The Neighborhood Watch

Chapter Fourteen - What I Could Have Been

A week ago, I'd never have believed any of this would be happening. I'd laugh if I told myself that I was helping Vince wire an entire house to electrocute my long-lost brother and his murderous girlfriend, who I'd also made out with. On top of that, the girl I am in love with is currently in the kitchen with my sister and best friend who are dating, and gathering weapons together.

I also wouldn't believe that Shasta was sniffing a pair of tennis shoes given to me by a teacher shortly before I carried Vince home and stood up to my dad. Or that my mom had died, and I'd found myself standing up to her instead of saying goodbye. Or that I'd been removed from the Darcy home by a possibly fake social worker and the whole town knew about it. Or that my shadow was not alone in my head, and that I'd killed a man point blank.

All of those things seemed incredibly out of focus to me one week ago. But here I was, elbow-deep in a wiring panel, wearing gloves and doing my best to follow Vince's instructions verbatim as he called them from the other panel down the hall.

I guess I did something right because suddenly the lights flickered overhead. "Almost got it," Vince told me. "It shouldn't take much longer. I redirected the flow of current where we want it to go."

"Awesome," I looked down at the length of wires Arnold had questionably procured for us stretched from the panel to the window where it connected to the metal frame.

"Hey, I know Leo's parents are busy people," Vince phrased gently, "But what do we do if one of them comes out of their rooms and touches the front door knob or goes to open a window? Or worse if the Light and your brother do come here, what's keeping them from just walking straight out into the crossfire? Or that nice butler guy?"

He had a point, unfortunately.

If we killed them, we wouldn't have to worry. Or we could hit them over the heads and tie them up in the basement for their safety. My shadow suggested. Or we could let them walk out into the crossfire. Either to test the system or to slow the Light down a second.

We're not going to do that. "There's always some business conference to go to. I can figure out how to send an email or two." Why not? I can make it quick and painless. No, you won't. "Leo's really good at sounding like the important people from those companies."

"Yeah, I bet he is," Vince said under his breath, making me frown.

"Do you remember how in fifth grade there was that meteor shower that the entire class got to watch together?" I asked him. "We all brought out blankets and our parents made snacks and hot cocoa for us to drink, and we sat beneath the stars, feeling like it was our first nights of freedom, of being treated like adults?"

Vince was quiet for a moment, thinking back. "Yeah, I guess I do."

"Leo certainly does. But not because of the good memories or the cool snack his dad prepared like all the other parents." I told him. "He remembers it because his dad forgot to come home from his business trip that day, and Leo spent the entire night sitting on the roof of this place, alone and cold, wondering if his dad's plane had gone down, or if he'd really just forgotten." Vince was silent, surprised at my retelling of the story. "And I remember that night you made up the rumor that Leo wasn't there because he was too busy attending a fancy party with all his dad's business partners. Leo was so embarrassed, that he went along with it."

"I'm sorry," Vince said softly, realizing his mistake.

I nodded even though he couldn't see me. "Eighty percent of the school functions Leo didn't go to when we were little, was because of similar reasons. Like our eighth-grade dance, the night when he got dressed up in his little suit and had plans to ask a girl to dance with him. But his mom had too bad of a headache to take him, and his dad was drunk in his office. Or that time in sixth grade when we went on that field trip to the ski lodge in like fourth grade maybe, and our parents were supposed to pack our lunches and Leo's dad had just stuffed a couple of twenties into his bag. Leo and I shared the sandwich my dad had made, and we both were so hungry the rest of the day, but you made fun of Leo for having so much money in his bag."