1. Monkey Pets

October 2015

“Oh, thank God, it’s still here!” Nick exclaimed relieved and Baylee rolled his eyes. Nick looked like he was gonna make love to the car right then and there. Baylee may have been only twelve, almost thirteen, mind you, but he knew about stuff. He knew where babies came from and he was proud of that knowledge, thank you very much. He wasn’t an idiot though, he was aware of the fact that no love could be made to a car, but the way Nick brought it, you’d believe he could.

“You know, if you two need a room…” Baylee drawled mockingly, Nick turned around and looked at the boy as if noticing he was there for the first time.

“Know what? We just might!” Nick smiled and threw an arm around Baylee’s shoulder. Without warning, he lifted him up with one arm and promptly swung him in the passenger seat of his car.

“I get to ride shotgun?” Baylee yelled excitedly.

“You sure do!” Nick exclaimed just as happy.

“I never get to ride shotgun! This is so cool! This is awesomely epic!”

“Hey, being awesome is my job,” Nick said, smiling. Baylee couldn’t have been more happy. They’d had a nice day together, which was pretty amazing, given the fact that it had started out like a terribly bad day. Mom, who had come back three days ago, had taken Dad to the hospital in the morning, because it was ‘take Dad to the hospital’ day. That’s what Baylee called it anyway. He hated those days. They’d occur like every three weeks and Mom promised it was to get Dad some medicine. Baylee wasn’t so sure. He didn’t really know what happened during the ‘medicine’ days, but he was pretty sure that ‘medicine’ was the wrong term. Poison was more like it, for it did nothing to make his dad better. In fact, it seemed like it only made him feel worse.

Baylee had been left with Nick, who was still there because of his shoulder. After two days it turned out he might have broken it a little after all, and Mom had insisted he’d stay with them ‘til he’d feel better. Baylee hadn’t really gotten that, seeing Mom never really seemed to like Nick. She thought he was irresponsible and a bad example, but luckily, Dad always stood up for him. So now he got to right shotgun because of that. And he’d got to go to the zoo, where he’d been a million times before, but never with Nick. Baylee had thought the man was ready to buy one of the baboons and keep it as a pet. He’d never seen anyone so excited about baboons before. He’d gotten about ten different kinds of ice creams and now he felt nauseous, but content, as they drove home calmly. Well, Nick’s way of calm anyway, which meant that they were still going at least five miles over the speed limit. Baylee didn’t mind, and he felt his eyes slowly shut, thinking about baboons, monkeypets, Nick, Nick as a monkey, Halloween costumes, Momo. Momo?

“No, Momo! Stay!” Baylee screamed, suddenly wide awake. He immediately knew he was too late when he felt the car brake abruptly. He heard Nick swear violently, which made him realize just why Mom thought Nick was a bad example. There was a long moment of silence, without the happy yapping of his dog, which made Baylee assume the worst.

He jumped out of the car as soon as possible, running to the front. He heard himself scream in horror when he saw the animal, which had once been white, but now looked like it had been repainted by a ugly shade of red.

June 2013

“What the hell happened back there?” he heard his mom yell hysterically from the other room, through the walls, and he hid his face back in AJs chest. For Mom to use the word ‘hell’, something would have to be really wrong. He didn’t know exactly what was wrong, cause he hadn’t been there during the rehearsals, but from the several shocked and worried faces, he could make a good guess.  He had tried to ask AJ, who’d whisked him away before he’d been able to get a look in the other room, but AJ hadn’t said anything, just hold him close like he was six years old. He was ten, damnit, and he had a right to know what was going on. Of course, that had been before he’d heard his mother’s hysterical yell, now he really didn’t want to know what happened.

“It’s okay, Bay,” AJ murmured quietly. If it was supposed to be soothing, he didn’t do a very good job. Baylee could clearly hear the fear and concern in his voice.

“AJ, could you let me go, you’re kinda squeezing me out here,” Baylee tried to choke out.

“Oh, right, I’m sorry, I’m just, ehh, kinda nervous.”

“Yeah, I can tell,” Baylee answered, pausing. “Where’s everyone?” he asked innocently, though he very well knew where everyone was. They were in the other room.

“They’re next door, trying to help your dad,” AJ explained softly.

“What happened to him?” he felt himself getting scared. Figuring he’d probably get the most information out of AJ this way, he did his best to put on his greatest version of the puppy dog eyes. Just be a scared little boy, just make him feel sorry for you.

“I wish I knew, Bay, but I really don’t, I don’t understand what happened,” AJ stated, confused. Baylee realized the older man was feeling just as lost and scared as he was.

“But you were there! You actually saw what happened, right?” he asked, desperate.

“Oh buddy, you don’t want to know what I saw.”

October 2015

He barely heard Nick slam the car door shut. He barely noticed the tall guy coming to stand next to him. He barely saw his obviously dead dog through his tears. He did, however, notice it when Nick tried to gently put his good hand on his shoulder.

Baylee jumped about a mile into the air and spun on his heels, livid. Just when he thought his life couldn’t get more screwed up…

“You! You killed her! She’s dead because of you!” He screamed and Nick shrunk back.

“I’m so sorry, Bay, I… I… I didn’t see her! She went so fast…” Nick tried to explain.

“No! You should have seen her! How could you not see her!” Baylee yelled unrelenting. He was so mad, feeling the frustrations flowing out of his mouth at a fast speed. He knew Nick couldn’t have seen the dog running up to the car, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t blame the guy.

“Oh God, I know! I’m such an asshole! I’m so sorry, Baylee!” cause he knew Nick would also blame himself.

“You KILLED my dog!” Baylee was furious now, sobbing because of the lack of control in his life. Taking a well-aimed hit, he punched Nick right in his bad shoulder.

“Ow!” Nick howled and it made Baylee feel just a little bit better.

“I hope it hurts!” he shouted bitterly.

“Look Baylee, I already said I was sorry. There’s nothing more I can do. Hey, I’ll get you another dog,” Nick offered desperately. It was the last straw.

“You think it’s gonna be that easy? You think you can just replace her? I don’t want another dog, Nick! I want Momo! I want my own dog! I want Momo back! Just the way she was!”

There was a long silence. Nick looked at Baylee, who was sobbing uncontrollably, tears streaming down his face, unto the ground.

                “Baylee?” Nick asked softly and Baylee’s head shot up.

                “What?” he snarled angrily.

                “This isn’t really about Momo anymore, is it?”

                “What do you know? You don’t know anything!” he growled hoarsely.

                “Baylee, please…” Nick begged quietly.

                “No, she’s not just some dog, you can… you know… replace…”

                Another long silence followed and Baylee saw the change in Nick’s face, as the older man recalled the same words he’d spoken himself a few months before. Without caring about anything else, Nick wrapped his arms around the boy, that felt like a little nephew to him, and hugged him tight.

                “I know, Baylee, I know. We won’t.”