coward for picking on an innocent person who didn't know how to defend themself."
"Ugh, you sound like your father," Eli glowered at him, regaining his composure and balance. "And if anyone is the coward, it's the little kid who's having you do all the dirty work of harrassing me!"
"What?!" I asked, highly offended. "Y-You're the fucking coward!" I affirmed.
The kid's laugh echoed in the air, his obnoxious chuckles like nails on chalk to me.
"You're a pussy just like your sister. Tell me, is it in the DNA?" He mockingly says, smugly assessing me.
My nails sunk into the palms of my hands, shaking at the pressure I applied to my balled up fists. Without a second thought, I stepped to his face, slipping in front of Ricky. "Watch your mouth, Eli, because if you keep talking about my sister like that, I'll show you how much of a pussy I'm not."
His lips tilted up, amusement swirling in his light green eyes. Noah, who was still a silent observer, released humorous chuckles at our interaction.
"God, this is so funny."
"No, it's not," Ricky informed him, displeasure cleary weaving into his tone as he didn't attempt to conceal it.
Noah just scowled his way, his lips reluctantly shut.
He leaned closed to my face, letting a few intense seconds go by before tauntingly saying, "I laughed when I saw the tears come down her eyes. Also, she didn't really step on my pokemon cards, that was just an excuse."
My left eye twitched immediately at that candid confession. I clenched my jaw repeatedly as a new dark feeling erupted inside me. A small spark set ablaze the string leading up to the highly explosive bomb inside my tightened chest, one that's been wanting to explode for a while now.
I grabbed his shoulders in a deathly grip, sinking my nails into his skin as I lifted my knee high and hard. In one fatal blow, I connected my knee with Eli's apparent balls.
"Fuck you, asshole," I insulted him, the words rolling effortlessly from my tongue.
"Oof!" He heaved, his breath leaving him, almost as if a vacuum was lodged down his throat, sucking in the oxygen in his lungs.
More dark, bone chilling chuckles echoed eerily in the small room.
Eli dropped to his knees, clutching his balls with his hands, having a mouth that hung down to the floor. Everything reflecting off his face conveyed his shock, from his soccer ball eyes to his bushy eyebrows that was all the way up to his hair line.
"You deserve that," Ricky commented his approval, casting a glare below at him.
"Fuck all of you fuckers," he seethed, rocking forward as he hissed in pain. "Watch what's gonna happen when I tell my father about this. You're gonna be dead, and you guys," he said, glowering at Ricky and Noah, "Just because your dads are the gang leaders, it doesn't mean you can do whatever you please."
I stumbled back as if his words grew hands and shoved me, I whipped my head to the two boys I thought I knew well, but apparently not.
Gang leaders? Their dads were gang leaders? What the fu-
"Tell your dad. Hell, tell mine as well. I'm positive that he would find my need for justice excusable. But how about you? If your dad gives you a shiner for looking at him the wrong way, what do you think he'll do when he finds out you pushed an innocent girl down some stairs because you were bored?" Ricky reasons menacingly, smoothly crossing his arms against his chest.
Ok... what the fuc-
A provoking, yet piqued smile tipped up Eli's lips. "Do you have a stick up your ass? It seems you've been moody all this week. Are you mad that your dad has no time for you anymore, forcing you to be with the company you hate?" He snorts, eyes landing on Noah.
"... Or are you mad that your brother dropped you and everyone close to him just to spend time with the 'love of his life', who he doesn't want around the likes of us, the blood of the gang."
No, seriously. What the fuck.
And in one swift motion, Ricky's solid fist rammed into the side of Eli's smug face, resulting in his spit to fly out as his head whipped in the direction of the punch.
"Don't you ever hurt that girl again. She did nothing to you, and if you want to mess with someone, mess with someone your own size.. me," he spoke with pure indignation in his tone.
Eli fell to his hands, his fingers spread out while his broken glasses hung off his face.
A bundle of exploding chuckles bounced from these confined walls into our ears, inducing displeasing shivers to swipe up my arms and legs.
I brung my eyes over to Noah, his chest rumbling with laughter and his shoulders shaking in glee at this all. I swiped my eyes back over to Ricky, watching as his knuckles steadily grew more red as half seconds went by. The skin on his knuckles were peeled back, releasing specs of blood to build up.
Then my eyes fell upon Eli, who was cupping his injury and attempting to keep the blood from spilling out his crooked nose. His eyes were squinted in blinding pain and the left side of his glasses broke off, resulting in them to fall to the harsh ground, breaking more apart at the impact.
"Gang?" I squeaked, feeling the color drain from my face as the anxiety crawled up in replacement.
My heart dropped from inside me.
Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck! Oh! Fuck!
Will they ever hurt me like that?
Would they come after my family if I crossed them? Would they hurt Annalise to hurt me if I get them mad? What have I gotten myself into?
Who are these guys?
"It's us, Asher. We're not going to hurt you, you know? Asher we don't hurt our friends."
Then Noah laughed again, leaving me lost for words.
VOTE! COMMENT! SHARE!
Well... well... well... looks like Asher didn't make a deal with Ricky and Noah. At least not during the time he said he did. Hmm.
Any thoughts on younger Asher, Ricky, and Noah's personality?
Eli Wilson... what a bad apple.