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“Thank you,” I muttered to myself.
“Well, that takes care of the whole what are we going to do with your check business,” Kyle said, his gaze locked on Benny’s back as he went inside. “So, should we figure out what you got paid?”
I tore my gaze away from the main house and nodded. “Let’s. Then we’ll grab those burgers we’re both craving.” I smiled, trying not to think about the consequences of having an oil leak. Or someone tracking me because of it.
“We’ve almost run this car into the ground,” Kyle said, as if reading my mind. “Guess it was bound to happen.”
I agreed. “We should be grateful we got this far.” I unlocked the doors, allowing us to get in. I only turned on my burner phone when need be, like now, and kept it in the car. After everything Kyle and I had been through, I didn’t want the temptation around me. Turning on the device, I waited. The bing of incoming messages or texts I’d missed throughout the day used to bring me such joy. Now they caused my stomach to tighten with anxiety. It was as if my heart had lodged in my throat, then drowned in my stomach from the anxiety of the moment. I didn’t relax until there were no telltale signs of anyone trying to reach me.
“No one knows we’re here,” Kyle whispered, taking my hand.Myhand. Not the other way around. Crazy how much we’d both grown up over the last several months.
“You’re right. Paranoia, though, amirite? What could I do about it?” I gave a breathy laugh while I opened the envelope and pulled out the paycheck stub. My eyes rounded. My heart pounded. Twenty-five hundred dollars? Twenty-five-fucking-hundred dollars? I choked, shocked, frozen in my seat. “Holy shit.”
“What? What’s wrong?” Kyle’s frightened expression snapped me out of my surprised state.
“We’re okay,” I answered, turning the deposit slip in his direction so he could read how much I got paid. “Two thousand five hundred dollars.”
“After taxes,” my brother added in a whispered tone. “Wow.”
The strain of pinching and saving and going without, especially the first few weeks while Kyle healed, made both of us appreciate what we had and what we’d lost. Having this kind of money, for however long it would last, was a game changer for us. “Give me one more minute.” I went through the quick process of turning the card “on.” Then downloaded the app to my phone so I could keep a check on the balance. “Okay, I’m ready.” I started the car, then pulled out of the spot where I’d parked. Sure enough, there was a spot about the size of a half-dollar right up front, under the car.
“That’s not a good leak.” Kyle frowned.
“No, it’s not. Benny will help us. We’ll get it taken care of.” I followed the driveway to the front of the house and back onto the main road leading back toward the city. Since we’d arrived, we hadn’t done any exploring—not that we could. However, we’d gone from being out and about almost every single day to being indoors for days at a time gave me cabin fever. I knew Kyle had to be feeling the same way. “How about I save the card just in case and use the cash first?”
“Perfect,” Kyle agreed. “So, where to?”
“Good question,” I replied, stopped at a light. “There’s a McDonalds. Burger King and everything in between. You pick. It’s your first day away from the house, too.” The light changed, and I proceeded out into the intersection, cautious of the fact, or maybe overly so, of our surroundings.
“There.” Kyle pointed to a joint close to where we were. “Looks like everyone eats there on a Friday night.”
“Probably a football game or something sporty.” I shrugged.
“Baseball, more likely,” he grumbled. “I swear, you were never good with different seasons.”
I shrugged as I turned into the drive-thru line. “I didn’t care because I was paying more attention to you.” Kyle loved lacrosse. He was one of three attackmen always on the field. I guess I remembered the name because it sounded so ridiculous. Reminded me of action figures or whatever. Anyway, he was fast too. His ability to pass the ball and shoot... I thought he had a good chance of getting a scholarship to college to play. Now, guilt, even though I had nothing to do with what happened to our parents and sadness, plagued me.
“I’ll never be as good as I once was,” he said, staring at the menu from where we were sitting, “and that’s okay. I want to try, though. I want to play again.”
A spark of an idea formed in my head. Logistically, it could end up a nightmare for both of us. If it worked, then Kyle might be able to rehab his arm and do what he loved. “I’d like to see that too.” When we got to the screen, I went a little overboard with our order. We’d have leftover fries and onion rings for days. I also got us the thickest, coldest shakes they could make, because why not splurge a little?
When we got back to the cottage, the lights were on in the main estate. Rocca was... Determined. She was tough as nails and reminded me of Miceli. She paid attention to the smallest detail on the page or when I was talking. Almost if she was searching for what I said or did for tells, you know, those small subconscious cues to let a person know if you were lying. She also didn’t smile. Nor did she talk much, which sucked, since I wanted to get to know her. Maybe eventually tell her about her mom, from my perspective, if I ever got us out of the hole we were in.
“So, what movie do you want to watch?” Kyle grabbed the box of food from me and handed me his chocolate shake, which was only half full.
“Let’s watch something from the paranormal genre tonight.” I let us into the house and went straight to the small kitchen. The place, almost in anticipation of Miceli giving me the job, was fully stocked with food and drinks, including the mana of the gods, coffee. I never started my day without it.
“Good choice. I’ll find something for us.” There wasn’t any cable or satellite, it was all streaming services. We had all the major apps along with some sports and animation. So, while he scrolled, I got everything onto plates for us.
By the time I joined him on the couch, he had a docu-series called Haunted Changi loaded on the flat screen, ready to go. “What’s this?” I handed him the plate while tucking my feet under me.
“It’s supposed to be about some haunted hospital in Singapore. Supposedly, from what the synopsis says, the hospital was used during World War II and a bunch of other crazy stuff. I thought we could try it.”
“Well, you do the honors, since you have the controller.” We tucked into our meal as the opening sequence ran across the screen. The quality was low budget, somewhere between Blair Witch and Cloverfield—the first one.
For the first bit, we ate in silence. The more we watched the program, the more I wondered if we were watching one of those mockumentaries, where they looked like a documentary or a series, but in reality it was only a movie—not that I cared, on the contrary, it was scary, yet not. It was comforting, scary, like I could laugh afterwards and not feel like a panic attack was about to rain hellfire upon me.
“Whoa, did you see that?” Kyle pointed to the screen as a woman vanished up into a wall. “Crazy.”
