The Boy with Bad Habits

Chapter 14

The night was starting to turn bitter which is why seeing Antonio again had been such a blessing. Alyssa and Tony apparently resided temporarily in an empty vacant apartment and broke in.

They also had stolen some outlets from a neighbor next door to plug in one tiny heater.

We all had finally settled in sort of, The apartment was incerdibly small with stale walls and peeled floors. Rat traps layed everywhere.

All of us had huddled up in the corner near the window where the full moon illuminated our faces.

"How the hell did you both find this place?"

Alyssa who I'd come to find out is Tony's ex yet they're both still hung up on eachother looked toward me.

She had a light creamy skin tone. Very curly, long, and think blonde with brown hair that framed her face. All around, a very beautiful and tall female specimen.

You could tell she had yet to trust me, almost as though I would go running to the cops any minute and sing like the fat lady.

Her eyes went to Tony.

"We have our sources," curls bounced as her head turned up and away from me.

A huff sounded next to her and spilled some more information, "Don't mind her Ace, she's always got an attitude toward new people."

Alyssa looked over at him and rolled her eyes.

"Surely I don't. Sometimes Antonio you're just too trusting of people," this time cold eyes shot at me in the moonlight.

Clearly something unfortunate happened to the girl if already she refused to even associate herself with me. My hands had finally warmed up by the heater and since Alyssa hadn't warmed up to me, I quickly tried changing that.

Awkwardly my hand reached the back of my neck. Hell I wasn't good around new people either.

"Look Alyssa I......I didn't mean to be intrusive on-

Butting in, "Chico you have nothing to be apologetic about," he scooted over to his girl and wrapped an arm around her.

"Alyssa this was and still is my childhood best friend, if I trust him then you should too. Giving glares out like they're a box of hot tamales isn't so much of a warm welcome mi corazón."

His tone was very convincing and gentle. The way he talked to Alyssa was so endearing. Clearly he had a very special place in his heart for this girl to be that vulnerable. It stung, as myself, not having that and witnessing it all at the same time.

Her expression looked unsure, so I decided to help my case.

Slowly, I balance my way up off of the floor looking down at them.

"How about this, we leave our background stories behind for right now and find a car. When and if we do, I'll bring you both back to my place with some real heat and food. How's that?"

She finally budged and gave me a small nod and smile. Tony's grasp loosened as Alyssa raised as well and put out a hand for me to shake.

Returning the gesture, my face warmed as I thought back to the time where I refused that with Willow. Funny, it's the first memory that actually didn't make me want to throw myself over a bridge.

Silence followed us; the tension slowy dissipated.

A Porta Rican accent interupted my pleasant flashback. "Hey ese, about this 'car' you were talking about...."

Both of his arms wrapped around Alyssa's shoulders, I couldn't help but wonder, since when did exes do that?

Although the whole dumpster scenario made me even more confused at their behavior.

Instead of trying to figure them out and the curly haired girl wavering Antonio off, my mind went to the closet.

"Well if we're going to get a car, I may need....say a wire hanger to do the job.
Could there possibly be one in there?"

Index finger pointing straight to what I could barely make out, seeing as it had been dark. Yet the moon had a way of helping me out in times like this.

Both shivered in fear glancing back at it, "I wouldn't go in there if I were you," he said in a warning tone but not threateningly.

An expression of disbelief took on.

"Out of all the things, never did I think Antonio Gustavo Alvarez would be afraid of a fuckin' closet!"

At this point I'm dying in laughter as all jokes come forth. The only sound in the room is mine. From the corner of my eye I could tell he wanted to laugh at my outburst but didn't. The girl next to him just frowned at me like I just poked fun at a funeral.

Ofcourse my confusion came next. Was this the same kid I grew up with that wasn't afraid to kill a baby copperhead with his dusty chanclas? Either that or maybe it was as bad as it looked.

My head turned to the closet as though I'm in some sort of horror film.

Alyssa finally piped up, "Ace don't." Her voice came out calm but not that concerned.

Walking towards the doorknob I barely could see, my eyes went to a handle as both of my legs moved foward. What the hell was the big deal about a damn closet?

The cold medal of the knob met my hand and a horrific smell greeted me.

The smell of dead rats, onions, sewer, anything you could think of made my vision blur at the intensity.

Quickly putting my other hand over my nose tightly. A large sound of great impact plopping straight to the ground, the door flew open immediately revealing a large trash bag. It stunk worse than I had ever imagined. Rats scurried away from the thing, frightened by me.

Even the duo took onto account, both faces in grimace and disgust as their hands flew up to rid the smell.

My eyes watered at the horrific stench reeking from this body shaped trash bag. I blinked them away, and stepped over it to distance myself.

The exasperation failed to leave my voice as well as fear, "Am I in the presence of a homicide?!"