November 20th, 2016

Kinsky, California, USA

Lorenzo, I

Lukas woke up in the morning lying on his bed. Almost immediately, he sensed something different.

There was a soft, subtle indent on the sheets next to him. He waved an open palm in front of the spot. It was warm.

Over in his bathroom, he heard the shower starting. A speaker was playing Dancing With Myself. Lukas, yawning, went over to investigate.

He opened the bathroom door just enough to see the faint outline of a figure within the shower’s fogged walls. Right before he could put his mind on who it might be, a voice rang out.

“Uh uh. No peeking, weirdo.”

Lukas quickly shut the door, with his heart pounding through his chest. Kat giggled loudly from the other side.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding! Come back!”

Cautiously the boy once again opened the bathroom door. After he walked in, Kat spoke out once again.

“You usually take a shower in the morning?”

“No. I take them at night.”

“Did you take one last night?”

“Uhh… I think so? Why?”

“Well…” Lukas could see Kat outstretch her arms into a shrug. “Sometimes, it’s good to take a shower at night, and a shower in the morning. That way, you’re doubly clean. And since you’re just in those whitey-tighties of yours, now’s the perfect chance.”

Lukas looked down at his underwear. “Th-these are boxer briefs!”

“Whatever. My point being…”

The shower door opened. Kat stuck out her head, her hand on the door handle, and let her wet hair hang loosely to the side.

“… You wanna come in?”

Lukas tried to keep his head focused up towards Kat’s face, and away from her naked breasts. “Um… yeah. Yeah, sure.”

Kat smiled, leaned back up, and closed the door again. Lukas took the time to look around his surroundings, and for the first time that morning it all clicked for him. He turned towards his mirror. He was there, and just out of focus he could see Kat massaging her hair in the shower. Life had become good. No — it had become better than good. Lukas smiled, and in one swoop he reached for the bathroom door and closed it shut.

…

As Kat struggled to put back on her skinny jeans, she grabbed her phone off Lukas’ end table. She had barely gotten to the home screen when she realized something was very wrong.

“Oh, shit.”

There were 13 missed calls, all from her family’s home phone. A set of text messages from both her mom and her father followed. The last text gave mention to the police, before cutting off.

“Luke, I gotta go,” she said, picking up her jacket and hoodie off the floor. “I’ll see you later, yeah?”

“Yeah…” Lukas leaned against the door frame of the bathroom, lost in thought. He quickly snapped back to attention, and blurted something else out. “I, um, Kat…”

Kat turned back to face him. “Mhmm?”

“Are we… is this…?”

She finished putting her hoodie back on, and smiled at him. “Yeah. This is it.”

Lukas gave a smile back. “Alright then, I’ll see you.”

Kat opened the bedroom door and walked quickly down the hallway. Lukas watched as she left in her pickup truck. The world felt very different from here.

…

“Hey, mom. Listen, it’s me, Kat. I’m uh… I’m sorry I left out of the blue like that. But there was something I needed to finish, something I’ve been putting off for a long time… and, because of that, I might not have seen your calls, or messages, but I wanted to let you all know this because I’m fine, absolutely fine, and I’m driving up to the house right now, so if you could just prepare dad and… and… oh, fuck me.”

In Kat’s usual parking spot were two police cars. One officer, a bald African American man with a goatee, was writing something down on a notepad. As the young teen parked the car next to him, he turned to look at her getting out.

“Are you…?”

“Katherine Wilkins? Yes, I am.”

The officer looked back up at the mansion. “I think you better-”

“Oh, trust me. I know.” Kat gave an exaggerated smile as she rushed past him and into the house.

As she walked up a spiral staircase, she met her mother halfway up. Mrs. Wilkins gave her a disappointed, if somewhat pitying look. 

“I just got your voicemail. You’ll still have to explain things to your father.”

Kat sighed. “Yeah, I know.”

“It was really reckless of you to act that way, you know that?”

Kat lowered her voice. “Yeah… I know.”

Mrs. Wilkins hesitated. She observed her daughter up and down, before looking towards her averted gaze. 

“Was it something about Lukas?”

Kat turned her head back up and faced her mother in the eyes. “How… how did you figure it out?”

The mother shook her head. “Lukas or Cole. Those are the only two you would act this way over. Is he alright?”

“Oh, yeah. Yeah, he’s fine. It’s great, actually.”

“Will you tell me about it later?”

Kat gave a faint, brief smile. “Yeah, I will.”

The tender moment between the two women was broken by a sudden loud yell on the floor above them.

“Katherine Joanne Wilkins!”

Kat looked up. “Oh no.”

Mrs. Wilkins began walking down the steps. “Well, you better head on up. He’s your father — it’s better that you learn to speak to him without my help.”

Kat gave another deep sigh. “Yeah, you’re right. Wish me luck.”

Mrs. Wilkins waved her hand behind her as Kat ran up the steps. “Thoughts and prayers.”

When Kat got inside her father’s office, he was standing facing the window outside. A police officer was standing by his desk, looking nervously as Kat entered.

“That’s enough, Officer Morris.” Mr. Wilkins spoke, without looking back.

The officer, clearly intimidated, nodded his head shakily, then walked out the door, closing it behind him. Kat watched him leave, then turned her head back to her father.

“Do you want to tell me where you were last night?”

Kat thought of the best way to phrase things. She thought about the conversation she had just had with her mother. “I was… checking in on a friend.”

“And does you… ‘checking in on a friend’, give you any right to scare your mother and I like that?”

Kat hung her head. She walked over to the office chair, and sat on the opposite side of the table.

“Look… I’m sorry.”

Her father turned his head away from the window, and towards her direction. He examined her for a moment, before walking over to his side of the desk.

“I know you’d like to think you’re an adult now, but you aren’t. You still have a long way to go to get there.”

Kat looked up to face Mr. Wilkins. “Just because I’m not an adult doesn’t mean I don’t get to think the way I think, or feel the way I feel.”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

“That’s not what you’re saying, but it’s what you’re feeling. You just want me to grow up to be the little heiress to your ‘empire’, or whatever you want to think it is. But have you ever even considered the fact that maybe I don’t want to be that? That maybe I just want to live my own life, independent of you and mom?”

 “My job as a parent isn’t to mold you into what I want. But it is to make sure you stay on the right path, something which I think you’ve strayed very far away from for the past few years.”

Kat leaned in. She was on the verge of tears once more. “Oh, so you’re disappointed in me, then? Tell me, what was one time you weren’t disappointed in something I did? Do you even have one?”

“Katherine, that’s not true-”

“Answer my question!”

Mr. Wilkins stopped, and took a deep breath. “Well, I approve of your relationship with Isaac. I know he’s a good kid, and his father and I are close friends. You did that — not me.”

Kat didn’t speak. She glared at him, locking in both pairs of blue eyes onto each other. “Are you serious?”

Mr. Wilkins looked at her, confused. “What?”

“Dad, Isaac and I broke up a month ago.”

The father leaned back defensively. “Well why didn’t you tell me?”

“I did tell you. I told you the day after, at dinner. Mom was there- God, do you even try to pretend you care about my life?”

“Well Katherine, I’m busy! I can’t be expected to remember everything you tell me!”

“You’re always busy. You’re always focused on your business first, and at best mom and I get what’s left over. You know, sometimes I was born in a family that was a lot less well off,  because then maybe I’d at least have a chance of having a father who was actually part of my life!”

Kat was sobbing. Her cheeks were red, and she felt somewhere in the middle of rage and sadness. She looked up at her father, who didn’t look back at her — instead, he looked off in the distance, a look of embarrassment struck upon his face.

“Uh… I…”

Kat turned around. Emilia was standing there with a platter of iced tea, looking both perplexed and concerned.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Wilkins… is this a bad time?”

“N-no, it’s fine, go right ahead,” Mr. Wilkins stuttered. Emilia walked over to the desk, placing the platter on the table and pouring a glass. After she did this she began to walk to the door, but stopped midway. She turned back, curtsied to the two, then walked out.

The two members of the Wilkins family sat in silence, save for Kat’s sniffling. Eventually she got up as well, and began walking to the door.

“You know, you didn’t ask if they were okay.”

Mr. Wilkins looked up. “What?”

Kat turned her head. She wore a blank expression. “The friend I checked on. You didn’t ask if they were okay.”

“Well… are they?”

Kat looked away. “Yeah,” she muttered under her breath. She opened the office door and shut it behind her. 

…

Maria sat at her dining table. Her feet kicked nervously under her. Cole stood adjacent, pacing to and fro.

The young latina opened her phone up. “It’s 5. He should be here soon.”

Cole stopped. “And you’re sure you’re okay with doing this solo?”

Maria nodded. “He’ll get too suspicious if you’re around. It’ll be better if he talks just to me.”

“Alright. I’ll be up in your bedroom, then.” Cole began to walk off, but as he put his hands in his pockets he paused at the door frame. “Oh! I almost forgot,” he took a small object out of the right pocket and rolled it down the table to Maria’s location. “Take this.”

Maria grabbed the object as it rolled by, and looked at it. It was a rounded piece of hard plastic, shaped like a rabbit, with a small light-gray button in its center and a rectangular black lens right above that. 

“What is it?”

“It’s a buddy alert,” the boy responded back as he walked towards her. “Mr. Schrodden used to give this to Lukas and I whenever we’d go into the woods. You just click this-” 

He leaned over and pressed the button on Maria’s receiver. The opposite one — the one in Cole’s palm — had its black lens lit up with a bright red light, and it began buzzing and vibrating.

“-and it will do this. If anything happens during your conversation with Lorenzo, anything that makes you feel uncomfortable… click it, and I’ll come down.”

Maria took one last look at the device, and put it in the pocket of her black hoodie. “Thanks, Cole.”

Cole gave a weak smile, then walked out the room and up the stairs. Maria closed her eyes, and listened to the sound of his footsteps going up the stairs, around the hall, and into her room. Only a few minutes later did she then hear the sound of a car coming up to the house. 

Lorenzo walked in through the unlocked front door, wearing an old black Star Wars graphic t-shirt and a simple gray hiker’s backpack. As he turned his head, he saw Maria sitting at the dining table, and smiled. 

“Hey, chica! How have you been?”

As the man walked forward, however, Maria suddenly jutted out of the seat and stood defensively. Lorenzo stopped.

“Could you sit down, please?” Maria asked. The smile on Lorenzo’s face faded. He slowly moved over to sit across from her.

“Maria, what is this about? Are you still on that-”

“Sit down. I just want to ask you a few questions.”

Lorenzo did as he was asked, sitting the backpack next to his chair. Maria could feel her hands going sweaty, as she held tightly to the alert box in her pocket. But she kept her composure.

“You were at our house during the week of August the 22nd?

Lorenzo gave a short, stunted laugh. “Yes, Maria. You know I was there.”

“I just want to hear it from you.”

“Yes… yes I was.”

“And what was your relationship like with Anita?”

“Maria-”

“Answer my question, please.”

“She… she was mi prima. Just like you are. I loved her, she was family. And yes, I’m not great with kids, but — I tried my best.”

Maria took a deep sigh. She grabbed the dark blue binder sitting just to the right of her, and moved it into the center. “This binder contains a collection of most if not all the art Anita drew over the past three years. In the days leading up to the 24th, she marked out every single mention of your name or your figure.”

“Maria… what are you implying…?”

“I’m not saying any of this was your fault, Lorenzo. I just want to know if you knew anything on why Anita might have committed suicide.”

Maria’s cousin gave a stressed sigh. “Maria, for the last time, Anita didn’t commit suicide.”

“No, she did. I know she did.”

“Just because you have some sort of strong hunch, doesn’t mean-”

“You don’t get it.”  Maria breathed deeply as she pulled out the chair to the left of her, picking up a beige folder and tossing it towards Lorenzo. “I had the hospital send the autopsy report to me, and not mom. I know.”

Lorenzo looked down at the folder. His eyes widened. “You did what? And you didn’t think to tell anyone?”

“Oh, I told mom. She didn’t believe me.”

“But you didn’t tell me. And I bet you didn’t tell Oscar, did you?” 

“Of course I didn’t tell my father, I don’t even know where he is!”

Lorenzo stood abruptly from his seat. “Just who did you tell?”

“I-”

Maria was cut off by a sound they both heard — a loud creaking coming from above them. Lorenzo slowly turned his head in the direction of the noise. It came from Maria’s bedroom.

Inside the bedroom, Cole stood perfectly still. He had been pacing the entire time, but only at that moment had his foot hit a loose plank. A bead of sweat dripped down his temple as he carefully and quietly moved his foot away from the plank, and sat himself down on the bed.

“Is there someone else in the house?” Lorenzo asked, turning back towards Maria.

Maria tried to stay calm. “No, of course not.”

If the man didn’t believe her, he didn’t let it show. His face was unreadable as he picked up his backpack and walked towards the front door.

“Listen, I don’t know why Anita marked off my pictures in her art book,” he spoke defensively, approaching the entrance. “So perhaps you should ask someone else. Maybe that friend of yours.”

Maria couldn’t answer back. Lorenzo shut the door behind him. She sat there alone for a few moments, head down, before Cole finally came down from the stairs.

“I take it… things didn’t go well, did they?” Cole asked cautiously.

Maria shook her head. “Yeah, they didn’t.”

“Was it… my fault?”

Maria shook her head. “No… I don’t think so. It’s just, this whole thing, I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m just a kid. I feel like all I’m doing is making the whole situation worse.”

As the girl tried her best to stop herself from crying, Cole took the seat next to her. “Well… do you think Lorenzo did it?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know. I have no idea. I don’t know what I would do even if he did it. I just don’t know.”

Maria put her head down on the table, and began sniffling. Cole, in a careful manner, placed his hand on her and gently rubbed her back.

“Cole?” the boy could hear the girl ask, muffled under her hidden face.

“Yeah?”

“Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

“I mean, no, of course. Go ahead.”

Maria raised her face up to look at him, the dots of tears lining the lower part of her eye. “Do you… has Anita ever mentioned anything to you about all this? Anything you haven’t told me about?”

There was a subtle change in Cole’s expression. A pained one. He closed his eyes and placed his hands on the table.

“Yes. Just one.”

Maria raised her head up further. “What happened?”

The boy shook his head, and opened his eyes. “Nothing incriminating. At least, nothing I thought would be helpful. But there’s a conversation that I think about a lot that we had a few months back. You remember when we went to Mount Oswald?”

She looked confused. “We?”

“Well, sorry… Anita and I. You guys were figuring some stuff out about your dad and didn’t want Anita to be around. So I took her on a hike around the Oswald area.”

The clarity sparked Maria’s countenance. “Oh, yeah, I do remember. I didn’t know you took her to Oswald, though.”

“We mostly stayed around the base of the mountain. But anyway, it was just the two of us. We were walking up the path, through one of the shorter trails by the creek…”