HEIRS

CHAPTER ONE - BLOODBATH

So, that was what blood tasted like. Metallic. Hmm. Never had I thought in the least I would know the taste like this. Being a food lover, I could estimate the taste of almost everything. But this took me by surprise. My mom was especially careful that I never shed a drop of blood. Until now, anyway. That always bugged me. I mean, why was she that careful just about not bleeding? My mind went to a weird place of thought which turned out to be: what would she have done if I were a girl? It definitely wasn't the right time to think about stuff like that, so I let it pass. Also, I wasn't entirely sure I could process everything in the condition I was in. I turned over and just lay there, on my school's basketball court. Being a junior wasn't bad. Being a junior here was bad. I'd known it all along, practically since I crawled the first time. But had never known the "real-deal" until today's after-school hours. Know something that tops my list of weird things at the moment? The guys who beat me up, don't even go there anymore. They just did what they thought they needed to. A little angel on my right shoulder barked in my ears today that I had to watch out for. But then, many great people have also sometimes not listened to the one with white wings. Even if I did know beforehand that today would go down like this, I still would've come to this school in this very town. Because let's face it, this is home. And honestly, I couldn't imagine my life anywhere else. Looking at the dark sky, I felt something. Something good. Even though I was bet up almost to my death. Maybe that's why it was home. Makes you feel better no matter what. Never have I been hurt this bad. And this was just the start. It's hardly been two weeks since my school started. But on the bright side, this week had been better. Because Anwir had my back, just like he did now. It's how it's been since the break of my first dawn ever. When we moved here, my Mom had me, and our neighbors were the Turners. Fortunately, or not very much so, they had just moved into that neighborhood. So, this friendship started with a hereditary base, but he became my best friend. More than a brother, if I press into it. He was six months elder than me. God, we've been inseparable since. Where's he now? Ran off to get me some help rather than fight the seniors off and that is some smart decision I asked him to make. It was kind of established that I was smarter than him. The evening-night sky of Crystal River, Florida, was just mesmerizing. I give it to you that it's pretty humid and all but still, the breeze was amazing. And even though I was enjoying it, my body kept giving me these signs that I exceeded my pain threshold. And they were pretty un-ignorable. Was that grammatically correct? I hoped for it to be. And the fact that Anwir's been gone for like, I didn't know how long, started to scare me. The only thing scarier than that was except for him, no one knew where I was. Fantasies started to build up in my head. I was not fully alert. My eyes kept fluttering. It wasn't like I was inching closer to death or anything, I just banged my head to the floor while falling off. Didn't damage my eyes more than I already had. And I was sure because I could see someone coming. I sighed gratefully. Well, I exactly couldn't know who was walking down to me because the first thing that those jerks broke of mine were my spectacles. Next, my lower body. But when that person held my head in their hands, I instantly knew that it wasn't Anwir. They gave me my specs and then could I see. The left glass had cracked a little at the corner. It was a girl. I didn't know her. So, she might be new. She was asking me something. took a little while to comprehend. "Are you okay? What happened?"
 "I'm hurt," I said, gesturing to my body.
 "Yeah, you are. Who did this to you?" I groaned.
 "Wait, let me guess. Grover and gang?"
 "Who are you?"
 "I'm Avy. Avy Winston?"
 "Oh! Not interested in the family business, I take it?" I muttered under my breath. That might've sounded rude in normal volume. And if she thought it was harsh, then we would have had to talk longer. So instead of all that, I decided to keep it to myself.
But then, "I'm sorry?" she asked.
 "Winston Publishers" I cut short.
 "Yeah," she said, sounding rather unenthusiastic.
 "You don't have to help me. I can take care of myself."
 "Nice to meet you too," she said sternly, making narrow eyes at me. Her tone was something very close to what Mom sounded like when she was exhausted. Not because she had a long day, but with me.
 "And you are?" she asked. There was some emotion in her voice that wasn't very.........pleasant? I didn't give it much thought. And I wasn't interested enough to ask her what she'd meant by that tone. "Doesn't matter. I can make it, okay?"
 "Dude, you can barely stand. Just let me, alright?"
 "How can I trust you?" I had to ask her that. I was already distressed. If she intended to, she could kill me. Also, that was a question I would ask any stranger. She looked me up and down. "What? Are you seriously asking me that?"
 "Looks like it, doesn't it?" She rolled her eyes at my response.
 "Sorry. Don't mind him. He loves being a jerk." Anwir cut in, glaring at me.
 "It wasn't intentional."
 "Oh, it never is. Am I right?"
 "For the first time, sir, yes." He too rolled his eyes at me before turning to her and saying, "Hey, I'm Anwir. You are?"
 "Avy Winston." The big guy's eyes would've popped right out. "Whoa. That's cool. You-" I cleared my throat. His face fell a little. "Yeah, right. Do you mind?"
 "No, go ahead. Just keep him away from...well, human beings. If he talks like that, he's bound to get beaten up." It was my turn to give her the narrow eye. And I did.
 "I am sorry. It's just.... you don't know what he's been through." That was the politest way of summing me up. She held up her arms and turned to walk away. "I got some cotton and an anti-septic. Let me clean up and put some band-aids, cool?"
 "You see me arguing?"
 "A thanks or a bare yes could've done the job" he commented and got to work. Avy had gone inside. I was relieved.
"Dude, that wasn't cool. Back with her."
 "You know me. New people, not my thing. The only topic in which I have zero curiosity."
 "I know. And that's the reason I'm the only friend you have. I don't know if I have to feel secure or pathetic." He dabbed fiercely on my leg. "Ow! Man, what the hell?" I shrieked as he kept dabbing on those spots of torn skin with that goddamned spirit. "Grover the hell." He was very angry with me. "Not funny." I knew he wasn't trying to be funny. Grover had been an issue for almost half our lives. Trying to convince Anwir that he wasn't exactly the threat was surprisingly harder than facing the common enemy.
 "What does he have against you anyway?"
 "You're honestly asking me that? After everything?"
 "I mean, it wasn't your fault, was it? Whatever happened."
 "He didn't hit me though. So, there is a possibility he's still the Grover we know secretly inside." "Seriously, Ash?" He waited a moment for me to answer. "Whatever. The thing I don't get is, why didn't you fight back?" Whatever I was going to say would never please him. "I did try. They were too big for me to handle. Obviously." Trying to lie to Anwir was a low blow. I mean, he knew me inside out. He of course knew I could've handled them if I'd wanted to. "Try learning some new moves from your dad and also, train up with your lying."
 "That bad?" Just like I thought. "Of course. You kicked your dad's ass so many times, they were nothing. What's holding you back?" That was a dangerous question to ask. And the answer was going to be hurting. But I had no choice. I obviously couldn't lie to him.
"Ira" I finally said.
 "Don't you dare" was all he said. "She wouldn't have wanted this. Any of this. She would want us to remain the same old. But-"
 "Exactly. She wouldn't as hell wanted you to get beaten up like this too." He won the argument. "Let's just get this over with and go home. All right?"
 "Sure." He agreed reluctantly. It was too obvious. I rolled my eyes. "I had to ask you something. Do I look so bad?"
 "Hey, I thought we sorted this out when we were younger. You got the better brains; I got the better looks. Not us, Stephenie Meyer laid it on us. Like Ian and Kyle. Why question that now?" I hit him in the arm. The first and only comeback I could come up with at that instant. "Not that, jackass. Do I look bad as in bet up bad?"
 "Not exactly. I mean, you did manage to save your upper body. That's a start."
 "Cover story for Mom and Dad?" That was the biggest issue now, wasn't it? "All set bro. You were defending a girl's honor from The Gang. Cool?" I couldn't help but laugh. "Good luck for when they believe you. And I'm telling you, that's not in this lifetime." I mean, come on.
 "Remind yourself to kill me some time for trying to help. I know they wouldn't believe my story. Of course. But it would be fun watching Mom pull your leg about it later." I sneered at him. "Why do I hang out with you?" It wasn't a question. The whole of the Crystal River knew why. Because he's the only one I got. "Let's get you home," he said, grunting while helping me up. My legs and hands were bruised. Everything else? Better. We were going back. It was going to be a hard ride. But the best part was that I wasn't dragging so much. I staggered on the stairs of my porch though. There was a note on the door. The handwriting. It was Mom. "Had to leave for an important meeting to London. Sorry honey, I tried calling you but your phone was off." I checked my phone. Damn. It was off. She must've worried. "Guess I would be back in two days. Dad's with me too. Stay safe honey. Love you" the note read. "Love you too guys" I whispered to myself and stuck it to Anwir's face. He peeled it off and read. I sighed and pulled out the extra key from my bag. "So, I'll just tell Ma I'll be here tonight."
 "Yeah, okay."
 "Just wash up, will you? Because we have things to talk about."
 "We do?" There was a gap. I looked at him. He had the look on his face. "Oh, we do indeed." I agreed, even though I didn't have a clear clue what he was referring to. I sucked at reading emotions. Even when it came to people that I was the closest to. "Okay then, I'll be back in five," he said and left. I locked the door behind him and headed straight to my room to shower. I instantly groaned, realizing something. Stairs. I've never cursed them so much before. I kept humming the notes of my song. Music has a way of healing, right? Immersing in the song, I couldn't care about the pain. And of course, I made it to my room in one piece. I took off my specs and put the phone on charge. My whole body was sore. God, those idiots did beat the living crap out of me. I wasn't exaggerating. I struggled to come out of my clothes but managed fine. And also, I didn't lose the balance. I thought I had started mastering it already. Pride surged through me, but it didn't last so long. I stumbled again. Gripping on the edge hard, I looked around on the counter. Mom always put a fresh pair of night suits in the bathroom, so I was relieved from searching for them for starters. I went inside and took a quick shower because apparently, my legs had some other plans for me. The hot water felt so good on my bruises. Little pleasures like this were the ones that made life amazing, I thought. I got dressed and came outside to see Anwir sitting on the edge of my bed. No surprise, he came in through the bad boy route we built when we were eight. And also named it when we were eight. Didn't care to rename. Our houses weren't so far away, but there was a reasonable distance though. The quote which almost said 'ask a lazy guy to do something, he'll invent something new' was the perfect explanation for the cart. We built a little cart and powered it from the little solar panel and also the ground because once we had the soil tested and it had preferably high silt content. That made us incredibly lucky. The person sits in it and the cart senses the touch and starts moving. And on account of that little science project, Dad rewarded us with some tracks suitable for it. From his window to mine. We never knew why we did that, but always felt proud. Those were good days. I fell with my back onto the bed. He handed me a couple of pills. "Tylenol?"
 "Uh-huh." I took them. Then Anwir took my Mac and pulled it in front of my face. It unlocked. Then he logged into his Facebook account and started typing something. I got up a little to look at what he was doing and immediately regretted it. Avy Winston. I covered my face with my hands in exasperation. "Anwir, you are going to stalk her now?" I helped myself up to see what he was doing. Five minutes and they both were already texting. Wow, that was fast. I started feeling drowsy. And hungry. A little war inside my brain gave an instant answer. Food first. "Hey, help me to the kitchen, I gotta eat."
 "Dude, there's a railing all along the stairs, take its help. I'm in the middle of an important mission. She's just.... damn bro!" I eyed him, which had to be the scariest in our history.
 "Dick."
 "I'll take that as a 'you're-the-best-but-you-have-a-life-too'." He glared back at me. "Fine." And I left. I walked down, really slowly, given that I always sprinted on the steps. I reached the kitchen counter. I stood there, holding the corner of the granite. Then I went around, into the kitchen and took out a plate and a bowl, and went to the fridge. Mac and cheese. Not good, not bad. And I had no strength to search for anything else or cook up something new. I settled for it and left it to heat in the oven. I waited for the ding. There was a ringing instead. Concussion? But then I remembered Dad joking about it. It was the oven. I sure as hell missed him at the moment. He always made me feel better when it came to any little thing which let me down. I picked up two forks and an extra plate, just in case for him. And when I went up panting just to look at him laughing his ass off. "What?"
 "Oh, she's funny!" he screamed. "You're crazy" I muttered in a singsong tune. Sitting beside him on the bed, I dangled my legs. They felt a little better already. Could've been placebo too. Whatever it was, I didn't care at that moment. I started digging in. And of course, very soon, his hands were in it too. Not literally.
"Hey!"
 "What? You could never eat it all alone, boy. Come on."
 "I could" I suggested. He then finally tore his gaze away from the screen and looked at me. "Man, you have the worst appetite, okay? Let me eat my part." I ate some part of it. He was right. I couldn't eat the whole thing. Not even half, to be fair. And I gave up. "Fine. You know what? I'm done here. Calling it a night."
 "Okay." And a second might've passed after the words left my mouth, when, "Dude! Get up. Get up. Get up!" came out of his.
 "You do realize that it's hasn't even been a nanosecond, right?"
 "Whatever. Just look at this. Look, look." And when I saw that, I knew my jaw hit the floor. The hologram cloaks. Someone in Montreal had used them already. It had disguised an object. As much as my mind wanted to read more and more about it, my body didn't obey. I fell back on the bed.