Cemetery Boys

by Aiden Thomas

  The car shop was a squat warehouse with three open bay doors and a tiny office attached. The brick exterior was creamy orange, and MARTINEZ AND DIAZ MECHANIC SHOP was painted in loopy letters next to the entrance. There was a large mural of Our Lady of Guadalupe spray-painted above it. She was in her typical red dress and star-speckled blue mantle. Rays in shades of orange and yellow burst from around her. Sure enough, ST. J was written just below her feet.

  Various cars were parked in a line out front, some with missing fenders or busted headlights. A shiny Cadillac was hoisted up on a lift while a man in navy coveralls tinkered underneath it. Banda music played on a scratchy radio somewhere.

  Through the front window, Yadriel could see customers waiting on plastic chairs. The local news played on a small TV mounted in the corner. A woman with bright red lips and clicky high heels walked by holding a clipboard. Everything smelled like gasoline and engine grease.

  Luca went right up to a man standing at a workbench, sorting tools. He was wide and tall, clad in a pair of long khaki shorts, white tube socks, and a black T-shirt.

  “Carlos!” Luca called over the loud drilling of a machine.

  “Luca!” Carlos smiled in greeting. One of his front teeth was gold, and there were streaks of gray in his long goatee. “Where you been, little man?” He clamped a large hand on Luca’s shoulder and gave him a shake.

  Luca stumbled under the weight.

  “¿Hambriento? Think I got leftovers in the fridge—”

  “I’m okay!” Luca cut in, beaming up at the taller man. “Um, we’re actually looking for Rio.”

  “Oh?” Carlos looked up to where Yadriel and Maritza stood waiting. His smile faltered as soon as he caught sight of Donatello and Michelangelo. Maritza wiggled her fingers in a wave.

  “That’s Carlos,” Julian said into Yadriel’s ear.

  “Got that,” Yadriel said quietly, moving his lips as little as possible.

  “Could we talk to him?” Luca prompted when Carlos didn’t say anything.

  The man’s attention went back to Luca, the smile back in full force. “Yeah, yeah, ’course, little man!” He turned to the open bay doors and gave a sharp whistle. “Rio!” he called. “One of your strays is lookin’ for you!”

  One of the car hoods slammed shut, revealing a young man standing behind it. “Luca?” He came around and stepped into the sunlight.

  There was no denying that Rio was Julian’s older brother. They had the same nose and heavy brow. Rio was tall and broad. He wore navy coveralls with the top portion pulled down, the sleeves knotted around his waist. His white tank top was covered in black grease marks. His shoulders were round and the ropy muscles of his arms bunched as he wiped his hands off on a rag. On his right arm, Yadriel saw the large black-and-white tattoo of Santa Muerte Julian had mentioned before. A starry mantle framed her skeletal face.

  Almost immediately, Yadriel could feel something coming from Rio. When Yadriel looked at Maritza for confirmation, she gave him a confused look, like she felt it, too. He couldn’t pin down what it was. It wasn’t a spirit sense, definitely something having to do with his health. Julian hadn’t mentioned his brother having any illness or injury, but there was something there.

  Rio had a practical haircut and a serious face. He was incredibly handsome and twice as intimidating. “What are you doing here?” Rio’s copper-brown eyes flicked to Yadriel, Maritza, and then the dogs. His frown deepened as he tossed the rag to the side. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing—nothing’s wrong!” Luca said quickly through nervous laughter.

  Yadriel was starting to think Rio’s ability to tell someone was lying was less about his own skill and more about Julian and his friends being awful at it.

  “Could we go talk real quick?” Luca asked, tugging on the hem of his sweater.

  Again, Rio eyed them. Sweat prickled on the back of Yadriel’s neck, but he forced himself to not blink or look away. To his side, Julian glowered.

  Finally, Rio nodded. “Come on.” He led the way around the shop, his heavy black shoes squeaking against the oily cement. A large set of keys jangled at his hip.

  They followed, but Yadriel was already starting to regret this decision. After everything he’d heard about Rio—how he cared for and looked after Julian and his friends—he’d expected him to be, well … different. Friendlier, at least. The guy before him didn’t seem like someone who pulled a young boy out of a gang, or took in kids who didn’t have anywhere else to go.

  Around the side, Rio unlocked a large chain-link gate. At the back of the building, there was a storage shed and sun-bleached canopy covering a gorgeous car. It was an electric-blue Corvette Stingray, according to the logo. Yadriel didn’t know much about cars, but he could tell it was old but meticulously taken care of.

  Julian went right up to it, smoothing both his hands lovingly over the rounded hood. It was a strange shape, kind of like a clown shoe.

  A rickety set of stairs led up to the apartment above the shop. Rio stopped at the bottom.

  “Dogs stay out here,” he said in a voice so firm, it was clear there was no room for negotiation.

  Yadriel turned to Maritza, alarmed.

  “It’s fine.” She nodded, waving Yadriel ahead. More quietly, she added, “You’re fine.”

  But he certainly didn’t feel fine.

  He didn’t want to do this on his own. Luca was there just to get them in the door, and Julian was being unusually quiet as he lingered by the car. But Yadriel sucked in a deep breath and nodded.

  Maritza settled herself against the Stingray.

  “Don’t lean on the car,” Rio said.

  She leaped back.

  Rio started up the stairs, and Maritza settled for walking Donatello and Michelangelo around the small yard so they could sniff at rusty car parts and old tires.

  Yadriel followed him and Luca up the stairs and into the apartment.

  It was small. Much smaller than he’d expected.

  To the right, the main room had a square table and three chairs, each of them a different style and wood. It was covered in envelopes and a set of car manuals. Against the far wall sat a flat-screen TV perched on a black-and-red tool cabinet. There was an old PlayStation and a handful of controllers, their cords twisted and knotted together. Facing it was a black leather couch. The cushions looked poufy, but the seats were cracked and the armrests were worn. There was a lumpy yellow pillow crammed into one side and a blue, scratchy-looking blanket with satin trim on the other. A floral comforter was tossed onto a green recliner in the corner, and more folded blankets sat in a precarious heap under the square window.

  Straight ahead was the bedroom. Yadriel caught a glimpse of a room barely big enough to fit a mattress on the floor. Last one in, he shut the front door behind himself. There were two holes in the back at about knee height.

  Luca sank into one of the chairs at the dining table, drawing one knee up to his chest. Rio turned left, into the kitchen. It was so narrow, Yadriel doubted you could open the fridge door all the way without running into the opposite counter.

  Rio pulled a baking pan out of the fridge and snagged a fork from a drawer. “So, who are you?” he asked as he filled a mug up with water from the sink.

  “I’m Yadriel,” he said.

  Rio set the pan and mug on top of some papers in front of Luca. It was chocolate cake with goopy chocolate icing. Only one small piece had been cut out from the corner. His large hand thumped Luca’s chest, and Luca snatched up the fork and dove right in.

  “I’m Julian’s friend,” Yadriel added, feeling pressured to fill the silence. While Rio wasn’t looking, he gave Julian a small nod. Julian edged around the room and disappeared into the bedroom.

  Rio leaned back against the counter and folded his arms over his chest, hands tucked under his large biceps. He looked down his nose at Yadriel. “No, you’re not.”

  Julian snorted from the other room, but it lacked his usual mirth.

  “I�
�m a newer friend,” he corrected. He nearly added “from school,” but he knew better than to make that mistake.

  Rio’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. He said nothing and simply stood there, waiting.

  “We were wondering if you’d seen Jules,” Luca somehow managed through a huge mouthful of cake.

  Rio let his intense gaze stay on Yadriel a moment longer before looking over to Luca. “No, I haven’t. He left a few days ago.”

  “You haven’t heard from him at all?”

  “No, Luca.” Frustration edged his otherwise even voice. “He left. Probably for good, this time.” For a moment, his quiet stoicism slipped. Yadriel could see past it. Could spot the way his eyelids drooped, how he rubbed a spot on his neck.

  Yadriel realized what he’d sensed coming from Rio when he first saw him. He wasn’t sick or injured, but his fatigue was so thick, Yadriel could actually feel it.

  Luca frowned. “Jules wouldn’t just leave.”

  Rio glanced over at Yadriel, like he didn’t want to have this conversation in front of him, but Luca was persistent.

  “Really, Rio, he wouldn’t!”

  “He’s been itching to get out of here for years,” Rio told him. “We got into a fight. He said he couldn’t stand living in this dump anymore. He said I—” He cut a glance at Yadriel again and stopped himself.

  Yadriel didn’t like the way he was talking about Julian, especially when he couldn’t even defend himself. He felt himself bristling under Rio’s suspicious gaze.

  “C’mon.” Luca tried to smile. “You know he just gets like that sometimes.”

  “Not this time, Luca.” Rio was curt but far from yelling.

  “He’d never actually take off on us!”

  Yadriel wanted to agree with him, to tell Rio that Luca was right. He knew he needed to just keep his mouth shut, but it was becoming difficult to hold his tongue.

  “This time he meant it. I saw it on his face.” Rio sighed and scrubbed his hands over his face, leaving a smudge of grease across his forehead. Worry and exhaustion made him look far older than his twenty-two years.

  “Told you.”

  Julian stood off to his brother’s side, a gray-and-black plaid shirt balled up in his hands. He watched his brother with dark, smoldering eyes. “I just make his life more difficult. He’s better off.”

  Yadriel clenched his jaw. He wanted to knock some sense into both Julian and Rio.

  “The cops haven’t come by at all?” Yadriel ventured, trying to steer the conversation toward something that would help them find not only Julian, but Miguel, too.

  Luca’s hand froze, a heaping forkful of cake inches from his mouth.

  “No.” Rio’s forehead wrinkled. “Why would the cops come by?”

  “He’s missing, so shouldn’t we go to the police?” Luca jumped in, his cheeks burning red.

  Rio sighed deeply and rubbed his temple. “He’s not missing, Luca, he ran away.” He let out a short, bitter laugh. “He didn’t even tell us he was leaving,” Rio added, expression stormy.

  Julian turned away from his brother, wringing the plaid shirt in his hands. His ears were turning red. The hurt was written on every tense muscle in his face, shoulders, and arms.

  Anger sparked in Yadriel, and he clenched his fists, his fingernails pressing into his palms. He’d only known Julian a couple of days, but even he knew there was no way Julian would run away from his friends—his family. He wanted to yell at Rio, to tell him he was so entirely wrong.

  Luca put down his fork and shook his head, sending his shaggy hair sweeping back and forth. “No, he—”

  “Luca.” Rio’s voice was firm. “He doesn’t care.”

  Julian flinched, twisting away from Yadriel, but it was impossible to miss his pained expression, or the shine in his dark eyes.

  The spark in Yadriel flared.

  “If that’s what you think, then you really don’t know Julian at all,” Yadriel said, the words flying from his mouth before he could stop himself.

  All three of them turned to stare at him.

  Julian blinked at Yadriel, surprised.

  Rio’s stare was stony and unforgiving. Luca looked between him and Yadriel anxiously.

  “You think you know him better?” Rio asked. “I’ve never even seen you before. I’ve known him his whole life,” he said, tapping a finger against his chest. “I kept him off the streets and raised him ever since—”

  “Apparently!” Yadriel cut him off, forcing himself to stand his ground even though he was incredibly intimidated by Rio. “If you really think Julian doesn’t care about you all, then yeah, I do know him better!”

  Julian openly gaped.

  Rio straightened. “You—”

  But Yadriel refused to let him talk. He wasn’t thinking about protecting his own secret, he just wanted to make Rio see how stupid he was being, how hurtful his words were. “Maybe he’s got a short temper and makes stupid decisions sometimes,” he went on. “But you should know that Julian wouldn’t leave you all unless there was something keeping him from coming back!”

  Rio eyes grew sharp with distrust. “Who are you?” he said—an order, not a request.

  “What if something happened to Julian?” Luca said to Rio, his chin wobbling.

  “What are you talking about?” Rio asked, but Luca turned away, refusing to look him in the eye. Instead, Rio looked at Yadriel.

  He couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t make Rio even more suspicious, or, worse, alarm him. Sensing his hesitation, Rio stood bolt upright.

  “What happened?” His eyes shot between Yadriel and Luca.

  “Don’t.”

  The sharp word yanked Yadriel’s attention back to Julian. He stood there, the shirt twisted around his wrists like a rope.

  “Don’t tell him,” Julian said.

  Quickly, Yadriel looked away from him. He couldn’t draw Rio’s attention to Julian, or he’d see the shirt hovering in midair.

  “Luca,” Yadriel said in warning, giving a quick shake of his head. Yadriel had promised not to out him, and he wouldn’t.

  Luca tucked his chin to his chest, his cheeks burning bright red.

  Rio’s tired expression had vanished. He was alert and protective as he stepped between Yadriel and Luca. “What do you want? And why did you drag Luca into whatever the hell this is?” Rio barked.

  Yadriel’s heart thudded in the pulse of his neck. “I—I—” he stammered.

  “But, Rio,” Luca interrupted, panic tightening his voice. “What if—”

  “Luca.” Rio took a deep breath and exhaled through pursed lips. He sank into a squat beside Luca so they were eye to eye. He gave Luca’s shoulder a squeeze. “He ran away.”

  Yadriel felt the cold washing off Julian in waves. Under it was a palpable ache.

  Rio’s voice was strange when he spoke, like he was trying to sound comforting but didn’t know how. “If he doesn’t want to be a part of this family anymore, then we need to let him go, okay?”

  It happened in a blink of an eye. Yadriel was the only one who saw Julian bolt.

  But they all heard his foot slam into the door, leaving a third hole. It flung open, clattering against the railing. As Julian stormed out, a gust of icy wind whipped in, sending papers flying.

  Everyone jumped. Luca flinched. Rio was on his feet immediately.

  Yadriel thought his heart was going to burst through his chest.

  Rio’s eyes snapped to Yadriel, wide and alarmed. He pointed at the door. “Get out.”

  Yadriel backed up. “I’m sorry—I—”

  “NOW.”

  He caught a short glimpse of Luca, shielded by Rio’s body. He was trembling, his eyes glued to the new hole Julian had left in the door. Yadriel ran out and down the stairs.

  SIXTEEN

  Yadriel raced down the stairs as fast as his feet could carry him, combat boots clomping all the way. Julian stormed off ahead, with no sign of slowing down. The chain-link gate rattled as he bl
ew through.

  “Come on.” He waved at Maritza. “We gotta go.”

  Maritza met Yadriel at the bottom of the stairs. “What the heck happened?” she asked, her head snapping back and forth between him and Julian’s retreating back. Michelangelo whined anxiously. Meanwhile, Donatello merrily chewed on something that might’ve been a crumpled plastic bottle. “Sounds like it didn’t go well.”

  “It didn’t,” Yadriel agreed as they rounded the building.

  A few heads turned when Julian cut through the busy lot, a sharp gust of wind following him.

  A woman gasped and punched the arm of the man standing next to her. “Did you see that?” she asked, pointing right where Julian had passed. Undoubtedly, she’d seen the shirt in his hands floating off on its own.

  The man laughed. “Those Santa Ana winds are crazy,” he said, shaking his head.

  Yadriel quickened his pace, filling in Maritza as they chased after Julian. His stomach twisted, sick with guilt as he remembered the looks on Luca’s and Rio’s faces. Yadriel wasn’t sure if Luca fully believed him about Julian’s being dead, let alone being a ghost. Either way, he’d definitely freaked Luca out.

  He hadn’t meant to upset them, but he couldn’t help himself. The way Rio had been so dismissive and just so wrong about Julian, how was he supposed to just let him keep going? Especially when Julian was standing right there, listening to all of it and unable to defend himself. How could Rio think so little of Julian? Was that how he really felt? What he really thought? Or was he just acting out because he was hurt?

  The Diaz brothers seemed to have trouble processing their emotions.

  Julian stomped down the street.

  “Julian!” Yadriel hissed, trying to keep up.

  The shirt hung from Julian’s fist, whipping around wildly. Santa Ana winds were a flimsy cover, at best. If they weren’t careful, they were going to catch someone’s attention. That was the last thing they needed right now.

  “Wait up!”

  Julian turned, disappearing behind an old church.

  Yadriel, Maritza, and the dogs ran to catch up. When they found him, Julian was pacing back and forth in front of the entrance to the church like a caged animal. Rusty grates of filigree and crosses sealed off the doors and windows. An angry, frigid wind kicked up dirt and debris around him. His expression was severe and frustrated, the muscles in his jaw tight and his nostrils flared.