Page 5 of Sleeper

“Do they what?”

“Do your fucking hands work, man?” she sneered.

Jingles held his hands in front of his body, curling and stretching his fingers a few times. “I think so?”

“They either do, or they don’t. Which is it?”

“They work okay. I guess it depends on what you need them for.”

Bella rolled her eyes and then gritted her teeth. “Forget it. I’ll do it myself!” Her icy blonde hair swirled around her face as she turned and ran into the kitchen. When she returned, she wasn’t emptyhanded anymore. A huge butcher knife was in her clutches.

“Baby Belle.” I slowly spoke her name, taking a step closer to her.

“Don’t ‘Baby Belle’ me, Tony. Either help me or get the hell out of my way!”

“I wouldhelpif I knew what in the hell you were doing,” I said in a harsher tone than I intended. Her bottom lip quivered, and she shot me a hateful glare. “I’m sorry. Shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bite your head off.”

“I’m used to it.” She brushed me off and lifted the knife above her head, sinking it into the center headrest of the couch with a scream, and yanked it downward with all of her strength. She dropped the knife and buried both her arms up to her wrists in stuffing. “It has to be here.” She desperately dug. “You don’t understand. I can’t leave here without it!”

“You’ll be back in no time, Isabella. Don’t worry. I’ll get Dad into another rehab.”

“He’s not coming back this time, T. I lied to you earlier.”

“About?” The conversation we had replayed in my head and instantly I knew what she was referring to. “How long, Bella? And don’t lie to me.”

“A month and a half.” Her head hung in shame, and it was then I really took in her appearance. She’d lost weight and quite a lot of it. Her eyes were sunken in and the clothes I bought for her just three months ago at the beginning of school hung off her tiny frame.

“I’m going to kill him. That’s it. No more. You’re coming to live with me, and Idarehim to come begging for another penny. I mean it, if he asks us for one fucking cent, I’ll drop him off at Ghoul’s farm like the dirty swine he is!”

“T, I can’t leave here without her necklace,” Bella said in a pitiful voice, dropping to her knees before punching the nearest cushion.

“Tell ya what. Give me a name and I’ll find the Jezebel. If you think she truly has it, I won’t stop looking for her until we have answers.”

“Gwen something.” She tapped her finger on her dry lips as she thought. “Gwen something stupid. Gwenivere Potasnik. That’s it!”

“That doesn’t sound so stupid,” Jingles admitted absentmindedly as if he was in a trance. “It seems like a pretty normal name to me.”

My tongue poked against the inside of my cheek. “Not helping, brother.”

“Sorry, I didn’t realize I said it out loud.” He forced an awkward smile on his face and looked away from us.

“Yeah, not helping. You no supporting somebody. Whatever your name is.”

“Jingles. Erm. I mean that’s what most people call me.”

“OK.” She accentuated each letter and scrunched her face in his direction. “Jingleserm, it’s not a pleasure to meet you,” she jeered as she tipped her imaginary hat to him. It was astounding how much my little sister reminded me of myself at that age. She was bullheaded as the day was long and didn’t give anyone a break.

“Just Jingles is fine.” He lifted his cut, displaying the patch with his road name stitched on to it up for her to read. “Jingles.”

My eyes flicked between the two of them and then I decided to break the tension. Well, change the subject at least. Bella was a lot like me in the sense if we had something to keep our mind occupied, we were motivated and sometimes even less destructive. “So, Gwenivere Potasnik, huh?”

“Yeah, but she goes by Vera.Thatwas what I was going to say was stupid if Jingles had given me the chance.”

“Sorry about that again.” His hand rubbed the back of his neck and his mouth reopened but closed. Whatever he was going to say he must’ve figured it was better left unsaid. I scowled at the back of Belle’s head and then nodded my head to the door, making sure only Jingles saw me.

“Don’t pay any attention to her, man,” I said in a hushed voice as soon as I was sure Belle couldn’t hear. “We’re a loud, mouthy family, but our bark is way worse than our bite. She only gets like this when she’s upset. If you met her under different circumstances, I think the two of you would get along. What I’m trying to say is don’t take what she says personally. The fact she didn’t call you a dickwad as soon as you walked through the door speaks volumes.” A small chuckle piped through my lips and Jingles laughed.

“I get it, brother. Don’t worry about my feelings. I’m tougher than I look.”

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