ABOMINATIONS

CRAE

Caroline was at school, Crae having returned from walking her there about a half hour before, and their mom was sitting on the couch that she seemed to be attached surgically to and drinking a large bottle of wine. Crae remembered when before had moved out how his mom actually poured herself glasses. He wasn't sure when she had ditched that habit and decided to drink her wine or liquor straight from the bottle it came in. He wondered if it had anything to do with him moving out, but based on the way she treated him when he did visit home, he doubted it.

While his mom drowned herself in cheap wine, Crae hung out out of sight behind her, leaning against the wall of the hallway and watching TV. It was usually set to one of his mom's cooking or reality shows that she barely paid attention to, but this morning it was on the news, and Crae was actually interested in watching.

It was the usual type thing; weather, stories about happenings around the county and with the government. He was about to leave and go find something else to occupy his time until Caroline got home when the story on the news changed and the man started talking about a "dangerous individual" who should be avoided at all costs. Squinting over his classes to read the paper in front of him, the news anchor told the story of a young man whose name or age they had no idea. He told the story of this individual showing up to a police station a couple towns over from Crae, and when he thought about it the town was actually in Nevada, not California where he lived. The young man had been talking crazy, saying he had bad things happen to him, and being clearly on drugs. The news anchor cut to a clip of a police officer talking. He had a bandage around his head and his arm was in a sling.

"I never got his name," he was saying into the microphone. "But he told me this insane story of his brother and some unknown scientist or something strappin' him to a table and pumping him full of some drug or something. Then, get this, I told him we were gonna hold him at the jail for the night so we could get a specialist up there to talk to him -- since this dude was either off his rocker or on something strong --" he said, looking at the camera for a moment "--and he ran! I tried to grab him and I got ahold of his arm, and then he THREW ME into the wall!" The man shouted, waving his good arm around for emphasis. "He broke my arm, dislocated my shoulder, and gave me a concussion!"

"He sounds extremely dangerous," the unseen news reporter chimes in.

"Definitely," The officer agreed.

The news broadcast cut back to the anchor, who was now accompanied by a picture of the mystery man. The picture was blurry, taken from someone running after him, but Crae could make out a mop of black hair, a tattered yellow shirt, and since his head was turned slightly to look at his pursuers, Crae could see what looked like a giant tooth protruding from his lower jaw, like a tusk of some sort. He wasn't really sure what that was about.

"--could be anywhere from eastern Nevada to California. He should be treated as dangerous, and if you see this individual or have any clue to his whereabouts, dial 911 immediately. Next up, a heartwarming story about a woman who opened a gluten-free bakery to help raise awareness for people with Celiac Disease like her son."

Crae shook his head, turning and walking back towards his room while simultaneously turning on his phone and looking for other information about this dangerous tooth man. There were a couple articles speculating about what he was and where his "superhuman strength" came from. Crae found himself reading an Onion article calling him "Walrusman," claiming he was bitten by a walrus and now has tusks and super-strength. It was mildly entertaining.

Soon it was time for Caroline to get out of school. Crae walked there, enjoying the mild weather. He waited for his sister and when she came bounding down the steps he smiled and waved, prompting her to run over to him and jump up to hug him, nearly bowling him over.

"You're almost too big to be doing that!" He protested, setting her down on the ground.

"Yeah, but not yet," she argued.

"Sure, sure. Where do you want to go eat?"

Crae should have known she would want to eat at McDonald's. His sister was as picky as he was. She knew what she liked and she didn't want to branch out, and one of her favorite foods were chicken McNuggets. She watched in silent wonder as Crae ordered his meal -- just a normal cheeseburger -- and pull out a fairly decent sized wad of cash to pay. He peeled a ten out of the stack and gave it to the cashier before folding it all back up and putting it back into his pocket, remaining as casual as he could throughout the whole encounter despite the fact that he could feel his sister's eyes on him, and his money, the whole time.

She brought it up about halfway through their meal. "Why do you have so much cash?" She asked, her gaze fixed on a chicken nugget as she dunked it in ketchup.

"From my job," Crae said vaguely around a fry.

"What do you do?" Caroline asked.

Crae had never really thought about what he would tell his sister what he did when she got old enough and curious enough to wonder. Now, here they were, in the corner booth at a McDonald's, and that exact problem was presenting itself. I mean, what was he supposed to say? He couldn't tell her the truth, after all, what if she offhandedly mentioned it to someone that could get him in huge trouble? But try as he might he couldn't think of a profession that would allow him to have as much cash besides male stripper or drug dealer, both of which were not good things to tell your little sister you did. Eventually the silence stretched too long and she started guessing.

"Are you a stripper?" she asked, and Crae laughed into his cup of sprite. When he still didn't say anything, she said "fine, I guess your silence means I don't need to know."

"Maybe one day," Crae finally told her, thankful that she wasn't pushing too much and hoping she didn't go back and tell their mom that he was a stripper.

His phone pinged in his pocket and he pulled it out.

Shauna: When are you coming back over?

Crae was used to texts like this by now. In the beginning, when they were just friends, Crae would visit Shauna at her apartment every now and then and the two would just hang out and talk or play board games, using each other to escape their shitty happenings in their lives. Eventually they started drinking together, and the closer they became, the more time Crae spent at Shauna's apartment, cleaning up the place when Shauna was working the job she hated, which she had to pay the bills when the work for the gang was scarce, having a screwdriver ready for her when she got home. Crae remembered when he had been at her apartment for about a week straight, the longest he had ever spent there, and the two were completely wasted by 10 PM. When Crae woke up in the morning, he had only flashes of memories from the night before, and he was, along with Shana who was snuggled into him, naked in her bed, even though he had always taken the couch before.

Thus was the beginning of their confusing yet casual relationship.

Crae: I'm treating my baby sister to a late lunch right now. I'll come by after.

Shauna: :*

Crae turned his phone off and turned his attention back to his fries. His phone buzzed again, and he sighed, pulling it out to check it as Caroline got up to go get a refill.

Mom: Where is Caroline?

Crae: We're at McDonald's. I'll bring her home soon.

Mom: come home now. Did not approve of this. She doesn't need all that shit in her body.

Crae: It's better than all of the nothing that you're feeding her. We'll be home soon.

His mom didn't respond, and he put his phone away just as his sister sat back down at the table. "Try this," she said, holding her drink out to Crae.

He leaned forward and took a sip of the drink, which had a weird, fruity flavor with undertones of vanilla and something sour. "What is this?" He asked her, scrunching his nose.

"Every drink at the fountain mixed together. Except for water, of course," Caroline told him matter-of-factly.

"Oh, you mean a suicide?" Crae asked.

"Is that what it's called? I always called it the Caroline Special."

"That's a much better name for it, you're a genius," Crae said, and Caroline beamed, sipping her nasty concoction.

Whenever they were done, Crae told Caroline that it was time to head home, even though she protested and asked if they could go to the arcade, or the park, or the mall, and when Crae said no to all of those she went silent for a few moments and asked if they could go to the movies, or a mini golf course, or the mall but not buy anything just look. Crae told her that they really had to go home, that Mom wanted her home.

"I hate mom," Caroline protested. "I want to go do something else!"

"Don't say you hate mom. She loves you. I know she doesn't always act like it but she does."

Caroline didn't say anything for a few more moments. "Are you going back to your girlfriend's house after you drop me off?" She asked quietly.

Crae didn't even try to have the "not my girlfriend" argument with Caroline because he didn't want to try to explain. "Yeah, probably," he said.

Caroline sped up her walking and stopped right in front of Crae, craning her neck to look up at him. "Please don't," she whined, her eyes sad. "I like it when you're here. You actually talk to me and walk me to school and get me food!" Her voice was rising in volume and she stomped on the ground.

Crae crouched down to meet her height and rubbed her arm. "Hey, how about this. We can go to the grocery store before we head home and get some food to make you some meals for the next week. And then I'll come home after that and we can get some more stuff. You wanna learn how to cook?"

Caroline was still pouting, but Crae could tell that she liked the idea. "I get to choose the foods?" she asked.

"Sure. Some of them. But not too much junk food."

"Okay, deal."

Crae didn't even bother to text his mom and tell her that the two of them were heading to the grocery store. She probably wouldn't even be conscious by the time they got home, so he didn't feel the need.

Caroline was excited as she bounced around the store, pointing out foods and ingredients that she wanted. The majority of their basket ended up being frozen dinners, a couple pizzas (Caroline couldn't choose between pepperoni and hawaiian), and some ice cream. Crae made sure to grab some fruits and vegetables as well so he could cook at least one or two healthy meals. He pulled out his same wad of cash at the cash register and was aware that his sister was once again staring at it.

When they got home, their mom was asleep, just as Crae thought would be the case. He held up a finger against his lips to Caroline to tell her to be quiet. They unloaded groceries as the sun set outside the kitchen window. Crae cooked some vegetables while Caroline trotted back to her room. When he was done he put them in a container in the refrigerator and looked to make sure everything was in the right place and that it would last her at least a week. He pulled out the jelly from the fridge and took the peanut butter and bread from the pantry, throwing together a few sandwiches and setting them gently in paper bags he found along with an apple and some small bags of chips that Crae grabbed last minute at the checkout. Once he had made enough for the rest of her school week he pulled a sharpie out of one of the drawers and wrote Wednesday through Friday on them. He sighed and put everything away, pulling out his phone and sending a quick text to Shauna.

Crae: about to leave my house.

Shauna: okay, see u soon.

He walked past his snoring mother and knocked softly on Caroline's door. She opened it and her face was sad. "Are you leaving?" She asked quietly.

Crae nodded. "I'll be back before Monday. I made you lunches for the rest of the week. You know how to cook all the frozen dinners, and there's plenty of fruit and other stuff you can grab for breakfast."

Caroline didn't say anything, she just made a small "hmph" of acknowledgment, her hand falling from the doorknob. She wouldn't look Crae in the eyes.

"Hey, Caroline, I love you, okay? I promise it's better for all of us that I'm not in the house fighting with Mom all the time."

"Mmhmm," Caroline mumbled. She stepped forward and hugged Crae around his waist. He hugged her back and stroked the top of her hair comfortingly.

"I'll be back before you know it, okay?"

"Okay."

There was a part of Crae that felt bad for leaving his sister for so long. It was truly better, though, that he was gone. After his dad died his mom was on a downward spiral, and when she was angry, which the liquor assured was often, she took it out on Crae.

When he arrived at Shauna's he went straight to the freezer and dug out the vodka. He heard her stirring from her bedroom and when she walked into the kitchen she was wearing one of Crae's shirts. She didn't say anything when she saw him pouring the clear alcohol into a shot glass and downing it without a second thought, then going to pour another. After the second glass she walked forward and wrapped her hands around Crae's waist. "I'm sorry, Crae," she said.

Crae was grateful for her. She kept him sane, gave him an escape from his mother, and she never pried, just offered a supportive shoulder. He set down the vodka and the shotglass and turned around, forcing Shauna to loosen her arms. He wrapped his arms around her and she tightened her grip again and they just stood there for a moment. "I don't think I'm a very good brother," he whispered into her soft hair.

Shauna didn't say anything. What would she even say? She didn't know anything about Crae's homelife, just that he had a mom and a sister and his dad was no longer in the picture. Instead of using words she just tightened her grip and traced small circles into Crae's back with her hand. "I'm sorry, baby," she responded.

Maybe if they stood like this for long enough Crae would stop feeling bad.