“Daniel, get your brothers. It’s about to rain.”
I didn’t see my mother as she shouted from the car, and I didn’t look back as I ran toward the lake. A crowd gathered for the holiday, but I searched for the two boys that looked like me. We looked like our father.
I picked up the pace, almost tripping over a water cooler before stumbling over the mud. Even my light weight sunk into the soft ground, but it would only get worse if I didn’t find them before it rained. Mom hated the rain.
When I finally spotted them, I sprinted down a steep hill. I wasn’t even halfway down when I tripped. My body flung over the rocks, and my arm swung out as I attempted to catch myself. I heard the snap. I felt the bone move as I landed onto the gravel below.
My older brother shouted as he ran over to me, but I hid my arm before he got too close. “I’m fine!” My groan exposed my lie.
“What happened—” My older brother was too close. He would see how it healed.
“Get Luke,” I squeaked through the nausea. Anytime I healed, I thought I would die.
“Let me see.” He was reaching for me when I smacked him away, but it was too late.
He was staring at my skin as it reattached. I only leapt up out of panic. When I ran, my vision blurred, and my breath blew away in the wind. My brother’s shouts followed me, but I was no longer by the lake.
My brothers were nowhere to be seen. It was dark, gloomy, and cold. Snow fell from the sky as sirens shrilled through Shadow Alley. When I grabbed my shoulder, my hand turned wet and warm. Blood.
I stumbled before falling onto the pavement. No one would save me. I would die. I knew this.
“Boy? Can you hear me?” The man’s voice drowned out the sirens as he touched me. When he recoiled, I looked up. His hand was covered in my blood, and droplets fell off his fingertips. They sounded like rain as they hit the ground. It was a peaceful sound. Anything other than gunshots and sirens were peaceful.
The man scoped me up with one arm and slung me over his shoulder as a whimper escaped my throat. “You’re gonna be okay, kid.” He sounded like my father before he kicked us out. “Just stay awake.”