Debauchery [ h.s ]

1

"Did you take your medicine, sweetheart ?" My mother asks as she hands me a plate full of peas and her angelic smile spreads across her face.

"Yes."

"Ace, go get your brother," spits my father as he puts his newspaper on the corner of the table without an ounce of politeness.

"I think he-"

"Acelyn." He raises his voice, calling me by my full name.

I sigh and unscrew myself from my chair and head upstairs. The sound of my footsteps is muffled by the grey carpet covering the stairs. I walk down the hallway—the walls of which are covered with memories of our childhood, and I knock on the kid's door. My gaze does not move from the round handle, but no voice breaks the silence.

"Louis ?" I say, knocking again.

I roll my eyes and turn the handle quickly, finding myself in the empty room. My brother has OCD since the longest time, but his bed is unmade, his desk's drawers are open, and his stuff is splattered all over the room. I look around the room several times to make sure I haven't hallucinated, but he isn't here.

His window is open and its curtains are billowing along the wind outside. My stomach tightens and I feel my hands turn sweaty. I have no idea where he is, neither did my parents, and this wasn't the first time. I clench my fists and my nails dig gently into the palm of my hands. I walk over to the window and slide it down without locking it. My jaw compresses my teeth as I was very mad at him and I turn back, closing the door after me. I run down the stairs, and into the dining room when my parents look up and notice that someone is missing.

"He's not feeling great so he won't be coming down for dinner." I lie as I sit down.

I don't know why I keep covering for him when I don't even know the reason for his absence, which worried me as much as it did my parents. But at the same time, I just want to let him enjoy a night in peace, away from all this show.

"He should make a doctor's appointment," my mother replies, "It's getting recurrent. I'll bring him a plate after dinner."

"No, he's not hungry. I gave him some medicine and he said he was going to sleep."

"Thanks Ace," replies my mother with a tender look as she brushes a lock of my blonde hair.

"Too bad for him." My father mutters.

I sigh at the heavy atmosphere that has just set in, despite the fact that I am used to it. My mother sits down and soon we hear our forks scraping the plates with the TV sounding in the background. Louis is taking risks with his repeated nightly runaways, but I am exposing myself just as much by covering for him. I am afraid of my parents' revenge if they ever find out.

"Another one..." My mother sighs, looking at the TV.

I quickly turn around and see the news of a child being kidnapped on the T.V. screen. Since I was born, and even long before that, many children have mysteriously disappeared, and have never been found. The police thinks that they are being attacked by the same kidnappers every time, and that's why my parents have always forbidden me to go out when I was a child, and it is still difficult for me to escape them, even though I am 19.

I turn my attention back to my dinner and think about Louis, who meanwhile, is out. Where does he go every night ? What could he be doing ? These unanswered questions are putting more and more pressure on me and on top of that, I am lying to my parents. A pressure I cannot bear.

-

"Here's your order!" I say, handing the paper bag to the customer.

He thanks me and walks out through the doors of the diner. The sun is not fully up and orders are rare this morning. I lean on the metal counter whose coldness makes me tense, and looked around the empty restaurant with a sigh. I rub my eyes with my fingertips as each day becomes more and more tiring.