Alone Together (Gallavich)

nine

mickey

It was the third day since I decided that school was no longer for me. I wouldn't be the only drop out in this fucking family, nor would I probably be the last. Besides, the only thing I was getting out of that dump anyway was a couple bucks from kids who were too chicken to stand up for themselves. It was for their own good anyway. I know a guy who could handle it if they didn't. His name is Mickey Milkovich and he'll fuck you up.

Anyway, you'd be surprised how little there actually is to do around this neighborhood when you don't need to be somewhere. If you'd have asked me a week ago while I was smoking in the bathroom when I should have been taking some test on "the essence of literature" or some dumb shit , I could have named a million things I'd have rather been doing. Now, I had nothing. Not even Ian came around anymore.

I never stayed around when he did, but like I said, you'd be surprised how much you really had once it left ya alone. It was probably my fault too. Mandy hadn't talked to me either since the incident a few days ago so my guess was her and Ian found a new place to hang out away from me. Whatever. I'd probably fuck it up again anyways if he was around.

I spent almost the whole day at the dugouts, smoking and drinking, not giving a shit if anyone cared where I was. Hell, I didn't even know if I cared where I was. It was a fucking Wednesday afternoon in the middle of December in the south side of Chicago. What else could I have been doing with my time?
When I came up to our house, Mandy was standing in the doorway, her face frozen in astonishment, tears calmly rolling down her cheeks as she looked at the curly haired guy standing on our porch in front of her. He had just finished saying something when Mandy noticed me standing outside the front gate. Her face immediately filled with anger as she pushed past the man on the steps and stormed right up to me, slapping me harder than I thought she ever could on my cheek.

"Mandy what the fuck!" I screamed out in pain and shock.

"Where the hell is he Mickey? What the fuck did you do to him?"

I held my face as I tried to figure out what was going on and how I should know anything about it.

"What are you talking about?" I couldn't tell if it was just the cold making the burn worse or if Mandy just had a really good fighting hand but shit my face hurt. "Where is who?"

"Ian! What did you do!"

She was really crying now, too hysterical to get any answers out of, so I just stood there, waiting for whatever was coming next. What was wrong with Ian?

Finally, the guy from the steps came down, wrapping Mandy in a side hug, trying to calm her down as he took her back up the porch.

"It's alright Mandy. Just go inside, I'll ask him."

Once she was back inside, the man shut the front door.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"I'm Lip, Ian's older brother," he responded, coming back down the stairs to meet me at the gate. I just stared at him, waiting for him to keep going and explain what the hell was going on.

"Look, Mickey," he started slowly. "Ian's been missing for the past two days. Three if you count Monday I guess. His dresser is empty and there's some money missing in the house. Clearly, wherever he is, he wanted to go there but," he paused.

"But what?" I was getting worried, but tried not to show it too much. "You think that just cause he hangs around my sister all the time that I'd know where the fuck that little ginger rat ran off to?"

"Listen, I know you probably got much better things to do right now," he said sarcastically as he eyed my dirty appearance, "but my little brother just vanished. Not only were you one of the last people to see him and not only did you try to kill him like a month ago, but your sister just told me he stormed out of your house hysterical last time he was here. So yeah, Mickey, I think you could help a little bit here and let us know why the hell he ran off."
I didn't know what to say or even do for that matter. He was right. Even without the details and the full story, it was clear that I hadn't been making Ian's life easier as of late. Letting out a sigh, I tried to cooperate.