Fake (4 page)

Chapter Five

Ruben

When she fell asleep, curled up in a tight ball on Luc’s bed, I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face.

The little girl just couldn’t help herself, she wanted to be grown-up so badly, but she was still just a little girl.

Luc slapped me across the back of the head and I growled at him.

“What the fuck?”

“What the fuck, what? Dude, she’s
eleven
!” He scowled at me.

“Whoa! I know that!”

“Then why are you looking at her like that?”

“Like what?” I asked and frowned at him. I had no idea what he was talking about.

“Dude, seriously? You were just sitting there stroking her hair and smiling at her while she’s sleeping?”

I was?

I looked down at my hand still resting on her hair and pulled away like I’d been burnt.

“It isn’t like that! She’s like my little sister or something!” I protested.

He just shook his head at me and scooped her up, taking her back to her own room. I turned the TV off and settled down on his bed. There was just no shaking the feeling flowing through my veins, that something huge was about to happen.

Mason turning up had put me on edge.

He had been the one who convinced me to stay at Luc’s in the first place, even though I never had before. So for him to turn up too, I just knew that he was keeping something from me.

I didn’t like that, as in, I didn’t like it
at all
. But I closed my eyes and tried to sleep away my unease.

I was awoken sometime later by something shaking my shoulder. I tried to swat it away but open my eyes when it shook harder.

“Get up. We have to go.” Mase whispered.

I blinked to clear my sleepy eyes.

“What? Go where?”

Lucas stirred from the other end of the bed and Mase glared at me.

“Just get up!” He hissed, still whispering.

I hadn’t changed out of my clothes so I just stood and brushed myself off. He dragged me out of the room and shut the door quietly.

“But I don’t understand, why do we have to go now?” I muttered, sounding like a petulant child.

“Don’t ask questions, I can’t answer anything yet. Just trust me that we have to leave
now.
”

I heard a gasp and pushed open Lydia’s door.

“Where are you going?” She asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. But I’ll be back, Squirt.”

Her chin started to tremble and I had to stop her crying. I hated it when she cried.

“Hey, look at me.”

She looked up into my eyes.

“
I promise
. I’ll come back.”

I shouldn’t have made that promise.

Not when I didn’t know if I could keep it.

But I was fourteen. I thought I knew it all.

I didn’t.

*~*~*

Mason started running as soon as we cleared the front door and I followed him. There was a strange smell in the air and when we turned the corner, I realised why.

Our house, our home, was completely engulfed in flames. I stopped and stared, the whole frame was alight and the sky lit up with orange.

“Come on!” Mase called and I shook off my daze. What the fuck had happened?

We ran until my lungs were burning and I had to stop to take a deep breath. Mase stopped beside me and I saw him send off a text.

“Who...are...you...texting?” I panted. My body was too weak to run that far.

“You’ll see.” He answered.

Seconds later a car screeched to a halt beside us and Mase jumped in.

“Get in!” He shouted and I startled.

“I’m not getting in there, we don’t know who he is!”

The stranger got out of the car and started towards me. I couldn’t place his face, but I knew him. I just didn’t know where from. I scrambled back but he bent at the waist and
literally
threw me in the car.

He sat in the driver’s seat and we sped off.

“What the hell?” I exclaimed.

The face in the front grinned at me and I knew instantly who he was.

“Nice to see you too, little brother.”

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

Jackson Brent, in the flesh.

*~*~*

I was dreaming. I had to be.

I hadn’t seen my big brother since the day our parents kicked him out of the house when I was about seven. I never thought I’d see him again.

“What...” I started, but was cut off.

“I’ll explain everything later. You may as well get some rest little brother, we’ve got a pretty long drive ahead of us.”

A thousand and one questions were bouncing around in my head but a sense of peace settled over me and I decided to listen to what he said.

Sleep seemed like a damn good idea.

Mase woke me up a few hours later when we stopped and dawn was just touching the horizon.

I looked out the window and didn’t recognise my surroundings at all.

“Come on!” Mase shouted, bouncing up and down on his toes with excitement. I wasn’t excited. There were just too many questions to be answered.

We had stopped outside a building that looked like a hotel but it didn’t have any signs on the outside, so I just stared blankly at Jackson.

He smiled but looked nervous.

“Welcome home, little brother.”

I didn’t speak. Frankly, I was little worried about what would come out of my mouth if I did.

We walked into the plush surroundings inside the building and I gaped. The whole place looked like it come straight out of some sort of
‘Your Home’
magazine. It was decorated from floor to ceiling in reds and golds and I was struck speechless.

I followed my brothers through the hallway to the lift and couldn’t stop flicking my eyes in every direction, taking in every last detail.

“Where are we?” I finally asked.

Jackson answered. “My home. Your new home.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. We’d been living in hell for seven years and he’d been living like this?

I couldn’t think, I just felt rage sweeping through my veins and my whole body tensed. Jackson didn’t miss my reaction either because he winced.

His apartment took up the entire top floor but I didn’t even spare it more than a single glance before I turned and launched myself at him.

Every ounce of anger, disappointment and despair that had built up inside me over the years just overflowed. I swung my fist back and punched him in the mouth. I was fourteen, scrawny and weak. He barely even moved an inch but I didn’t stop. I just kept hitting him everywhere I could. Mase attempted to pull me back but I screamed at him to let me go.

“Calm down!” Mase said in my ear, but I was hysterical.

“
You bastard! You motherfucking bastard! Is this all some big game to you?’Look what big, bad Jackson Brent made of himself when he left!’ Well fuck that and fuck you! I don’t need your fucking charity.”

Jackson just stood there while I screamed at him. His face was impassive and he wasn’t showing any emotion at all. I hated him.

Finally, he spoke. “If you think I’ve had it easy, little brother, you can think again. Now sit down, calm down, take a breath and we’ll talk.”

The fight just drained from my body and I leant heavily against Mase, who was still holding on to me.

It took a while, hours maybe, for Jackson to tell us his story and I could tell that Mase hadn’t known much, if any of it.

I wasn’t sure who’d had it worse, us or him. Granted, we’d been used as punching bags and made to do a lot of things we didn’t want to, but I couldn’t imagine living on the streets. I felt guilty for hitting him, so I told him so. He just laughed.

“Not the first time I’ve been punched, Ruben. Probably won’t be the last either.”

I still had two questions that needed answering though.

“Did you set fire to our house? And where’s our Mum and Dad?”

He stared at me, his face blank.

“No I didn’t start that fire and I don’t know where they are.”

He sighed. “I know it’s hard to believe, Ruben, but I asked Mase to get you both out of the house tonight so that it would be easier to take you with me. I didn’t want to deal with your,
our
, parents. So I figured; if you weren’t there, it would be easier. I saw the fire though, that’s when I told Mase we had to get gone as soon as we could. You know it doesn’t look good.”

His eyes shifted away from me and he wrung his hands together. Tell-tale signs of a liar. I didn’t know whether to be relieved, or scared. This wasn’t the brother I knew, of course, he was just a kid himself last time I saw him.

I decided to let him have his lie. The outcome wouldn’t change either way.

“So what do we do now...?” I asked.

His grin was proud. “Now little brother, you guys get to start living.”

*~*~*

Lydia

He was gone.

I waited in all day for him to come back. But he didn’t.

No call, no text, no word. Just vanished.

Lucas was angry, he wouldn’t talk about him. We all knew about the blaze, the gossip had spread like wild-fire around the estate. Two bodies being found in a burnt down house would, I suppose.

I’m not sure how Lucas knew that Ruben and Mason weren’t inside when the house burnt down, but he did. I wondered if Ruben and Mason knew that their Mum and Dad had died or if they were bothered. I knew they weren’t good parents. Which made me wonder if the brothers had actually been
involved
in starting the fire, but my heart knew that couldn’t be true of Ruben. He was a good boy.

It had been almost a month since the night he ran out of our house and things were changing. Subtle changes, but changes all the same.

Dad seemed more angry and frustrated. Mum seemed more sad and withdrawn.

I turned twelve. I still had balloons and banners, a few presents and everyone was smiling at me. But they weren’t real smiles. They were all hiding things from me and I wanted to question them, but I never did.

Something in me changed when Ruben left. I wasn’t inquisitive anymore, I didn’t ask questions and I didn’t try and be nosey. Mainly because I felt like maybe if I’d been less annoying, less clingy, he wouldn’t have left in the first place.

Irrational thoughts of course, but I was just a child.

I should have paid more attention.

I sat next to Mrs Henley on the recliner and told her all about what was going on at home, how things were changing. I told her about Uncle Freddy’s more frequent visits, how they always coincided with bad arguments between my Mum and Dad and how Freddy always brought me lovely presents; such as the silver charm bracelet I was wearing.

I missed her horrified reaction because I was in the story-telling zone.

“Dad just shouts a lot lately and I don’t understand why Mum is so sad all the time.” I whined.

She patted my knee in what, I’m assuming, was supposed to be a supportive gesture.

“Ahh sweetheart, sometimes grown-ups do things that they shouldn’t do. They don’t think about the consequences and then they feel bad afterwards. You’re too young to be worrying about them.”

I frowned at her. My Mum and Dad didn’t do things they shouldn’t do.

“I’m confused.” I muttered, as I curled into her side.

“Oh, you poor mite. Of course you are. Just keep yourself busy and stay out of their way for a while. Things will get better, I’m sure.”

She didn’t sound sure. In fact, she sounded down-right scared.

“You should be getting home little girl, it’s getting dark. But promise me one thing, you’ll come see me if you need me, yeah?”

I felt slightly sick at her choice of words. Promises didn’t mean anything to me anymore.

I nodded. “I promise, Mrs Henley.”

“Go on then, I’ll see you soon.” She said, sounding wistful.

“Bye, Mrs Henley!”

I ran across to my house and flew through the front door. Uncle Freddy sat on the sofa next to my Mum and she cringed when I walked in.

“Hey, Uncle Freddy.” I called.

He smiled his beautiful smile. I really didn’t understand why no one else seemed to like him.

“Where have you been, Ladybug? It’s nearly dark outside.” He asked. I liked his nickname for me, it made me feel precious...just like Ruben’s used to.

“Oh, just over to Mrs Henley’s house. She’s our next-door neighbour. She makes me tea and gives me cookies! Then she tells me all about the olden days and I tell her all of my secrets.” I giggled, she really was my secret keeper.

Uncle Freddy frowned and suddenly looked mad at me. He got like that sometimes, so I stepped back.

“What secrets?” He snarled, making me gulp.

“I don’t know, I just tell her everything. She’s my friend.” I whispered.

“I see.”

He didn’t say anything else and I took the opportunity to run upstairs, into my bedroom. I didn’t understand how one man could be so nice sometimes, yet still scare the living daylights out of me like that.

I missed Ruben. I missed his smile, his laugh, just
him
. But something inside me had shifted when he left and I was fighting an inner battle of emotions. On one hand, I was happy for him, I knew he needed to escape his horrible parents. Then on the other hand, I was so, so angry at him for lying to me, for leaving me. I didn’t know how to deal with it.

Sleep soon solved the problem for me and I didn’t have to think about it again until the morning, which came far too soon.

I heard my Mum calling me and she sounded panicked so I ran down the stairs, still in the previous day’s clothes and froze in the doorway.

My Mum sat on the sofa biting her bottom lip and her hands were shaking. Her eyes looked funny, all bloodshot and jittery.

“Mum? What’s wrong?”

She sucked in a shuddering breath and patted the sofa next to her, silently asking me to sit.

“I’m sorry sweetheart, so, so sorry, but Mrs Henley passed away in the night last night. I didn’t know how to tell you, but I thought you’d rather know sooner than later.”

The room was so silent that I was sure I heard my own heart break.

“How...?” I whispered. I mean, sure she was really old, but she’d seemed fine the day before.

Mum bit her nails, looking anywhere but at me and muttered “I don’t know.”

I was quickly becoming used to people lying to me and I noticed straight away.

“How did she die, Mum?” I asked again, stronger this time.

She jumped from the sofa and started pacing. Her hands grabbed the roots of her hair.

“I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know!” She chanted, trying to convince herself.

I left her to it, she seemed like she had forgotten that I was even there. My tears flowed freely and I didn’t bother trying to wipe them away. I ran from the house and straight to the park. It was early, so I figured no one would be around.

Sitting on the swings, I used my feet to push myself – higher and higher – just trying to forget anything and everything.

After a while, I started to slow down, dragging my feet on the floor to make the swing stop. I noticed Lucas walking across the field and I stood to wave at him but he wasn’t looking in my direction. I snuck after him, keeping enough distance that I hoped he wouldn’t notice me.

He approached a couple of men standing by the bushes and I shuffled to the other side of the hedge, it didn’t look like a friendly chat. They handed him a roll of money that had my jaw hanging. I’d never seen that amount of money.

He counted the money and shoved it in his pocket. The men looked at him expectantly. He glanced around and then gave them a handful of something, I just couldn’t see what it was.

One of the men held up a little bag, and stuck his finger inside. He then put that finger in his mouth and made a motion like he was brushing his teeth. I was twelve, but I wasn’t stupid. My brain did the math and I gasped out loud. What on earth had Lucas gotten himself into?

Three heads swung in my direction and I threw myself to the floor, just catching the two men run off in one direction and Lucas run in the other.

I lay still for a few minutes, making sure they had all gone and then stood from my hiding place. Stumbling around for a beat or two, I tried to get my mind around what I had just seen.

That wasn’t part of my world.

Mrs Henley wasn’t dead.

My brother wasn’t involved with drugs.

And I didn’t have a sneaking suspicion that my parents were somehow involved too.

But it was.

She was.

He was.

And they were.