The Deal

5

It's been a week since Miguel told me about his "mistake".

He's been showing me how to shoot a gun and how to use a knife. It's honestly really easy. I could tell how hurt/proud he was when I hit the target with ease when I first picked up the gun.

I've been receiving roses in the mail everyday. They're counting down day by day. Each signed by the same name, Emilio Flores.

I've been visiting Masons grave more frequently because I know when I go with that guy I'll probably never be able to see Masons grave ever again.

Chris has been hanging out a lot more and helping Miguel train me. Apparently this week Miguel and Chris are going to show me some "people skills". I'm not sure what they mean by that but I'll find out tomorrow.

At the moment I'm cooking dinner for me, Miguel, and Chris. I'm just making some chicken tacos, it's a recipe my mom taught me before she passed.

I use tomato paste, jalapeños, onions, and of course chicken. I'm also making the beans and rice she taught me how to make. For the rice I use tomato, onion, and cilantro, for the beans I just use a banana pepper.

It's really good, the chicken is amazing with tortilla chips and cheese. Sometimes it's all my brother and I eat.

As I'm lost in my own world, thinking of the first time I tried cooking this meal with my mom, I don't notice Chris walking into the kitchen.

"Boo" He says from next to me. I practically jump out of my skin when he scared me. He started to laugh really hard when he sees my expression.

"Oh geez, that was priceless!" He laughs.

As he bends backwards from laughing And his mouth is wide open I toss a piece of jalapeño that has nothing but seeds on it in his mouth.

His face turns red and he starts to choke before spitting it out in the trash can. He races to the freezer to get the ice cream, meanwhile I'm laughing so hard I'm stumbling around trying to find my balance.

Chris starts to shove spoon full after spoon full of ice cream into his mouth.

"What's going on in here?" Miguel said as he walks into the kitchen.

"You're sister's the devil, that's what's happening" Chris says as he glares at me.

"It's your fault for scaring me" I glare back.

Miguel started laughing when he realized what had happened. "Yeah, you never get away with scaring Emily" Miguel chuckled.

"That would've been nice to know" Chris tells Miguel before shoving another spoon full of ice cream into his mouth.

"Oh please it's not that bad" I shake my head.

"Oh yeah? You eat a bunch of jalapeño seeds!" Chris challenges.

"Okay" I shrug.

"You have no idea what you just did" Miguel shook his head. "You're gonna feel like a wimp when she's done"

I start pulling out jalapeños that I didn't use from the little plastic produce bag from the grocery store.

I took bite after bite of the jalapeños while Chris starred in awe as I was unfazed by the spice. For me it just felt like a pinch on my tongue and a bite in the back of my throat but it wasn't bad.

"Don't eat all of them!" Miguel whined as he marched over to me and snatched the jalapeños away from me causing me to laugh.

"What the hell..?" Chris says with wide eyes "Your sister really is the devil!"

"Alright well, Chris go somewhere else I need to talk to my sister" Miguel says as he slowly stops laughing but still has a smile on his face.

Once Chris is out of the kitchen it becomes eerily quiet. I stir the chicken around one last time before looking back at my brother.

"What's wrong?" I ask, concern taking over my face and voice.

"I got a text from an anonymous number, it said we got three more weeks until Emilio comes to get you"

I nod my head and stare down at the floor knowingly. He was going to say something else, I could hear it in his voice.

"...and I found the roses" he crossed his arms and I sigh before turning around. "Why didn't you tell me?"

I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders, so many mean ways of telling him my reason and not a way that I can put it nicely without him feeling useless.

Miguel is very much like my dad. If he ever felt like he couldn't protect us in some way he felt useless and angry, he would snap at my mom and then quickly realize what he had said was wrong but... you can't take words back, you can apologize but there's no taking back what you said because like my mother once told me "If you think it you say it, if you say it you mean it, and if you say it then you must think it's true.."

"Answer me Emily" My eyes widened as I starred at the boiling rice. My brother hasn't said my full name since my parents died. Did he really want to know that bad?

"Why wouldn't you tell me? You were literally burning them and hiding them in the backyard... if they were bothering you this much WHY wouldn't you tell me?!" After he said those last few words he banged has hand against the counter out of anger causing me to jump.

He knows how loud bangs make me feel, it's different when I'm the one making the sound or when I can see who is making the sound... but if it's from behind me like Miguel just did it "triggers"— which by the way is a word I fucking hate— me and i'll have flashbacks of what happened to Mason and Miguel knows this.

As the memories flashed through my mind tears threatened to fall but I wouldn't let them, I refused to cry about something so simple.

As soon as the tears stopped I heard a soft, deep voice from behind me "Emi I'm sorry, I didn't mean t-" I quickly turned around to face him causing him to stop talking.

"Why does it matter so much to you? They're just roses!" I exclaim angrily.

He huffed out of annoyance "BECAUSE THEY'RE OBVIOUSLY BOTHERING YOU!"

"Oh? And what would you have done? Beg the big scary man to stop sending your wittle sissy flowers?" I said the last part in a little kids voice to emphasize the fact that there was nothing he could really do without looking pathetic.

He stayed quiet as he starred at the ground, nostrils flared out of anger and I let out a breath while shaking my head.

"Just face it, you can't protect me anymore because you're weak compared to-" there was a sharp stinging sensation that filled my cheek. My face facing to the left from where his right hand came into harsh contact with my face.

I slowly looked over to Miguel, shock covering his face. "Emi I-" "No..." I interrupted before storming off with tears filling my eyes and my hand covering my aching cheek.