The blood curdling screeches that filled Mandy's ears were enough to drive anybody completely wild. She couldn't figure out where the howling was coming from but in this neighbourhood anything was possible. She marched down the hallway, desperate for answers. Her older brother was sitting on the couch in his underwear rolling joints, and sorting through vials of prescription pills he had swiped. She rolled her tired eyes as she approached, smacking him on the back of the head. "How can you sit here while that fucking screaming is going on?" She asked him, still concerned that someone in their neighbourhood was being brutally murdered, that or their sexual fantasies involved a great deal of pain she didn't need to hear about.

"The chick two doors down is having a home birth." Iggy answered with a shrug. He didn't mind the noise, he already expected it to happen eventually, and it made him feel less alone hearing someone else in the neighbourhood awake at this hour of the night.

"Why the fuck would anybody do that?" Mandy questioned, toppling over the back of their couch so she could sit down. The idea of giving birth outside of a hospital was preposterous to Mandy, she barely wanted to partake in the miracle of life, and if she ever did start her own family, you could bet your fine ass that she would be doped up with every legal drug in the business, there was no fucking way she would be screaming from her living room in the middle of the night, baby ripping her apart without any drugs.

"I don't know." Iggy shrugged. It didn't cross his mind to ask, he didn't know anything about birth or babies, apart from having to help deliver Mandy when their mother didn't quite make it to the hospital, that was forever ago now twenty years had passed and his current involvement with vaginas was strictly for pleasure, definitely not for pro creation.

"How do you always know all of this shit? I swear you gossip more than the little old lady on the end of the street." Mandy smiled, nudging her knee against his.

"I fucked her sister the other day; she told me all about it afterwards." He answered. He wasn't offended by Mandy's comments, he realised that he really did seem to stumble across all kinds of information accidentally, it was his specialty.

Mandy paused, of course he did. Her brother couldn't hold onto a girlfriend even if he wanted to. He was a free spirit, didn't like being tied down to anybody or anything, with the exception of maybe the drug business he seemed to always come back to. He didn't always deal, but when he did he was resourceful. She admired that, even though she thought he was stupid. Their family history with drugs was enough to turn her off the drug business herself, the cops were always sniffing around anybody with their surname; they got off on sending them to the big house.

The wailing continued through their silence, Iggy passed a freshly rolled blunt over to his younger sister, she took it without a word, even if that woman didn't want any drugs to get through her birth, Mandy sure did.

It wasn't until the next morning that Mandy finally found the courage to call the phone number Ian had given her. She was sitting at the breakfast table, bowl of cereal in front of her. She didn't know how old the box was but she could taste how stale it was with every unsatisfying bite. She had no idea how Iggy survived this long on his own, he probably didn't know how to find a grocery store and she was certain that she hadn't seen any toothpaste in the bathroom either. The number was on her screen, she didn't know what to expect but the nerves fluttered in her chest. If he didn't answer she would feel shattered, if he did, she wouldn't know what to say. She bit the bullet and pressed the phone up to her ear as it started to ring out. "C'mon Mickey," she whispered, fingers tapping nervously on the surface of the table. Her brother was pretty reliable with his phone, but that was before he had run away, maybe being a fugitive made him less inclined to pick up.

"Hola."

The voice on the other end startled the youngest Milkovich, it sounded just like her brother, and her heart beat was so loud in her chest like the whole world around her was silent in comparison. "Mickey?" She asked, still hoping this was real. She needed her brother to be safe; she needed to make sure that he was okay all alone out there.

"Don't call here again." Mickey said gruffly. The dial tone was deafening as it rung in her ear like a siren. Her brother was out there all alone and now she knew that he wanted to stay that way. Her chest begun to tighten, tears prickled her eyes like she'd just been stung by a cactus. Her heart couldn't accept this result; she couldn't admit to herself that he didn't want to be found. Mickey was out there and she needed him back in her life, she needed to find a way to reach him again, make him listen.

Mickey switched off his phone and stared across at the grey coloured wall across from him. He closed his eyes to prevent himself from tearing up. His little sister was out there thinking about him, he knew there was only one person who knew how to reach him, one person who could pass his number onto her. He picked up the cell phone and threw it clear across the room. He opened his eyes just in time to watch it smash against the floor, pieces of the keypad littered the floor, the screen had turned dark and he knew it was over. Mandy couldn't call again, and now Ian had no way of reaching him. It was for the best, they would get over it eventually.