It shouldn’t take more than twenty minutes total to get to the convenience store and back. But it had been forty minutes.
She wasn’t answering his calls.
He tapped Robert. “Take care of the twins for me.”
“Whuh?” Robert was sitting cross-legged at the table, jotting notes down. “You’re leaving?”
“I’ll be back. Don’t wait for me. Cook them something, like noodles or eggs. Ask them.”
“But we don’t have noodles or eggs. We don’t have anything.”
Colm strode out of the house, jumped to his bicycle, and started pedaling. The convenience store was only ten minutes away if you walk. He dreaded the weather here in Luna. It was either raining or the clouds were too thick and it was dark all the time. He passed by stores with neon signs, holographic advertisements, all the colorful crap and the grime of the people that walked these streets. It was empty this early in the day.
When he got there, the store was closed in lieu of a general maintenance, repair, and inspection. Apparently, a note said with a P.S, someone thought it’d be a good idea to light a fuse of destroying the cashier, other equipments, cutting electricity wires, and wrecking the glass windows.
He was relieved. That meant that Pavetta would be walking to the next convenience store, which was longer. She could’ve walked back and, Colm thought, he would have offered to go to the store himself.
He continued on.
Colm arrived at the next convenience store. It was open. But Pavetta was nowhere to be found, nor did he spot her on the street. He started to wonder she had gone. He walked inside and to the store clerk he asked her if she saw someone short with a bob cut black hair, sharp eyes, wait I’ll show you, I have a photo here, she’s my sister.
She hurriedly told his sister just left with some questionable men and they rounded a corner. He missed her by a minute. The clerk told his sister, she said, that she shouldn’t go outside, even if it’s daytime it’s dangerous, but at the very last minute she didn’t listen.
Colm was calling Pavetta on the phone as he ran out. She wasn’t answering. He found her very quickly. On the corner, she was surrounded by familiar men, and his heart sunk deep.
It was Anatolius and two of his friends.
They had gotten her wallet, and was counting the credits inside. She was cornered against the wall, teary eyed, biting her lip, and Colm felt himself flush with heat. He would have screamed at them. But the words locked in his throat, and he called out her name.
“Pavetta.”
She turned around, hopeful.
“Use the bicycle and go back home. Forget about your wallet. Now.”
She gave a nod and ran over to him, only to be grabbed a hand. There was a voice tinged with amusement. “She’s your sister, Colm?”
It was Anatolius.
“She is,” he paused. “Can you let go of her?”
“I can’t hear you,” he put an arm around her, reading her ID on her wallet. Pavetta bit her lip and looked away.
“I have something you’ll want.”
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The man smiled thinly, then pushed Pavetta away, who ran over to Colm. He took the credits and then threw the wallet. Pavetta picked it up.
“Take the bicycle and go home.”
“And you?” She muttered.
“I’ll live.”
She looked hesitant, but she gave a nod and ran for the bicycle. And then it was only them. He reminded himself that it would be over, and time would pass. Now, it was midday, but night would come regardless, and all he needed to do was hold on. His life wasn’t in any danger.
Anatolius began. “She’s very pretty, your sister,” he said. “She’s sixteen, apparently. Only a year younger than us. She goes to our school and you never thought to introduce me.”
Colm looked away. Then he took out his wallet, to which Anatolius snatched it up and flicked a paper out.
“Your sister has a thousand,” he said. “While you only have five-hundred. It’ll do.”
“Can I go now?”
“In a hurry, Colm? Do I scare you? Take a look at this guy. He’s trembling like a wet dog. Look at me, man. Look at me.”
Colm did.
“I won’t hurt you. Now you go to school and meet us there tomorrow, and I’ll make good on my word that these idiots won’t be bullying you. Or your sister—“
“I don’t know, man—“ one of them said.
“Shut up. Tomorrow. Eight o’clock. And tell her, Pavetta, right? If she wants good money, say, five-thousand credits, come find me here at midnight.”
Colm gave a nod.
“Oh, and one last thing.”
There was a flash of fist, digging into his stomach, while Anatolius held him up steadily. “We’ll make work of those abs someday. You’ll be ripped.”
He punched him another, and another, but this was the easiest part for Colm. He was used to this. He bit his lip and took it all in stride.
----------------------------------------
“On the couch. There.”
Colm groaned as they set him down, and he felt himself loosen at the softness of the fabric. “It was a good workout,” he whispered.
“Idiot,” Pavetta said. Then, in a lower voice, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” he said. “Anatolius had no one to pick on at school unless he wants to spark a fight between their families and his. If I was a bully, I’d pick myself too.”
“We have to do something,” she said. “Anything. They’ve taken how much, 1500 credits? That’s three days worth of food.”
“Do you have any ideas?” He looked at her, and she pursed her lips. “It’s not gonna last forever. I’ll keep looking for a job.”
“I can work too.”
“No, you don’t want to. You’re supposed to be at school.”
“So do you.”
He sighed.
“If only I had a gun,” she said. “A gun and a camera. Make them attack me, and then shoot them in self-defense. It’ll be on the headline about the corruption rampant in Luna and girls like myself have to use deadly force to defend ourselves. And I’m pretty enough to sell it too. Or are you going to tell me off?”
He thought about it. “No. You’re right. I’d never be able to think like that. You and Robert are hell of a lot smarter than me.”
“He’s at the top of his class,” Pavetta stood up and walked over to the fridge. “And so do I.” She rummaged for something inside. “Don’t push yourself too much. It’s only a couple of years from now, we’re the ones raking in all the credits.”
“We won’t live to a month or two if I don’t push myself,” Colm said. He sat up. “What are you looking for?”
“My ice cream. Have you seen it?”
Colm paused for a second. “No.”
“Robert. Robert!”
“What?” Robert said. He was in the living room with the twins.
“Did you eat my ice cream?”
“Yeah, no. Colm licked it clean. I’ve nothing to do with it.”
She looked at him. Then at Colm, who very much wanted to shrink back in the sofa.
“I’m going to sleep,” he said.
She was flushed. “You ate my ice cream.”
“No name, no ownership.”
“There was a pink sticky note stuck on top of it. You wouldn’t miss it.”
“There was nothing of the sort,” he said. “I swear.”
She looked at him, betrayed and hurt and all he wanted to do was go out and try to forget about this as much as possible.
She said something—a whisper.
“What?”
“Was it tasty?”
He wanted to say yes. So he said yes. It was very tasty. “Marshmallows and peanuts and chocolate.” She ran over to him and grabbed his hair and pulled. “I swear! There aren’t any notes, Pavetta. I didn’t know it was yours.”
“You should’ve asked and waited.”
“I was hungry. And it’s sitting right there. It’d be a sin to leave it like that. Besides, it’s already half-eaten and you should’ve finished all of it in one go.”
“And now I’m to blame for it?” She pulled back. “I haven’t even taken a bite out of it. I was saving it for tonight. What do you mean it was half-eaten?”
“Just as I said. Already opened. I thought it was Robert’s or something.”
They looked at each other. Then at Robert, who gunned for the door. “Grab him!” Colm got up to run, but his stomach cramped and he fell down on the floor clutching it.
He didn’t escape Pavetta, though. She tackled him to the floor and the twins ran up and jumped on them.
Colm smiled as he watched them. He would give anything for these kinds of small moments. Like a pocket of space, suspended in time, where money wasn’t the issue. He would give so much—so, so much.