Code Red

1.

I sat in the back seat of my parents' car as we drove to school. The only sound was my parents chatting with my triplet brother, Titus, who sat in the front seat. My sister, Emalee sat next to me, bobbing her head to the music on her phone. They both seemed to be in a better mood than me. I, on the other hand, was fighting sleep. For the first time, I had one of those eerily realistic dreams... That dream told me it was better to stay awake for the rest of the night. I sighed and placed my head against the window to try and catch at least five minutes of sleep before we got to school.

Maybe I could sleep in the library for the first period. It's not like I was failing choir anyways. I was just starting to get relaxed against the window when Em decided to sing whatever the hell she was listening to right in my ear.

"IS IT TOO LATE NOW TO SAY SORRY," she screeched in my ear. " ''CAUSE I'M MISSING MORE THAN JUST YOUR BODY!' "

I groaned in annoyance and shoved her away somewhat aggressively. She scoffed and pushed me back. Being cranky, I smacked her in the back of her head. She froze and glared at me.

"Dylan, Emalee, cut it out." Laura called from the passenger seat. Laura is my mom's name, and I only call her by her first name after we've had an altercation that's left us giving each other the silent treatment until someone needs something from the other. She looked back at my sister and I, her green eyes dark and stern. No doubt, my mom was a beautiful Portuguese-Italian woman, but her face annoyed me right now. I was still mad about her calling me childish the other day. I looked out the window instead, pretending to be interested in the trees whose colors were changing and stood out against the gloominess that the grey clouds brought on.

"What happened, girls?" she asked. I was silent as Ema answered truthfully.

"Dylan was about to go to sleep, and I sang in her ear to mess with her."

"Is this true?"

More silence.

"Dylan!"

I turned my body more to make it noticeable that I was ignoring her on purpose.

"Dylan Catherine Brown, answer me." she repeated with a threatening tone. It wasn't even serious.

"Yes!  She had no reason to be on this side of the seat if nothing important was happening. And why do you need me to confirm it if she just told you?" I was even more angry at them now. My father, who'd been listening to our bickering, cleared his throat uncomfortably. Laura took a deep breath and sighed.

"Ema, darling, apologize to your sister."

She sighed. "Sorry Dylan." I sensed a bit of sarcasm and said nothing.

"Now Dylan, keep your hands to yourself. Next time don't stay up late fantasizing about Noah if you want to catch some sleep." I knew she was trying not to smile as she said that.

My breathing froze. Noah was the boy I'd had a crush on for about a year now. He was a senior, a grade above me, but we had almost every class together besides math and  our required grade classes like Junior Seminar and Senior Capstone. I told no one but Emalee, who is the closest person to me, and my best friend and Emalee's girlfriend, Leah, who was his younger sister, and. Oh brother. One of them must've blabbed to Laura.

"You like Noah? Leah's brother?" Titus spoke up. "Of all people you like your best friend's brother? Who ALSO happens to be your sister's girlfriend's brother?" At this point I knew he was teasing. "Emalee, what do you think of this?"

"Shut up, idiot." she said. I just ignored him.

"I wasn't talking to him. I had a nightmare. I didn't want to go back to sleep after that."

"Aww," Titus  drawled. " Poor baby had a nightmare. Were the monsters coming after the wittle baby?" he asked  in slight gibberish.

"I'm the oldest of us three, and you're the youngest, so if anyone's the baby here, it's you." He made a face and I laughed a little bit.

"What'd you dream about, Sweetheart?" My dad, Dante's calming voice asked from the front. My dad was a tall, slightly muscular and handsome African American man. He was definitely my favorite parent, and it was no secret that I was his favorite child, though that was an unspoken fact.

"If I share then your kids and wife will laugh at me." I say quietly.

"No they won't." The tone he used wasn't exactly threatening, but Laura and my siblings knew not to say anything. My dad was easygoing and relaxed for the most part, but even the slightest bit of conflict, which he hated,  sent him into a fit of rage, but luckily my siblings and I got along well - for the majority of the time - so we never had to see his anger much. He wasn't the biggest fan of ANY negativity, really, which I found ironic, since I, his favorite child, brought on a lot of it. I smiled to myself.

"Okay... There was a gunman at school. The worst part is that Titus was injured and I woke up before I could find out if he was going to be okay or not. It felt so real... I kinda have a bad feeling about today too." I didn't mention how I was sobbing with Noah in my arms, as he was bleeding out from somewhere on his lower abdomen. Like I said before, I'd woken up not knowing if he was going to be okay either.

Titus turned around with sympathy in his eyes. "That does sound pretty scary. But that's not gonna happen. You're okay Dylan. We're gonna be okay."

I sighed, thinking it over. He's right. Maybe.

"Even if anything were to happen, we're gonna be fine, okay?" Emalee said, scooting closer to me to place a hand on my shoulder. I looked at her, taking in her smile. It told me not to worry. I guess she was right. I'll leave it alone.

"Who was the gunman?" my brother asked. I sighed as I began telling the story.