Asylum

Chapter 4-4

It was almost two in the morning when Officer McBride knocked loudly on Gabriel’s apartment door. They could tell that his mother was still awake by the music blaring on the other side, and it wasn’t “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”

Shortly after the knock, the music shut off abruptly, and the door was opened by a short middle-aged man with greasy brown hair that was going gray at the roots. His bloodshot eyes widened at the police officer, but then narrowed again as his gaze shifted to Gabriel.

“Dana, there’s a cop here with one of your boys!” he yelled toward the bedroom.

Gabriel watched as his mother emerged from her bedroom, tightening the belt on a silky bathrobe that didn’t leave much to the imagination. He couldn’t tell for sure, but her right cheek looked a little puffy, like she might have been struck.

“What’s he done?” she asked as she lit a cigarette.

Gabriel saw McBride stiffen as he took the whole scene in.

“Gabriel’s not in any trouble, Ma’am. I’m just seeing him safely home. Picked him up over on Washington. It seemed unusual that he should be wandering around on such a rainy and cold Christmas Eve.” He let the statement hang, as if waiting for her to be baited into filling in the reason why. Unfortunately, she was either too smart, or too lucky to fall for it.

“Where’s Justin?”

Gabriel just shrugged.

“I only picked up the one boy, Ma’am. Although it wasn’t clear if he would be welcome back into your apartment.” Officer McBride gave her a penetrating stare. Gabriel appreciated the effort, but already knew that nothing would come of his passive aggressive questioning.

“My boys always have a place to stay when they’re respectful.” She blew out a long line of smoke.

“Well, Gabriel certainly can have a mouth on him, but I’m sure you’ll agree that a night like tonight isn’t safe for anyone to be exposed to the elements.”

“‘Cept now I have company, so you’ll have to go to your room, Gabby. Keep it down so me and Rick can sleep.” Sleep. Yeah right. Sure, that’s what they’d be doing. Gabriel shared a look with Officer McBride, who nodded reluctantly and gestured for him to go inside. So much for him being helpful. Whatever. It’s not like he expected a Christmas miracle or anything.

“Fine.” He sighed and headed for his room, still worried about whether Justin had found shelter. He wanted to lock his bedroom door but didn’t just in case Justin returned. Gabriel simply shut the door, not looking back at McBride.

He heard the mumbling of a brief conversation, followed by the solid closing of the apartment door, followed by the closing of his mother’s bedroom door and the resumption of the music, which did little to drown out the sound of her and Rick giving her bedsprings a workout.

He wished that he and Justin had saved up enough to get cell phones. Most people found a way to get them, regardless of how down and out they were. But every time they managed to scrape up enough money to make the purchase, some crisis or another intervened. And often times the money just flat-out went missing. But now, without that modern convenience, he had no way to tell if his other half was safe for the night. He only hoped that he would have twin-sense enough to know if Justin were in true danger.