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Caught
COLE DENTON
Chapter One
JUSTIN
5 YEARS AGO – KAUNAS, LITHUANIA
My heart pounded as I knelt beside my older brother, Dominykas, waiting for instructions. Our little sister, Rami, had fallen in the hallway and was in the throes of another fit of anger as she laid partially slumped against the wall. Rami’s condition had been getting worse, and nothing seemed to help.
“Get her glasses and clean them off,” my brother told me.
I carefully picked up her fragile, thick glasses and raced to the bathroom to run water over them. While I dried them off, I heard Rami yell that she was fine right before something hit the wall. I hurried out of the bathroom and found her lying on her back, kicking the wall. She had kicked it so hard with her heel that there was another hole in the plaster. I looked at my brother and noticed he was holding the back of his hand against his mouth.
“What happened?”
“Nothing. It’s fine.”
“Dominykas,” I murmured to him. Rami continued to scream and awkwardly kick at the wall. Because of her illness, her coordination was next to non-existent, and her leg was flailing around.
“Shut up. It’s fine,” he said as I knelt beside him. When he moved his hand away to try to gently help Rami up off the floor, I saw his lip was bleeding.
“You’re bleeding,” I whispered. “What happened?”
“She banged her head back and popped me in the mouth. It’s fine.”
Saying that things were fine was a daily phrase my brother and I said around the house when Rami acted out. Rami suffered from Batten disease, and I didn’t even know how much of the aggressive outbursts were her actual personality or the disease that caused it. But anytime she injured one of us, we always passed it off as being okay so she didn’t feel bad. Mom and Dad said she couldn’t help it, so there was no sense in making her feel bad for something she couldn’t control.
Rami’s violent outbursts though, were getting more frequent and worse. As I stared at the hole in the wall, I wondered if this would be the event that finally pushed us to move. My parents had been trying for years to get into the United States where there was better medical care for Rami. And there was nothing I wanted more than to get the fuck out of Lithuania.
My mother did lessons with Rami at home. She couldn’t go to school because of the risk she could become injured or possibly hurt someone. At eight years old, Rami should be in the third grade, but she can’t even write her name without running out of space on the paper. Dominykas and I would try to help her practice her handwriting, but it was frustrating for all of us. Rami had difficulty holding the thin crayons or pencils, and it was hard to find thicker ones. Those kinds of things weren’t prevalent in stores in our town. Stores in the U.S. had them, but my parents couldn’t locate a shop that would ship to Lithuania.
There was a Children’s Batten Disease Network in the U.S. My parents had reached out to them regarding medical care and support. They seemed very willing to help, and I didn’t know why the fuck we hadn’t moved yet. My dad said it wasn’t that simple to just pick up and move. The people in the U.S. mailed us some thick crayons and pencils along with wide paper a few years ago. We still have most of the crayons, though they’ve become dull, with the paper peeled back. The pencils haven’t done as well because other than my dad taking a knife to them, there’s no way to sharpen them.
“You better get going. You’re going to be late for school,” Dominykas said.
“What? I’m not leaving you,” I huffed.
“Mom will be home any minute. Go to school, Justinas. Your friend will be waiting for you still. You won’t have to walk alone.”
My mood instantly turned.
“I’m not scared to walk alone. I’m fourteen, and I’m not scared of anyone,” I reminded him.
“Don’t be dense. You know it’s not safe to walk alone.”
I was about to argue with him, but he shot me a look, trying to remind me of my behavior in front of Rami. I nodded, knowing he was right on both counts. I stood and looked down at my brother as he held our ailing sister. She was running out of energy and calming down.
I only agreed to leaving because I was sure Mom would be home any minute. She left with Dad when he went to work so he could walk with her to the market. Then Mom would only have to walk home alone, and many people in the area knew she was the mother of what they called the “sick girl.”
Crime in our area of town was really high. Muggings were common. My dad was mugged once on his way home with Rami’s medicine. My parents insisted I walk to school with my brother. Even though he was in high school, his school was only a block away from mine. He never had any trouble walking to school. My best friend’s house was five houses down from ours, and he was an only child. He would usually wait for us to walk by and walk with us the rest of the way.
Two girls from our school went missing in the past month, which I’d admit was pretty fucking scary. Each were walking alone when they were nabbed. One of the girls was found in a field, her body mutilated. The news urged parents to either take their kids to school or have us walk in groups. Some parents were even keeping their kids at home. My parents told us that an education was the key for a better future.
“Adomas will be waiting for you. Go,” my brother encouraged again. I met his eyes, and he could see that I was worried about Rami. “Come here, Justinas.” Dominykas sat up away from the wall and let go of Rami with one hand. I knelt and hugged him quickly.
Dominykas was never afraid to show affection. Both of our parents were adamant that family was everything and caring for one another took precedence. But even with a heavy emphasis on family, Mom and Dad were usually busy with Rami.
