I
“Zane, don’t play outside the house. Come on, come inside.”
Ada watched the boy’s mother run to the porch and extend her arm while keeping her robe closed with her one free hand. The kid let out an annoyed grunt and threw the basketball hard against the floor. Ada did not condemn the mother’s cautiousness. These were dangerous times to let children play unsupervised. Especially where they lived.
The red-haired girl looked up at the sky darkened by grey clouds. The boy’s mother could easily use the weather as an excuse. It was as if even the meteorology wanted to warn them of the danger lurking out there.
Ada pressed her coat against herself and suppressed the worries that plagued her. She ran towards her own entrance, desperate to escape the rising wind. The girl heard a small click when she inserted the key but the door refused to budge. She pushed her shoulder against it. She was already familiar with the ache that spread through her limbs every time she tried to enter her own home. She slammed into the door twice more before finally getting it to open.
She was assailed by the usual desire to leave as soon as she entered. The house smelled of mould, alcohol, and a smell she could never figure out but which resembled decay. She laid her purse on top of a chair in the hallway and headed for the kitchen.
How is it possible? Her head screamed.
Just yesterday she’d washed all the dishes in the house. And today there were already mountains of unwashed kitchen utensils scattered all over the counter.
She took a deep breath and searched for strength for the second time in less than a minute. She preferred to focus on something positive. At least today was better than many other days. Today, he wasn’t home yet. She would have time to get organised before all hell broke loose.
She remembered it wouldn’t be a good idea to leave the bag with her last paycheck in plain sight. She put it away in her room before taking off her denim jacket and rolling up her sleeves. She threw all the dishes in the sink and opened the faucet. If he came back and saw this mess – the mess he’d created – he might go crazy and take it out on one of them.
Her heart sank when the door creaked again under the effort of whoever was trying to open it. She hadn’t advanced much of the housework. At least, I’m the only one home, she thought.
The laughter of a child in the hallway was powerful enough to extinguish the panic that got hold of her. She whirled with a wide smile to watch a teenager and a child, with backpacks on their backs, join her in the kitchen.
“Sis, Sis!” Adam, Ada’s younger brother jumped with joy. He was holding something in his hand Ada couldn’t focus on with all the jumping. “Look at the drawing I did at school.”
His sister smiled and stroked his thin brown hair with her arm. Her gloved and soaked hand raised so she wouldn’t drip water on him. “You’ll have to be still so I can see.”
Adam stopped jumping. The books and pens stopped shaking inside his bag. His round, bright grey eyes were enough to show the excitement he couldn’t contain. He stood on his tiptoes and held out his drawing. Three figures were drawn on the sheet of paper: a girl with red curls, and two boys with brown hair. One of them was as tall as the female figure and the other one smaller.
“You see? This girl is you, that’s Jonah, and this one is me.”
Adam drew exceptionally well for a six-year-old boy. Most of Ada’s memories about her younger brother were often of him doodling. He drew everywhere. Notebooks, dirt, and even on the walls. It used to drive their mother crazy, but she had never had the heart to chastise him. Much less when most of the boy’s drawings were of her.
Ada exchanged an uncomfortable look with her other brother, Jonah. He simply shrugged his shoulders.
“What about Dad?” She asked.
Adam opened his eyes wide and looked from Ada to Jonah and back again to his sister. The boy liked to draw the things which made him happy more than anything else in the world. “I forgot,” he said, turning his gaze to the floor. “But sis, I don't want to include him in my drawing,” he apologised. The man they called Dad had a loud voice and scared Adam. “Here, it's for you.”
“Put it in my room,” she said. “Keep it in our secret place, will you?”
Adam smiled and darted up the stairs. Jonah casted a surreptitious glance at the stairs making sure the little one could no longer hear.
“It happened again.” His voice sounded urgent. “There was another kid who didn’t come to school today. The teachers think he’s probably just lost. They say there’s no reason to think it’s related to the other disappearances, but…”
Jonah’s voice faltered. Ada took off her yellow gloves and walked over to her brother to hug him. Her chest felt tight and she wanted so badly to protect the kid from his fears of the world. She wasn’t exactly short and her fourteen-year-old brother was already almost her height. But the girl was still tall enough to squeeze his shoulders between her arms. He wasn’t one to be easily frightened. Life had given him enough struggles to toughen him beyond his years, but she could empathise with his fear. She also felt anxious over all the missing children cases occurring in the area.
It had been about a month ago that the first two kids went missing. This was the third case. They were all children from their neighbourhood. A poor neighbourhood where most of the fishing families lived. A neighbourhood where children were easily forgotten if they went missing. Simply because they didn’t have the same angelic look dressed in polos like the children who lived in mansions on the other side of town. Or because they weren't part of the swim team, the debate team, the baseball team, or any other activity that made them popular among the rest of the community.
“I’ll ask them to let me leave the docks early,” said Ada. “That way I can take you to school before I leave for the restaurant. And I want you to wait for me after my shift. I don’t want you boys coming home alone. And promise me you won’t take your eyes off of Adam.”
“I promise. But you know you don’t have to—”
“Yes, I do. You’re my responsibility,” his sister interrupted.
Jonah looked at the pile of remaining dishes and pressed his lips together hesitant. “We shouldn’t. We should be the responsibility of that pile of dirt that treats you like a servant.”
“Don't talk like that!” Ada’s tone changed and became firmer. She knew her brother had reason to feel angry, but she couldn’t allow him to disrespect their father. Not out of love for the man - though partly out of love - but because she was afraid her brothers would let resentment take over their lives. Jonah was already so much angrier than Ada and Adam. The other two had inherited their mother’s softness and ability to block uncomfortable feelings from their minds. The middle child was much more outspoken. He let his feelings dictate the actions. Ada had seen it many times in the neighbourhood. Teenagers would get lost on drugs and in the streets. They blamed everyone and everything for the direction their bad life had taken, not accepting their share of the blame for the situation. She’d seen this same behaviour in her own father. She wouldn’t let her brother follow the same path. She held her brother’s face with both hands. “We don't need any more hate in this house. I have a plan, okay?”
Jonah nodded. He put his bag down on the table with a little more force than necessary when his sister let go of him. “Then I’ll help you,” he stated grudgingly.
Ada smiled. She loved him for wanting to help even if it was against his own wishes. Despite the rage, he was still determined to feel useful. He wanted to help her take the weight off her shoulders. More than anything she wanted to accept the offer and let someone else be responsible for her weight. But not the kid! She didn’t want to give her brother any more responsibility than he already had.
“There’s no need,” she replied. “I’ll do it myself. Go do your homework.”
“I don’t have much. I can do it later,” he insisted.
“Then go study something, I’ll take care of it.” She raised her eyebrows and that was enough to make him give in and follow the same way as their younger brother. Ada knew that if she let him help with the little things, sooner or later he would want to get a job too. So she wouldn’t have to hold down two jobs. He would eventually want to quit school, just as she had done.
Ada sighed and concentrated again on the household chores. She stared at the window and bit her lip. It wouldn’t be long now. If things went as planned the three of them would be out of there soon.
