The Hours We Have

chapter forty-two

The news didn't go over well. 

I had at least waited until dinner when all five of us were there before I told Mikeal, Ezra, and Julian what had happened earlier with the police officer. My oldest brother had stopped eating as he listened, and I physically saw the weight of it settling on his shoulders. 

Ezra was just pissed. After a solid minute of foul language and anger, he finally settled in his chair with a cross expression and said nothing more. Julian had glanced between Roman and I, his face slowly fading in color as he realized the officer had been here to arrest his twin. 

It was a serious matter and I hated that it disrupted the calm atmosphere that had been surrounding us. Now, it felt like a heavy storm cloud had settled over us, and it was prepared to rain like there was no tomorrow. I wondered if we could ever catch a break. 

Had the hours we have turned into minutes? 

It had gone oddly silent after I finished reiterating every detail of the encounter. Mikeal didn't say anything. His lips were pressed in a thin line, his eyes reflecting grave thoughts, and I felt guilty for laying this stress upon him, but I refused to lie again. Even by omission. 

"What are we going to do?" Julian broke the haunting silence, his voice reflective of his internal distress. There was no use in hiding how we felt anymore, it simply bled from our pores and affected the atmosphere around us. Moreso, it made us more connected, even in a time of struggle. "What's going to happen?" 

There was a long sigh from Mikeal. His eyes were clouded and dark, as if the metaphorical storm had truly taken its home within him. "I don't know." 

I blinked. I was convinced that his two most favorite words were... I know. Because he always did. It was so strange to hear him admit that, for once, he didn't. None of us did. How could anyone know what to do when an unlawful officer was ready to ruin our lives? When nothing had made sense since the day we lost our parents? 

However, I didn't miss the silent exchange between Ezra and Mikeal. When they finally did make eye contact, Ezra was glaring, and Mikeal was shaking his head. Odd, I thought to myself. It almost seemed like they knew something they weren't telling the rest of us. We had agreed not to keep any more secrets, so my attention never left them. 

Even after dinner was over, and the twins had retreated upstairs in a silent fashion, I knew my older brothers were just down the hall in Dad's old office. They never went there, and that instantly told me something was going on. I turned off the sink, where I had been washing plates, and I wiped my hands on the dishtowel. 

Finley perked his ears as I stood motionlessly. I had just fed him some wet dog food, which was easier for him to digest but he hated eating it, and the supplements the vet had given us were soaking in. Finley was healing wonderfully, and his progress was quick. Soon, he would be back to his usual self, and I scratched his ears affectionately. 

Still, my curiosity over the exchange at the table got the best of me and I found myself tiptoeing down the hallway towards the office. I stopped just within hearing distance, enough so that I could slip away if someone were to come out. 

"We should tell them," Ezra was saying, his voice hard and sharp. 

Mikeal sighed, "I don't want to get their hopes up for nothing, Ezra." There was a small pause of silence. "I will tell them when I know for sure. They told me three to four weeks." 

"It's not fair to them--" 

"What isn't fair?" Mikeal's voice rose like an angry ocean wave ready to crash onshore, "I'm trying to do the best I can for my younger siblings, for you." I could tell he had been pushed to the ledge of his own calm. "I'm not keeping this low to hurt anyone, I'm doing it because if it fails then I don't have to watch them lose hope."