eighty-four : trust
His only mistake was trusting the kid. In another town, another state, it probably wouldn’t have made a difference, but here it was the difference between a long life and an early death.
Mike was meant to be babysitting. But the kid was already 15. They had an arrangement. Mike would be at the house at 6, stick around until his Aunt left, then head down the road to the pub. The band he liked was playing, and he wasn’t planning to miss them just to look after a 15 year old who was well equipped to look after himself. So he stood in the doorway as his Aunt and Uncle backed out of the drive with Brody at his side, and they smiled and waved. When they were gone he turned to his cousin.
‘You sure you’ll be okay?’
‘Please.’
‘Alright alright. Just call me if you need anything.’
He handed Brody half of the money they paid him and told him he’d be back at 11.
Brody grinned and nodded, and practically shoved Mike out the door before slamming it shut. There was something in his eyes. Mike knew straight off that there was something Brody wasn’t telling him. But he thought it was only something small, at the worst maybe he’d snuck a beer or two out of his dad’s fridge when no-one was looking. Something his parents, Mike’s Aunt and Uncle, would yell at him about then forget completely a week later. As it turned out, it was something much bigger.
At 11, when Mike went into the house, he found Brody sitting at the kitchen table with a tall man. It felt like someone had turned the air conditioner on full. The man turned to Mike and smiled. Shark teeth. Mike stopped in his tracks and glanced at his cousin, then fixed his gaze on the man.
‘Who’s this guy, Brody?’
Brody looked back at Mike and opened his mouth to speak, but the man held up his hand. Brody closed his mouth. Mike took a shaky step forward, still staring at the man.
‘Come here, Brode.’
Brody didn’t move. Mike felt panic rising in his chest. He spoke to the man.
‘Who are you?’
In his head, Mike heard a voice that wasn’t his own whisper I’m the end.
Fifteen minutes later when Brody’s parents came laughing through the door, they were gone without a trace.
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