by M. O. McLeod
28.
The Rosales Siblings
Kurma shoved the bouncer to the side. He was manhandling her brother, Inis, who was five inches taller than the bouncer was. Kurma was saving the guy’s life, really. Inis wasn’t like the calm before the storm. He was hot-headed and rash; he was the eye of the storm!
The security guard looked at Kurma like she was crazy. She stared him down and knocked the VIP rope over onto his foot. “Do something!” she barked.
Inis pulled Kurma away and hugged her tight. So she had run away to hang out with a group of scantily dressed girls. It was time to take her home; their mother was going crazy, and he and his brother needed Kurma back. Nobody knew how to handle their mother like Kurma.
“Do you know what I’ve been going through?” he asked.
Kurma pulled her little brother into a corner with dim lighting. She needed him to understand her reasoning behind everything. She had only one chance to get him the message, because she wasn’t leaving with him. “I’m sorry I left and didn’t tell anybody.”
“We need to call mom right away! She’s going to be so happy I’ve found you!”
“No!” Kurma said loudly. She shook her younger brother, who loomed over her. “You can’t tell anyone you’ve seen me tonight. Do you understand?”
Inis wanted to shake some sense back into his older sister. “I’m not leaving here without you. Do you even care that we’ve been putting up flyers and looking for you all over the city? Mom’s reported you missing, and this whole time you’ve been running around with some random girls!” Inis yelled in Kurma’s face. “Have you forgotten about your family? Were we so bad you had to run away and get some fake replacements?”
Inis didn’t have to ask any more questions he already knew the answers to. This was all Santino’s fault; he had created a monster who wanted to be so perfect and popular, just like Santino was. Kurma shouldn’t have been hanging out in a club dressed like this. Neither should he, though—they were both underage. At least he had an excuse. He was looking for his brother, who had started selling pills to a group of college boys earlier in the semester. Inis and Allie had kept it a secret from Kurma, who would have flipped. But none of that mattered now, since Allie had gone MIA like Kurma had.
They must be going through some teenage phase, thought Inis. He needed them both back home and in one piece.
“Look, Inis, I love you, I really do. But there’s something seriously wrong with me, and I can’t be around anyone right now,” Kurma explained.
“Really?” Inis yelled. “You look fine to me, sis. Stop all of these lies. Where’s Santino? Is he putting you up to this?”
“Santino? Of course not. Listen to me, Inis. I’m a Raptor, and I will never be the same sister you used to have. Do you understand? I might touch you or Mom or Allie, and I can’t have that on my conscience right now.” Kurma began to get choked up.
Inis wasn’t giving her his full attention because he was looking at his brother. “Allie!” he screamed over Kurma’s head. He tried to wave his brother over, but was caught off guard by the crowd. Something didn’t seem right. People weren’t dancing anymore. They were running here and there, knocking over chairs and falling on the ground, getting trampled as other patrons attempted to flee.
“Brother, are you even listening to what I’m trying to tell you?” Kurma asked. She looked into his face and noticed his panic. She tried to think of something that would get him to understand her new Raptor state. “Tell Mom I love her, and tell Allie I miss him so much and I’ll be home soon, just not now.”
Kurma went to hug her brother but was knocked aside. Inis ran back out into the thick of the crowd. Kurma turned, bewildered, and saw he was running to help out Allie. Kurma hadn’t seen her brother in a week almost; he looked so tall and handsome. What the hell were these two doing in the club anyway?
She began to go after her brothers, but stopped dead in her tracks. Standing behind Allie was a bear of a man with huge teeth. He had chalk-white skin and dark veins all over his face.
Kurma’s heart stopped, and she had no pulse to speak of. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion. Her feet didn’t move fast enough, her hands couldn’t reach her brothers quickly enough, and Inis didn’t reach Allie soon enough. The man bit down on Allie’s shoulder and tore into the skin.
Inis rushed to his brother’s aid and tried to pull him from the attacker, but someone came from behind and put Inis in a headlock. He fought the guy off and saw it was the bouncer from earlier. He head-butted the guy and split his face down the middle. Inis turned to see Allie being dragged off by another guy who looked just like Santino.
Turmoil was everywhere as Inis tried to get through the crowd to his brother. He prayed that Kurma stayed tucked away from the drama. He didn’t need her getting involved in this. How would he tell his mother he had found her and then lost her again?