Lost & Foundling

When this was over, maybe I’d finally let Marcus take me out. With everything I’d done to find this son of a bitch, I’d earned it.

Ten years ago, a combination of nerves, hunger, and nausea would have gnawed at my intestines. Today, I felt none of that as I made my way up the steps to Charles’ house. That said, I did wish I’d at least had time for another coffee. I braced myself, mentally preparing for anything, and pounded my fist on the door. There was loud music from inside the house, even though the lights appeared to be off.  

“Looks like nobody’s home,” Warren said.

“Hm.”

I stepped away from the house and started walking a circle around the perimeter for any signs of life.

For months, I’d studied Brock Charles’ face until I knew it better than my own, better than I knew my twin’s, better than I knew anybody else’s. These days, Brock Charles’ face haunted my dreams more than anything.

It wasn’t just his face that I knew. I’d studied every second of footage we’d found of him, hours of recordings played on my TV at home to the point that I cancelled my Netflix subscription.

I recognized the build and the gait of the shadow slinking away from the shed. 

There was too much going on in my head to verbalize. I should have said something, but I didn’t. Without a word, I started jogging toward the figure.

“Cisco! Hey! Francisco!” Warren shouted.

Charles’ head snapped up in my direction. There was a moment where he stared at me like a deer in headlights before he took off. 

“Merda!”

If my mother were here, she would have given me an earful for cursing, but I’d say the circumstances warranted it. At least I was still going to get my run in after all. 

It had been ten years since my track and field days. I wasn’t as fast as I used to be. At my top speed, I could do 60 meters in 6.88 seconds. My top speed now was 60 meters in 8.21 seconds. It wouldn’t be enough to even qualify for a meet, but it was plenty to keep up with Charles.

Charles sprinted across the neighbouring backyards. He hooked his toe in a chain link fence and pulled himself up. He landed heavy on the other side with a yelp of pain. People never realized they weren’t supposed to land like that when they jumped from a height. Knees and ankles were sloppy joints, far too easy to damage.

The hope that he was too injured to keep running disappeared as he pushed himself up and kept moving. A large-sounding dog barked over the rattle of its chain.

My fingers found one of the links in the fence. I hauled myself up and over. Instead of landing right on my feet, I let myself roll forward a little so the shock of the impact rippled through the meat of my thighs instead of the delicate tendons keeping my knees in place. 

As I got myself back upright, the blood rushed from my head. I wavered.

Charles’ gun was trained on the dog trying to reach him with its sharp teeth. The metallic shine in the sun gave his skin an odd, shimmery sort of look.

Warren was climbing the fence behind me. 

“Drop the gun!”

I thought I shouted the words, but I couldn’t tell because Charles fired and all I could hear once the initial explosion faded was the ringing in my ears. He turned and trained the gun on me. His teeth, like the dog’s, were sharp.

For a second or two, I went blind. All I saw was white, then black, then white again. A hole opened up in my abdomen, taking my organs with it. My ribs shattered and my skeleton caved in without the support. My heart lurched into my throat and every drop of blood in my body came up with it.

It was a shock to drop my hand on my stomach to found there was no canon-sized hole.

I stared up at the sky. Copper coated my tongue as I coughed. Warren’s hazy face blocked out the sun. His small hands, warm and calloused, cupped my cheeks.

My lips moved but I couldn’t tell if any sound came out or if he would be able to hear it anyway. All I could hear was the shrill ringing in my ears. The sound buzzed through my skull. Through my blurry vision, I could see him holding his phone between his ear and shoulder.

I closed my eyes, and let the darkness settle in.