Avenging Maria

Chapter Six-Consider It a Family Reunion

When Mazon went to school the next day, Ezekial wasn't there. Charlie and Elijah kept asking what had happened between them, but Mazon always brushed it off by saying it was an argument and he didn't want to talk about it. The concert came and went, and Mazon ended up playing Ezekial's solo for him. Instead of being empowering, it was devastating.

Mazon didn't hear from Ezekial until about a week after he left. He got a call from a random number, which he later traced back to an Arizona payphone, asking a simple question.

"You said your father left you right after you were born?" came the voice immediately after Maze picked up.

"Ezekial," Mazon breathed. "Where the hell are you? Are you okay?"

"Answer the question, Maze, it's important."

"Not right after, I was about three," Mazon replied. Ezekial immediately hung up, leaving Mazon staring at his phone. It was four days after the call and three days after Mazon traced it when he decided it was too long. Ezekial should have been back by then--at the least, called again.

"I have to find him," Mazon said, emptying the school supplies from his backpack. Elijah and Charlie stood in the doorway of the guest bedroom.

"I'm going with you," Eli told him. He started to help him shove clothes in his bag.

"No," Mazon said. "I don't know why he's there or what he's doing. It could be dangerous, and he might not want anyone to find him. He's more likely to talk to me if I go alone."

"It's dangerous for you if you go alone," Eli screamed. "What the hell did you fight about? Why is it dangerous at all?"

"It's not important," Mazon said.

"Did he burn you?" Elijah demanded. "That first night, when you came home wounded--did he do that to you?"

"No," Mazon said. He shoved the last of his clothes in a bag. "He has never been abusive, Eli, it's not that."

"I can't let you go alone, Maze," Elijah said, glaring into Mazon's eyes. "Not if you could get hurt."

"I'll be fine," Mazon said. "I promise." He turned towards the door, where Charlie still was. They sighed.

"Be careful, stubborn idiot," they said, stepping towards him and wrapping their arms around him. "We need our idiot back in one piece."

"I will be," Mazon told them, hugging them back. "I promise." When Charlie let go, Mazon turned to Elijah, who sighed but embraced him anyways.

"Don't get hurt," Elijah told him. "I swear to god, if you come back here busted as hell, I'll say I told you so and kill you myself."

"I feel so loved," Maze joked, patting his back. He pulled away and looked Elijah in the eyes hopefully. "Bus money?"

"Yeah, I'm sure I can pay to send your ass halfway across the country," Elijah said, rolling his eyes. "Follow me. You have money for food?"

"Everything left from my summer job, which equates to about fifty bucks."

"Good," Eli replied, leading Maze to his bedroom. He opened the first drawer and reached under his underwear, pulling out a hundred. "This is for emergencies only, jackass, so I expect it to be paid back."

"Yeah, yeah, you got it," Mazon said, rolling his eyes and taking it.

"With interest."

"Now you're delusional."

"Fine, I'll settle for just a hundred, but you better be making me cookies and kissing my ass for the next month."

"Cookies? Yes. Ass kissing? I'm afraid that position is reserved for the boy I'm going to get," Maze chuckled, patting Elijah on the back. Eli snorted.