The DuBois

Quinn

I should have stayed home. If Andrew hurt Zack I'll never forgive myself. As soon as we walk through the door I head straight to the cupboard.

"LBJ?" I ask as I bang on the door.

"Yeah?" He opened the door.

"I got your ice cream," I said as I pushed my way into his closet we call a room. That's when I saw his arm. I'm going to kill Andrew.

I remember a few years ago when Andrew had lost it. We had been the only two in the house, and I had been in his office looking at papers. I wasn't sure what his job was at the time, and I was a curious little girl. Of course, I hadn't thought to ask him, and when he found me, he blew up. He hit me and punched me when I told him I was just reading the papers. Some how I ended up at the stairs, and he pushed down all three flights. That amounted to a broken ankle, sprained wrist, three cracked ribs, and a black and blue face. When Bianca got home Andrew said that I had fallen from the tree in the backyard. I knew he'd do the same thing this time.

"What the hell did he do to you?" I asked quietly. Zack shook his head and started to cry do I pulled him into a hug. I was careful not to touch his arm. Somehow it had gotten set and bandaged.

"Who did that?" I asked curiously.

"Er... A friend," he answered vaguely. It took about an hour, but I finally got out of him that there was a boy living in our woods. It actually wasn't the first time. We've had convicts, mental patients, lost kids, runaways, you name it.

"I want to meet him," I said, "and you better start telling me how your arm got like that."

He sighed in defeat, "Da--Andrew found the file in my room. He got angry and punched me. I wouldn't tell him who stole them so he broke my arm." I fought back the urge to scream bloody murder. "What else did find out? Andrew acted like there was more than just mine."

This time I sighed in defeat, "Mine and a few others that I haven't looked at yet. Andrew isn't my father either. It's Luke, his brother."

"Uncle Luke isn't bad. I can sorta see the resemblance."

"Yeah, well, I'm not giving up any of the other folders any time soon. Come on. We're going to bed."

"But I'm in my room."

"Nope. I'm not letting you out of my sight after Andrew did that to you. Tonight you're sleeping on my couch."

"Couch?"

He was a gaping fish when he walked into my bedroom. My closet alone was two times bigger than his. I set up my couch with blankets and a pillow, keeping a close eye on him to make sure he didn't slip out. I guess my protective sisterly/auntly instincts were kicking in. It was strange to realize that I was now his aunt. Eventually, he was fast asleep, so I walked over to my queen sized bed and went to sleep.