The Best Are Different

Jeremiah

Horns blared in all directions of the crossroad as I ran across the drive, my rosthetic leg occasionally 'glitching' and catching at odd angles that only a mechanical addition could get into. The books in my backpack were hitting my back hard, specifically the 10 pound social studies book Mr. Harvey assigned us to read for the semester, with every little jump I put into the run I could feel a corner or two edge into my skin. At my hip the back of the multi-purpose sports bag producedclinks of the baseball bat's metal hitting my other equipment. The bat's handles were pointed towards the sky threatening to warp my head if I suddenly stopped. 

My heart felt like it was pumping out of my shoulder stump. 

I repeatedly ran my finger across the sides of my phone, my little brothers text clawing at the inside of my head 

Jeremiah, there's someone in the house Travis, the oldest of my little brothers, had sent 15 minutes ago while I was just getting out of school. The 'Ding!" had instantly popped into my ears when I connected to the satellite wifi with most of the message shown on the screen. 

My foot hammered against the sidewalk. 

Mom couldn't possibly be home at this time, and Dad was away on a business trip. The only beings home were my 3 little brothers, who were alone for 30 minutes until I got home to watch them, they're ages ranged from 7 to 5. Travis being the most responsible but still foolish, if worse came to worst he had enough sense to protect his brothers. 

I knew he would at least keep them safe. 

I could see the familiar olive green house sitting near the street corner, with its yard cared for and trimmed as usual. The flowers were still upright even as the essence of fall started to roll in, our oak trees in the front and back of the house shook their branches in the slight wind, leaves forming a failed attempt at a circle around the tree. 

Our front door was jarred open. 

Moving next to the porch, hidden by the miniature round-about fence, I slung the bags off my shoulder to the ground. Landing with a quiet thump . Occasionally risking the glance into the windows I saw nothing but vacant furniture and a few missing items. Quickly I lifted my steel baseball bat from the sportsbag and balanced it in my hand, making very little sound. Promptly moving up the steps towards the door set ajar. 

Poking the door with the cushioned bat handle I stepped inside, immediately holding the Slugger as I would in the batting box. The only things I saw missing so far were a few expensive vacation items from Europe, my laptop, and my brothers. 

Still holding the bat protectively I shift so that the metal rested slightly on my stumped arm, stepped from floor board to floor board avoiding the creaky ones at all costs. The living room was cleared of anything humane, I hadn't seen anything in the kitchen or dining room either. They all must be upstairs having the party without me. 

I clenched the handle tightly going up the steps to the second floor, most of the doors were open, Alec's bedroom on my left was practically ransacked. Everything was scattered, more than usual anyway, apparently whoever this was had a thing for a five year old's toys. 

Grayson's bedroom was much more tidy, him taking the organized trait from his brother completely, things were still moved around but it still looked relatively clean. Obviously the robber was loosing interest in his finds or maybe he just wanted to move quickly. Travis's room was completely destroyed, his prized baseball jerseys that had hung on his wall were either clumped in piles on the floor or completely gone. 

The CREAK! of a floorboard at the end of the hall caught my attention, sounding like it had came from my parent's room. Quickly I pressed myself against the cornered wall to keep out of sight for the time being. A few loud, male grunts followed the creak, but nothing child-like or really concerning. I could hear the clinking of items bouncing off each other in some kind of bag with his steps taken. 

He was humming a tune that sounded oddly enough like " Do you know the Muffinman? " swaggering down the hallways towards my hiding spot. I could literally smell him as he came closer, balancing the bat in my hand ready for the swing, mentally preparing myself for force of impact. 

Suddenly a strong whiff his my nose, knowing he was just around the corner I closed my eyes and took half a step out of my hiding place, swinging the bat hard at a random height. Impact was strong, metal of the bat clung a little bit to the man before bouncing off. I felt my body starting to fall back, having only two limbs to balance out. 

I opened my eyes, capturing the moment in slow-motion, to see a fairly large man toppling backwards onto the carpet. His beer gut seemed to be jiggling as he fell, continuing to jiggle as he smashed into the floor. I found myself being thrown back against the wall with the bat smashing into the wall from the throw-back, making a hole of which my mom was sure to kill me for. My hand pressed against the wall fingering a rivet in the upturned paint. 

The moment sped up to normal time, I stood staring down at this man's body laying on my carpet. His mouth was open and oozing a brown liquid crawling down a goatee that looked like it was shaven at least 3 months ago. His cheeks were a rosy pink as well as his hands and parts of his arms 

I dipped my finger into the Niagara Falls coming out of him, taking short sniff, " Liquor... of course. " 

Feeling his forehead it just felt that he was knocked out cold, of course it wouldn't have taken much anyway with his drunken a-s. I moved him onto his side and put a short bucket under his mouth of which a puddle was already forming. His burglar bag lay at his side from the fall, a few glass pieces were clearly broken without even checking. 

I took a few minutes before I had returned mostly everything to its original place, with the exception of burglar boy upstairs and broken vases from Europe. Still there was no sign of the boys, either all three were gone or Travis had hid them so well even I wouldn't be able to find them. 

" TRAVIS ITS ALRIGHT, YOU CAN COME OUT NOW! " I yelled around the house, moving from room to room checking every floor. Still he didn't come out, panic started to build inside me. I saw their backpacks near the door so I knew they had been home, but whether they were still in the house... 

I circled around the house 3 times over " TRAVIS GET YOUR BUTT OUT HERE NOW! BOYS, YOU TOO!" 

Still no response.