The Search

July 12th, 2015

Angel turned away from the TV and looked at his father, who was tying his boots with tired fingers.

“Did you catch the guy who killed that man?” Nine-year-old Angel Garim asked his father who sat on the couch. Angel turned from the TV and went to sit beside his father who tied the long shoelaces of his boots.

His father, Wyatt Garim looked up at the TV, seeing the headline before he looked back down at his son. He shook his head. “That’s not my case,” he told his son. He only rarely would get an exciting case like murder or something to that effect. For the most part, he was stuck with crimes like thievery, sometimes bank robbery, assault, and a few other minor things. He wasn’t going to be upset, he knew how many people lost their lives in cases like that.

The “exciting” cases.

“Why not?” Angel asked, dragging on the last word longer than he needed to.

“Because if I took that case, how am I supposed to come home to see you?” Wyatt asked. “They will keep me there till the dead of night and I want to be home.”

“But you could stop a killer!” Angel said. He pushed himself off their burgundy couch and put his hands together to form a gun. He smiled as he pretended to shoot at someone in front of him. “You could save people!”

“And it’s not like your here other times,” Angel muttered, not loud enough for Wyatt to hear.

“I do save people,” Wyatt told him. “A week ago I arrested that man that hurt his wife, remember? I save people.”

“I guess,” Angel said with a sigh.

Wyatt shook his head. He knew Angel didn’t believe him or at least didn’t think it was cool enough.

Wyatt wasn’t going to tell him what was really cool or not, he knew Angel would figure that out one way or the other. When he was older, he’d understand. Right now, all he believed was stepping in the line of danger was the best thing you could do. And for some people, that might be right.

For Wyatt, he’d rather not.

“Go get your momma,” Wyatt said. “I’m about to leave.”

“You get her,” Angel said, pushing himself back on the couch.

“Angel,” Wyatt said again. He looked at Angel with a raised eyebrow and with a roll of his eyes, Angel nodded. He forced himself up off the couch and went through the small living room that they had. He walked into the kitchen where his mother, Maria Garim was on the phone. She had one hand on the sink while she laughed into the phone, talking in a low tone with whoever was on the phone.

“Mom,” Angel said from the door. She didn’t respond to him or even look at him. Angel groaned before he moved to be closer to her. He tugged at her shirt and eventually she turned. She said she had to hang up the phone to whoever she was talking to and stuffed the phone in his pocket. Angel felt a heavy feeling inside his chest as he looked at the edge of the phone. It took him a minute to be able to look back at her.

“Dad needs you,” he said.

“Okay, I’ll be right there,” Maria told him and Angel walked away. He climbed back on the couch and took the remote from the stand. He flipped through channels hoping to find something interesting. He forced that heavy feeling out of him, knowing it would only cause problems for all of them.

He didn’t want to cause problems.

“What are you and mom going to do today, you think?” Wyatt asked as he waited for Maria to walk through the door. He tucked in his shirt a little moree and fixed the gun at his belt. He looked back at Angel who shrugged his shoulders without looking at him. Wyatt sighed. “I know you hate it when I leave, but it’s work and I have to.”

“I’ll be back at six or seven,” he said.

“I know,” Angel said.

“Come here, give your dad a hug,” Wyatt said. He crouched down on one knee and let Angel move off the couch and to him. Angel wrapped his arms around his father’s neck, taking in a large breath of his cologne. He choked on it which caused Wyatt to laugh. Wyatt squeezed him a bit tighter before he brushed Angel’s syrup colored hair out of his face. “I love you, buddy.”

“I love you dad,” Angel said.

“Now I really got to go,” Wyatt said. He helped Angel separate from him and he stood up straighter. He ran his fingers through Angel’s hair even though he knew he hated it. Wyatt laughed before he turned around and went to go find Maria. He went into the kitchen where she was. She shoved a plate into the sink and barely looked up at him when he came in.

“Hey,” he said. He moved in and kissed Maria on her cheek. “How you doing?”

“Good,” she replied.

“I left a couple dollars in the living room if you wanted to take Angel out to eat or something,” Wyatt told her and she nodded. “Maybe after I get back, we put Angel to bed early and hang out, just the two of us?” He traced his finger along her shoulder before he brushed some of her hair out of the way. He tilted his head to see his beautiful wife’s face.

He looked at the small softness of her lips, the caramel color of her skin and piercing brown eyes that he loved. He watched her smile a little bit and nod.

“Sounds nice,” she said.

“Okay then,” Wyatt said. “I’ll see you later. Love you.” They kissed before he took his bag and went to the door. He said goodbye to Angel before he finally left.

Angel stayed on the couch. He watched a show on the PBS channel, unsure of what the name was. He eventually took a bag of chips and started to eat it. He knew Maria wouldn’t care and Wyatt wasn’t there to stop him. Soon, no one would be. He stayed there for a long moment before he had his attention pulled away. He looked at Maria who came downstairs. She had a long red dress on that snugged her chest tightly. She wore makeup Angel never saw her wear near his father.

She had long dangly earrings that matched her dress and a necklace to do the same.

Her wedding ring was missing from her finger.

Maria grabbed her purse from the couch and swung it over her shoulder. She looked behind her to see the twenty dollars that Wyatt left. She grabbed that and stuffed it in her purse. She made sure she had everything before she nodded.

“Are you going out again, mom?” Angel asked.

Maria nodded. “So you know what to do. Stay inside, eat whatever you want and… don’t tell your dad, okay?”

“I won’t,” Angel said. He never did. He never told his dad anything that his mother got up to. He never really knew what she got up to only that it would hurt his dad and he didn’t want to hurt him. He didn’t want to hurt his mom either.

“I’ll be back around four, love you” Maria said.

She didn’t kiss him like Wyatt.

She didn’t give him something to do.

She didn’t give him a hug.

She took care of him and then she left.

Angel watched her take her things and head out the door. He waited another few seconds before he got up from his seat. He moved to the window behind the TV and pulled back the curtain a fraction. He looked outside to see the blue convertible that was parked outside. The car he had seen many times.

The car that always came to pick up his mom when his father was gone.

Angel watched his mom climb into the shotgun seat of the car. He watched her smile and talk to the tall man who sat in the driver’s side seat.

He watched the man twist a few strands of his mothers hair with a smile as she talked. And then he watched them drive away. He watched them leave him there like they did almost everyday.

Angel sighed before he closed the curtain. He wouldn’t see Maria again for a while and he was buying himself. It was fun the first few times, but now he was just alone. In this large house with nothing to do. He played with all his toys, he watched all the channels, he searched for all the food. He talked to imaginary people and pretended he was a king in the castle. He went outside in the backyard and played with a couple toys before he went to the swing set. He realized how bored he was and went back inside like that would change anything.

He went into the kitchen and grabbed himself a Kool-Aid. A couple sips in, he went back to the living room to watch TV again. He almost made it to sit down when there was a knock at the door.

Angel smiled.

He took a large gulp of his Kool-Aid before he ran to the door. He hurried to twist the doorknob and push the door open. He made sure to leave it unlocked so he didn’t know why he was opening it for his friend. He pushed the door open and looked at the short-ish man that stood there.

The man looked at him with a smile.

“Hey, Angel,” the man said.

“Hi!” Angel said. “Are you gonna stay with me today?”

The man nodded. “Is your mom here?”

Angel shook his head, letting himself show some of his sadness. “She went off with her friend and dad’s at work. If you come in we can play a bunch before they get back. They won’t know!” He said cheerfully. He knew that the man didn’t want his parents to know about him. It was their secret to keep and if they knew, he wouldn’t come over anymore. He wouldn’t come visit him when he was alone.

He wouldn’t play with him or give him cool things.

Angel didn’t want that to stop so he kept his mouth shut. It was only one more secret added to the many he already had to keep.

“I thought today we could do something different,” the man told him. His smile grew wider, showing the crookedness of his teeth.

“Something different?” Angel asked. “What?’

“Come on,” the man said. He held out his hand for Angel to take. “I’ll show you.”

Angel remembered what Maria said. She told him to stay inside and to wait for her to come back.

He was supposed to stay there and do whatever until they got back. He thought about what Wyatt always said. His dad thought him and his mom were doing something fun even though they weren’t. He looked back at the man that came to him whenever his parents were gone. The man that always did something with him unlike his own mother.

He wanted to do more fun things.

“Okay,” Angel said. He tightened his grip on his monkey stuffed animal. He put on his shoes and went to go with the man.

He stepped out of the door, letting it close behind him. He took the man’s hand and the two of them walked out down the path. The man had a large smile on his face and told him how happy he was that Angel was coming with him. Angel couldn’t help but feel nice too.

Finally someone was paying attention to him.

Someone was really happy to spend time with him and not leave him alone.

Angel got in the man’s car and buckled himself up like Wyatt always told him to do whenever he was in a car. He watched the man come around to the other side. The man got in the truck and then the two of them drove off.

The car ride was long and Angel fell asleep for some of it.

When he woke up they were parked in front of a big house in the woods. This wasn’t the man’s house, Angel thought. He had been there before many times and this wasn’t it. He didn’t question it that much though. There was woods and a nice porch swing. He went inside with the man and got a tour of the place. Once they settled in, they played a board game and watched TV. The man ordered pizza and they had fun.

By the time it was almost five, Angel looked over at the man.

“I have to go home now,” He said. “Dad will be home soon. Mom, too.”

The man didn’t say anything.

“Are we going home soon?” Angel asked.

The man didn’t say anything.

He only smiled.

Hey! Thank you for taking time with this story.

There will be a couple parts to the prolouge as it is long and I didn't want it you to have to read such a long section at once!

Hope you like the story and make sure to read the warnings before doing so!

(And this is also the first time I'm writing a thriller/crime story so I'm hoping that it's good and that I can get some good feedback on how to improve!)