The Beginning

Nicky

"Star?" I called, bolting up the rickety steps to her dilapidated home. I knocked on the sealed front door. "Star? It's Nicky." I cupped my hands over the darkened window beside the door.

"Nicky." Santi spoke lowly behind me.

"Thanks for coming. Where's Roni?"

Her answer came in the clink of her .45's. "He's here?"

"Don't know. Star called. She was terrified." I knocked on the door again. "Star, if you don't open the door, I'm coming in."

A gasp from the side wall caught my ear. I tapped Roni and directed her around. Roni crept along the edge of the house. What was a gasp turned into a terrified scream. "It's a kid, Nicky." Roni holstered her weapons. One at the ribcage, the other in the waist of her pants.

A mop of crisp bleach blond hair rose. Her hands lifted, palms out. She shook uncontrollably.

"Christine?"

"Uncle Nicky?" Her breath stolen, a modicum of terror dissipating, as she ran to me. "Mom's in the house. He was beating on the door." Chrissie's arms wrapped around me. Her sobs muffled by my chest. "He could still be out here. Where are we going to go?"

"One thing at a time, Chrissie. Let's get Mom, hmm?" I clasped her shoulders and drew her away. "Can you take Veronica go get her?" Santi and I would wait at either entrance in case Hannibal got a wild hair to spin the block.

"Can you come with me?" Chrissie begged.

"Watch the front." I smacked Santi's chest with the back of my hand.

Chrissie led us around the back, through the sliding glass door. "Mom?" Chrissie called into darkness. Her hand reached for the light switch to her left. "Mom?" I continued forward until we reached the living room.

Star sat frozen beneath the living room window. Her eyes fixed on the floor. Her breathing stayed steady.

"Mom." Chrissie dropped to her knees and placed her hands on Star's knees. "Mom, Uncle Nicky's here."

Star's eyes shifted, slowly, to my face. "He's back, Nicky." Her voice was nothing but a dissociated whisper. "And he knows. I don't know how he knows, but he knows." Her stunned sluggishness was broken by her sobs.

I dropped to my knee beside Chrissie. "I'm going to get you to car, Star. You're both coming home with me and you're going to keep an eye on Tess for me, okay?"

"I can't stay there forever. She's got school, I've got work. We can't make this shit-hole work if I don't go to work." She latched onto Chrissie. "I'm sorry that this is all I gave you. A house that's not a home, a crazy Mom." Star laughed humorlessly before covering her face with her hands.

"You're a great Mom." Chrissie promised.

"You're going to take a couple days to help me, right? You're not working for free."

Star's free hand clamped down on mine. "Thank you." She accepted.

"I'll get Christine's homework. She's probably going to need some time after this, too." Roni offered.

"We'll get you taken care of." I promised. I laced my arm beneath hers and helped Star stand. Opening the front door to Santi's back, he turned around to assist.

With Star and Chrissie settled in the back of my car, I turned to my family. "We got to get this taken care of, now."

"I don't think any of us disagree, Nicky. But we haven't been able to get eyes on him since we heard about his release." Santi answered.