Episode 21
Happy Halloween!
"We'd better go check on the twins now." Lena suggests, slicing through the silence that had fallen shortly after Stef rallied everyone together and explained to them how Lexi had somehow made her way through Guatemala, into Mexico, then to the border, where for no specific reason, she was targeted. Of course, she left out the part with the note, but nonetheless, Jesus and Mariana disappeared back into their shells, respectively.
It was the first real show of emotion from Jesus, though he was still intent on making everyone believe he was fine, even as he left the room to be alone. The remaining five just sat in the living room, left to their own haunting thoughts.
Stef scrunches her nose at the proposal. "I don't know...it's still too soon."
"It's never too soon."
Stef sighs and rubs at her eyes, emotionally drained, but eventually agrees to it. "I'll check on Jesus, you check on Mariana." They both rise from their seats without another word, leaving Callie to make small talk with Jude and Brandon to himself.
"You sure you don't want to?"
"Trick or treating is for babies."
Brandon turns his head towards the two, waking out of the sort of trance he had fallen in on the sofa recliner. "That's not true, Jude, I'll even go with you if you want."
He simply shakes his head. "No thanks."
"Jude," Callie nudges him, eyes flashing with gratitude towards Brandon, "if this is about-"
"It's not about anything, I just think it's stupid."
"But you've never gone, and-"
"I don't want to, can you leave me alone about it?" he interrupts her, and though he doesn't raise his voice or snap at her, it pains her all the same. She has to agree, of course, but she knows why he doesn't want to go. He still doesn't feel he deserves too, and she's spent so long trying to make him feel otherwise, though all her efforts must've been in vain. She wants to say more, maybe not so much on the same topic, but suddenly Lena's flying down the stairs with Stef in tow, both looking frantic. On natural instinct, both Callie and Brandon stand.
Before either can ask, Stef explains, "Jesus is gone, we think he climbed out his window. I'm going to get my partner and we're going to go looking for him-"
"We'll come, too," Callie volunteers, and Lena opens her mouth to object, already throwing on her own coat, but Stef nods her head.
"You should stay with Jude and Mariana," she tells Lena, "Callie and Brandon might have a better chance at finding him, they know who his friends are."
"What if he is just with a friend, mom?" Brandon chimes in, not looking as frazzled as the two. "What if he just wanted to get some air, I'm sure-"
"He's not well, Brandon," she cuts him off, tossing him his car keys, "let's go, before it starts raining harder."
Lena doesn't say another word as she takes a seat next to Jude, pulling him into her side with a squeeze of his shoulder. Brandon, Callie, and Stef disappear out the door in one big huddle but part ways in separate cars. "We'll take this side of town, you take the other."
"Okay," Brandon nods before slipping in to the car. Callie slides in to the passenger seat and immediately flicks on the heater. "We should head towards school. I know a couple of kids hang out there a lot."
She bites her bottom lip. "Déjà vu, huh?"
He turns the key in the ignition and waits in the driveway for his mom to leave. Last time Jesus ran away, they found him in the bad part of town, and though nothing happened, something could've. This time is no different. "I wish it wasn't."
It's dumping now, gallons upon gallons of raining assaulting the city. Brandon shuts the car off, albeit, hesitantly, as the heater goes off with it, and digs in his glove box for a flashlight. Callie folds her arms around herself. "You think he's going to be here?"
"Look," he motions with his eyes towards the school as he checks to see if the flashlight works, "isn't that the girl that came to the door?"
Callie has to squint to see out the rain-splattered window, zeroing in on a group of about five or six kids sitting on a lunch table, drenched by the rain. One holds a jacket over two of their heads, and they're passing something off between each other. It's obviously a blunt. "Yeah, but I don't think they're friends. They're a bunch of stoners, Brandon."
He shrugs. "We've still gotta ask. Come on."
But the second they step out and slam their doors, the girl and the rest of the potheads take a gander, get up from their seats, and run for the school, looking back occasionally as they erupt in laughter. "They think we've come to bust them,"
"I think I saw Jesus, though," Brandon tells her, picking up his pace. Callie can barely keep up with his long strides and has to jog to catch up, her feet sloshing in the already-puddled grass. He looks back at her, reaching out his hand. "Come on,"
Her fingers don't slip between is but their thumbs overlap, his wrist crossed over hers as if to protect her own. They hurry under the building and into the hallways, shaking off the drops that haven't yet dissolved into their clothing. The kids are down on the other end of the hallway, still laughing obnoxiously, and break up into two groups, each taking a different path. They don't run after them but they speed down to the other end, catching the last movements of the kids as they disappear around each corner.
"I'll go this way," Callie offers, starting towards the right hallway.
"You want the flashlight?"
She shakes her head, retrieving something from her pocket. "I've got my phone."
"Okay," he says, watching her as she takes off down it, "Okay, just...be careful."
She rounds the next corner and catches the girl and two other boys exiting back out to the lunch area, back into the rain. She exhales, aggravated. She really hopes Jesus isn't with them.
She pushes into the unlocked doors, knowing that this has to be the work of the stoners themselves because they never leave the school unlocked, especially not during a storm. It's cold outside, especially coming from inside the school, which definitely isn't as warm as the car but better than nothing, and Callie places her phone back in her jacket pocket and keeps her hand inside to preserve some heat.
She looks to the left but it's just another wall, and straight ahead is just a bunch of empty lunch tables. She pulls her hood over her head and turns right, nearly running straight into the girl herself.
Tiffany, she thinks she says her name was, speaks first. "You're looking for Jesus, am I right?"
Callie takes a few steps back, nearly slipping on the slick grass. "Sorry...yeah, I am. Is he with you?"
"Jesus doesn't want to be found." she snaps, but Callie isn't scared off, instead she examines the two boys behind her, both holding skateboards, and speaks to them, ignoring the scowling girl.
"You guys friends with Jesus?" They don't say anything to her. "Can you help me find him?"
"I already told you-"
"I know," Callie cuts her off, pissed off with her already, "Jesus is going through some tough shit right now, and I know you think you're helping him by getting him high, helping him 'escape his problems', but you're not. So can you-" she cries out as Tiffany seizes her arm, digging her claws into her flesh, and nods at one of her goons, who raises his skateboard in the air.
Callie is just freeing herself from the girl's grasp when the hard plank connects with her head, and the next thing she knows is blackness.
"That'll shut her up for a while," Tiffany laughs, bending down to steal Callie's phone out of her pocket, "Jesus is with the others, right? Don't let his brother find him. They're such party poopers."
"Dude," the one holding the board groans, "nobody's going to know that I-"
"Nobody's going to know shit," Tiffany reassures, pulling the two boys with her back to the hallways, leaving Callie's unconscious body in the relentless rain. "When I said I needed another hit I didn't mean literally, but it'll work."
When she comes to, the corners of her eyes are blurry and the rest of her vision is just plain spotty, but she's still able to make out the figure looming above her in the noisy darkness, the rain still pelting her and the mud around her. She nearly jumps out of her skin and scutters backwards in the wet dirt, desperately reaching for something to protect herself, but as the figure comes in closer, it turns out to be Mike.
Which one could argue is just as scary as any other stranger, but she's slightly relieved at the sight. She stops moving, mostly because her head only pounds more in defiance when she does so, but because he tells her to. "You were hit pretty hard."
Somehow, despite the many scattered thoughts in her brain, she manages to find some words. "You saw them?"
"I was just pulling up." he explains as he kneels next to her, gesturing behind him with his thumb towards his car, which is parked right behind Brandon's. "We should get you into my car, I'll take you-"
"No." she blurts too quickly, blushing when she realizes how rude she must've sounded, "I'm sorry, I'd just...rather find Brandon first. Then we can go."
He raises an eyebrow but doesn't deny her that, not that he has the power to. "You sure?"
"I'm...fine."
"Okay," he shrugs, his tone implying he's not convinced, but he helps her to her feet anyway, albeit, rather awkwardly. "You know where he is?"
They start towards the entrance, which isn't too far, but proves a difficult feat for a girl that's just been clocked upside the head. He doesn't hang on to her and she doesn't lean on him, but he walks near enough so that if she needed to she could...though she doubts she'll take him up on that offer anytime soon. The whole situation is just something straight out of the twilight zone. "No, but I doubt he's gone far."
She hopes he hasn't.
When they finally make into the hallways, she's more grateful than she thought she'd be, seeing as the rain only aggravated her injury further, but the new silence leaves a lot hanging in the air and they both know it. She knows shooting the breeze with him is way too obvious, but walking along quietly as if they're comfortable friends isn't fooling anyone. "He doesn't hate you."
Mike looks at her as if she's speaking in tongues.
"Brandon, I mean."
He laughs strangely. "Yeah, I know. I just don't think you're the right person to be talking to about this."
She distances herself slightly from him. "You just seem a little nervous, I just wanted you to know that you don't have to be. If anything, he needs this more than you do."
He shoves his hands in his wind blazer pockets, staring straight ahead. "This is a good idea then?"
Callie's about to open her mouth to reply when a sudden wave of nausea hits her and she stumbles against the lockers, her shoulder hitting one with a loud clang, and clutches her stomach in pain. Mike rushes to her but she holds her right hand up, signaling that she's fine, but he seems annoyed that she's lying. "Something I ate."
"No, it's the head wound you sustained, I'm calling the paramedics, don't know why I didn't before." he says determinedly, retrieving his phone from his pant pocket, but she places her hand atop it and pushes it down.
"Wait, please, let's just find Brandon, then we can drive there." she begs, straightening up a little. "They've got so much going on I can't...I won't make them pay for an unnecessary ambulance bill."
He moves away from her and presses the call button, only the other line never answers and he jams his phone back into his pocket. When she stares at him, no energy to actually speak herself, he explains, "I tried calling Brandon again, but he hasn't been answering me. I wouldn't expect him to." When he realizes he's talking about what he said he wouldn't with her, he quickly throws in, "Those kids took your phone, didn't they?"
She feels her pockets, not really expecting much, and finds it missing. She nods, unable to offer anything else. He takes his phone back out again. "Really rather not have to call them but these kids can't just get away with this."
"Wait!" she manages, seeing him about to dial 9-1-1, "Jesus is with those kids, if you call the cops on them, you risk getting Jesus in trouble, too. Stef and Lena would freak."
He huffs and marches forward, muttering "Damned kids these days." before turning back to make sure she's coming. She shuffles along, clutching at the ever-growing knot on the back of her head as she does. She hates hospitals but she knows it's inevitable, she can't risk a concussion.
When they round the corner, there's a small yellow light down on the other end of the hallway, and the one that holds it is Brandon, who immediately spots the two, though he only recognizes Callie at first, and speeds up to meet them. "Callie, I've been calling you..."
He pauses as he makes out his dad's face, and for a moment just focuses on him, until he turns to Callie for an explanation. But she offers him nothing, and Mike speaks up anyway. "Your mom thought it'd be a good idea if I came with you guys. I wanted to help." he tells him softly, honestly, and when he glances over at Callie, he adds, "And as I was pulling up I witnessed a couple of punks hit her on the back of the head with a skateboard. She's pretty beat up and-"
"What?" Brandon's head jerks towards her, worry pulling at his features, "What happened? Let me see-"
She barely has the chance to get a word in when he's already next to her, feeling the back of her head, and exclaiming, "We need to take you to the hospital, why did you walk all the way here?" He looks at his dad, naturally, but Callie admits, "I wanted to come find you. I'm fine. I thought we could get Jesus, now that we know who he's with."
"No," he debunks easily, "now that we know who he's with, that's not a good idea."
She narrows her eyes. "Don't tell me this was all for nothing."
He looks to his dad, who has remained mostly quiet, though the reason he came with was to do the exact opposite, and asks, "Can you get Jesus then? I'll take her to the hospital."
Callie glances between the two, noticing his dad's face and how it falls- this definitely wasn't how he planned this to go. She feels bad, knowing that she may have ruined his only opportunity, so she begins to say, "Brandon, we'll just tell your mom to get-" but the room tilts under her feet and Brandon and Mike's face somehow becomes one and the darkness of the hallway is no longer the absence of light, but of consciousness.
Thankfully, she sways before she passes out, so Brandon is anticipating it when she starts to collapse to the floor, catching her before her knees and the tile kiss. He falls to his own, just to get a new grip on her, and looks up at his dad, eyebrows strung together in anger. "Why didn't you just take her to the hospital if you saw what happened? She could have a concussion!"
Mike looks torn between helping his son and stepping further away from him. "I tried-"
"There's a possibility she won't wake up again," he spits, scooping Callie into his arms and standing carefully, "you do know that, right?"
He watches how his son hikes the girl and all her dead weight up in his arms, feeling the need to say, "Let me help you-"
"I don't need your help with this!" he fires back, hurrying down the hallway, "I need you to get Jesus! It's one simple task, dad! You think you can manage that?"
Mike stops walking behind him, but calls after him, "I didn't come to make sure your foster siblings stay out of trouble! I came to talk to you, to work things out with my son!"
Brandon stops halfway down the hallway, turns to look back at his father, who looks completely remorseless about what he's just said, and says frighteningly low, "Just saying that alone proves you don't deserve my time yet."
His dad doesn't follow.
By the time he makes it outside, his arms are aching from holding her, but she remains unconscious. He jogs across the grass, feels the glistening blades dampen his socks through the thin material of his shoes, feels the wind whip his face. He looks up- the sky is just black, the gray clouds moving somewhere else for now. The air is easier to breathe now that the worst part of the storm is over.
But there's always the aftermath.
She must've been moaning long before she remembers coming to, because when she's just barely peeling her eyes apart, she can already hear Brandon speaking into the phone, "Hold on, mom, I'll have to call you back, she's waking up- yes, I told you I would, okay, I'll call back soon."
It seems all she can muster is a moan, especially as she tries to roll her head against the head rest. That's definitely not happening.
"Don't strain yourself, Callie."
"Mm," she groans, blinking a few times until her eyes adjust to the dim light of the car. Her head feels ten pounds heavier, and her stomach feels like its been turned inside out and upside down more than she'd like it to. "What time is it?"
It's like she can feel every little movement- of the car, of the body, of everything. Every piece of gravel they roll over, every corner they turn, she feels travel up her body and into her head, powering the little workers that are pounding away inside. And she wants to heave.
"I don't know, radio clock's broken and my phone is in my pocket." he wants to glance over at her but it's too dark out now and the roads are still slick from the rain, he can't risk injuring both of them...or worse. "How do you feel? What hurts?"
"That was your mom on the phone?" she ignores him, finding the arm rest and gripping it tighter than necessary. She feels ready to slide off her seat, no control over her aching body. She just wants to sleep. "Is she going to get Jesus?"
"Yeah, they're on their way over now, then they'll meet us at the hospital." he explains, and this seems to relieve her, but he continues to look plagued with concern. "You've got to tell me how you feel, though," he allows himself a quick peek and when he finds her with her eyes closed, he demands she open them. "You can't sleep, Callie, not yet."
"Not sleeping..." she mumbles, her eyes cracking open again, though it's not without some difficulty, "just resting."
"Well...no doing that, then."
She wants to groan in frustration but she knows it's necessary precautions they have to take. She manages to turn her head slightly to look out the side window, noting, "It stopped raining. How long was I out?"
"A few minutes, I was so-"
"You don't have to worry so much, Brandon."
"Of course I'm going to." He sounds almost angry at her suggestion of the idea, and even turns the already-low radio off completely to add, "everything that can go wrong right now is! This family is falling apart-" when she winces, he lowers his voice and stops himself. "Sorry. It's just easy to talk to you."
She shakes her head just barely, as if to wave off his apology. "This family doesn't have to fall apart, not without everybody's effort. As long as you're giving one hundred percent..."
"It sounds like you're implying something."
"Because I am." she says boldly, figuring if there were ever a good time to lay shit out as it is, it's while she's injured and nobody has the guts to fight back. "Your dad came to to work things out with you and from what I saw you still don't want to...I don't know what happened after but I hope it was a little more cordial."
He can't believe this is what she really wants to talk about, but if she's going to bring it up, that's her choice. "You're injured! Maybe he came to work things out but it wasn't the right time...you passed out, Callie. It wasn't about him anymore."
She sighs, trying to ignore her throbbing brain. Her head falls back against the head rest. "Well, I don't want it to be about me."
The car stops moving and he pretends he hasn't heard her when he gets out and walks to the other side, opening the door and about to release her seatbelt when she does it herself. "Can you-"
"I can walk." she assures him as she takes his hand and stands on her feet once again. It's only now that she realizes how dizzy she still is, and finds herself having to lean into him as they start off towards the emergency room. She takes a deep breath and the smell of after-rain floods her nostrils. It's one of those smells that one can find both good and bad memories for. She can't decide what kind of memory they're making now, not yet. "You should call your mom when we get inside."
He looks down at her, and she looks smaller than usual, frailer or something, shivering slightly, and half her body is covered in mud, including her hair, which is stringy and caked with it, and he imagines she must feel like absolute shit but she hasn't said one word about it. All she wants to know is if they've found Jesus. He wonders how his moms can't see how much he loves her, what with the way he's looking at her now, and how he's sure he has before. "I will."
A/N: Happy Halloween everyone! I know I'm about three days early but there's something weird about doing holiday-themed things after a holiday as opposed to doing it early. If you don't celebrate it, well then, happy creepy month! Thanks for all the reviews, I finally caught up on them, I love reading everything you guys have to say! Even the ones where you completely babble! Those are probably my favorite. If you can't form complete sentences just go nuts! Trust me! I'll get you! I know I usually just say "tell me what you think" but I have some specific questions for you to answer if you care to! Who's your favorite character as of right now and why? (the why is optional, of course) Do you think Brandon is being unfair about Mike? Who else hates Tiffany?! Those are just some review suggestions...haha. So one of my anon reviewers was confused on how Lexi was crossing the border if she lives in Guatemala, I hope I cleared that up for you in the first section. And another reviewer told me I should post this on Wattpad, so I created an account under the same name and also posted it there, so if you have an account and want to let your friends know about it (cause you're awesome and beautiful) then I would greatly appreciate it! I'm not sure how else to get it out there, so I greatly depend on you. But do not fret! Fanfiction will always be my #1. Alright, I'm done ranting, thanks for your time! Have a wonderful week!