The End

Chapter 9

"What?" I ask.

How do they know about my brother? Who are they?

"It's a long story that we can tell you another night." Maria says.

"M, he said to tell her everything." Calvin says.

"Cal, how do we even know she's telling the truth? She could literally be anyone!" Maria yells at him.

"What color is the shoelace on his right foot?" Calvin asks me.

God, come on. His shoelaces are two different colors, but which one was on his right foot? I looked so quickly at them that I don't remember exactly which was which.

"Neon green with white stripes." I say. That was a total guess, but I hope it's the right answer.

Calvin gives Maria a look. She rolls her eyes at him.

"She's good." She says.

"Can someone just please tell me what's going on?" I ask.

"Meet us in the ladies' room in 2 minutes." Calvin says and he then takes Maria by the arm and they both walk away.

So what just happened? I literally have nothing running through my mind, it's blank. What are they going to tell me? Is it really so important that we have to suspiciously meet in the bathroom?

The two minutes go by, although it feels like ten minutes have passed. I head in the direction of the bathroom, hoping I won't get jumped by these strange people who have given me no reason to trust them. I push the door open into the bathroom, and I'm the only one in there. I see someone behind me out of the corner of my eye, and I jump. There's no one there. It's just my reflection in the mirror.

My hair is knotted and I have blood and dirt all over me. I'm surprised I didn't get more stares from people. Maybe I did and I just didn't notice.

"Hello?" A girl asks from a stall. I can only assume it's Maria.

"Yeah," I say.

I hear two people jump down from what I can assume are toilets. Calvin comes over and locks the door to the bathroom. How serious is what they're going to tell me? Ross said "to tell Calvin and Maria to tell you everything" but this is the set up for delivery of top secret government secrets.

"Can you guys just please tell me what's going on?" I ask.

Maria puts her hand over her mouth and gives Calvin a blank look.

"How much do you know?" Calvin asks me.

"I literally know nothing about what's going on. I don't know why Ross was at the store, I don't know why he was shot, and I don't know why you guys won't tell me anything! How the hell do you know about my brother?" I yell, letting my frustration out.

"Okay, I understand this is confusing, but you need to be quiet." Maria says.

I take a deep breath.

"Ross' parents were killed less than a year ago. His dad was a police officer who responded to a shoot out and was caught in the cross fire. His mom tried to get justice from the shooter, but she was killed by the same man. In front of Ross." Calvin says.