Page 22 of Brick

Right away, I stop before I can pick anything up.

My bedroom is in disarray as well.

But why?

I know Brick wasn't in here long enough while he was grabbing me a shirt for him to make this mess, and I know I didn't leave it like this, so that could only mean that the man who was here wasn't just here for me but was searching for something.

Calming down a bit, I go across the hall to my sister's room, and it's the same scene. Drawers are pulled open, her clothes are scattered all over the floor, along with the few boxes and knick-knacks she had dropped.

Is this why I haven't heard from her? Does she owe someone something? Whatever that man was looking for was enough to get caught breaking and entering.

Just like that, a calmness comes over me. Maybe if I can find whatever it is that they were looking for, I can end this, and Wendy can come home. I just have to find it.

Getting right to work, I start looking in the places I know Wendy likes to hide things. It's not many, and from the looks of it, the man that was here yesterday already ransacked most of the places.

Except one.

On her bedside table, there's a framed picture of our family before it all went bad. I know from experience that the frame, though it looks ornate, is actually hollow. She told me that's where she likes to hide her smack from time to time.

I walk over to it and gently run my fingers along the glass, touching the picture before I turn it over and pop out the back of the frame. Inside are two bags of drugs and something else I don't recognize. It's not until I pull it out that I realize it's a thumb drive.

My sister hasn't worked in ages; there's no need for her to have a thumb drive.

My fingers tremble as I grab hold of the small device and go straight back to my room to find out if my laptop is still in working order. Thankfully, it is.

It takes me a couple of seconds to get it booted up, but the minute I do, I shove the thumb drive in and open it up.

"No, no, no! Wendy, what have you done?" I whisper to myself as I grip the sides of the laptop and stare at the video unfolding in front of me.

There's no doubt about it.

This is what that bastard was here for.

Shutting my laptop, I do the only thing I know to do in this situation: call for help.

The phone rings twice before he picks up.

"Brick, I need you..."

"I'm on my way."

Ten

Brick

Panic wellsup inside me as I pull my bike to the curb in front of her building. I don't know what I'm walking into right now. I should've gotten more information before I hung up. I was just so damn happy that she called for me I wasn't thinking about anything else.

I have to force myself to slow down as I make my way up the stairs to her place. I listen for a second when I get to her door just to make sure no one else is in there. What if they came back and made her call me? It's not going to stop me from going in, but I need to know if I'm about to get into a fight or not.

After a second of being by her door and not hearing anything, I ring the bell.

I hear her walking to the door, and finally it opens.

It feels like the sun is shining on my face, even though I know it's the dead of night. She's only been gone for a few hours; why am I this damn happy to see her? I could rationalize that I wasworried about her safety and that's why I'm so relieved, but it's not just that.

I'm not sure what to do, so I wait for her to take the lead again. She's the one who called me over here. I don't want to overstep my bounds or say the wrong thing. When it comes to Luna, she can go from zero to a hundred with just one word. I'm not going to take the chance to say that word now.

"Oh, Brick." She whimpers and puts her arms out.

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