Washout

Angel

"You know my brother." Mark countered.
"Yea, but still." Halo insisted, looking out the window.
"Still what?" Her friend pressed.
"He's a jerk. We can leave it at that." Mark said.
Halo shook her head, making her red curls bounce.
Mark reached out and pulled on one of them.
"I just don't like to be around people who don't like me much." She said, shrugging.
"He likes you ok, I guess. You're a good kid." Mark bumped his shoulder against hers.
Halo was unconvinced. She didn't know why she had ever agreed to go to Mark's house after school in the first place. Sure, he was her best friend and all, and she like his house. But how could she possibly explain to him why it was so hard to be around his older brother, Petey?
The bus pulled up at Mark's house. The two 12 year olds grabbed their stuff and jumped off.
Inside Mark's house, Petey was spread out on the couch.
"See? He's not so awful." Mark pushed his brothers legs aside and took a seat beside him on the couch.
   "Not yet." Petey said, kicking Mark to the floor.
   "Ow. Damn." Mark landed with a thump.
  "Oh, and I see you've brought your girlfriend too. How lovely. Would you like me to excuse myself while you have vigilant sex?" Petey smirked.
  "She's not my girlfriend, wise ass." Mark shoved a pillow into his brothers face.
  "Eh, you wouldn't wanna do it with him anyway. Kids got fleas." Petey threw the pillow back at Mark.
   "C'mon Halo." Her friend said. "Let's go get a snack. We're too good for this loser anyway."
   Halo followed Mark into the kitchen, where he got them both grape juice and boxes of animal crackers.
  When they returned to the living room with their snacks, Petey threw up his arms in mock terror.
   "Help! It's the attack of the pre schoolers!" He grinned.
   His brother proceeded to pour his grape juice all over him.
   "Oh shit!" Petey leapt up, grasping his shirt. "You little shit! You'll pay for that!" He called after Mark, who was back in the kitchen getting a refill.
   Petey sighed and sank back into the couch. He eyed Halo.
   "You're lucky you ain't got a brother kid. Pain in the ass." He said.
   "She does, dumb ass." Mark called from the kitchen.
   "Really?" Petey cocked his head at Halo.
   "Angel." She whispered, fingering the pendent that hung around her neck as she always did at the mention of her brother.
   Petey raised his eyebrows. "His names Angel? Was your mom like super religious or somethin?"
   "Erm, no." Halo said slowly. "It's a uh, a nickname. His names, um, Angelo."
   "Huh." Petey squinted at her. "Halo and Angel. The holy ones." He grinned.
   "So uh, why we never heard a this brother before? He younger?"
   "No... He uh, he isn't around much." Halo bit her lip.
   "He a red head too?" Petey asked.
  "No..." Halo began, but the older boy was already off with his own idea.
  "Ha, the hot-headed holy!" He began to laugh at his own joke, and was still laughing when Mark returned.
   "What the fuck?" He asked, looking at Petey as though concerned for his sanity.
   "The hell is wrong with him?" He asked Halo, handing her a mini Krackle bar.
   "I dunno." Halo shrugged. "He just started laughing."
   "Hmmm... Do you think it's contagious?" Mark asked.
   The complete innocent look he was pulling was too much, and soon Halo was laughing too.
   "Great, now you've got it."

   "Thanks Mrs. Cafrey, for driving me home." Halo opened the door to the mini van.
   "Oh anytime dear. You know you're always welcome in our home." Mark's mother smiled.
   Halo watched her pull away before going inside.
   The restaurant below her aunts' apartment greeted her with the warm, spicey smell of Mexican food. The lighting was dim and friendly, cast from low hanging cultural patterned lamps that hung above each table.
   Soothing Spanish music played while the customers ate.
   Halo walked to the back of the dining room, where the kitchen was. She pushed open the swinging door and was met with the rich, steamy smell of food.
   "Hola Dante." She greeted the cook.
   "Hola miss Halo." He waved. His hand holding a large wooden spoon.
   "I leave some food in the back for you, si?"
   "Gracias." She replied, peeling off her jean jacket and walking through the door at the back of the kitchen.
   "Goodnight!" She called over her shoulder.
"Si, buenas noches, senóra!" The cook called back cheerfully.
Behind the kitchen was the small kitchen wear she and her aunts ate. It was painted a cheerful yellow color, with a line of patterned tile going through the middle of the wall.
The floor was bare cement, like the restaurant kitchen, but a brightly colored rug lay beneath the table.
On the table itself, Halo found a steaming plate of rice, cornbread, and chili from Dante.
When she had finished eating, she left her plate in the sink and walked over to the small fridge.
Just behind it was a beaded curtain, which when pushed aside revealed the staircase to the aunts' apartment.
Halo found her aunts sitting in the small living room upstairs, playing cards and drinking Coke.
"Hello dear!" Her aunt Cassy called, looking up with a smile.
"A nice time at Mark's?" Her aunt Bernice asked, selecting a card from her hand and placing it on the table.
Halo smiled and nodded. She hung up her coat and went to kiss her aunt Tanya, the eldest of the three, on the cheek.
"Are you going to bed, querido?" The old woman asked.
Again Halo nodded.
"Now, Bernice, I do say you are cheating! Cheating I say!" Cassy gaped at the cards on the table.
Satisfied that they had returned to their game, Halo slipped upstairs, to the attic of the building, where her room was.
Her room was small, but cozy. The walls were plastered with posters from floor to ceiling, and the sloped ceiling itself had a layer.
Her bed was squashed into the corner, and she immediately dumped her bag in it.
She loved her room, and had made the best of it over the years, but her favorite part was by far the window.
It was just big enough that Halo could squeeze through it, out onto the roof.
She had a special spot, just a few feet down, so that she could see through the branches of an ancient willow tree and see the stars.
As she lay there now, her back pressed against the chipping terra-cotta shingles, she felt her hand slide to her neck.
In the dark, she unfastened the clasp of the necklace she wore, holding it in front of her.
She held the small pendent so that the moonlight shone off its surface.
A tiny silver angel, intricately designed and detailed, holding a miniature harp, a shimmery halo perched upon its delicate curls.
It was the only thing she had of her mother's, who'd given it to her on her fourth birthday.
That was the last birthday of her's her mother would ever attend, she'd died the next year in childbirth, along with Halo's would-be baby brother.
Since then she'd been raised by her aunts, here in the apartment in San Fransico above the restaurant they owned.
They were all old ladies, Cassy was 56, Bernice was 61, and Tanya was 75. They were her great aunts, technically, sisters of her grandmother, on her mothers side.
Tanya was adopted, from Barcelona. She was truly Spanish, and despite that fact that she was obviously not a blood relative of red haired Halo, Halo loved her dearly, and because of her had spoke Spanish all her life.
The three old ladies had raised Halo and her brother, Angelo. That is, until...
Thinking of her brother's name made Halo peer more closely at her necklace.
Since he'd left a year ago, it had been the only thing she'd had to remind her of him, due to his nickname.
She'd called him Angel all her life, and she could practically hear his musical laughter as she whispered it now.
She missed his laughter. She missed everything about him, his yawn in the morning as he woke up, the way he ran his hand through his bed head, making it stick up in all directions.
She missed him teasing her, lifting her up over his head so she could dunk baskets in the hoop outside.
She missed him buying her ice cream with his allowance, and hugging her when she was sad.
She missed how every time she had a bad day at school, and she wouldn't tell him about it, he would say "c'mon kid, why you hold everything inside? Tell it to me, so I can tell you how fucking stupid it is."
She missed his smell, like dove soap and sweat and, well, basically boy.
   Halo hadn't heard from her brother in 6 months. She didn't know where he was, or what could have happened to him. She didn't want to worry her aunts by telling them how much she missed him. She didn't want to worry anyone.
   But it was so hard to be around her friend's brothers, like Petey. She couldn't tell anyone how she felt. Maybe if her brother had been there to let it out, she could have. But he wasn't there. Who knew where he was. And oh how she missed him.
She missed everything about him, and now, looking at the small charm in her hand, she wished a real angel would come and bring her brother home.

   The next morning, Halo arrived at school, late as usual. The city bus almost always broke down.
   She got a late pass from the office, then made her way to her first class, science.
   The class was in full swing by the time she got in, and she quickly handed her pass to Mr. Yaö, the teacher.
   The only open seat was in the second row. Anastasia, the girl she sat next to, seemed nice enough, though Halo looked longingly to the back corner, where Mark sat with her their friends Pablo and Tracy.
   Halo sighed, and fished her books out of her bag. That's what you get for showing up late. She thought to herself, and simultaneously touched her necklace.
   Mr Yaö called for quiet and began the lesson on the stars and constellations. Halo smiled, remembering the stars she could see from the roof.
   She was soon immersed in the lesson, taking notes and sketching constellations in her notebook.
   She was so occupied, she didn't notice the door of the classroom open.
   "Halo." Mr Yaö said. She looked expectantly, only to freeze as soon as she saw who stood in the doorway.
   A young man, tall, well built, with a touch of I shaved stubble on his cheeks.
   He is dark hair was cut close to his head in a buzz cut. His warm brown eyes, the same as Halo's, twinkled with laughter.
   The right leg of his cameo pants was rolled up to the thigh, and his leg was in a cast. He leaned on a crutch.
   His uniform cap couldn't shadow his face. Even if it had, Halo would have recognized it anywhere.
   Slowly, she slid out of her seat and walked to the front of the class where the young man stood.
   "Hey kid." The young man said.
   "Angel." She whispered. "That's right." He replied. "I'm back."
    "For keeps?" She asked in a voice barely audible.
   "For keeps." He repeated.
   Halo could feel the tears well up in her eyes.
   "That's ok, Halo." Her brother said, tilting her chin up so she could look him in the eye.
   "Don't you hold it inside, let it out. So I can tell you how stupid it is." He smiled.
   His sister took a breath. And she said the words she'd been too afraid to say to anyone.
   "Angel." She whispered. "I missed you."