Jeremiah—

After all the excitement last night we had all settled down to watch a movie and eat nachos. The whole time though I could not keep my mind from racing. I learned so much about this strange kid we found. The biggest thing I learned is how much he desperately needs help. It’s true he could be playing us, but the feeling in my gut tells me he’s being honest. Dad always said to listen to my instincts, so that’s what I’ll do.

I stare up at the ceiling of Nicky’s room from where I lay in my makeshift bed on the floor. The sunlight barely filters through the curtains. I imagine Mama and Kiara are up making pancakes for all the kids right now. They’re gonna flip when we walk in all bruised and banged up. I still haven’t come up with a good excuse yet.

Nicky groans, turning over and reaching toward the nightstand for his glasses. Then his hand slumps against the pillow, having remembered his glasses are of no use now. I take a deep breath.

“Get any sleep?” I ask.

“Nah mush. You?” he grumbles.

“I woke up an hour ago,” I mutter. “Couldn’t go back to sleep. How’s your face?”

“Hurts.”

I sit up slowly, sore from head to toe, and look over. Overnight his face swelled and turned different colors of black and blue. I’m sure I look no better.

“I’ll go get you some painkillers,” I tell him.

“Thanks. I have some spare glasses in the top drawer here if you can find them for me,” he says.

I go over and look through the drawer, finding a glasses case. I hand it to him and go over to the door. Quietly, I go into the bathroom, trying not to wake Shyba. Once I find the painkillers on the shelf, I take them to Nicky.

“I’m gonna scramble some eggs and sausage. It should be easy to eat,” I say.

He nods and at that I head into the main room. I look over to the couch and what I see causes my heart to drop to the floor, or rather what I don’t see. The blankets we had laid out on the couch last night have all been neatly folded, but Shyba is nowhere to be seen. His bag and shoes are also gone.

I stare for a moment, stunned. When did he sneak out? I never even heard a sound. This isn’t good. Did he run away because we found out his secret? He has nowhere else to go, so why?

Before I realize it, I am entering Nicky’s room, staring wide-eyed. He sees me, having put on his spare glasses. “What’s with the face? Out of eggs now?”

“Um…Shyba’s gone,” I say.

His eyes widen as much as they possibly can with the swelling. “He ran away?” 

“Yeah.”

“What do we do?”

“I don’t know. I don’t even know how long he’s been gone. He could have hitch-hiked and been picked up by a vegetable truck, half-way to Sacramento by now,” I say quickly.

He’s sitting on the edge of the bed now. “Should we look for him? What do we tell Mama?”

“I don’t even know what to tell her about our faces! How am I gonna figure out what to tell her about this?” I say and slump onto the bed next to him, my face falling into my hands with a cringe. “She’s gonna be so pissed bro.”

“Well, I hate to be like ‘that’, but I mean…he is a criminal,” Nicky says.

“Not by choice,” I say. At least, if what he told us is true.

“That doesn’t make it right,” he presses, and his voice gets lower. “He killed people, Jer. A lot of people.”

“So did Hank,” I argue. “He’s a war veteran. You remember all those stories he told us.”

He pauses and stares at the floor for a minute. “This isn’t the same thing Jer. Shyba has a wanted poster. Hank doesn’t,” he says. “And Hank doesn’t have some underground organization possibly looking for him either.”

I rub my neck absentmindedly. “I know what you’re saying, okay. I just…I can’t help but want to help him. You saw how scared he was last night.”

“I admit I feel for him, but this may be for the best. What if they do find him? They must really be terrifying, and I don’t want to know why,” he says.

“I understand,” I tell him. “I just don’t think I could live with myself if I let him leave like this. Let’s at least look for him.”

He sighs deeply and stands. “Fine.”

We quickly get dressed and I continue to contemplate in my head as to what to do. What Nicky says is true. If he were to stay with us, I would knowingly be housing a criminal, one considered ‘extremely dangerous’. Why exactly is he so dangerous? I get the fact he’s killed, and he knows martial arts, but he doesn’t seem dangerous really.

“What are we going to do about breakfast? I’m hungry,” Nicky says, trudging into the living room.

“I’ll buy you a burrito,” I say, heading to the door.

“I can’t eat a burrito like this!” he hisses.

“Bring a spoon.”

I hear him grumbling behind me as I open the door and head out to the truck. Once I get the engine started Nicky is coming out the door and gets in the passenger side. He glares at me and brandishes a spoon.

“We are going dragon hunting and all I have is a spoon,” he says, not even blinking.

I stare at him. “Really?”

“I can’t help it!” he whines. “If I think about it too much I’ll freak out, so I have to make jokes!”

Rolling my eyes, I back out of the parking spot and head down the street. After getting burritos we begin the search, driving down every street. We ponder the direction he could have headed. However, he wouldn’t know where he is going, so it’s hard to decide. He really could have gotten a ride from someone out of town and we’ll never see him again.

I stop by a few places, asking passersby if they’ve seen him. No one has. It’s like he’s disappeared. Before I realize it, we have already been driving around for an hour.

“This is getting us nowhere,” I grunt, back at the apartment.

“Maybe we just missed him somewhere,” Nicky says.

I sigh. This is such a pain. Suddenly, my phone starts ringing, and I grab it. Crap, it’s Mama. Hesitantly, I answer it, putting it on speaker and giving Nicky the ‘hush’ sign.

“What’s up,” I greet.

“Hey, I’m sorry to bother you, but I need a huge favor,” she says. “Shelby’s parents forgot to send her medicine with her, and she has to take it in the morning. Would you mind running to their house to get it and bringing it here?”

“No problem,” I say quickly. “Be there as soon as I can.” Dammit. How am I going to explain the bruises on my face?

“Thank you. You’re such a life saver,” she says. “How is everything going?”

My heart feels like it’s going ninety down the highway. If I tell her it was great and then show up with bruises, she’ll know I was lying, but if I tell her it wasn’t she’ll want to know what happened and I still haven’t come up with anything.

“Um…interesting,” I say.

“Oh?”

“I’ll tell you about it later.”

“Okay. Well, I’ll see you in a bit then,” she says.

“Later,” I say and hang up. Then my hands are on the sides of my head. “What am I gonna do? This is just perfect!”

“Hey, we’ll think of something,” Nicky tells me.

I take a deep breath, thinking. “Okay, I’m gonna leave you here and go take care of that real quick. I’ll just tell her you and Shyba are still at the apartment eating breakfast or something.”

“Okay. What about the problem with your face?”

“Um…I’ll think of something on the way there,” I say. “Anyway, once I get back, we’ll start looking for him again. If we can’t find him by the time the slumber party is over, and all the kids are back home I’ll tell Mama what happened. But right now, I don’t want her to worry.”

“Alright,” he says.

He gets out and I wait until he’s in the door to leave. I make it over to Shelby’s house quickly and upon her mother answering the door I get the expected round of questions as to what happened to my face. Somehow beyond all reason she buys my story that I tripped into a pole and then fell on a rock. I get the medicine from her and leave as quickly as possible.

Of course, I know Mama won’t buy that story. I need to come up with something good. Then again, what if she can’t see my face? I ponder what I could do so that she wouldn’t even be able to see me. By the time I make it to the house I have come up with a genius idea.

I pull up to the mailbox and set the medicine inside. Now all I have to do is call Mama and tell her the medicine is in the mailbox.

“Jer, what happened to your face?” I hear from the driveway.

My heart jumps through the roof of the truck and I lock eyes with Kiara who is making her way toward me. Dammit! Just my luck, Mama must have sent her out here to meet me.

“Um…I will give you ten bucks right now if you pretend you didn’t see this,” I say.

Her brows rise, noticing my tension. “Twenty.”

We stare each other down for a moment, though I know full well she’s not the type to give in. I huff and grab my wallet, pulling out a twenty-dollar bill. I hand it to her, open the mailbox then hand her the medicine also.

“Seriously though, is everything okay?” she asks, stuffing the bill into her pocket.

“It’s fine. I’ll tell Mama what happened after the kids leave. I just don’t want her to worry while she has so much going on,” I tell her.

She continues to stare at me for a second with a raised brow. “Okay.”

I give her a salute before leaving. By the time I get back to Nicky’s place I thankfully haven’t received a frantic call from Mama so Kiara must have kept her mouth shut. Nicky gets in and we start our search again, though I really don’t even know what to do. What if we can’t find him? I don’t even know how to feel about the idea of not seeing him again.

Over the span of the next few hours, we drive all over the entirety of the town. However, we don’t even find a single clue and Mama has already texted me saying the slumber party is over. We both look at each other, uncertainty on our faces.

On the way back to the house we both prepare ourselves for the tongue lashing we’re about to get, since we didn’t call her after the fight or when we realized Shyba was gone. Once I pull into the driveway and park, we glance at each other before getting out. Slowly, we trudge up the steps.

I take a deep breath and open the door then we step in. Mama and Kiara are still busy cleaning while the twins watch cartoons. We continue to remain silent, and Kiara looks at us then at Mama, her eyes wide. Mama turns around and sees us, dropping the dustpan with a gasp, dust and papers flying up.

“What happened?” she shrieks, eyes wide.

“Where is Shyba?” Kiara asks, her voice quiet.

“Um…” I mutter and rub my neck. “I uh… You want me to start from the beginning?”

Mama’s brows draw together, and she points at the table. “Sit.”

We both sit down and while she examines the cut on Nicky’s cheek, I tell her what had happened. However, like I promised I leave out the stuff Shyba told us last night. That is his to share, if we even find him. If we don’t, Nicky and I will have to live with this secret, never telling a single person.

Suddenly, Mama gasps and covers her mouth. “Oh, no. I think I know why he left.”

“You do?” I mutter. She couldn’t really know, could she?

“The other night I told him if he wanted to stay with us then he would need to stop fighting. He must think since he fought them even though he was defending you two he’s not welcome here anymore,” Mama says and tears form in her eyes.

She continues, “Oh, this is my fault. I should have been clearer with what I meant. We need to find him quickly. It’s supposed to rain tonight. I would hate it if he had to sleep in the rain.”

I’m sure it’s a lot more than that, but that must have played a part in his decision to leave also. We all get ready and leave the house, me and Kiara in the truck and Mama, Nicky and the twins in her car. I glance at the clock. We have a few hours until sundown. Surely, with a group like this we can find him before it gets dark. That is, if he’s even still in town anymore.