The glaring red and blue lights of several police cars blinded him, the vehicles parked side by side outside his mother’s apartment building. Aiden sat in his car a good while, staring at the place, his mind morphed to a blank canvas. His heart became numb, and yet, he was there, in the eye of the storm.
He’d had an awesome interview, then gave Tim an update that included the roundabout warning from Mark. After bouncing it off one another, they decided calling the fucker’s bluff was the best bet and if he did sing like a wounded bird, he’d handle that bridge when it was time to cross it. This right here though was a gut clenching ending to fairly positive day. Deciding to take the situation by the throat, he shoved the car door open and exited his vehicle, slamming it behind him, then approached Perry, who was talking to four cops, his arms flailing about and his voice loud.
“But she’s not here!” Perry continued before they met eyes. “Aiden, thank God.” His brother’s shoulders slumped and a look of relief came over his tense face.
“Sir, who are you?” one of the officers questioned, a concerned look in his eyes.
He must be new. Everyone knows who I am by now…
“I’m Barbara’s son, Aiden. Perry’s brother.”
The cop nodded in understanding. “Aiden, your mother, is accused of striking her neighbor, Ms. Appleton, with a rolling pin. They’d had an argument and it escalated. We’ve went to her apartment and she isn’t there. Do you know where she might be?”
“No. I thought she was home actually.” He winced from the spastic lights going around and around. It hurt his vision even more now that he was closer to them. He tried to ignore all the partially opened blinds in various apartments with silhouettes of heads looking on at the freak show. Just behind the police officers, he took note of Perry’s old white thunderbird. He could have sworn he saw movement in the backseat. He blinked a few times, then focused back on the officers who rattled on about how they were basically sick and tired of his mom. They weren’t the only ones…
“There’s that drunk, crazy bitch!” someone yelled. Everyone turned around and took note of a tall, thin man walking briskly towards Perry’s parked car. “You hit my mother in the head! Hey! She’s over here!” The guy pointed straight ahead, his oversized rust shirt moving about in the cold breeze and his eyes dancing in the strangest of ways. The police raced to the Thunderbird, the new guy with his gun drawn, and peered inside with a flashlight.
“Get out tha car!” the cop hollered. Aiden tossed a menacing glance at Perry, who turned sheepishly away, avoiding eye contact.
“You stupid son of a bitch!” Aiden spat under his breath through all of the commotion. “They could get you on obstruction!” Soon, the cops were dragging Mom out the car, her slurred curse words making him cringe.
“You get your goddamn hands offa me! Go arrest a real criminal, fucker!” Her hair slung in a million directions, and her shirt hung off her shoulder exposing prominent collar bones and a twisted bra strap. Her knees buckled and she struggled hard, her tiny body giving them what for.
Perry rushed towards them, only to be severely warned by two officers telling him to stay back. The screaming all around him became so much that his head began to throb and ache. Aiden got down on the sidewalk. His ass hit the cold concrete and he sat there with his legs wide open, hands over knees, staring down at the ground. The blood rushed to his head and he did everything within him to gain his inner peace. His cellphone buzzed in his pocket, but he ignored it.
“Aiden!” His mother’s voice was so shrill, it made him jump. He looked up at her, now handcuffed and being shoved in the back of one of the police cars. Her eyes filled with tears. Perry jumped about, cursing and carrying on until he, too, was in handcuffs and pushed against the side of the one of the patrol cars.
“Please let him go! He didn’t mean it!” Aiden hopped to his feet and protested with his hands up, his anger and angst marrying one another within him. He stood beside one of the cops who knew him by name, Officer Steven. “Perry is a good guy, you know that. He’s just afraid for her. Please! I promise he won’t bother anybody.” Perry began to calm down and his voice quieted as he stared at his brother with fear in his blue eyes.
“You’re lucky.” The cop unlocked the handcuffs and snatched them off his brother’s wrist. “You should be going downtown. You lied to us. You hid her and then tried to interfere. If it wasn’t for Aiden, trust me, that would be it for you!” The cop jammed his finger in Perry’s face, but thankfully, the crazy bastard remained quiet and didn’t test the waters.
Before Aiden could form another thought, his mother was driven away. She pressed her forehead against the window and they looked at one another until she couldn’t be seen anymore. Two of the officers gave him some papers and information, the usual run down. It had been years since Mom had been arrested, but he recalled the prior time like it was yesterday. Moments later, the people peeking behind the blinds seemed to vanish, their lights turned off, and the cops faded into the night like crimson and indigo ghosts. The small, nosy crowd around them broke apart like puzzle pieces dumped onto the floor and it, too, dissipated. He and Perry stood shoulder to shoulder, with so many things to say but not a word uttered.
“We gotta bail her out,” the man finally said, his chest rising and falling fast and hard. Aiden snatched his car keys out of his pocket and stomped towards his vehicle.
“Where are you going, man?!”
“Home!” He snatched the door open.
Perry chased him down and stood before him, looking crazy.
“You’re not goin’ home until we get this sorted out. Now, what can you spare? We gotta call a bail bondsman. We gotta get her out as soon as possible.”
All the hate and hurt in Aiden’s heart flooded into his body like thick, black poison going directly into his blood system.
“We don’t have to do shit! I told her I was done, and I mean it.” With that, he slammed the door closed and drove away, leaving Perry and the spirit of his mother behind him…
He counted down the minutes…