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Chapter 26 - The Slum
"Hello, Luka." His brother was waving his hand in front of him, trying to get his attention. "Are you alright?" Getting pulled out of his thoughts he looked up at Niko, slightly nodding his head. "Are you sure? You ignored us all yesterday at home, you didn't show up for soccer practice and today it's like you've been in another world."
"She's not in school today." He was looking down at the bread sticks in front of him, continuously dipping the smallest one in the cheese sauce. He felt his brother's confused eyes on him the entire time, and in the end wasn't able to ignore him any more. He needed to talk to someone.
"It's not like her. She always shows up, even if she is really sick." Niko gave him a sympathetic smile which didn't reach his eyes.
"I thought you talked to her yesterday, judging by your behavior at home."
"I did." He leaned back in his chair, taking a deep breath. "And I didn't like how it tuned out. I think that might have something to do with why she's not here today." Moving his food to the side, Niko put his elbows on the table.
"She told you the truth about the picture." It was a statement, not a question. Luka looked away, shrugging his shoulders.
"Kind of." He turned back to look at his brother who was staring at him like he wanted him to go on, so he did. "Look, she told me something which I can't really tell you. At least not yet. Yeah, I'm pretty mad at her, but I'm trying not to let it get to me before I know a bit more." He took a sip of his Fanta, feeling the need of some sugar.
"So what are you going to do? Force it out of her next time you see her?" Luka shook his head, stirring his pop with the straw.
"No, I'm gonna find her today after school."
"But how? I didn't think you knew where she lived." He gently shook her head, looking out of the window.
"I don't, but I know how to find out." He looked at his brother who was giving him a confused look. "Just tell mom and dad that I probably won't be home for dinner."
Luka leaned up against the bleachers as he watched Eric's soccer team practice after school. He had skipped practice himself for the second day in a row, but he felt that it was more important for him to talk to Abby than to practice soccer. Of course he'd have to come up with a really good excuse when he returned after the weekend, but he still had time to come up with one.
A little smile formed on Luka's face as Eric stole the ball from one of the older boys and got it into the net. He had taught him that move the day Abby and him had brought Eric with them to the park, and seeing how all the other kids fussed around him like he was a God was definitely worth it.
Watching the boys fool around on the field reminded Luka of the good, old days when he was still just a little kid, back when he didn't have to worry about school or work or even girlfriend problems. It almost made him forget about why he was there, what had made him come here in the first place.
Luka got pulled out of his thoughts as the coach yelled that they were done with practice. Noticing that Eric was walking happily towards the other end of the bleachers where all their stuff was with some of the other boys, Luka pushed himself away from the steel and walked in their direction.
"Hey Eric." The young boy looked up surprised before running over and high-fiving him.
"Luka!" He sounded so excited that Luka couldn't help but smile. "What are you doing here? And where's Abby? She's supposed to pick me up." He picked up his bag and threw it over his shoulder.
"Aren't you going to go change like the others? Go take a shower?" Luka nodded towards the other boys who were heading towards the school building.
"Naah. I usually wait with that till I get home. And besides, it's so hot outside, I'll start sweating again anyways." Luka shrugged as he slightly nodded his head, seeing the point in what Eric had said.
"But where's Abby?" he took a deep breath, not completely sure what to tell Eric. He had been wondering about that all day but hadn't been able to come up with a excuse.
"You know, Eric, I don't know that myself." That just caused Eric to look up at him confused. "The thing is, she wasn't in school today and I'm kind of worried about that." Eric bit his lip as he looked down, something he'd definitely picked up from Abby. He was silent for a little while, not sure how to respond.
"So are you gonna take me home?" Luka grabbed his hand an gave him a smile as he nodded.
"Yep, just lead the way." Now he'd actually see where Abby lived. Eric seemed completely obvious to the fact that Abby had been trying so hard to hide it, just happily leading the way as he kept changing between humming and rambling about all sort of stuff.
Luka started getting more and more uncomfortable as they got further into the slums of Chicago, one of those places you did not want to hang out. He didn't like thinking about Abby living a place like this, in a small apartment with junkies hanging out in front of their front doors. He'd much rather imagine her in some cute, little house with a pretty front yard with flowerbeds and maybe even a dog and a cat running around behind the picket fence.
But trying to think realistic, he realized that it actually made sense. This was an okay reason for her to be embarrassed about it, not wanting him to see the way she lived. It would explain why she was so amazed by his house, and it would definitely make sense as to why she didn't want Eric to walk around by himself.
"Are we there soon?" Eric stopped his ramble about some fight in school and shrugged his shoulders.
"I guess. It's only a couple more blocks." Luka just nodded and followed Eric. True, it was just a couple of blocks, but for each block it seemed to get worse. When Eric finally stopped in front of a door, Luka started studying the building. It was 5 storeys high and needed a renovation badly. Many of the apartments looked deserted, but Luka figured they probably just belonged to some of the drunks and drug addicts walking around on the street.
Eric walked up to the door and pushed it open. Somehow it didn't surprise Luka at all that the lock on the door was broken. Or maybe there had just never been a lock.
"There is no elevator, so we'll have to take the stairs." Luka just nodded as he followed Eric into the dark, 'not so good smelling' hall. He could see that there was lamps on the wall but they had either been smashed or just weren't working. There was trash laying all over the floor, and in one of the corners Luka noticed a syringe. A shiver ran through his body, he couldn't even imagine living a place like this.
Eric was running up the stairs, and Luka soon followed him, not wanting to touch the wall nor the railing. And of course he had to walk all the way up to 4th floor.
"It's a good thing I brought my keys." Eric held up his keys but Luka quickly snatched them out of his hand. He didn't know why, but he had a very bad feeling, a hunch that something was wrong, and he didn't want to subject Eric to anything.
"How about you stay out here while I go in and see if she's in there, see if she's alright?" Luka could tell that he was about to protest, but seeing the look Luka sent him, he carefully took a step back and nodded slowly.
"Okay." Luka just gave him a small smile before turning around and open the door. At first he got kind of surprised to see that it actually looked like a pretty normal, clean home on the inside, but it didn't take long for him to notice the chairs which had fallen over and the broken glass on the floor next to some magazines that looked like they'd been thrown off the table. Carefully closing the door behind him so Eric wouldn't come bursting in, he slowly walked deeper into the apartment, through the living room. It wasn't till he turned around to enter on of the bedrooms that his eyes fell on the kitchen floor. His heartbeat slowly began increasing and he could feel the goose bumps forming all over his body.
There, on the cold, stone kitchen floor laid a small, fragile body. Naked, but covered in blood and bruises. Luka felt his whole body get paralysed. Even though the back was turned towards him it was easy to see who it was. Abby.
