Sons of Night

Jinxx’s POV
I glanced at the clock. I had only been sitting in the room for eight minutes. Two to go. I shifted uncomfortably and looked at the clock again, only five seconds had passed since I looked at it before. I sighed and twiddled my thumbs.
“Why are you so jittery?” The cop said from the side of the room.
“Jittery?” I asked innocently.
“Yeah, you haven’t stopped moving the whole time you’ve been in here,” She said.
“Just nervous, I guess,” I said shrugging. I looked at the clock again. Something important was supposed to happen in a minute and twenty seconds and I had no idea what it was.
Suddenly the door swung open, I jumped and turned as in sauntered CC, who was chatting with the officer who brought him like they’d known each other for years. He was wearing skinny jeans and a t shirt. He didn’t seem to notice me for a minute, he was telling a story and the cop was red faced like he’d been laughing. CC had that effect on people.
“I’m telling you dude, it’s true no joke!” CC said with a smile as they entered, then he saw me, “My god, Jinxx, I have never been so relieved to see someone in my entire life,”
“Right back at you,” I said. CC Shook his head and pulled up a chair right next to mine.
“Do you know where the rest of the guys are?” CC asked.
“Nope, what about you, do you know anything?”
“Not a thing,” CC said.
“What about Andy, I haven’t heard anything but is there any word that he’s okay, I mean last time we saw him he looked pretty bad,” I said, but CC shook his head.
“Nope, nothing. Not a word about him,” As CC spoke my stomach sank, I felt like a rock was sitting in my gut. I looked at CC’s face and I knew that he felt the same way. The door swung open again, Jake and Ashley walked in quietly. I felt like I could breathe again, for the most part we were all back together. It had been strange to be without them for so long because of how many years we spent together every day.
“Oh, thank god you guys are okay,” Ashley said. They sat across from CC and I.
“We were just talking about Andy, do you guys know anything about what’s been going on with him?” CC said.
“Oh, shit. No I haven’t heard anything about him,” Jake said, shaking his head and running a hand through his hair. Ash shook his head too.
“Nope, not a word. Last I know of him they were getting him into an ambulance, same with Mayden,” Ashley said.
“I hate to say but I forgot about her, I hope she’s okay too,” CC said.
“Guys Andy was in really bad shape when we last saw him, he lost a ton of blood,” Jake said, his voice thick with worry. I remembered how quickly the blood had pooled around Andy’s body as he laid on the basement floor and I cringed.
“Well I guess, no news is good news? I mean, he’s like our little brother, surely they would have told us if he, ya know,” CC dragged his thumb across his throat. It was a comical gesture but I could tell he only did it because he couldn’t bring himself to say that Andy might be dead. Suddenly my chest tightened, I had an idea but I could barely find it in myself to voice it.
“Guys, if they were going to give us bad news they’d get us all together to do it all at once,” I said. I was suddenly terrified a cold fear settled in my bones and my insides turned to stone. I looked up from the table. Everyone was silent.
“No, he wouldn’t be dead, couldn’t be. They got to him quick enough,” CC said with a little tremble in his voice.
“He lost a lot of blood, a lot of blood,” Ash whispered. I swallowed hard, trying to get some moisture back in my mouth. I looked at CC, his lower lip was shaking.
“Come on Jinxx, you’re the medic here. Do you really think he lost enough blood that they wouldn’t be able to bring him back?” CC said looking at me with a desperate hope. I knew that any number of things could have gone wrong with Andy. I was trying to figure out how to break that to CC lightly when the door opened again, pulled open by another police officer. There was an audible sigh of relief as Andy was pushed in, in a wheelchair. He had dark rings under his eyes and his face was almost whiter and thinner than I’d ever seen it, but he was alive. His head was wrapped in a bandage, but he was alive, and that was the most important part.
“Thank the Lord, Andy you’re okay!” I gasped a smile spread across my face and suddenly the room seemed to brighten. Mr. Reciffo was behind Andy pushing him through and for the first time ever he smiled, but it seemed like a fake smile, like he was trying to be polite but something bad had just happened. Andy looked up from his chair. I watched as his eyes did a scan of everyone in the room. The officers that stood in the back of the room he looked right past them, but for the rest of us he looked at everyone individually. It was like he was taking stock, making sure that everyone was there and everyone was okay. Then he sat back in his chair and sighed. His eyes drifted back to the ground. Mr. Reciffo parked Andy at the empty head of the table, next to CC and looked at all of us. CC put his hand on Andy’s shoulder and Andy flinched like he’d been hit. My relief was blotted by concern.
“You alright man?” CC said. Andy shook his head and buried his face in his hands.
“I just really want to go back to the woods,” He mumbled, then he laid his head on the glass table top.
“We just had a pretty rough run in with a mob of reporters, and the public. It… was a lot for anyone to handle. For someone who hasn’t been around more than four people for almost half his life, well, Andy handled it… decently,” Mr. Reciffo explained.
“Ah, shit. You okay Andy?” Jake said patting Andy’s shoulder.
“I want to go home,” Andy whimpered with his head still on the table. Suddenly I felt my almost motherly protectiveness over Andy kick in. I wanted to pick him up and take him straight back to the woods where he’d be happy, or at least more normal than he was in the town.
“Well I have some good news for you all. It’s why I brought you all here. You are not going to be in jail anymore as long as you do as I say,” Mr. Reciffo said holding out his hands as if to make sure he was catching our attention.
“Well sir, what do you want us to do,” Ashley said with a bite of sarcasm.
“First of all, call me Tim. I know I was pretty rough on you guys when we first got you but I need you to work with me. I’m your friend now. I want yo get you guys out of this without spending anymore time in prison than you already have. If I am correct you all were falsely accused of crimes, right?” Tim asked raising his eyebrows. He was beginning to look more and more like a used car salesman.
“Right,” Everyone said.
“You need to tell your story. I’m talking TV interviews, book deals, the whole nine yards. We’ll turn you guys into heros, victims of the system. If anything you’ll be suing the United States for making you feel like you had to hide away in the woods for however many years because the system is so fucked,” Tim said. I leaned back in my chair surprised. That was not what I had expected.

Notes

This is short but I have my first job interview ever tomorrow and this chapter represents my anxiety. I hope you all enjoyed it. Wish me luck.