Nothing to Lose

7

"You don't have to worry", Rafe sighed as they got into the hotel.

He looked at Viviana sitting there, fairly shaken up.

"I'm not worried", she shrugged.

She could tell that coming back here brought a side out in him that she wasn't expecting to see. She was trying to adjust to it, and wondered how exactly to approach it.

"Now, we just have to focus on my sister", he sighed and ran his hands through his hair, "She- she'll be the hard part of this trip."

"Well", Viviana got up and walked over to him. She smoothed out his collar and patted his chest a bit, "Where do you think she is?"

•••••

"If she were anywhere it'd be here", he pulled the truck up.

There was a hammock swinging softly in the late september breeze. The house was cute, but all of the lights seemed to be off. Viviana figured that no one was home, but that didn't stop Rafe from investigating.

"Stay here, okay?", Rafe said to her.

She crossed her arms and sighed, but agreed, as she leaned against the truck.

He walked up the yard, his defenses on high. He was happy he had gotten his fix today. He knew if he ran into them, he'd have what it takes now. He didn't have his raw emotion blocking him. He looked all around the yard first. The fire pit was out, no smoke signaling they had just used it. There was no big ripple in the water, so they weren't on the little boat. He went up to the door and nearly knocked before laughing at the idea and bursting in. He looked around, but it was pitch black. He sighed and flickered the switch, but the light never followed.

He rolled his eyes and turned his phone flash on. Underneath the front door, he was stepping on several vacancy warnings. The electricity must've shut off by now. He went to the sink and turned the knob. There was still water. One day left according to the papers. Now either, these kids were fine with living this way like most pogues do, or they hadn't been here in a month. Rafe looked at the dust on the counter and the moldy apples in the fruit basket with fruit flies buzzing around it.

Just for good measure, he scouted the house anyway. He now had no new leads. He had no idea where they could be or what he would tell Ward when he came back empty-handed.

"She wasn't there? What do you mean she wasn't there, Rafe?"

He squeezed his eyes shut at the thought of it. He pulled his phone out and took pics of the place. That way, Ward might have some understanding as to why these kids weren't just lingering around this town still. The truth of the matter was, they had no one to take care of them anymore. All they had was each other. That must've been a scary yet liberating feeling.

Rafe leaned on the counter, and glanced around. He thought of all the memories those kids must've shared together. The roll tray on the coffee table, the polaroids and snack wrappers laying around, with a beanbag in the corner he imagined they'd fight over. Rafe never had any group like that. He couldn't just lounge around or chill. It was always golf, dinner, or a ball. Some rich setup to mask how boring everyone really was there. Rafe felt the envy boil up inside him, and felt the urge to smash everything in the place. He spotted it and a smile crept onto his face. He reached under the bed and pulled the bat out. He twisted it in his hand a few times, knowing this was going to feel damn good to let out.

He swung once and hit the wooden pillar with an irritated grunt. He flipped it in his hand, satisfied at the first hit and the indent that it left in the wall, and then went in for swing two. He hit the wall even harder this time, making things fall off of the shelf and a picture frame fall clean off the wall. Winding up for the third, he felt unstoppable.