lost | jariana

12

Jason sat on the couch in the corner of the room, watching as the adults walked around the giant circular table in the middle, talking amongst each other. He looked over to the other side of the couch, where a small raven haired girl sat, twiddling her thumbs.

"Hey."

The girl  glanced over at Jason, teary eyed. She didn't respond, and Jason scooted over to her.

"I'm Jason."

"Selena," she whispered.

"Are you okay?"

Selena didn't say anything, just looked down to her lap, and Jason noticed that her hand was shaking.

Taking her hand into his, he gave it a small squeeze, which made Selena fully face him for the first time.

Jason looked back over to the group, who were now seated at the table. He noticed that his parents were at the head of the table, whispering to each other as everyone settled down. Another couple, Hispanic, were nervously sitting besides them, the woman constantly looking over at Selena.

Standing up, Jeremy looked over to the two kids in the back. He frowned at the distraught child, but noticed how Jason was comforting her.

"Jason, can you take Selena and get a snack?"

This was the signal that it was adult talk, and he had to leave the meeting. He didn't take it personally, he knew that his parents had to keep secrets from him sometimes. They shared more than enough with their ten year old.

Closing the door behind him, Jason heard his dad's voice through the wall. Selena crawled into the huge chair at the dining room table while Jason walked over to the pantry.

"Do you want any snacks?"

"Sure, what do you have?"

"Cheez-Its, Goldfish, and hot cheetos."

"Hot cheetos please."

Grabbing two bags of chips, Jason sat in the chair across from Selena, sliding over the snack, which she graciously took.

The two sat in silence, the only sound was the munching of the cheesy chips and Jeremy and Pattie' alternating mumbled voices.

"How old are you?" Jason broke the silence.

Selena swallowed before answering. "I'm ten."

"Me too. Were those your parents in there? By mine?"

Nodding, the girl pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "Yea."

"They're weapons dealers right?"

Fear washed over Selena's eyes. Shaking her head, she quickly responded, "No. I don't know. I didn't know anything until these men came and attacked our house. I didn't know."

"Hey, hey, it's okay." Jason noticed that her hand started shaking again. "I'm sorry I asked, I just thought you knew."

Jason knew about his parents' jobs and lifestyle. Ariana knew what her parents did, even if she didn't fully understand. He didn't realize that this type of career could've been hidden from their family, but I guess being in a gang versus just dealing weapons were different.

From what Jason knew from his parents, Ricardo and Mandy Gomez were the go-to people for illegal weapons, since they had a home and identity in Texas and had connections to the borders. They weren't a part of any specific gang, or not that any that Jason knew of, but he knew that they were in contact with the McCanns and Buteras whenever they needed new guns or other weapons.