3 ♜ Family Matters

After being searched and finger printed, Spencer and Charlie were thrown into a freezing cold, empty cell. Both of them found themselves lost for words, shocked at the events of the past hour. Racial profiling was obviously something they had heard about but for some stupid reason, Spencer actually believed he was exempt from it because of his family's millions. But being in that terrible cell proved that police officers only saw colour. They didn't care about anything else.

"Hey. HEY!" Charlie called to the guarding officer, trying to grab his attention. "Don't we get one call?!"

The officer turned around to him and shrugged. "You will."

"When!? We have the right to an attorney and I want to call her!"

The police officer's blasé and indifferent shrug caused a grimace to appear on Charlie's swollen face. Spencer had resigned to silence. He really had no words. Disappointment and frustration silenced him.

"Bro, you good?" Charlie asked, sitting back down beside him.

Spencer exhaustedly glanced at his brother through droopy, half shut eyes. His expression said enough.

"If anything happened to you, Spence, I don't know what I would have done...."

"We're safe. That's all that matters."

Spencer's head flopped onto his brother's shoulder and he tried to close his eyes. Maybe if he went to sleep, time would go by faster and he would get through that ordeal much quicker.

"Has it ever happened to you before?" Spencer asked his brother. "I mean have you ever been arrested?"

Charlie thought for a moment before laughing. "Yeah, actually, I have. Once. I forgot my house keys so I tried hopping the fence. Bad idea. Especially in our neighbourhood."

Spencer let out a weak laugh and rolled his eyes. "Terrible idea."

"But I didn't have a gun pointed at me. Then again, the arresting officer was black." Charlie's face became sullen again as he looked out at the opposite wall. "I never felt like I was in danger. I easily explained the situation and the officer patiently allowed me to prove my status. No guns."

"You were very lucky," Spencer sighed. "I really hope we get out of here soon."

As if on cue, a loud voice boomed across the entire room. Spencer's eyes flew open at the familiar voice and Charlie straightened up.

"WHERE ARE MY BOYS?!"

Helena Kingsley marched towards Spencer and Charlie with fury in her eyes. Behind her was the captain of the precinct, an old man with a thick, grey moustache and fear in his blue eyes. In his hands were a set of keys that made Spencer scramble to stand up.

"Mom!" Both Charlie and Spencer exclaimed, suddenly brightening up.

Helena looked expectingly at him and nodded towards the cell. "Go on, then. Let them out."

She towered over him in a pair of heels. Spencer recognised them as the Louboutins that he had gifted her with for her fiftieth birthday.

"Ms Kingsley, we obviously appreciated your  help with the DA's last year but that doesn't give your sons a 'get out of jail' card. There is a process!"

"I don't care! Oliver Scott gave you his statement and so did Amelie Park. My sons were not the perpetrators in this mess. They were victims."

"Ms Kingsley, I really believe that-"

"Did I ask for your opinion? Open this cell door now or I swear to God I will sue this entire precinct to the ground for racial profiling. It was no coincidence that the only two black men in the entire scuffle were the only ones to be arrested."

"Ms Kingsley-"

"Did you not hear me? Open it now!"

The captain sighed and begrudgingly popped the key into the keyhole, slowly turning it. As soon as it clicked open, Helena pushed open the door and dropped her bag. Both her arms wrapped around her sons who nearly collapsed into them as she kissed their heads.

"I'm so glad you're okay," She sighed, squeezing them tightly.

Her warmth enveloped Spencer and he felt safe. "I love you, Mom. I don't say it enough but I love you."

"I love you too, Mom." Charlie added.

"I love both of you so much. I don't know what I would do without you."

The captain coughed behind them. "Ms Kingsley, there is a sign out process that-"

She raised her brow at him, shutting him up instantly. "We're going home. Now."

♜♜♜

Neither Charlie nor Spencer had been to their home in a while. They usually just called their mother or met her for a quick lunch but they were all so busy that the lunches and calls had become a rare occurrence.

"Both your rooms are just how you left them..." Helena said, trying to fill the silence as they entered the empty house.

Spencer really did feel bad for his mother. The house reeked of loneliness. He felt selfish for even thinking it but Spencer wanted to help his mother without actually being there for her. Satisfy her loneliness without actually dedicating any of his time to her. He shook his head to make the thought dissipate and returned his focus to his mother and Charlie.

Charlie was looking around the place like it was strange to him. He was worse than Spencer in keeping contact with his mother. He hadn't been to his childhood home in years. He had probably forgotten what his room even looked like.

"I'm exhausted," Charlie sighed, hanging his coat on the coat rack. He walked over to his mother and planted a kiss on her head. "I love you, Mom."

"I love you too, sweetie. Goodnight."

Spencer loitered awkwardly by the stairs, not knowing what to do. It was nearly five AM and he should have been tired but instead he just felt angry and riled up. His mother's hand rubbed his back gently.

"What's wrong, son?"

"I... I'm so angry. I can't believe what happened..."

Helena's face softened. She walked into the living room, prompting Spencer to follow her. She sat down on the couch and patted the spot beside her. Hesitantly, he relaxed into the snug couch.

"Doctor Park called me at three AM. I was confused because the last time I talked to him was when he did my liposuction two years ago. He told me his daughter was your friend-"

Spencer let out a soft 'ah'. 'Park' was a common Korean surname so he didn't assume that him and Amelie were related but it all made sense.

"He said that she saw you and Charlie get arrested." Helena's voice became faint and croaky. "My... my heart stopped. I immediately assumed the worse because it's a hard world out there for boys who look like you."

"Mom..."

Her dainty hand reached over to wipe away his tear he couldn't stop from escaping.

"Losing both of my boys on the anniversary of my daughter's death... it felt like a nightmare coming true....I've seen a lot in my work. I worked with the DA to defend police officers just like the one that arrested you today and I felt like it was karma or something-"

"Mom, you have to do that. It's your job."

"No. My job is to keep you two safe. I already failed with Ellie-"

"Don't say that!"

Helena sighed and stroked her son's cheek. "You're so beautiful and I just can't fathom the fact that there are people out there who will judge you for how you look, people who will have preconceptions and prejudiced profiles on you. I'm just as angry as you are. I thought you would have it better than me. But clearly nothing has changed in the past forty years. And I am so afraid."

"Then what do I do, Mom. Do I just wait until the next time? And what about all the other men like me? And the ones that won't be as lucky as me and will lose their lives. I can't live in fear like that! They pulled a gun on me, Mom! A gun!"

Spencer broke down into plaintive tears as his mother's arms found their way around him. She hugged him, cradled him and kissed him. Maybe he wasn't so much angry as he was utterly terrified.

♜♜♜

Spencer eventually retreated to his room, even after his mother placed a blanket over his shoulders and told him he could sleep where he was. It was just like he left it. Movie posters decorated his walls with features from films like 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Psycho'. He betted that if he looked under his mattress he'd still find the fourth grade report cards he hid from his mother. He looked out at his balcony and furrowed his eyebrows when he noticed the light on. It was a shared balcony between Spencer's room, Charlie's room and what used to be Ellie's room. But Spencer thought Charlie was asleep. Curiously, he turned the lock (which was stiff from years of no use) and opened the glass doors. He was instantly hit with a whoosh of cold air. Charlie's door was open and the balcony light was on but Charlie was no where to be seen.

"Up here, bro."

Spencer looked up to see Charlie swinging his legs from the roof. The roof. When he was younger, Charlie realised the roof was the best hiding spot in the entire house. Even Ellie, who was practically a human detector, could never find him. And for a few months, Charlie kept winning hide and seek, much to the chagrin of his siblings. That was until one day he slipped and fell off the roof and onto the balcony. It was only a ten feet fall so he escaped with only a few bruises and a dislocated shoulder but ever since then it had always been their spot. They would chat in the privacy of the roof where no one could hear them, see them or even find them. It was where Charlie admitted to Ellie and Spencer that he was queer and where Ellie had told them that she was suffering with terrible depression and where Spencer confessed to Charlie, on the day of Ellie's funeral, how much he missed her. They carved her initials into the stone to memorialise her. Spencer was dying to see if it was still there.

He stood up on the creaky chair that had been there for so many years and pulled himself up. It used to be harder when he was a scrawny teenager because he had no upper body strength but after he started lacrosse in high school it became much easier. Charlie looked at him and smiled before blowing smoke on his face.

"Hey!"

He grinned and waved his blunt at Spencer. "Guess what I found in my drawer."

Spencer laughed and took it off him, lying down before taking a huge puff. His fingers crawled to the carved letters on one of the roof's tiles. 'E.K FOREVER'.

"I thought you were asleep."

Charlie shrugged. "I couldn't sleep. I could barely close my eyes without seeing that gun. I know I'm being dramatic because like we were lucky to not have been shot but-"

"You're not being dramatic. It shouldn't have happened in the first place," Spencer sighed, passing his brother the blunt. He sighed and stared up at the night sky, focusing on all the stars above them. One star shone brighter than the rest and Spencer liked to think that it was a sign from Ellie telling him everything was going to be okay.

"I'm going to say this once and I'll probably never say it again and you better not hold it against me and I'm only saying it because I'm high as hell right now-"

"I get it!"

Charlie grinned sheepishly and exhaled slowly. "I just wanted to say that I love you, man."

Spencer turned to look at his big brother and couldn't stop himself from laughing, much to Charlie's chagrin.

"What are you laughing at!?"

"Man, you're so high right now-"

"I hate you." He jokingly punched Spencer's shoulder as Spencer continued to laugh.

"I love you too. Obviously."

♜♜♜

Well ain't that cute....

I'm really curious are you guys liking this book?

Love,

-hexed