Perception

Part 52

Kota POV

Just as the door clicks shut behind me, the squad car pulls into my driveway. The worthless lump of disgusting is still writhing on the slab, and I watch dispassionately as the officer approaches while talking into his radio. I'm sure the scene is odd; a broken snow globe litters the ground with glass, liquid, and white bits; me standing there with no discernible expression on my face, and the bleeding piece of refuse clenching at his neck. I just can't seem to put on the appropriate face.

The officer cuffs McCoy, and radios for an ambulance. McCoy is wheezing so heavily now that he's turning blue. I could tell them what is wrong with the slug, but I don't. The bastard held a knife to my baby sister. He took pleasure in describing the atrocities he had planned. According to what Derrick told Sang, he's been taking inappropriate pictures of her and other girls. I hope he dies. I hope he dies a slow, painful, terrifying death.

McCoy is taken to the hospital after a breathing tube is forcibly shoved down his throat. I'm assuming there was some chatter over the radio about who the guy is, because no one seemed too concerned with patient satisfaction.

The officer only asks a few cursory questions. I give him an extremely condensed version of events--letting them know that McCoy held a knife to Jessica's neck, he asked if I could fetch her--which I did. She peeled the bandage away to show the cut, but assured the officer that it was cleaned and she will be getting a tetanus booster. I spoke of how McCoy acted when the snow globe fell, leaving out Sang and the arrowhead. I'll let them worry about the puncture in his arm if they really feel the need to look into it. The man was thrashing on the ground with a bloody knife. His wound could be from anything, I think smugly to myself. The officer took my name down, and called my mom before handing me a card to give to her.

Once the officer leaves, Gabe, North, and Silas creep out of the night and into the light of the security lamp over my garage.

"What the hell happened?" Silas demands.

"We should go inside," I say, noting various neighbors watching from lit porches. We quietly make our way inside, and I ponder the odd silence of my brothers. I know I'm still numb from shock, but they aren't acting in character at all.

We get in the living room, and see that Victor is leaning against the arm of the couch with his legs extended in front of him across the other cushions. Sang is perched sideways on his lap, with her feet hanging over the edge of the couch. Jessica sits on Sang's lap with her shorter legs wedged next to Sang's hip and the couch. She's essentially curled into and around Sang, her head on her shoulder, with her lower back supported by Victor's stomach. Movement draws my eyes to Sang's hand as it runs over Jessica's head. I walk closer and see that my sister has silent tears running down her face in her sleep.

I'm jostled as my brothers swoop in to get a closer look. Sang doesn't meet anyone's eyes, and when I look at Victor, his eyes are dull, but still showing traces of the terror he felt. We needed to talk, but I didn't want to risk waking Jess, so I decide to carry her to bed. I manage to get her settled and come back to the living room only to find my Ten being picked up by Silas for a hug. She hangs limply, rather than returning the gesture like always. His dark eyes meet mine with a flash of hurt and worry.

North plucks Sang out of Silas' hold, and sits with her again. I can hear him murmuring to her quietly, and stroking her hair like she had done for Jessica. Victor is walking around, trying to be inconspicuous while stretching his legs out. I can't really blame him. Jessica and Sang are both tiny, but their combined weights would be the equivalent of Luke sitting on him for the hour I was outside.

Gabriel is pacing and muttering. I hear a few f-bombs, but cannot blame him. Victor clears his throat, gaining our attention.

"I've sent out group texts to everyone. When McCoy first grabbed Jess, I red-lined Silas," he flicks his eyes to a nodding Si, "and as soon as I got inside, I called him and told him to wait at Nate's. We all already know what happened during the incident outside. We just need to know what the police had to say. Their radio chatter isn't too clear on it, and the paperwork hasn't been converted to e-files yet," he swallows harshly, trying to maintain some semblance of outward calm.

I told them what the officer told me, then explained how my mom would be coming home already knowing what transpired. With everything that happened today, I can't believe how lucky we were that the police were already looking for him because of his creeper tendencies in the neighborhood, not to mention the illegal substances in his car. I'll have to talk to Mr. Blackbourne to see if he thinks we caused such accelerated destruction by getting the police involved, but that can wait.

"I want the pictures of Sang and Jess taken out of police evidence. I don't want them exposed like that," I say. North grumbles quietly, and Gabe mutters a four letter word.

"I don't know if we can afford it," Silas mutters with clenched fists.

"I'm not fucking leaving Trouble tonight," Gabe declares, shifting our lines of thought.

"Me neither," Silas agrees.

"We'll stay over here," North says and draws Sang impossibly closer. I nod, and wander off to gather bedding to make pallets in the living room. All things considered, I don't think my mom will mind. I'm just laying out the bedrolls when sobbing reaches my ears. Sang pops up off of North's lap and rushes to Jessica's room. I can hear her speaking in a low, musical tone, and take my time joining them. Again, Jessica is curled into Sang having her hair stroked.

"Come on, Jess. We're sleeping in the living room tonight. Some of the guys are too. We won't leave you alone," I tell her quietly and extend my hand to help her up and lead her to the pallets.

"Can, um...can Sang lay by me?" she asks hesitantly. The salty trails meandering down her cheeks nearly break the calm that I've worked to maintain.

"Of course, sweetie. I'll be here the whole time. Come on, let's lay down. It's been a long day, huh? Kota, can you grab Jessica's pillow? We'll just get ourselves situated," Sang keeps up a running monologue as she helps Jess adjust her blankets, and the pillow I hand her. As soon as Jess is laying down, Sang curls around her from behind.

"Thank you, Sang," Jess whispers as she drifts off to sleep. Surprisingly, Sang falls into an exhausted sleep as well.

When mom gets home, we talk quietly in the kitchen. Apparently they had brought McCoy to the hospital that she works at, and once she heard, she used her break to hunt him down. They wouldn't let her in his room, and mom admits she probably looked a little deranged at the time. She guiltily told me she wasn't sure she would have been proud of her actions if she had been allowed in.

She blushingly says that after work she stopped by the police station, and spoke with one of the officers that was involved with the ordeal. Because it was so late, she took his card and plans on talking more with him at a later date. Her eyes flick to the living room before resting on me again. 

"How did all this happen, Dakota?" she demands in a way that leaves no room to circle around to the topic of her 'later date' comment.

I explain about people camping out on our street at by Tom and Micah's homes watching with binoculars and such, and how when the police got involved, McCoy went crazy and took Jess hostage. I gave the same answer about the shattered snow globe as I gave the police, and shook my head in pretend bafflement. Mom heaves a weary sigh, and tells us that we need to get to sleep.       

We head back to the living room to see that the rest of the guys have arrived--except for Doc, who has to work for a couple more hours--and are sprawled around the room, circling Sang and Jess as if they are determined to be living shields. They've left the pallet behind Sang open in deference to my mom's sensibilities, so I take my place behind her. As my mind finally thaws out, I am able to start counting.