Guns and Roses

Thirty Four ~ Rya

The day is painfully normal. When you lose someone significant, you expect the earth to stop turning. You believe that the sun wont rise and people will stop their every day lives to honour the loss.

But here I am, six hours after one bullet broke my heart, sitting in Maths waiting for a substitute teacher to come in. Reggie is telling me about some new game he got on his phone and all I can think about is that this town lost an amazing person and they dont even know it.

I gulp as I look over the homework that's half finished because I got distracted by the gunshot.

"Hey" Reggie says softly "Everything ok? You seemed off all morning"

I shake my head "I never got much sleep and I fell out with the Petrovs this morning"

Mika walks in late and sits down beside Reggie. I dont even look at her as she pulls her books out.

The door opens again and Mr Timms walks in. He looks flustered as he rummages around on the desk for our instructions. "Okay. You all have homework to hand in?" Someone down at the front confirms this. "Does anyone not have it?"

I raise my hand and close over my homework jotter. He frowns at me, I always do my homework because it's an excuse to get away. "I only got to do the first few questions. I haven't done the last couple"

"Why not?" He asks. He's annoyed and I can't deal with him this morning. I keep a straight face "My uncle was shot last night"

The anger slips from his face and he gulps "I'm sure Mrs Yitter will understand"

He goes back to collecting in the homework and Reggie looks at me concerned. "Is he okay?" I shake my head and he purses his lips.

We start to do textbook work and then my phone starts to ring. Its strange because I only have about three numbers on it and they're only to call me if it's an emergency.

"Mrs Yitter makes us answer our phones on loud speaker" A girl at the front says excitedly. When a phone rings in this class you sometimes get a juicy but of gossip. Like one girl who answered to her girlfriend breaking up with her.

Mr Timms looks about. "Well?"

I pull my phone out of my pocket and hope to God that it isn't going to be about something illegal. It's a random number which is even weirder because it's been made so that spam callers can't phone me.

"Hello?" I ask quietly.

"Minha" A voice replies and my heart stops. I cant do this today. The rage is already bubbling up inside of me. "Are you there?"

"What the fuck do you want?" I hiss.

Reggie looks at me wide-eyed. Everyone recognises my father's voice on the other end of the line.

"I... needed to talk to you" His voice shakes and it confuses me. I've never seen or heard this man show weakness so clearly.

I pick up the phone and hold it near to my face "You left me dad. I'd just got you and mum back and you left me here. You said we were going to be a family again, put everything aside and just let it be us. Then you and mum pulled your fucking Bonnie and Clyde act and left me." The venom is my voice cuts through the silent class. They all still think dad killed mum and tortured me. "Do you have any fucking clue what you've left me with? How the fuck am I supposed to live when everyone thinks you killed mum and tried to kill me. What am I supposed to do now that Artie's too busy looking for you and Alexander's dead!"

I don't get an answer. He cant even bring himself to talk to me. "Fuck you. Put mum on the phone, maybe she can explain this"

"I cant" His voice is so quiet that I barely hear it "I can't put your mother on the phone"

"Why not?" My voice has returned to a normal volume but is considerably higher than it was when I began. "Where is she?"

My mind starts to spin with all of the worst possibilities and I'm suddenly aware again of where I am when I hear whispers.

I stare at the phone as I hear something I never thought I'd ever hear. Dad crying.

"What have you done?" I ask him. "What the fuck did you do?"

The line goes dead and I fall back into my chair. The class goes dead silent and I can't take my eyes off of the phone. "I think I'm going to go home" I say and start to pack up my things.

I leave the class as quickly as I can and head straight out into the street. I cant believe what I've just heard. It cant be true, he wouldn't...

He cant have done it because that would mean that Mums dead and has been for weeks. That would mean that her body is out there somewhere slowly rotting. That would mean that everything they've been saying is true. It means that I've lost everything.

My mind spins as I start the walk home. I left my jacket in my locker so the cold is biting into my arms. I look around and realise that I dont have a clue where I am. I thought I was going home but I must have taken a wrong turn.

I hail a taxi and climb in. I have a twenty pound note tucked into my phone case and that should get me where I think I need to go.

The man driving looks back. "You okay sweetheart?"

No. Mums dead. Alexander's dead. Dad killed them both.

"Yeah. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night" I tell him truthfully and we ride the rest of the way there in silence.

I climb out and he takes the twenty even though its not enough. He says it's close enough and drives off, leaving me in the busy street.

I turn to the large building behind me and walk in. Everyone around me is wearing expensive suits and drinking expensive coffees. I look out of place in my school uniform with my face all bashed up.

I walk over to the receptionist who is an attractive young man. "How can I help you?" He ask me politely even though I know hes thinking about the nicest way to kick me out.

I smike back "I need to speak with Christopher Jenkins?" I ask him.

The man laughs but quickly coughs to cover it up. "Do you have an appointment?" I shake my head "Well, I'm afraid you'll have to make one and come back"

"Look, just call him and ask him. Tell him Rya Guerreiro is here. Bella's daughter" I say, my voice straining.

His face drops as he hears my second name. He must know about Chris's connection to my mother. Everyone knows that he was one of the ten kids that went missing.

"Rya?" A confused voice says and I turn to see the man himself, mid-conversation, turn to look at me. "Haven't you got big quick? Come on, we'll go up to my office for some privacy"

In the lift, he looks me up and down "The last time I saw you, you were three years old and Kat and I were trying to adopt you"

"How are you and Kat?" I ask him.

He rolls his eyes "Divorced about a decade ago. We'd only been married a year and she decided that one of her colleagues was a better match. It doesn't matter now, I remarried four years ago to Liz and we have twins on the way"

We walk into his office and he closes the door behind us. "I heard about your mother but I didn't believe it. I never met your father but I knew your mother. I dont believe for a second that she went down like that"

I take a deep breath and sit down on the chair in front of his desk. "Its true" I say, my voice surprisingly calm "I didn't believe it myself until today. I'm sorry for just appearing like this, I didn't want to go home"

He walks towards me and holds onto my shoulders "Rya. When your uncles adopted you, I promised to them that I would always be here for you anyway. I loved your mother in a way I've never understood. The ten of us had a connection that not even death could break. If you ever need anything, you can come to me"

I nod with him. Coming here was a long shot but it looks like it paid off.