Chimes

14

*Alexis's POV*

~~~ Present day, Halloween, 2020 ~~~

Midnight strikes, I consider leaving Kevin's Halloween party, but I refused to leave my drunk older brother, Arlondo, there. Despite him being the graduating one, I've always had to take care of him. Meanwhile, our younger brother Mark was stuck at home with our mother. God, what am I doing here? I have school literally in a couple hours.

"It's, uh, slipping, babe." Vincent Young, my boyfriend since freshman year, tells me. He had just gotten beat up by San Newark's resident teen rapist, Robert Schuyler. The night of the final, Robert drank the most I've ever seen, probably smoked a couple joints too.

"Oh, fuck. Rob must feel awful." I look outside the house, he sits by himself on the sidewalk.

"What're you doing even thinking about him?" Vincent grabs my shoulder.

"He's dangerous. I don't want you around him." He pushes the ice up against his eye. I look back at him, thinking about all the terrible things he's done, but for some reason I could always manage to forgive him. There was just something in me, that always helped me forgive him.

"Yo, Alexis, I'm staying here. Get the fuck home." My older brother approaches me and says. He and Vincent exchange looks.

"Alright, jeez, I'll leave. Bye, Vin." I kiss his cheek and get up to leave. I look back at the sea of heads, knowing that many of the students still partying were just going to call in sick.

~~~ Junior Year, September 21, 2020 ~~~

"Let's fucking get him." I tell Arlondo as we step out of school. I turn to see Vincent on the floor, looking confused and holding his bleeding lip, after getting knocked down by my brother. A small part of me felt bad, but at the same time, I had work to do. From the night of the final, the gun that Calvin took from Richard went missing. I found out that Camilla van der Vaart, had taken it. She wanted to avenge her sister, Ashley by killing the man who hit Ashley's car. She was drunk, obviously, so her best friend Astrid, who was at the time, a little less drunk, took the gun away. Astrid and Arlondo are pretty tight, so Arlondo helped take it off her hands.

"Address?" Arlondo asks me as we drive out of school. Anyway, a couple days after the final he finally gives me the gun, solving the mystery of where it went during the party.

"22 Baylor Drive." Now, we were both on the way to kill our mother's abusive boyfriend.

"You sure this will work?" I ask him worriedly. Randall, her boyfriend. was not to be messed with. He was a notorious member of the Silver Crescents, led by David McCall, my classmate Zach's dad. Randall and our mother met at a bar and seemed to hit it off, until we all found out how he was sober. He was disgusting, derogatory, and all-around just awful.

"Calm down. We're not going to actually commit any crimes today. It's just like, a warning, y'know?" I nod in agreement.

"Just to scare him off right?" My brother nods right back at me.

"We're here." Arlondo stops the car.

"Who is that?" A hooded figure rushes out of the house and approaches what looks like their car.

"Hey!" Arlondo steps out of the car, gun at the ready. the figure notices us and moves faster.

"Hey, that's Richard Muñoz."

"Muñoz? Blue Bolts?" Arlondo asks before running after the car. Richard drives away.

"The door is open." Arlondo points out. We both stare at each other and then back at the door. I approach the door slowly, while Arlondo watches my back.