Tomatita

Part 18

Antonio had been starting to worry that Sadiq wasn't going to show up; he'd been sitting on top of what had once been part of the clubhouse's roof for what seemed like hours, scratching at the wood beneath his feet with the blade of his axe and humming softly to himself. It would have been very sad if Sadiq didn't show up, since he'd worked so hard on making sure that the clubhouse was ready for when he came.

But then he heard the soft crunching of leaves being crushed beneath sneakers and, after a moment, a dark head ducked under the leaves and he slipped into sight. Antonio immediately sat up straighter, waiting as Sadiq looked up.

And his eyes widened in terror, his skin paling to an almost deathly hue as they gazed at each other.

And then he shrieked, leaping back and managing to tangle his hair in the branches behind him.

"Hola, Sadiq." Antonio smiled, now rising to his feet. His arms felt so tired now—swinging an axe around was harder work than he'd thought. All he could really do now was drag it behind him as he slowly climbed down the pile of rubble to stand in front of his... friend.

"Wha—what—how—?" Sadiq was stuttering, grabbing at the branches behind him as if in search of a weapon. Something to protect himself. Antonio's smile flickered for a moment; he wasn't going to hurt him. Sadiq was acting silly for thinking that. His madre had always told him never to hurt anyone, no matter what they did to you.

"You—you destroyed—"

"You hurt Lovi." He stopped when he was only about a foot away from the other boy, fastening accusing green eyes on the other boy's face. "You and the other boys needed to be punished, so I got rid of your clubhouse."

Sadiq still looked terrified, although anger was beginning to stretch across his face as he stared down at the once-functional television set that now lay, cracked and smashed to pieces, at his feet. "I—she was being annoying!" And now he looked up, his lips twisting into an angry scowl as he took a step closer. "You always give in to everything she says! She's a stupid girl! It isn't our fault that no one likes her; why should we be forced to play with her?"

Antonio immediately clutched the axe's handle even tighter, eyes darkening as he glared at the other boy. "Even if you don't like her, that doesn't mean you can be mean to her. Lovi's special! That's why she can play with us!"

"How is she special?" Sadiq had managed to break a branch off and now pulled it in front of him. Not that it would help against an axe, but it was better than nothing.

Antonio scowled. How could anyone not think that Lovi was special? She was so cute and little and adorable and sweet—when she wasn't stomping on his foot or kicking him in the shins for not paying her enough attention.

He could still remember when he'd first met Lovina. It had been right after he'd moved here, when his madre had decided to take him to the park so he could meet some kids his own age. He remembered that he'd been sitting in the sandbox, attempting to build a sand-tomato and failing rather miserably, when a little girl wearing a dirty, light green dress had sat down beside him and proceeded to snatch his shovel right out of his hand.

He'd immediately asked for it back after getting over the initial shock. And she'd just responded with a glare and then "Mine! Stupid."

And that had been the beginning. Something about the little girl had immediately piqued his interest. He began to pepper her with questions—which she refused to answer except with an occasional smack on his head with the shovel—and then he began to ramble about how he'd just moved there and didn't know anyone yet and he used to live with his tio and tia, but now madre had bought a tomato farm...

And she'd just sat there, maybe listening, maybe completely ignoring him. And when he'd asked her what her name was, after quite a long time of just rambling on, she'd looked up and scowled.

But had finally responded.

"Lovina."

And from that moment on, Lovi had been his precious tomatita. They met at the park to play together almost every day; they were hardly ever seen apart. And he'd promised himself that he would always take care of her.

And then Sadiq and his friends had hurt her.

"Lovi is special. You shouldn't have been mean to her. I don't like it when people are mean to my friends." He walked back to the pile of splintered wood, pulling the axe over his head again and then bringing it down with all of the strength in his body onto a formerly-whole piece of wood.

Sadiq winced at the loud crack that broke through the tension surrounding them. His fingers clenched the branch even more tightly, his stomach flipping in terror. What should he do? What should he do? He'd never seen Antonio like this. And now he tensed as Antonio turned. Now... smiling. But not his usual, happy smile. Something definitely not right about this smile.

"It's okay now, though, sí? You've been punished and now you won't ever be mean to Lovi ever again, sí?"

Sadiq gulped, as he now glanced toward his feet again. Staring at the television set. The glass had been smashed so intensely that only a few tiny shards were hanging onto the cracked and twisted plastic. Wires stuck out in odd directions...

He'd have never imagined that Antonio could do something like this. Antonio was the slightly stupid, always smiling, always happy one. Of course, he'd guessed that he would be upset about the little pest getting hurt, but this was beyond anything he'd ever imagined.

"Sí?" And suddenly a pair of too green, too calm eyes were staring straight at him from only a few inches away. They were too bright. Terrifyingly bright. "You'll promise that you won't ever hurt Lovi ever again. You won't even say anything mean to her ever again, sí?"

And all he could do was nod, his throat too dry, his stomach flipping like he was about to be sick. "S—sure."

"Good!" And suddenly this creepy, terrifying Antonio was gone, as if he hadn't been there at all. Leaving behind the usual Antonio, happy smile stretched across his lips. "Then everything's better, sí?"

"Y—yeah?"

Antonio just beamed in response, climbing back off the pile of rubble with the axe. "Good!"

Sadiq almost wondered if he'd just imagined that whole thing. Or, he would have wondered, if it weren't for the expression that suddenly crossed Antonio's face again as he looked back at the pile of rubble. Emerald eyes turning toward him again, again filled with something terrifying that made him want to run and cry and promise to never do anything mean ever again. "But Sadiq, it'd probably be good if you didn't tell your friends that I broke your clubhouse, sí? Since everything's okay now."

There was definitely a threat hidden in those deceptively-simple words. Sadiq hurriedly nodded in response, stomach twisting even more violently. They wouldn't believe him anyway. His new friends were probably going to think that he did this, since he was the only one who was supposed to know where the clubhouse even was.

How had he known that anyway? He suddenly wondered. And was about to open his mouth and ask when he was introduced by a happy "Adios!" and then Antonio had ducked under a bush and was gone. Like he hadn't even been there.

Leaving him behind in the silence. Standing in front of his friends' former secret clubhouse.

A/N: Soo, I love Antonio, but he definitely has some major mental issues.

Long wait, but there ya go. Here's some creepy little Antonio for you. There'll be one more chapter in this arc... (You can finally find out what happens with Lovi!) and then I'll probably mark it as complete. I'm trying to decide whether I want to have omakes in this one or whether I'll start another story later just for one-shots of them as kids.

Ah, and there was a random title drop. Mwahaha. xD