Page 46 of Turn

I bought him a hamburger for dinner and hated that it wasn’t something better. He was thirteen but hadn’t quite hit puberty and its usual growth spurt yet. He should be eating multiple food groups instead of greasy filler but healthy food was expensive.

“How was your day?” I asked Brecken.

He wiped the mustard off his hamburger. “Boring.”

“How’s the math class?”

He grimaced. “I suck. I can’t do it. The teacher says I might have to repeat the class if I can’t pass summer school.”

“I’ll see if I can find you a tutor.”

Brecken frowned and scraped a clean napkin across the hamburger to remove the last of the offensive mustard. “Whatever,” he said.

I wasn’t hungry. I ate only because I’d already paid for my meal. I thought I was being discreet when I kept checking my phone under the table but the kid noticed.

“He hasn’t called,” Brecken said. It wasn’t a question.

There was no point in lying about it. “No, not yet.”

He took a bite of his hamburger, scowled and then set it down. “The food here tastes like ass.”

My head was starting to pound. “I can get you something else,” I offered.

“No.”

I coaxed him into taking a few more bites before we left. The last place on earth I felt like going next was the Empire Motel but it wasn’t like there were many alternatives. It was the only place nearby that accepted week to week tenants. We would have had to go deep into Phoenix to find anything similar and chances were the neighborhood would have been even worse than the one we were in. I consoled myself with the thought that we wouldn’t be here much longer. In three short weeks we’d have a real place and hopefully by then Tristan would be back.

My optimism faded when I saw that someone had pried open the door to our room. Whoever had taken the trouble to break in probably wound up being disappointed because we didn’t own much worth stealing. Thankfully they’d left our clothes, although everything had been tossed around the room like trash. The big hit came when I realized that my watch was gone. It wasn’t one of the top designer brands but I had paid a pretty penny for it when it was new. It held no sentimental value but I’d been planning to pawn it for some extra cash to hold us over until the next payday since I’d used most of my funds for the apartment deposit. That was no longer an option. And calling the cops over this would be about as useful as screaming into a hurricane.

“Fuck, this blows,” Brecken said as he kicked the clothes out of his way. I didn’t even have the energy to lecture him about using profanity. Besides, it did fucking blow.

The motel management didn’t answer their phone when I called down to demand an immediate fix for the lock. I walked down there but there was no one in sight except a hooker in a folding chair. She was passed out, looked like she weighed eighty pounds and there were angry tracks up and down her skinny arms. When I returned to our room I slid the dresser in front of the door since there was no longer a reliable lock and wished like holy hell I’d kept at least one of my handguns. Instead I’d sold off everything I could when my mother jumped bail and we lost the family home. We needed the money and anyway I hadn’t relished the idea of keeping guns around with two boys in my care.

At least the small television belonging to the motel hadn’t been stolen because it was bolted to the wall. Brecken and I refolded our mistreated clothes while an old Star Wars movie played in the background. He started yawning around nine o’clock so I sent him to bed. He didn’t say anything when I wished him good night.

I fell asleep in my clothes on Tristan’s bed. I would have been much happier sleeping in the chair if it meant my brother was here with us instead of out there in the unknown.

My dreams were full of noise. There were Fourth of July fireworks. They were everywhere. When I ran they chased me.

“Curtis!”

The bed was shaking and a frightened voice was next to my ear.

“Curtis!”

I opened my eyes to darkness and gunshots.

Brecken was clutching my arm and gasping. Without taking the time to think I seized him and rolled the both of us off the far side of the bed and onto the floor.

There was another burst of gunfire and I tensed, covering Brecken’s body with mine. He whimpered and covered his ears with his hands while I listened intently, trying to gauge the proximity of the shots. They weren’t far, but they weren’t right outside the door either. Still, I knew damn well the damage a stray bullet could cause and I had no knowledge of who was shooting or why.

“Curtis?” Brecken whispered.

“Shh.”

“What’s going on?”

“Quiet, Breck,” I hissed. “I don’t know.”

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