Indifference (boyxboy)

10. Death Fire

Ryan

"Mum! Have you seen my tie?!" I asked while digging down the back of the sofa cushions.

"Oh my god, what is it with you kids and losing your stuff!" she huffed from the kitchen.

"I'm sure I left it in here," I shouted back while dropping on the floor to see if it had gone under the sofa.

"What?" she asked, finally coming into the room.

"My tie," I huffed in annoyance. "I could have swore I left it on here this morning."

"Oooh, so that was YOUR tie," she said, before taking a sip from the mug of tea in her hands.

I turned to glare at her.

"Yes, it was MY tie. Why? What happened to it?"

"Well, Nate couldn't find his this morning, so I assumed....."

"Fuck mum!" I said, thumping my hand down on a cushion. "His could be anywhere! He knew that one was mine. I'm gonna fucking strangle him with it when I get my hands on him!"

"Now, now," my mother cood, "he's your younger brother and you should be looking out for him. It's only a tie. I'm sure one day without it won't matter."

"Well it matters to the teachers! And it means I'll get detention....again!"

My mum shrugged. "It's not like some extra schooling will do you any harm."

"That's not the point!" I shouted, before realising that I was wasting my breath and that my time would be better spent trying to find Nate's tie.

I rushed back upstairs to our bedroom, and started scanning over Nate's side of the room. If it was possible it was even messier than mine.

I quickly started rooting through his pile of clothes on the floor, screwing my face up when I found a pair of clearly worn and smelly socks in the middle of the pile. But there was no tie. So I tipped up his mattress, revealing two well worn boys mags. I stared for a few seconds at the mostly naked women on the front, before shaking my head to clear it, then dropping the mattress back down.

My eyes scanned over the rest of his stuff. There was nowhere a tie could be ....unless....

I really wish I hadn't seen it. But there it was. His kit bag. By far the worst smelling thing in this house. Even though I wasn't sure I'd even want to wear a tie that had been in there, I knew I needed to look.

I pulled it onto Nate's bed (there was no way I was going to open this thing on my bed) and took a deep breath of clean air before zipping it open.

I cringed as I thrust my hand inside, feeling through a pile of slightly damp clothing and shin pads, before my hands gripped onto something. It certainly wasn't a tie, but it was also something I wouldn't expect to feel in his kit bag.

I pulled out the item and dropped it on his bed.

It was a small, clear, plastic bag, full of other little bags which had white tablets in.

I felt my heart pounding in my chest. "Fucking Nate, I'm gonna kill him," I mumbled, before shoving the tablets into my school bag.

This is how it had all started with Patrick. He wasn't even taking them at first. He was just the runner, taking the drugs from Mitch Kingsley and distributing them to his chain of sellers. You see, the drug dealers liked to use young boys like Nate. Because if they got caught they didn't get prosecuted, or if they were old enough, they got lighter sentences. Plus, because the kids usually rode bikes, and knew all the short cuts like the back of their hand, they rarely got caught.