Kids in the Dark

Chapter 36

Ryder's P.O.V

The storm persisted throughout the night but our shelter held up surprisingly well despite the high winds and pounding rain. Tank, on the other hand, was a wreck, each clap of thunder resulting in a whimpering whine escaping his mouth. He spent most of the night buried under the blanket I had pulled around my shoulders. I kept running my hand through his thick fur muttering reassuring nonsense like, "It'll be over soon." and, "Not long now." In all honesty, I was saying this to myself as much as I was Tank, the storm having kept me up long after the others' snores had filled the air.

It was when my watch read 2 AM that I gave up trying to sleep and sat up, snatching Theo's phone which lay just to my right. I then adjusted the blanket so that it was wrapped around Tank who, like me had sat up, too. I held my finger down on the home button powering it on as the sky was illuminated by a fork of lightning. I found myself counting the seconds that passed between the flash and the rumble of thunder.

"One Mississippi... Two Mississippi... Three Mississippi... Four Mississippi... 5 missis-" BOOM! Tank let out a loud yelp which made me say: "Don't worry. It's getting further away it'll have passed soon." but I was saying this more to myself than Tank. Although I always got vivid dreams I was an extremely light sleeper. Each clap of thunder was more than enough to shake me from my sleep.

It took me a moment to remember why I'd sat up then I remembered the phone turned on in my hand. I glanced down at the bright screen punching in Theo's passcode which, like in had been for the last 2 years, was 980534; It was the ID number on the first mugshot he ever had taken. The phone unlocked and revealed the home screen. A photo of Adam strumming his guitar lay behind a multitude of apps. I selected the gallery app and began scrolling through the hundreds of photos, smiling as each brought back a memory.

There was one of Theo up turning my lilo on holiday 3 years ago. Another was a picture taken of a photo from when I was seven. It shocked me seeing how much I'd changed; There was no orange streak in my hair, no ring on my lip, no tattoo branded into my arm. It was just me smiling broadly with chocolate ice cream smeared across my face. I kept flicking through the album until one photo until one caught my eye.

It was more recent that some of the others on the phone. Only about 6 months old. The picture clearly showed Theo with his arm held up showing off 2 new tattoos. One said Beautiful scars on critical veins and was placed just above Theo's healed scars but that wasn't what grabbed my attention. There was a second, placed just below his armpit; 3 numbers, 18, 5 and 74, all written in roman numerals; Our mom's birthday. I pulled Tank closer and took a deep breath trying to hold back the flood of painful memories I knew was coming.

The news of our Mother's death had come so unexpectedly and is a day I will never forget. I still remember the pitiful look that the police officer wore as I opened the door, the way the tears had stung my eyes as the news was delivered.

"I'm officer Parker. Is your father around?" The officer had asked.

"No, but my brother is." I had said and then proceeded to shout upstairs for Theo. In no time Theo was by my side and inviting the officer in. We lead her through to the living room and she sat us down, taking her hat off in the process.

"I really wish you had your father here with you," She was talking slowly, unsure what to say. "There's no easy way to tell you this she continued. Your mother was in a severe accident at 7:36 tonight. I am afraid her injuries were fatal," Then she looked directly at me. Your mother isn't coming home." I remember how my body curled inwards on itself and how I clutched Theo's shirt so hard I'd put holes in it. The police officer, who I later learned was the same officer Parker who would go on to be in charge of our manhunt, had stayed with us all night; Our father showed up a day later having been out at the bar drinking away his emotions. Our mother's death had driven him to alcohol and from every day onward he became more and more volatile.

I sometimes find myself reliving that night in my dreams, reliving the hours I spent screaming and crying with grief. I had only been 10 at the time and although you wouldn't catch me saying so now I was grateful for Parker's being there; Theo too, as a situation like that was all too much to thrust upon a 12-year-olds shoulder.

With several deep breaths and a comforting paw on my leg from Tank, I shut the phone off. I cast it to one side and lay back down taking in another breath as I did so.

"Come on Tank. We really should be getting some sleep." I muttered snuggling deep within my sleeping bag. Tank curled up against me and I wrapped my arms around him. I closed my eyes and with one last squeeze of Tank's hulking body I drifted off to sleep.