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I probably just forgot to close the door. Or mom’s up and letting a bit of air in.
“Mom?” I call, coming into the home and listening as Sebastian’s phone rings out.Why isn’t he picking up?“Mom?” My heart is racing. “You up?” There's no answer from either as I move further into the house. I keep going, though, trying to ignore the feelings in my gut screaming for me to flee. I’m just being paranoid. I’m just—
A broken glass on the floor.
Sebastian’s phone goes to voicemail, and I hang up and redial. Something is wrong. “Mom?” I scream. I freak the shit out and run for her room. I’ve barely been gone for ten minutes. What could happen in ten minutes?
“Mom?” I open the door and find out.
“Your mother is a little tied up,” drawls a man.
I stumble to a stop in her darkened room. There’re two men standing there with bulging muscles and shaved heads. They look like the men from the highway. But I barely register that, all my thoughts are on my mother in her wheelchair. Tied to it.
“She’s fucking disabled and old, why the fuck did you tie her?” I move forward to free her, and the second man, who hasn’t spoken moves in front of me. He’s like a brick wall.
“Do not touch.”
“It’s my mother!” I go to push him aside, and understandably, brickwall doesn’t budge.
“You don’t understand,” he says. Then he slaps me across the cheek so hard that I fall onto mom’s bed. She gasps and cries out. The man takes my phone and hangs up, stepping back next to mom.
The man, who I can only think is the leader, comes around his friend and looks down over me on the bed. “You must understand we don’t enjoy doing things like this, but Carlos, you see, he left a very sizable debt. And well, you should’ve stayed with your friends.”
“And you should fuck off!” I kick out and go to get up, but he laughs and slaps me back down. My cheek is burning and I feel shame washing over me. I can’t believe my mother has been dragged into all this.
The second man pulls tape from his pocket and strips it out to wrap my legs. I kick out and catch him in the dick. He spasms and crouches awkwardly, but not before punching me in the chest. I collapse to my knees, gasping. Grateful that he didn’t punch a foot lower.
“There’s no point trying to be a hero.” The man comes around to me and yanks my hair up. “We wouldn't want you to end up like your brother.”
My mother begins to cry. Her tears pierce my heart. I'm still on the floor struggling to breathe, I’m defenseless and want to join her.
An idea comes to me. Something so desperate and stupid that I hope it will work.
“What if we can make this all go away?” I ask.
The two bratvas look at one another, the second raises an eyebrow. “How?” he asks.
“I’ll give you my life savings. You can have it all. It’ll repay Carlos’ debt, and you can just leave us. I’ve got it in my room.”
The two exchange looks again, a smile even. Then the first one turns to me. “Sure.” I realize then that I'm being naive. They have no intention of leaving us.
He comes and picks me up, helps me down the hallway before I shrug him off. We go to my room and I dig around under the bed. I shove the shoe box with my savings aside and instead reach for my knife. But before I can grasp it, he yanks me out by my feet, and I watch it drift out of reach as he drags me away. I scream and buck, smashing my head on the bed frame. He pulls me up by my hair. “Don’t be stupid!” He seethes.
I try to break his hands from my hair, but he’s too strong.
“Don’t make me give your mother another child to mourn.”
I stop. Defeated.
Seeing that I’m broken, he stands me up, pushes me out into the kitchen, and points for me to return to my mother’s room. Standing in the middle of the kitchen, though I notice the knives. Maybe I can make it there…
“Don’t think about stabbing me. I have been stabbed many times, and it just pisses me off. Do not make me kill you,” he says, with so much sincerity that the truth of it freaks me out.
He has to push me along, and we move back to my mother. He says something to his friend in Russian, and he laughs. I continue on to my mother and bend to hug her. She grasps onto me, and I feel like such a disappointment to her. Shame is washing all over my flesh and staining me with dread.
I turn back to the two men, now standing in the doorway, but they don’t say anything.
“Even if you had money, it wouldn't have been enough. You’re just as stupid as your brother.” The two laugh and exchange another few quips in Russian. “So with all that sorted out, let us leave.”
