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Some godforsaken force had disturbed Agatha’s sleep, and she had awoken with a particularly parched throat. Agatha pushed open her bedroom door, bleary-eyed from being asleep. She walked down the dark hallway, past her son’s bedroom door, and down the stairs into the kitchen. She fumbled blindly in an upper cabinet for a mug, hoping nothing shattered in the process. As her cup filled with water from the sink, she glanced at the microwave clock to see that it was nearly one in the morning.
Something fuzzy butted at her ankle, and she recognized it as her rabbit, Senor Scratchy, who was named very creatively by Nicky several years ago. He thumped a foot onto the ground with all his little might.
Agatha rolled her eyes, “What do you want?” She drained her cup of water and set it down on the counter.
He thumped again.
“It’s one in the morning. What do you possibly need right now?” Agatha sighed, picking him up and holding him to her chest.
Senor Scratchy wriggled around in her arms, signaling for her to put him down. As soon as she placed his feet on the ground, he darted up the stairs and into the hallway. Agatha followed him, dragging her feet and clicking the light on before she went up.
She found him in front of Nicky’s bedroom, scratching at the closed door. Odd… he didn’t usually leave the door completely closed. He liked to leave it a crack open so Scratchy could come and go as he pleased during the night.
Agatha knocked at his door twice, “Nicky?”
There was no answer, so she grasped the handle and opened the door, expecting to see her son fast asleep on the bed. But there was nothing. His bed was completely empty.
“Nicky?” Agatha’s voice raised in concern. She looked inside his closet and into his bathroom, “Nicholas??”
Scratchy was on the bed, digging at it to make it comfortable. She then went to the window to inspect it for any possible signs of forced entry. What she found was an unlocked window that was open just half an inch.
Her mind went to all the worst possibilities, had somebody kidnapped her son? Did he sleepwalk out of the house into the street where a car hit him? Had a rabid animal come inside and taken her son for dinner??
Well, that last one is probably the least likely option, but her mind was still reeling with the options.
Rio. She needed to tell her wife. Agatha, who’d had all semblance of sleep stricken from her mind, made a mad dash towards their bedroom. She flipped on the lights and shook Rio.
“Rio. Rio!” She rolled over, facing away from Agatha, “Wake up, there’s no time for this!”
Rio grumbled, opening her eyes slowly and covering her face with her hands, “Wh-”
“Nicky isn’t in his room,” panic seeped through Agatha’s voice.
“Did you check the kitchen?” Rio yawned, still not fully awake, “He’s probably eating a late night grilled cheese.”
“His window was open, and his door was completely closed. I don’t know where he is ,” Agatha said seriously.
That seemed to sober Rio up. She pushed herself up and nearly collapsed to the floor, trying to roll out of bed and put on her house slippers. “I’m sure everything is completely fine,, my love. We’ll probably find him stargazing outside on the roof.”
So they searched. They split up and searched every single room and closet in the house twice, just in case he was playing games with them. Rio even took out the ladder and climbed onto the rooftop. They walked up and down the street together, calling out his name, but there was nothing. When they searched his room, they found his phone was nowhere to be seen, so it wasn’t likely that he had been kidnapped. Or at least that’s what Agatha told herself.
“Maybe he snuck out,” Rio said, tapping her phone and calling her son again . You never know with kids.”
Agatha wrapped her arms around herself, trying to keep the cold wind from entering her coat, “Maybe.”
“The number you have called is not available, please try again later. ” The robotic voice came from Rio’s phone, and she angrily stuffed it back into her pocket.
By the time they got home, it was two a.m., and they had attempted to call him from either of their phones over a dozen times.
Agatha shrugged off her coat and collapsed dejectedly onto the couch, “Rio, what if he’s-”
Rio crouched in front of her and placed a finger over Agatha’s lips, silencing whatever words she was about to say, “Don’t. Do not even entertain the thoughts I know you are having. Nicholas is a seventeen-year-old boy. Would you like to know what I think he is doing?”
“What?” Agatha leaned into Rio’s hand as it ran through her hair comfortingly.
“I think that he is doing something stupid, but not stupid enough to get himself hurt,” Rio assured her, “He is a smart boy, and we raised him well. Only for the most part, I suppose, if he thinks he can sneak out and get away with it.”
—
As the ATV accelerated through the mud, Nicky screamed in fear, “Guys, I think we’re going a little fast!”
The sound of the motor ripped through the night air as Tommy yelled back, “Trust me, we’re fine! I’m a great driver!”
This was the worst idea Tommy had ever had. Off-road four-wheeling in the middle of the night? Yeah, that was incredibly safe. Nicky looked to his left to see Billy in the passenger seat, clinging onto one of the metal bars for dear life.
He felt nauseous as Tommy whooped and cheered, going flying over logs and rocks. The trio had pre-gamed in Tommy’s beaten up truck, “to soften the nerves,” is what he said. But now Nicky was thinking that this wasn’t such a good idea.
The ATV hit another bump, jerking violently and sending Nicky’s stomach into his throat.
“Tommy, I swear to god, slow down!” he yelled, gripping the sidebar so tightly his knuckles turned white.
“Relax, man!” Tommy called back, his grin stretched wide, “I know what I’m doing!”
The ATV skidded as it hit a slippery patch of mud, causing Billy to screech in terror. Nicky, on the other hand, was convinced this would end in disaster.
“Tommy, I’m so fucking serious right now, please stop,” Billy’s voice cracked as he yelled at his twin brother.
“Alright, alright!” Tommy finally relented, easing up on the gas. The ATV rolled at a slower pace, and Nicky let out a shaky breath of relief, which was incredibly short lived.
Just as he turned the ATV to head back toward the truck, something shiny caught his eye in the woods, “Oh, hey, what’s that?”
“Tommy-” Billy shouted, but it was too late. Tommy hit the gas again, the ATV jerking forward.
They hit a massive rock, causing the ATV to tilt sideways and change directions. The headlights illuminated a tree directly in their path, and all three boys screamed in unison.
“ Oh shit ,” Tommy squawked.
Tommy slammed the brakes, but the ATV skidded on the wet ground and collided with the tree head-on, at a relatively slow but still nerve-rattling speed.
The front of the ATV hit the trunk with a loud THUNK, throwing all three boys forward, held back only by their seatbelts.
“What the hell?!” Billy screeched, clutching his chest like he’d just escaped death.
“Okay, okay!” Tommy held up his hands defensively, “That was… not my smartest move.”
Nicky groaned, leaning his head back against the seat and wiping mud off his face with his sleeve, “We could’ve died, and it would have been your fault.”
“I said I’m sorry!” Tommy grumbled, jumping out of his seat and inspecting the front of the ATV, “It’s fine! Just a little scratch!”
“A little scratch?” Billy got out and pointed at the slightly crumpled metal bumper, “You crashed into a tree! How are you so chill about this?”
“Guys, can we just go home?” Nicky groaned, checking his phone only to realize it was dead, “It’s late, and I cannot deal with this any longer.”
Tommy sighed dramatically but turned the ATV around, this time driving cautiously back toward the truck. When they finally loaded the muddy, slightly dented vehicle into the back of Tommy’s beat-up truck, Nicky slumped into the backseat, exhausted with the adrenaline out of his system.
“Next time,” he muttered, “I’m in charge of the plans.”
Billy nodded enthusiastically, “Agreed. Tommy is never in charge of anything again.”
Tommy rolled his eyes as he climbed into the driver’s seat, “You guys are no fun.”
—
The front door creaked open slowly, and Nicky stepped inside, trying his best not to make any noise. He was a hot mess, mud clung onto his skin and clothes, and it would probably just be better to throw it all away rather than try and clean it. Plus, his head still spun from the stupid amount of cheap vodka he had.
He froze as he spotted his moms sitting at the island in the middle of the kitchen waiting for him to notice them. The tension in the air was palpable. Agatha had her arms crossed, and her lips were pressed into a thin line. Rio was stone-faced, but he could see the mixture of anger and disappointment in her eyes.
“Do you have any idea what time it is, young man?” Rio asked, her voice steady but laced with fury.
He stared back at them, not knowing what to say.
“Nicholas. Harkness. Vidal.” Rio’s eyelid twitched.
He was in such deep shit.
Nicky swallowed, wiping his hands on his equally muddy jeans, “Uh… late?”
“Three-thirty in the morning,” Agatha stood from her chair.
Rio stepped closer to him, pulling her green robe around herself, “You look like you’ve rolled around in a swamp, you smell like rubbing alcohol, and I hope your phone is dead cause there is no excuse for why you haven’t answered our calls.”
“I know, and I’m really sorry,” Nicky winced at how small his voice sounded.
“Sorry isn’t enough for this kind of thing, Nico,” Rio sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
Agatha looked pointedly at Nicky’s clothes, “What exactly happened?”
“Well, uh,” Nicky started, trying to decide whether or not he should even risk lying, but he decided against it, knowing they would just see right through him, “Tommy had the idea to take their ATV out in the middle of the night and drive around. I thought it would be a quick thing, and I didn’t want him to think I was no fun or something, and so I just… snuck out?” He paused, guilt etched into his face, “It was so so dumb. He convinced me, but I shouldn’t have let it happen, and I’m so sorry.”
Agatha’s expression softened, “Nicky, you’re a good kid with a good heart, but making foolish decisions like these just puts you in danger.”
Rio chimed in, “Sneaking out, drinking, tearing through the woods with the twins in the middle of the night. You could have gotten seriously hurt. And if something did happen to you…” her voice wavered, and she took a deep breath to steady her voice, “We can’t lose you. Do you understand that?”
Nicky nodded quickly, his brown eyes wide and a little glassy, “I do. I swear I do. I’ll never do anything like this again.”
Agatha stepped closer, brushing some of the dried mud off his cheek with a sigh, “We believe you. But there still have to be consequences. We’ll talk about it in the morning,” she pulled him in for a hug before hissing into his ear threateningly, “ If I ever catch you drinking or sneaking out again without my permission it will be over for you. Capeesh? ”
He pulled away and nodded vigorously, knowing she would make do with that threat if she had to.
“Now go upstairs and clean the mud off of yourself before this house becomes a pigsty,” Rio sighed, gesturing up the stairs where Senor Scratchy came bounding down them as if on cue.
“Yes Mami,” he hung his head low, knowing he deserved whatever punishment his moms were about to rain down on him.
“We aren’t cleaning up the mud trail down here either!” Rio called after him as walked up the stairs.
—
Agatha let herself finally slump over at the table, feeling the weight of exhaustion finally hitting her after spending over two hours surviving on pure anxiety.
Rio came close to her and rubbed her back comfortingly, “He’s safe, he’s home now.”
She laughed in disbelief, shaking her head, “Kids. You can’t control ‘em. No matter how hard you try.”
“That boy is lucky if he doesn't get grounded for the next three decades,” Rio muttered.
Agatha leaned her elbows on the table, resting her head in one hand. “I just don’t get it. He’s such a good kid. He gets good grades, and he always follows directions. But then he pulls something like this?” She gestured vaguely into the air.
Rio pulled a chair closer and sat beside her while she continued to rub gentle circles on Agatha’s back, “He is a good kid. But even good kids do dumb things sometimes. Remember when you decided to sneak out to meet your friends at that dive bar when we were first dating?”
Agatha groaned, lifting her head to give Rio a look. “I was nineteen . And it was your idea to meet me there.”
“Exactly,” Rio smirked at her wife, “He’s still learning and experimenting with what's a good decision and what's a bad one.”
“I’m just glad he made it home in one piece with no blood on him,” Agatha scoffed.
She tilted her head, giving Agatha a knowing look, “But you’re still going to make him scrub that mud off the floors tomorrow, aren’t you?”
“Oh, absolutely,” Agatha said, her lips quirking into a small, tired smile, “And then he’s scrubbing the walls, the baseboards, the ceiling-”
Rio raised an eyebrow, amused, “The ceiling?”
Agatha shrugged back, “If I find so much as a single speck of dirt in this house, he’ll clean it.”
“I’ll give him some credit for owning up to his senselessness. He didn’t try to weasel his way out of getting in trouble,” Rio moved her hand from Agatha’s back to her hair, “I think he’s learned his lesson.”
Agatha tilted her head thoughtfully, "Let’s hope he did. But just in case, I’m hiding the car keys for the next six months."
Rio laughed unabashedly, "You’re ruthless."
“You know it,” Agatha yawned with exhaustion at the end of her sentence.
Come morning, Nicholas would regret ever stepping outside of his house.