Page 18 of A Dead Man's B-Side
When I turned twelve, I became an orphan.
And by the time I was fourteen, I was on the run.
I felt out of place in this school, but even more so in this classroom.
When it seemed he had nothing else to add, I turned to leave, only to slip his ballpoint pen into my uniform trousers' pockets from the edge of his desk.
My eyes caught on the shadow of a figure disappearing behind the doorway, as though they’d peered too far in on our conversation.
My gaze narrowed.
Maybe if I broke into a run, I’d catch them.
“Alexandr.”
The name made me pause, but I didn’t turn, didn’t look over my shoulder. Only waited for the other shoe to drop.
“I hope you enjoy your time here at Castle Hill.”
I stalked off with a roll of my eyes.
Since when did he get so emotional?
Flashback
Circa 1974
“I don’t understand why I have to read on a weekend. I do plenty of that at school.”
“I’ve seen the school you go to, Alexei. It’d be easier to get a kilo of cocaine in there than it would be a book.”
Alexei recoiled with heat in his stare. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He had no love for that place, but in front of Cassius, he was strangely defensive over it. It felt as though someone of penurious standing were defending their dingy car, the very one they hated for breaking down every cold morning, to someone of a higher class.
“I-” Cassius opened his mouth to defend his point before taking a breath, his heartstrings tugging at the small boy swinging his short legs off the dining table chair he occupied, a proud glare shooting out of his eyes like laser beams. “How about this, you read the first chapter, and if you give me a good enough summary, I will…” He thought about it for a moment and watched as Alexei’s eyes widened to a glittering spark. “Let you join me in the gym.”
Alexei, who’d been sitting at the edge of his seat and close to falling off, gasped excitedly before picking up the book Cassius had placed in front of him without a second thought. “Really? Youmean it?”
Cassius smiled and walked away backwards. “A man is only as good as his word. But–butonly if you give me a good summary. I mean it.”
Alexei nodded fiercely but didn’t seem to be listening, already flipping through the pages. “Alright, alright.”
Cassius chuckled before heading into the garage.
Only then did reality settle in.
He walked to the phone he kept in there and dialled the number he’d been meaning to ignore, at least while Alexei was here. But that would make him a horrible friend, and besides, Wind was already closing in on him.
He needed to speak to both of them. Preferably separately.
It didn’t ring for long when he rotated the number in, the crackle of Bow’s voice filling his ear almost immediately. How we knew it was him calling, Cassius didn’t know. “I could kill him, Cas, I could KILL HIM–I could do it, you know? I–I–...”
His voice escalated to a scream before he seemed to realize where he was and lowered it to a whisper. Cassius took a deep breath and recited the words that now came naturally, “Bow… Listen to me, breathe and tell me what happened. You need to tell me what’s going on.”
This happened at least a few times a week, but lately, it was getting harder for Bow to keep his anger below the surface, and Cassius didn’t want to know what would happen if he one day decided not to.
He shuddered at the thought.
