My Brother's Keeper

by Tim Miller

  Bobby started raining blows down onto the boy as the other two jumped in and started hitting Bobby. Since Bobby was a year or two older than each of them and bigger, their punches hurt but weren't shattering. One of them began swinging his gun at Bobby as if he were swinging a baseball bat, clubbing him in the head with the butt of the gun. That one really did hurt.

  He leaned up and grabbed the butt as it came down and pulled the gun away. He was no longer in preservation mode had entered the escalated phase of full on rage. He'd had enough of his mom, these kids and everyone else who treated Simon and himself as if they were pieces of garbage to be ridiculed, tormented and tossed aside.

  The kid whose gun he took lunged at Bobby as he attempted an overhand punch. Bobby reared back and swung the gun at the boy, striking him in the nose. The boy's head snapped back as his eyes went wide. The only noise he made was a grunt as he fell, landing flat on his back.

  Bobby stood over him, looking down. The boy's nose was mangled and bent to the side as his mouth hung open and eyes stared wide and lifeless at the sky.

  "He killed him!" One of the other boys yelled. "He killed Brian!"

  One of them picked up a big rock the size of a softball and charged Bobby. He managed to move, the rock just grazing the side of his head before falling to the ground. The boy kicked Bobby in the stomach as Bobby fell to the ground. The other boy came running at him with another rock. Bobby grabbed the one that had fallen and hurled it at him.

  It struck him in the face, causing him to fall to his knees and drop his own rock. The other kid tried to grab it, but Bobby was on him. He picked up the rock and slammed it into the back of the boy's head. The kid grunted and screamed as Bobby brought the rock down again, and again. Pure blind rage consumed him as the boy's head split open, and brains ran out onto the ground. Bobby struck his skull several more times before stopping. The last boy stopped fighting and looked down at his friend's smashed head.

  Reality and the horror of what was going on had just set in. His two friends were dead. Bobby was glaring at him, looking like a mountain lion standing over his fresh kill. The kid took a few steps back before turning to run. Bobby ran for him and was much faster. Within a few steps, he was on him, tackling him, and punching him repeatedly. The boy screamed and cried.

  "Don't kill me! Don't kill me!" he cried.

  "Why? You like to pick on retards. You're so tough right?"

  "I'm sorry! It was Brian's idea! I always just went along. I never wanted to hurt him!"

  "Could've fooled me," Bobby said as he grabbed the rock and smashed it into the boy's face. The boy's eyes went crossed as he made a weird gagging sound. Bobby could see he knocked several of the kid's teeth. He brought the rock down again as the boy gagged and gurgled. After a dozen or so strikes, his head collapsed inward. Bobby looked at how funny his face looked after the blows. He stood up and tossed the rock to the ground.

  In his life, Bobby had been in many fights and had hurt many kids, but this was the first time he'd ever killed anyone, or even saw a dead person close up. He wasn't sure what to think. It was self-defense, wasn't it? He walked over and checked on Simon. He was doing better. Bobby used his shirt to wipe the paint of Simon's forehead. There was a large, red welt on his head, but other than that, he was unharmed. Those kids were bullies and total assholes. Strangely, Bobby didn't feel at all sad for having killed them. If anything, he felt like it put them a step closer to freedom.

  Chapter 20

  Simon didn't seem bothered by what he'd just witnessed although Bobby wasn't sure if he even understood or realized what dead meant. A moment of panic almost overtook him for a second. Bobby knew he couldn't leave three dead bodies lying on the trail. The river was about fifty yards off the trail. He decided to drag them one at a time to the river. Sure, they'd be found but far enough away hopefully no one would look there.

  He dragged the first kid, Brian, by the feet. He wasn't too heavy, and he slid across the ground fairly easily. At one point, his head got hung up on a tree root. Bobby had to jerk and shake his legs, but none of that helped. Finally, he walked around and lifted his crushed head over the large root. In the next few minutes, he reached the river. The water was moving pretty quickly, which was a good sign. Bobby rolled Brian down the bank, and he splashed into the water.

  As Brian's body drifted away, the current pulled the body and disappeared. Bobby went back for another body. The second one made it without incident. By the third body, he was getting pretty tired. Thankfully, this was part of the park not many people ventured. It was too far off the beaten path and despite the trail, much of the brush and woods grew thicker and harder to walk through.

  After dumping the third body, he sat down on the bank. It suddenly hit him he was a murderer; a triple murderer at that. He'd heard the word on TV enough times and in movies; now he was one of them. He wasn't sure how he felt about that just yet, but there wasn't any time to think about it. He walked back to the trail where Simon was sitting up against a tree hugging his knees.

  He helped Simon to his feet when Simon finally spoke.

  "You saved me, Bobby. You fought them just like the green ranger."

  "Thanks, buddy, but I don't know about that. They wanted to hurt us, but I couldn't let them. I won't let anyone else hurt you. Not mom, not anyone."

  "Why does mommy hate me?" Simon asked.

  "I don't know buddy. She hates everyone. She won't hurt you again, though. I'll make sure."

  They walked further down the trail and then veered off the trail. He remembered it being in that direction. After almost a hundred yards through the brush and brambles, he found it. The treehouse a bunch of them had built years ago. He hadn't been up there in a while. Once the other kids found out about it, it wasn't as much fun anymore.

  He hadn't been there in over a year. No one was around it now. Once the newness wore off, the other kids had abandoned it. It was still big enough and sturdy enough for them to hide in. He helped Simon up the ladder nailed to the tree before heading up himself. Once in the tree Simon looked around from the makeshift balcony on the one side.

  "Wow! We're a million miles high!" Simon said.

  "Not quite, but pretty high."

  "I can see over the trees!"

  "Yep. Some of them we can."

  "This is awesome!"

  "It sure is, buddy." Bobby sat down inside the tree house, leaning up against the wall. He suddenly felt exhausted. Like so exhausted he could sleep. He didn't understand yet about adrenaline rushes and the crash that can come afterward, but that was what he was experiencing.

  "Bobby?" Simon began.

  "Yeah, buddy?"

  "I'm hungry. All I have had to eat was pop tarts."

  Shit, he didn't even think about food, he'd been in such a hurry.

  "Ok. I am too. I'll go get us some food. I guess you can come with me."

  "But I'm so tired!"

  "I know. You want to take a nap? When you wake up, I'll be back with food."

  "No! I'm hungry!"

  Shit, he didn't need a tantrum right now.

  "Simon, I want to get you food, but I need to make sure you're safe. You don't want me to leave you all alone do you?"

  "No."

  "Then come on. There is a convenience store a few blocks from here. I can get us food there."

  They climbed down from the tree house and headed toward the store. It didn't take as long to get there as Bobby had feared. Thankfully, the place was busy. It was early evening, and people were getting off work. He had Simon stay outside while he headed into the store. Bobby had on his hoodie with the baggie pockets in front. It had been awhile since he'd shoplifted anything.

  He walked by the canned goods and grabbed some cans of soup, and some small sausages. He also grabbed some candy bars, beef jerky, and a couple of sodas. His hoodie didn't look too full or overstuffed as he slipped out of the store as more adults walked in. Luckily, there was only one clerk working and never noticed him.


  Once outside, he grabbed Simon by the hand, and they both took off running all the way back to the treehouse. Once back, Bobby gave Simon soup and a candy bar. Simon scarfed the food down and asked for more. The poor kid had to be starving. It's amazing he even survived being stuffed in that box for the past few weeks. Bobby gave him another candy bar and the sausages while he chewed on the beef jerky. They each had a can of soda before Simon finally lay back against the wall.

  "I'm tired," he said.

  "I know. Me too."

  In the corner, there were some old sleeping bags rolled up. Bobby looked through them. They were ripped and dirty. Someone must have left them there. They could still use them for the moment. Bobby unrolled two of the bags and helped Simon climb into one. Bobby climbed into his own as he watched Simon fall asleep. Just as Bobby closed his eyes, he heard Simon speak, though Simon was almost asleep.

  "Bobby?"

  "Yeah, Simon?"

  "I love you, Bobby."

  "I love you too buddy," Bobby said before he drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 21

  Nadine awoke with a pounding headache. At some point in the night, the wine bottle had rolled off her lap and onto the floor. Sitting up, she looked at her phone and saw it was 10 a.m. She'd passed out and slept all night and a good part of the day. Her head was throbbing as she stood and headed for the bathroom. She found some aspirin in the medicine cabinet. She poured several into her palm and swallowed them with a glass of water.

  Once the pain subsided, she went upstairs to check on the boys. It had been a rough night, both of them acting like a couple of animals. Hopefully, her new methods had calmed them down. As she reached the top of the stairs, she could see Bobby's door open. She ran to the room and saw he was gone. Shit! Running into her room the door was open and there was the empty footlocker lying in the middle of the room.

  "Bobby?" She called out. "Simon? Where are you?" She wandered all through the house calling to them, but there was no response. They were gone. Standing in the kitchen, she looked out the window and across the street. There were no police cars around, so at least he didn't go to the neighbors again. This was new for her. They had to have run away. Should she call the police? A twelve-year-old boy with an autistic six-year-old wasn't going to get far.

  Maybe if she just waited they'd come back on their own. However, after thinking about it for a bit, she decided to call the police and report them both missing. If they did turn up somewhere, she didn't want it to look like she didn't notify police. Once she made the call, it took almost an hour for an officer to arrive. Once he did, it was the same cop who she spoke to across the street. He didn't seem surprised Bobby ran away, but was concerned he took Simon with him.

  "What's he going to do with a little autistic kid on the street?" the cop asked.

  "I don't know. I told you earlier; he's a little brat. I don't know what to do with him. I just hope Simon is ok. He's very easily confused and frightened."

  "Yeah, I'm sure. Don't worry. I'm sure they'll turn up." He closed his notepad and headed back to his car. She went inside as she watched the cop sit in his car. For some reason, he wasn't driving away. Was he writing the report right there? After several minutes, he came back toward the house. She walked to the door as he came up the steps.

  "Hey there," he said. "I was just about to leave when a call went out. I don't want to frighten you, but we may need you to take a look at something."

  "Take a look at what?" Nadine asked.

  "About an hour ago, they found the body of a teenage boy in the river, found by some fishermen."

  Holy shit? Bobby? Could Bobby be dead? And if he is dead, then where is Simon? She had mixed emotions. Part of her would be thrilled to be free of at least one of the boys. Yet, he was still her son, even though he seemed intent on driving her to an early grave.

  "Oh my God," she said.

  "It might not be Bobby, but my supervisor wants me to bring you to the morgue to take a look."

  "Oh no," she said. She really didn't want to go look at a dead kid no matter who he belonged to.

  "I'm sorry. If we can rule out Bobby, then we can keep looking for him and work on identifying the body."

  She nodded and followed him to the car. The ride to the morgue was only a few minutes. The morgue was located in the basement of the hospital. It wasn't as dark or creepy looking as the ones on TV were. It was extremely clean and well lit. You'd never know it was a different part of the hospital. They walked her into a room as one of the medical examiners came out and greeted her.

  "Hello ma'am," he said. "I just want to warn you, his head was pretty messed up. Looks like he died of blunt force trauma. But you can still see his face pretty well plus he's fully dressed. You ready?"

  She nodded once again as he pulled the curtain aside. On the table was a dead boy that was close to Bobby's age, but appeared much shorter. He was also wearing camouflage pants and a camo hoodie. Bobby didn't even own anything like that.

  "It's not him," Nadine said as she turned away.

  "You sure?" the officer asked.

  "I'm sure. He's too short, and Bobby doesn't have clothing like that."

  "Ok, thank you. Sorry to put you through all this." He said as he walked her back out to the police car. As they headed out, there was a call on the radio. Nadine could hear the dispatcher saying something about bodies.

  "What was that?" she asked.

  "Shit," he said. "They found two more bodies. Boys about the same age."

  "You think one of them is Bobby?" she asked.

  "I doubt it. I won't make you ID the others until I get more info. Like what they were wearing or how tall. I suppose I could have done that this time, but the timing seemed odd so I figured I'd bring you down."

  "It's ok. I'm sure his parents will take it hard," she said. She still wasn't sure if she was relieved or not that it wasn't Bobby's body. That means he and Simon were still alive and out there somewhere. Then there was the question of who killed these three boys and dumped them in the river.

  "Do you think someone murdered the boys?" she asked.

  "It could have been an accident I suppose, but yeah. Personally, I think someone killed them. If that's the case, I hope we find your boy's soon."

  Chapter 22

  Simon woke up screaming. Bobby wasn't sure what he'd dreamed, but he could only imagine what Simon had been through in the past few weeks. He was kicking and thrashing about, his eyes wide and his voice was hoarse from all the screaming he'd done past several weeks. Bobby was amazed Simon could still make any sounds at all.

  "Simon! Simon, it's me!" Bobby said trying to shake him. He wasn't sure what time it was. The sun was out and with all the noise Simon was making it could draw attention. Finally, he realized Bobby was there and looked up at him.

  "Simon? Can you hear me?"

  He stopped crying and hugged Bobby tight.

  "You ok buddy? Bad dream?"

  "I had a dream that mommy came and murdered you."

  That took him by surprise. Of all the horrible things their mom had done to Simon, his biggest fear wasn't himself being hurt, but Bobby. This was why Simon was the only person Bobby cared about. No one else accepted either of them, but they had always accepted each other.

  "It's only a dream buddy. I'm fine. No one is gonna hurt us. We should get going, though. We need to find something to eat."

  They climbed down from the tree house and headed back toward the park. They hadn't gone far when Bobby heard several men's voices up ahead. Could people be looking for them? He figured their mom had reported them missing, but how would they have located them by now? They stepped off the path and hid in some bushes; the voices grew louder, and the men finally came into view. It was the police. Several of them.

  Bobby couldn't make out what they were saying until he heard one of them yelling.

  "I got blood stains over here!" the cop yelled.

  Shit. The kids he killed, just thinking that felt weird. Bobby had
no idea they'd find them so quickly but there they were. If they found the bodies and the boys had told their moms they were coming here to play, then it made sense. Bobby just figured it would take a day or two for the bodies to turn up. Not that he had ever dumped a body before.

  Within minutes, the place was swarming with police officers. Some of them were putting crime scene tape up as others began searching wider around the area. They couldn't move at all without giving up their position. The best-case scenario would be they walk past them. The problem was, best case scenarios didn't usually happen in Bobby's world.

  "Bobby, what's going on?" Simon asked.

  "Shh! Quiet. We don't want them to hear us. They'll just take us back to mom."

  Simon nodded as footsteps grew closer and closer. Finally, there was an officer standing right over them.

  "What are you boys doing? Are you guys ok?"

  Bobby and Simon nodded as he helped them to their feet.

  "Hey, guys! I got two kids over here hiding! I think they might be witnesses."

  Witnesses? Bobby hadn't expected that. He needed to come up with a story. A tall, stocky man came up to them.

  "Hey guys. I'm Sergeant Hankins. You doing ok? You both look pretty rough. Especially you little guy," he said pointing at Simon. Simon's face was still scratched up and blistered from his mom's abuse.

  "Yeah, it was pretty scary."

  "Can you tell me what happened? Those other boys?"

  "I guess," Bobby said. "We were just out here exploring and saw the other kids playing. Then some guy jumped out and attacked them."

  "A guy," Sgt. Hankins said. "Did you see what he looked like?"

  "No. Not really. He had on, like, a hoodie so we couldn't see his face."

  "Did he have on gloves? Could you tell if he was white or black?"

  "I think he had gloves on, he moved really fast. He just started hitting the boys and then he grabbed a rock and started hitting them with it."

  "What did you do?"

  "We were hiding back there, I don't think he saw us." As Bobby spoke, he looked down realizing he had blood on his clothes. "After he killed them, the guy ran off for a bit so I ran up to see if I could help the boys, but they were dead already. That's how I got blood on me. Then I heard him coming back, so I ran and hid again. He dragged them toward the river and never came back."