Cheap Shots

00:13

UNEDITED

13.

"What do you want to do first?" I asked my little sister, her hand tugging on my fingers, trying to get me over to the kiddie roller coasters.

"That!" She said excitedly, munching on a handful of popcorn.

"You can go, and I'll wait here, okay?" I told her, walking in the direction of a half full picnic table off to the side of the ride.

"No," she pouted, "Orion, come on!"

"Heather!"

"Orion!"
I huffed and crossed my arms. "I won't even fit on that thing!" I complained, pointing to the miniature dragon coaster that was only twenty feet into the air, with minimal spacing in between the seats and seat backs.

"It'll be fun, I promise."

"I don't believe you, and I really won't fit," I tried to reason with her eight year old mind, but she wasn't buying it. "I can't believe you even want to go on that ride, it's for little kids!"

Her bottom lip jutted out a little bit, and she brushed her blonde hair behind her ears, "But my friend is going on!"

"So go with her!"

She stalked away towards the ride, reaching into the pocket of her jacket for tickets, and standing in line next to a brunette little girl with a royal blue sundress and cute flower sandals.

"Your little sister drag you here?" A voice said from my right.

I whipped around to see Sean standing there in all his red-haired glory, "Yeah, how about you?"

He shrugged. "Same thing.

"Which one's your sister?" I asked curiously.

"Blue dress, brown hair. He told me, watching the girl playing with my sister.

I laughed a little. "Looks like their friends."

He moved so he was sitting down on the wooden bench, and patted the seat next to me in a come sit down gesture.

"How's hockey going?" I was trying to make small talk and hockey seemed to be the only thing I knew a little about that wasn't particularly boring to talk about.

"Good, we're all getting pushed really hard by coach to make sure we get far in playoffs. Field hockey?"

"Pretty good, I guess. I haven't been to most of the practices though because of my injury, but our record is pretty good."

"What is it?" He asked.

"Seven, one."

"Dude, that's great! Ours is eight, one. We've only got three games left. You should come watch one," he told me. "Maybe wear my jersey," Sean added with a wink.

I rolled my eyes. "Right, what am I going to do, take it off Lauren?"

His eyebrows creased in confusion and he looked away. "Yeah, I was joking."

Laughing, I turned away as my little sister ran up with a huge smile on her giddy face.

***

"Orion? Is that you?" My mother's voice called as I entered our house, my sister's feet slapping against the wood floor noisily.

"Yeah!" I called back. "Where are you?"

"Kitchen!" She yelled and I walked towards our modern kitchen. When I walked in I noticed her face was splotchy and red, her hair messily strewn around her face as she tried to cover.

"What's going on?" I asked her, knowing that she didn't cry often.

"Orion, Matt's getting paroled."

My eyes widened and I felt my heart beat quicken with anger, my fists automatically clenching at my sides. "When? Why! It's only been a year."

Her bottom lip trembled and she burst out into tears, her sobs echoing across the empty house, my little sister walking in to see what was wrong. "Mom?" She asked.

"A week and a half," she said before another set of tears overcame her. "T-they thought h-he deserved another chance!" She wailed.

"Call dad," I told Heather, who was hugging my mom's waist with her small hands, her eyes filled with undeniable worry.

"Orion, where are you going?" Frantically, my mother tried calling me back inside, but I wasn't going too.

I didn't respond as I ran down the road, my feet slapping painfully on the pavement.

I dialed Catherine's number and impatiently waited for her to pick up. "Catherine-"

"Yeah? Orion, are you okay? You sound weird," she asked into the phone. "Where are you?"

"I think I'm a mile down my road, I've been running for a while, I need you to come get me."

"I'm on my way, please stay there."

I nodded even though she couldn't see me and hung up the phone, sitting down on the curb next to me, watching the clouds.

A car pulled up ten minutes later, Catherine in the driver's seat. "Get in!" She yelled towards me.

I did what she said, leaning my head on the window and not even bothering with a seatbelt. "Tell me what happened," she demanded.

I bit my lip. "I can't."

"Why not? I just drove all the way out here for you, it's the least you could do."

"It's personal," I told her shortly, knowing I was being a bitch.

How do you explain that your older cousin is a criminal who got your older brother that no one knows about, killed?

"I know everything about you, it can't be that personal."

"You barely know anything, Catherine."
"You're being a bitch to me! I picked you up, and I'm your best friend, and you can't even trust me with this. Talking it out will make you feel so much better."

"Talking it out may work for some people, but it's not going to make me feel any better." I told her honestly, my eyes still looking out the window.

I heard her huff in annoyance. "Right, because you don't like talking about feelings. You don't have to be so cold all the time, Orion."

"I'm not cold!" I protested.

"Yeah, you are, and you don't care about anybody and couldn't give a shit about things that happen to people! You're my friend, but you need to figure things out."

"Ever think there's a reason I'm so cold?" I asked her, my voice steady but clearly angry.

"Well you wouldn't tell me, so I don't know!"

I turned to face her, my lips pressed in a thin line and she glanced over at me, clearly expecting some sort of story.

"You'd be cold too if you watched your best friend kill your brother." I said bluntly.

I heard her gasp, and the last thing I remember was the car swerving off the road.

***

a/n: nothing like a cliffhanger to start off the holiday seasons(; happy thanksgiving, everyone.