We Come Alive 5

Sunny Days

Sunday near afternoon was beautiful with the sun out, the birds chirping, and the breeze floating through the air. It was cool outside and it was the type of day that made you want to go out and have a good time with your loved ones. And everyone was. Everyone, except for Manny.

Manny was sitting on her couch waiting impatiently for Bryce to get there to drop Esmerelda off before his shift at work. Manny checked her phone for the time and any sign of Bryce, but there was none. No texts, no calls, nothing.

Manny was ready to call Bryce and yell at him when the doorbell rang. She jumped up from her seat and rushed to the front door. Manny swung the front door open to see Bryce standing there in his work uniform for the factory he worked at and Esmerelda in his arms, gripping onto his shirt.

Esmerelda turned towards her mom and squealed with her toothless smile on display. She reached out to Manny with her open hands and gurgled. Manny grabbed her daughter and held her on her hip as she burrowed her eyes at Bryce.

"What?" He asked, grabbing his keys from Esmerelda since she liked the shining object.

"You're 30 minutes late!" Manny pointed out. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Bryce shrugged, glancing back at his car then to her. "I was driving. Can't text and drive with a baby in the car. You'd kill me. Where your parents? Your friend who lives here? What about your boyfriend?"

"My parents went to lunch." Manny explained, adjusting Esmerelda on her hip. "Clover is with her boyfriend and Ricky is with his friend." She groaned, putting Esmerelda on the floor so she could crawl around.

Bryce sighed, running his hand through his hair as he stepped back off the porch. "Sorry. I'll be better next time." He promised. "I have to go to work, but I'll be around to see you later. If you want, I can bring you dinner. We can go out for dinner even. Family dinner. The three of us."

Manny gave him a small smirk as she watched him stumble to his car as he tried to walk backwards so he could keep talking to her. "Fine. But you're paying."

"Always do!" Bryce shouted, hopping into his car and driving off so he wasn't late.

Manny closed the door and turned around to see Esmeralda on the floor watching her. Manny kneeled down and smiled at her little girl, telling her how much she missed her before grabbing her some small cut up fruit to eat as a snack.

~**~

Meanwhile, Ricky was sitting in the living room of his friend Elijah's house a few miles across Dallas from where he lived. The two of them stayed good friends after Ricky's Cameron situation, now laughing about the problem.

Ricky looked over to Elijah next to him and smirked seeing Elijah blowing out the smoke from a joint into 'O' shapes. Elijah handed the joint over to Ricky, who took it.

"So you're stuck with this coaching gig for the rest of the year?" Elijah asked, leaning forward and grabbing the remote off the coffee table so he could change the channel.

Ricky nodded his head, holding the smoke in before letting it out through his nose. "A couple of years probably. Just waiting until summer to get a break from them. Some of them I don't even like and want to hit over the head with a baseball bat, some of them I want to break my probation and beat the living hell out of them, and the rest are fine."

Elijah laughed, taking the joint from Ricky. "Your boss hard on you about your probation?"

"Let's just say if he knew what I was doing right now he'd kill me." Ricky mumbled, laying his head back. "And tomorrow I gotta sit around with them all by myself for the whole afternoon. Days like those suck."

"Don't your boss stay with you?" Elijah wondered, getting up from his spot on the couch to get something out the kitchen.

Ricky followed Elijah with his eyes, but didn't move his head. The room was dim since none of the lights were on and the blinds were blocking the sun from coming inside. He could see out the corner of his eyes Elijah opening the fridge from the light brightening up the next room and Elijah's silhouette on the walls.

"Nah." Ricky yawned. "Just me by myself. My co-worker, who I can't fucking stand, got some other shit to be doing and my girl can't come. She's gotta stay home with her baby. Just me and 20 dumb asses."

Elijah snickered, appearing back in the room with a bottle of liquor in his hand and the joint in the other. He flopped down back in his spot and drank straight out the bottle as Ricky watched the basketball game on the tv.

"Want me to come?" Elijah asked, handing Ricky the joint since Ricky tried not to drink too often because it was harder to hide when he was around other people. "You're little girl friend gonna be there? Your ex? What was her name again?"

Ricky took the joint and held it between his fingers as he thought. "Clover. Her names Clover. And yeah, she's the pitcher. She better be there or I'm gonna be pissed. One of the few half-decent players on the team."

"Oh yeah." Elijah smirked, leaning back in his seat. "I'll be there then. I just got some business to handle first. The other night some of my boys got into a bit of trouble with this gang. We had to—"

Ricky glanced over at Elijah making him stop. "You know I don't like hearing about your shit. Don't need it rolling over on me, you know?"

Elijah rolled his eyes. "Whatever. A shootout ain't gonna roll over onto you. I'll stay in my lane and keep my shit to myself. I know you're getting your shit together. Got the wifey and the step kid."

Ricky rolled his eyes, turning back to the basketball game. "Whatever. Just jealous you ain't got no girl."

"Tryna get with your little friend." Elijah laughed, taking a swing of the bottle in his hand. "Why you keeping her to yourself if you got a wife?"

"I don't." Ricky used his hand to dismiss the topic. "She ain't gonna let me get her back anyway even if I wanted her." He scoffed and dropped his hand down on his lap. "She got a man in a wheelchair back home anyway. She got her own issues to be dealing with."

"Damn." Was all Ricky heard Elijah mutter before they fell into a silence, watching basketball games until the sun went down and they both had smoked and drank the day away.

~**~

The evening, instead of going straight to sleep like everyone else in the facility was, Ethan decided to take a long shower in the bathroom, take his time getting dressed, then go to his room with his hair wet. He had been playing cards all day with some of the other guys in the general population for bragging rights.

Ethan walked into his room, kicking the door closed with his foot and waltzing over to his bed. Zane was already sound asleep on the bottom bunk, slightly shaking in his sleep, but was quiet.

Ethan smirked, turning the light out then climbing up on the bed. He adjusted himself under his blanket and situated his head on his pillow before looking at the stack of books in the corner of his bed. He picked up one of the biggest books and revealed a small compartment between the books and wall where he kept his one love. Ethan reached in and grabbed three pills, instantly throwing them into the back of his throat when he did.

Ethan put the books back and gently felt the drug over take his bloodstream and numb his body. The feeling Ethan was more addicted to then the pills themselves.