I have an excuse, really, I do. But I'm sure you all want to get to the story so I'll save it for the end of the chapter.
Go forth and read on!
~*~TJ's POV~*~
I can feel the hate of the jury burning into the sides of my head. If looks could kill, I would be nonexistent. I throw the same look back at them and few turned away. The prosecution isn't wasting any of his time tearing me apart.
It's actually kind of funny, since he knows nothing about you. Well, us.
'Hush, Alex.'
Are they going to call me up to the bench or whatever it's called? I'm waiting for that. I'll tear this guy a new one. His case is full of too any holes! He doesn't have anything to base this shit on! Oh, you think I started a fire when I was younger so you think I started this one? You sir, are brilliant.
And you call me the smartass.
''Should I be considered with you? Does your existence mean I have split personalities? I mean, I would explain a lot.'
That depends. On the whole split personality, I doubt it. Thinking to yourself is more normal than you think. And you haven't been angry lately, 'cept at Ralphie and this court, but most people would be, I suppose.
'Then do me a favor and be quiet,' I thought.
I stretched. This wooden chair feels like concrete. It helps keep you awake, I'll give it that much. I need to stay awake so I can hear these people tell me how long I'm going to be locked up. A lot of people are here for the drama. What, their life isn't interesting enough?
Mom left a while ago to pick Zack up from day-care. She won't be coming back. None of us want Zack to see this. It's one of the few things we can agree on.
Suddenly, the doors to the courtroom opened. Everyone turned around to see who had the nerve to try and interrupt this oh-so important trial. I turn and see Randall running in, obviously out of breath.
"Randall?" I questioned, standing out of my seat. "What the hell?"
When he reached the front of the courtroom, the bailiff restrained him, and whatever he was holding in his hand hit the floor.
"Let me go," he said as he twisted in turned in a weak attempt to get free. "I have something that all of need to see!" I stepped from behind my table and picked up the tape that he dropped. Is this it? It looks like nothing, but hey, if it'll stall my conviction, then I'm all for it. There's a television and VCR/DVD player that sat in the courtroom. It hasn't been used, but it's there just in case.
"What's on it, Randall?" I asked him. The bailiff must've figured that he was too weak to hurt anybody and let him go.
"It's shows where and who started the fire," Randall said as he straightened his clothes from the tussle. "They need to see it."
"Can we?" I asked the Judge. He gave a gesture that said 'go ahead' and I walked over to the TV. After I turned it on, I put the tape in and it began to play. On the screen, me and Ralphie where in the hallway, under the staircase. I turned it up so everyone in the room could hear. I few minutes passed and I walked away.
'Is this it?' I thought to myself. This doesn't help my case at all. Then the video continued. Ralphie stayed under the staircase. For a few minutes all the video showed was him, but then it showed him taking out a box of matches and lighting a fire before walking away. The fire spread and eventually the smoke became too much for the camera to see through.
"See?" Randall said after the video cut off. "TJ didn't start the fire. Ralphie did!"
"This video could be fake!" Someone yelled from their seat. The whole room erupted with everyone voicing their opinion. The loud bangs of the gavel silenced everyone. Good. Everything in this room has an echo….
"This video is to be reviewed to make sure there isn't any tampering," The Judge said. "Until then, I call a recess." He ended with a bang of him gavel.
"Randall, how did you get that video?" I asked him. After everyone had left the courtroom, we stepped outside to avoid the crowd.
"I have cameras all over the school. Well, had. When the fire started I rushed to my locker and grabbed all that I had recorded," He explained. Always the nosey snitch, ain't he? "When you were charged with the fire I started going through them to see if any of them had recorded where the fire started. I just found that a few hours ago."
"Randall, you just saved my ass," I said with the utmost sincerity. "I owe you so much of this…"
"It's no problem. Something just seemed off with that Ralphie guy when I couldn't find anything on him," He said. "Wish I could've found it earlier so that I wouldn't have had to run over here…..hey, dude, is something wrong with your mom?"
I had no idea what he was talking about so I looked around until I found my parents. My mom was here, which is weird because she would normally be home with Zack. Something was wrong. Now only is Zack not here, but mom's crying.
"I dunno. I'll go see," I said as I began to walk over to them. "Thanks for all your help." I my way over to them, and I got this feeling of foreboding. "Mom? Is something wrong?"
"I can't find Zack," She said, tears streaming down her face. "I went to go pick him up from daycare and they said that you had picked him up, but that makes no sense because you were here the entire time…"
I stopped listening when I heard 'you had picked him up.'
Ralphie.
That sick son of a bitch.
I'm going to jail after all 'cause I'm going to kill that motherfucker.
"Randall," I said, pulling him aside from the crowd. "What's Ralphie's address?"
"Um, 105 Kingston Street, why?" He asked.
"No reason. I'm just going to commit premeditated murder," I said. Looking over the crowd, I could see a few officers who were probably looking for me. Nope. I've got shit to do. 105 Kingston Street. How far away is that…? Ten minutes by car, too fucking long by foot. I don't have any money to take the bus, so it looks like I'm going by foot.
"Freckles!"
~*~Normal POV~*~
Hearing his nickname being called, TJ turned to the source to find JoJo, Bandit, and Specs coming towards him. Any other day he would smile and run up to them, but not now.
"JoJo! You have a car!" TJ shouted.
"Hi to you, too, asshole," JoJo said, folding his arms. "I need to tell you somethin'—"
"Then tell me in your car 'cause we have to go," He said, pulling them away from the crowd. He searched around for JoJo's car and found it not too far away. "C'mon," He said, tugging them along. After much screaming and pushing, they were all in the car, driving down the street as TJ gave them directions.
"Where the hell are we going, Freckles?" JoJo asked as he made a left turn.
"To get my brother from this sick bastard that just so happens to be related to Tommy," He said. "My mom said that she went to go pick Zack up from daycare and one of the teachers said that he was picked up by me. It sure as hell wasn't me because I was in court! The only person who would think of doing this for no other reason than to anger me is the same asshole who sent me to juvie—and why are you under the speed limit?"
"I'm not goin' under the speed limit. I'm going ten over," JoJo said he pressed his foot down on the accelerator. "We need to tell you somethin'."
"Tommy was outside the court when we got there," Said Bandit. "He didn't say anything, but that always means he's up to something."
"JoJo, turn down here. We're taking a short cut," TJ said, pointing to the next right turn. "If that pedophile lays a finger on Zack my fist is going through his chest."
~*~MEANWHILE~*~
Ralphie slammed the front door of his house close with one hand and held Zack with the other. During the quick run home he had almost dropped the little boy as he restlessly squirmed to get out of his grip. If it wasn't for him being older and faster, Zack would've escaped relatively easy because of his size and the large about of bushes to hide in. That however, was not the case, and Ralphie was able to find him.
"Stop moving, you little brat," Ralphie yelled, tightening his grip. "Tommy! Are you in here?" Zack kicked and screamed, before doing the one thing he hadn't tried yet: biting. He bit down on Ralphie's arm, sinking his teeth as deep as his three year old jaw would allow. The pain caused his kidnapper to release him and yelp in pain. Though he landed on his bottom, Zack got back on his feet and ran, looking for somewhere to hide. That search didn't last long, because Tommy came in through the back door and scooped him up.
"Look who we have here?" Tommy said with an eerie smile stretched across his face. Zack didn't like that smile, and he because to cry as well as thrash to get out his grasp.
"That little shit bit me!" Ralphie said as he came in the kitchen.
"You can't go around biting people, little guy," Tommy said in a cheery voice. "Didn't your parents tell you not to hurt people? Look, I'll forgive you this time, but only if you play a game with me, okay?"
With little effort, Tommy carried him into the living room with Ralphie following close behind. The two sat on the old and dingy couch. Tommy sat a still fighting Zack on his lap while Ralphie grabbed the remote control and turned on the TV. He flicked through the channels for something interesting, but didn't seem to find anything to keep his attention for longer than five seconds. Next to him, Tommy sat with little interest in the TV and more on the toddler in his lap.
His hand crept underneath Zack's shirt, and he ignored Zack protests and cries.
Zack was terrified, and wanted nothing more than his big brother to come in and save him.
"Hey, look at this," Ralphie said. He stopped looking through the channels and settled on the news. The two stopped and listened. The newscast was about the trial, and the two boys joked about how the jury must've already found TJ guilty. Instead of announcing that, the discovery of new 'case changing' evidence that could 'possibly find the defendant not only innocent of the crime he was being charged with now, but acquit him of his charges he was found guilty of years ago' was broadcasted. Before the news story changed, the fact that Zack was missing was also announced.
"Shit," Tommy said. "I bet he's on his way here now. Him and his little group."
"So what are we going to do?" Ralphie asked him.
"There's a sack on the floor next to you. Get it." Ralphie looked down on the floor and found a tan sack. He handed it to Tommy, and with one quick motion, put Zack inside. "We go to plan B." He stood up and headed towards the back door. "Let's go."
~*~TEN MINUTES LATER~*~
TJ, JoJo, Bandit, and Specs stood outside of the house after an almost reckless ride to get there. Not giving a fuck about breaking and entering, TJ and JoJo Kicked and rammed into the front door in order to get in. After two minutes of kicking, the door broke wide open and they all rushed inside. Bandit and Specs searched upstairs, JoJo found the basement and searched down there, and TJ had the first floor to himself. He looked through the kitchen, the closets, and the dining room and found nothing. A white t-shirt caught his eye as he passed the living room and he picked it. It was small, the perfect size for a toddler.
He with no one on the first floor, he was about to go in the basement to see if anything was down there, when his cell phone rang. He picked it up as he walked downstairs in the basement.
"Hello?"
"TJ?" It was Ashley's voice. "TJ, you need to get down to the elementary school, now."
"I'm sort of busy here, Ashley," He said. He looked at JoJo, who shook his head as an answer if anyone was in the basement.
"Forget whatever you're doing and get down here!" She ordered. "Ralphie's on the school roof and he got your little brother!"
"Okay," he said, forcing himself to be calm. "I'll get down there. Thanks." He ended the call. "Bandit! Specs! Let's go! Ralphie and Tommy are at the elementary school!" He shouted.
"How do you know?" Specs asked. He and Bandit skipped steps to get downstairs.
"I got a call from my girlfriend," TJ said as they got back inside JoJo's car. "They're on top of the roof!"
~*~FIVE MINUTES LATER~*~
On the way to his old school, TJ tried to remember all the passageways and hidden doors that he memorized years ago. He would need to know were those were if he was going to sneak up and get his brother back. They made a quick stop at his house to grab the gun he kept on the top shelf in his closet and gave it to Specs. He didn't trust himself with it. He knew that he would be too overcome with anger to aim right and ran the risk of mistakenly hitting Zack. Specs however, how a much sharper aim, and worked better under pressure.
The four boys parked the car a block away from the school because of the large crowd gathered around. As he approached, TJ could see the outline of the either Ralphie or Tommy as they got closer to the edge and walked away from it. He could also see a small army of police officers holding the crowd back, and a few aiming at the roof. On the playground, several jump bags were hurriedly being inflated.
I took a bit of sneaking around and crawling, but the four made it to the back of the school without being caught. Just like he remembered, a door that was always unlocked was there. He led the others inside, through the familiar halls and stairs until he reached the door to the roof. He didn't kick it open like he wanted to. Instead, he opened it slowly to not attract attention.
It worked, for a few seconds at least. For those few seconds he was able to see that Ralphie was dragging his brother around by the arm as he fought to get his arm free, and Tommy standing close to the edge, looking at the crowd below. He took a few steps forward, and Tommy turned around and smiled.
"It's about time you got here, Freckles," Tommy said. Ralphie faced him, and Zack smiled at the sight of his brother.
"TJ!" Zack shouted in happiness. He tried to run towards him, but was pulled back by Ralphie.
"Give me my brother, Ralphie," He ordered, talking towards him. Ralphie took steps back until he reached the edge of the roof. Staying hidden in the doorway, Specs laid low and tried to get a clear shot at either Ralphie or Tommy, but was failing so far. "Give. Him. Back."
"After we worked so hard to get him?" Ralphie taunted. He picked Zack up and held him close to him. "That's just not going to happen." From a holster hidden by his long t-shirt, he pulled out a gun of his own and held the barrel directly against Zack's head. The toddler began to scream in cry, and tried to get out of Ralphie's grasp.
"Zack, look at me," TJ told him. "Look at me, Zack!" The little boy sobbed and looked at his brother. "Please, stop squirming. Can you do that for me? Please?" Still scared, Zack calmed himself down a enough to stop squirming. "Give him to me, Ralphie. He has nothing to do with this!"
"Yeah, but he means so much to you, doesn't he?" Ralphie taunted. He put his gun away, but stepped onto the ledge. With both hands he held Zack over the edge. TJ took a step forwards with the intention to run, but stopped when Ralphie spoke up again. "Take one more step and I'll drop him."
"What the hell do you want from me?! What do you want, Ralphie?" TJ shouted at him.
"Your life."
"You have it! You already have my life, Ralphie! You had it when I got sent to juvie! What, do you want me dead? Is that what you want?"
"Perhaps," Ralphie pondered. "But your brother's life will hurt you more. Heh, you should see the look on everyone's faces down here. And the police! They want to shoot at me, but can't since I'm holding my hostage over the edge. This is kind of ironic, huh, Freckles? You held a kindergartener over the edge didn't you? And know your brother is being held over the same edge."
"Give him to me, Ralphie. Give him to me, and you can push me over the edge. That's what you want; my life. Give him to me and you can have it!" TJ offered as a last resort. "Push me over the edge. I won't even land on the jump bags, I'll hit the cement." Ralphie smiled, ready to take the deal, but Tommy approached him. At the same time JoJo approached TJ.
"You sure you know what you're doing, Freckles?" JoJo asked him.
"Not really, no. I'm going to try and overpower him when I get over there, but I'm not sure if I can," TJ told him, not taking his eyes off Zack. "You grab Zack and get him inside. I'm hoping that I can get the gun away from him, at least. If I get pushed over the edge, then that's it for me I guess, but Zack gets to be safe and that's all I care about right now."
Meanwhile, Ralphie and Tommy were having their own conversation.
"It's bullshit," Tommy said. "He's going to try something. Probably has a gun on him."
"Then go search him! If he has anything on him, I'll toss the brat over," Ralphie said. "Then he'll get pissed, and I'll toss him over too."
"He's up to something. He's got that 'look' in his eyes. Don't wait until he gets close," Tommy said. He whispered the rest in Ralphie's ear. He nodded.
"Well?" TJ shouted at them. "Hurry up!"
"Hold on," Ralphie said. "Tommy's gonna search you." Tommy walked over to him and JoJo stepped back. Tommy patted him down for any sort of weapon, and found none.
"He's good," He said. Before walking back over to Ralphie, he smiled. "Had fun with your brother, Freckles. He's a fun kid." Only the knowledge that hitting him would send Zack falling held TJ back after that comment.
"Okay," Ralphie said. Slowly, he stepped down. "Here." He put Zack down on his feet, and he didn't need to be told to run to his brother. TJ kneeled down and took him in his arms.
"Shh, it's okay now, Zack," He tried to sooth the crying boy. "I need you to go with JoJo. You remember JoJo, right? Go to him." He turned around and put Zack back down. JoJo came close enough to pick him up and began to walk back into the school.
Keeping his part of the deal, TJ began to walk towards Ralphie, but he held out his hand.
What happened next happened in slow motion.
Ralphie reached for his gun again, and TJ saw this as him aiming for his brother. He tried to block the bullet from reach Zack with his body.
Two shots rang out, and he felt two piercing red hot waves go through his chest. He hit the ground and tried to take in a breath, but found it to be too difficult. Several more shots rungs out, but they sounded farther away. He coughed as an attempt to get air, but only was able to cough up blood. He heard his name being called out by several voices, but could only make out the high pitched voice of his brother.
He blinked, trying to clear his vision from the blurriness and to shake of the tiredness that was suddenly over coming him, but it only made it worse. It couldn't fight it off as he slowly drifted off.
Okay, so here's why it took me so long to update. Simply put: college. This semester has me doing a lot more writing than I expected. A big chunk of that writing is creative writing and then critiquing others creative writing, then after getting my feedback on my piece (so far I've only done one, I have another to do), editing it for a literary journal. Then there are the multiple reports for my Judicial Process class, my Holocaust: Moral Choice class, and looking for a summer job. That's where my focus has been. I'm on spring break now, which lets me update this.
I do want to say thank you for those who have sent me messages reminding me of this story because honestly I haven't thought about it for a couple of weeks.
Now, there are only a few more chapters to this story. At the most, it'll be five, but chances are it'll be less. I do know how I want this story to end! It's just a matter of finding time to write, then keeping focus. I haven't abandoned this story, folks. I've just been busy.
Please review!