Panic Room

Flashback 10- 'The Castillo Business: Pt 3'

"Hey, Juno right?"

Juno nodded, following behind Lea quietly, looking up at the extremely tall man in front of him.

"Cool, L has talked about you quite a bit, you seem to be the only other good thing in her life."

"Other?" Juno questioned, stepping out from behind Lea a little.

"Besides me." He said, giving the two a cocky grin.

Mark Bower, Leona's older brother, the guy who was supposedly involved with a lot of recent crimes.

"Okay okay Mark, were here, don't traumatize my only friend." Leona jokes, smiling up at her brother who chuckled a bit.

Ever since those two days ago when Juno stood up for Lea, she's refused to stop calling him her 'only friend'.

And although it wasn't untrue, Juno was just more upset she had caught him in a softer moment than he ever would have. This was his consequence.

He would never admit it, but it was nice to have someone seem to actually care about his company however.

"Right then, listen up kids. This is a very serious job, I'm only letting you two help because with this specific job, you two will be very useful." He said seriously, shoving his hands into his pockets as he stared down at Lea and Juno.

"Now L, you know I trust you, but are you positive that we can trust J over here? You know what my job is like." He narrowed his eyes down at Lea, who doesn't seem to be fazed in the slightest.

She grinned, saluting jokingly.

"Yes sir! He's very trustworthy sir!" She said, laughing at herself as Mark smiled a bit.

"Alright, if you're sure L. Come on you two, we gotta leave now if we wanna get this job done with full pay."

And with that, he led them out into the street, walking up to a black van sitting there, and knocking on it in what seemed to be a special pattern.

The door slid open, and a scary looking man peered out, glaring harshly at the three of them.

"Those the kids?" He asked in a gruff voice, and Juno could feel his heart rate spike.

He started to think that this maybe wasn't such a good idea.

But suddenly, he found himself sitting in the back of the van, Lea at his side happily rambling on about whatever today's topic was. It all just sounded like white noise to Juno, who was quietly trying to control his trembling hands.

"L, he good?" Mark asked, jerking his head towards Juno, who looked up frantically.

Leona giggled, a bit of nervousness in her voice.

"Oh he's fine! I bet he's just cold, you guys must be blasting the ac huh?" She joked, the scary man from before, Joshua, looking back at her from the driver's seat.

"The ac is broken toots, fix your friend or we'll fix him for you." He threatened, Lea's smile fading fast.

Mark shook his head, almost disappointingly, turning back around in his seat and looking out the window.

"Juno, Juno, are you okay? I need you to be okay right now. I cant let my brother down, come on, just breathe." Leona said quietly with concern, but couldn't mask the fear that was laced through her shaky voice.

"Were almost there L, he gonna be alright, or do we have to take care of him?" Mark asked,his voice growing grimmer as he spoke.

Leona frantically shook her head.

"Nonono! He's fine, right Juno?!" She said, almost pleadingly, looking at him with wide, scared eyes.

Juno took in a deep breath, shoving down his feelings as far as he possibly could. He dug his fingernails into his palm, reducing the shaking as he looked up, his eyes void of emotion.

"I'm fine. Let's get this over with." He said, keeping his voice even and level, earning a small, almost proud smile from Mark.

"Good. I didn't want to have anything else to take care of tonight. Mark, get them out and tell them the plan, then come back here. I'll get everything prepared." Joshua said, Mark nodding and sliding the van door open hopping out.

Leona grinned again, all the fear she had seemingly gone as she got out, Juno following behind her slowly, trying not to fall.

"Hurry up kid, we don't have all night." Joshua barked, Juno almost falling out of the van.

Leona grabbed his arm carefully, helping to steady him out as she smiled at him.

"Okay L, J, here's the plan. You need to go to the front door, a guy named Alberto Rodiguas should answer. Use any excuse you want to talk to him, you guys are about the same age so it shouldn't be too hard. Once he answers, just stall, it wont take that long. Trust me when I say you'll know once you need to get back here. And when you do, run. Got it?"

Mark stared at both of them so sternly Juno felt like he might pass out.

Lea nodded, grabbing his hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Got it! Easy peasy! Let's go Juno!" She said happily, dragging Juno towards a nearby house, he hadn't even realized where they were at this point.

Leona took the lead, ringing the doorbell and waiting with a smile.

Juno watched that smile quickly fall."Ms. Rodiguas?" Juno asked quietly, staring in shock as he saw his old third grade teacher.

She looked older now, more wrinkles then he remembered along with a few grey hairs, he assumed she was in her 50's about now.

"Juno Castillo? Leona Bower? Is that you guys?! Oh my gosh look at how you two have grown!"

Ms. Rodiguas smiled widely, quickly reaching out and pulling the two into a tight embrace.

Juno found himself to be at a loss for words, everything seemingly to go in a blur.

Leona asking to speak to her son, saying they went to school together and had a question about a project.

The confusion on the boy's face when she started talking to him like they were best friends.

Ms. Rodiguas not leaving the door.

Two loud, earsplitting cracks in the air.

Silents screams.

Red.

Tears.

The feeling of Lea giving out a high pitched yell, grabbing his hand again, and running as fast as she could back.

Juno followed silently, hardly feeling his movements as they got back in the van and sped off.

Sirens whizzing by as they drove in silence, Leona's pretty yellow sweater splattered in what she said she'd say was red paint.

Mark and Joshua putting away the smoking gun, acting as this was normal.

Juno turned, and stared out the window.

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Unedited

Word Count: 1155

....it caused me physical pain to write this. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed the angst, make sure to vote and yell at me in the comments! See you next chapter! Bye!