Killer

CIP

"Where is he?" Mame asked the receptionist. "Where is my son?"

"Calm down, ma'am," the woman said. "What's your son's name?"

"Garfield Jared Knežević. My daughter should be with him, too. Sunny Azura Knežević."

The receptionist took her time typing the names out. "There's no Knezevic here," she said.

"Did you type it right? Nobody ever types our last name right."

"I typed in K-N-E-Z-E—"

"There's a haček over the Z, and an acute accent over the C."

The receptionist stared up at her blankly.

The woman groaned loudly and her husband came up behind her. "Where did she say—"

"She doesn't know! She hasn't typed their names right!"

"Daddy! Mama!"

The parents turned and rushed for their daughter.

"Sunny!" Mame engulfed the girl in a tight embrace. "Oh, my love, are you okay? What happened?"

"Where's your brother?" Richard asked.

"He's still in surgery," the teenager explained. "The... The killer broke in. Garfield got the worst of it. It's like they didn't even want me."

"What do you mean?"

"There was only one. Not two like the murders. This one only targeted him. I... I tried to save him but they cut me with their knife and... ran off..."

Richard frowned. Then he shook his head.

"Where's Garfield's room? We can wait in there for when he comes out of surgery."

The girl led her parents down the hall.

///

The boy didn't feel any pain when he woke up. It was strange, but he wasn't complaining. He reached a hand up and rubbed his eyes, only to wince at a sting in his hand. He opened his eyes and saw what the culprit was: an IV needle in the back of his hand.

The weight on his other arm, he found, was his sister's head. Looking around the room he saw she was there, as well as Mame and Richard. They were all asleep, faces twisted in gloom.

"Did someone die?" he asked, voice raspy.

They jolted awake.

"Garfield!" Sunny exclaimed, jumping onto the bed to hug her brother close.

"Careful, sweetie!" Mame said cautiously. "Don't hurt him."

Richard came over to the siblings as Sunny calmed down, curling up beside her brother. "How do you feel, kid?"

"I feel fine!" the boy admitted. "I don't... feel anything."

"Could be the drugs," his father shrugged.

"They should have worn off by now," his mother frowned, looking at all of the tubes. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I don't feel any pain, Mama." Garfield sat up, nudging the purple-haired girl off of him.

The woman frowned, looking from the medical equipment to her son. "Do you want me to get a doctor?"

He shook his head quickly, eyes wide with panic. "No! No, it's okay. I feel great! Don't worry about it."

She didn't look too sure, but nodded. She was still going to talk to someone about it.

Richard cleared his throat. "You have visitors. They wouldn't let them in until you woke up."

"Okay."

"Want me to go get them?" he offered.

"Sure!" the teenager shrugged. "Is it Benjamin?"

"Yeah," Mame nodded, moving to sit at the foot of the hospital bed, rubbing her son's knee. "And your other friends."

The cop left the room, coming back a few moments later with Benjamin, Jett, Harley, and Rio.

"Hey, asshole," Jett greeted, shoving Richard aside and pushing Benjamin through the doorway. "Nice of you to go and get stabbed."

"Hey, now. He just woke up," Mame frowned at the girl.

"It's fine, Mama," Garfield defended quickly. "You know her."

Sunny frowned, too, however. She watched the older girl, clinging to her brother's arm.

"How're you feeling?" Rio asked, leaning against the window sill next to the bed.

"Groggy," the boy admitted.

"Does it hurt?" Benjamin asked, hesitating before taking his boyfriend's hand.

"No."

"Oh!" the younger boy said in surprise, eyes widening. "That's... good?"

Garfield watched out of the corner of his eye as his mother stood and slipped out of the room.

"Do you need anything?" Harley asked, sticking beside Jett so as to not crowd her friend. "Snacks? Water? Comic books? Movies?"

"Nah," he laughed. "I'm good. Don't worry. I just wanna go home."

Sunny glanced down and watched his body move under the strain of his laughter, worrying his stitches would pop.

Jett didn't say anything else to him, just gave a secretive smile and punched his shoulder.

Sunny frowned again.

///

After Garfield was discharged, Mame came to him with the diagnosis.

Congenital insensitivity to pain.

He admitted he knew since the adoption, faking any pain he had shown, but was afraid to say or do anything.

She was worried about him.

///

Harley and Jett got into a fight a few days later.

"The way you've been acting," the black girl exclaimed, "is not right!"

"I feel things different than you do, Harley!"

"Our classmates are dying! Your best friend was stabbed."

Jett frowned, face twisted in anger.

"Do you even care? What if I—"

"You're not going to die, Harles."

"You don't know that!"

"Harley..." Jett stepped toward the girl, taking her hands. "Come on. Look at me. I'll protect you."

"You don't care, Jett. None of this is bothering you. It's like... It's like you don't feel any empathy or sympathy. You're not scared."

Jett let go of her.

"I can't... I'm scared. I can't do this anymore. Not right now."

"I... What?"

"I'm breaking up with you, until things are safe."

Jett's heart dropped into her stomach.

"I'm sorry."