The Mistake

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I met up with Red that same morning. I didn't have to explain much; he wasn't a man of many words, and I wasn't either. He knew about the existence of that nameless drug, but he'd never been able to track it down. When I offered him that supply, it was more than enough for him to turn around and walk away from this place and forget about Sam and me, for good.

He and his gang would leave for Mexico, probably try to replicate the sheet in a factory they had to continue selling and providing down there. They had no reason to come back.

"Take care of yourself, kid." Red had said to me just before he left. "You were always one of the good ones."

***

It was seven in the morning when I finally got home, every muscle aching as I walked. My mom and David hadn't come back from their trip yet, so it was easy sneaking back in. Both Alex and Cassie were heavy sleepers.

I climbed the stairs through the quiet house, stopping by Cassie's room first to check on her. A faint light seeped through the bottom of the closed door. Fearing I'd woken her, I opened the door carefully, but she was sound asleep with her sheets in a bundle. Cuddles had fallen on the floor and her nightlight was still on.

I shuffled over to the foot of her bed and picked Cuddles up, a sharp pain biting into my ribs as I bent over. I placed the stuffed bear in her arms and turned off the light. I tucked her in, closed her door and walked to my room, collapsing on the bed. The world seemed to spin around me as the exhaustion took over my body. I drifted off soon after.

***

It took a few minutes for my eyes to be able to open. I sat up on my bed after a couple efforts, a dull pain echoing through my body.

Last night felt surreal, like it was all some bad, blurry dream. But it was real. It happened, the whole night kept replaying in my mind. My gut twisted when I realized I had to talk to Sam. I had to find her and see if she was alright. I had to tell her it really was all over now.

After a quick shower, I shrugged on some clothes, wincing as I pulled a shirt over my head. I was startled by the intensity of the pain, my heartbeat felt like it was bursting through my throat. I rubbed at it in a useless attempt to dull the pain as I walked down the stairs, ignoring the pain that shot up my leg each time I took a step.

I stopped in my tracks when I saw a familiar figure behind the kitchen counter. "Mom," I hadn't expected her to be home from her business trip so soon.

She turned delicately towards me. I'd always been fascinated by how graceful she was, even as the years went by. Her face grew concerned, and I suddenly remembered how I must have looked. "Nick, what on Earth happened to you?"

"Boxing fight yesterday." I offered. "I'm okay." She knew I boxed, she just thought it was at some boxing gym a couple blocks away, not in illegal underground tournaments. I was silently grateful Sam had cleaned me up last night. It didn't look as bad as it felt.

She shook her head disapprovingly as she winced. "I've told you before, I don't like it when you box because-"

"Here we go." I braced for the speech.

She paused and took a deep breath. "Because I hate having to come home every couple days from my business trips to find my son with cuts and scars all over his face."

"Mom, I'm fine. I've always been fine." I turned around from her scolding gaze and pretended to search the kitchen cabinets for something. If she saw the bruises on my neck, she'd find out I was lying. And the truth was even worse than the underground boxing.

"What about the day you come home, and you're not fine? What about the day you have to go to the hospital and I'm not going to be there? I don't want to wait around for that day." Her voice was anxious, discouraged. When I didn't answer, she turned back to whipping the eggs in front of her, shaking her head half-heartedly.

Alex walked in rubbing his eyes tiredly, messy hair sticking out everywhere. He'd just woken up. "Hey, Diana. How was the trip?" He gave a sluggish smile. "Something smelled good, so I knew you had to be back."

She smiled back at him. I was barely paying attention to their conversation. "Good morning, Alex. It was good, we missed you guys so much, though. Is Cassie awake?"

"Yeah, my dad already went to check up on her. She'll be down soon." He glanced wearily between my mom and me once he noticed I was standing there as well with fresh bruises on my face. "So, what were you guys talking about?"

"Nick got hurt boxing again yesterday." She sighed. "Alex, could you please tell him he should stop training at that boxing gym? He won't listen to me." Alex gave me a look which I chose to ignore as I gulfed down some cereal straight from the box. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until now.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" He nodded towards the door. I sighed, put down the cereal box and followed him outside. He shut the door behind us. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Like I said, boxing fight." He gave me a deadpan look.

"You're so full of shit, Nick. I know you won that fight by a long shot. The guy barely scratched you. You look like hell by the way."

"Thanks."

"-And lying to your mom, telling her about that fake boxing gym? How long will you be able to keep this up? It's only a matter of time before she sees through your bullshit."

I didn't reply, I was feeling light-headed and the exhaustion was crawling back into my body. He shook his head at me and scoffed. "She'll be heartbroken when she finds out."

"She won't find out," I snapped. He stared back at me, unflinching. "And you're not going to tell her. Because if you do, you'll be dead to me." He held my gaze for a few seconds. I bumped into his shoulder as I walked past him and into the house.