"Agustin, are you there?" Officer Heart asked after receiving no response from Agustin.

"Aman?" Asked Agustin in a whisper.

"What's wrong with you man?" Aman asked.

"Officer Heart Aman just walked in he's not at the hospital!" Said Agustin.

"Hospital? Me?" Chuckled Aman.

"Then who's in the hospital? It's been reported that Aman is in the ER, he was wearing a band  with his name on it on his wrist!" Told Officer Heart.

Agustin swallowed hard. "I'll get back to you, let me tell Aman." Agustin hung up his phone and by now the other boys were in there except for Javier. "Aman there was a boy that just got  beat up, he's been mistaken for you and he was wearing a band around his wrist with your name on it!"

Aman went pale in the face. "Oh my God that's my brother!"

***

The next twenty minutes went by in a blur to Aman, from leaving the house in a panic to sitting in a waiting room once again. Agustin drove him to the hospital since he was feeling rather dizzy. It must have been the stress which caused him to feel this way. He couldn't imagine how his brother ended up hurt, what did he ever do? Aman knew he's made it tough on the kid but he didn't know it would come this far. Finally, he was called back so Agustin let him go alone. He felt ashamed to face his brother, he never wanted to hurt him although he could have done a better job at being a good example. And there he was now, laid up in a hospital bed hooked up to oxygen and an IV. Aman neared the bed feeling nervous, his brother was asleep as the Nurses have warned wasn't good, so he didn't see Aman coming in. Aman stood beside his brother's bed and took his limp hand. There were bruises on his face, a few were peeking out from the collar of his hospital gown. "Niki? Can you hear me?" Asked Aman trying not to cry. His brother stirred a bit then his black and blue eyelids began to open. He then looked up at Aman with his brown eyes, a sound of pain escaping his lips as if the motion caused him pain. "Nicholas, I'm right here brother."

"A-Aman he thought, he thought I was you, I-I just w-wanted...to come talk with y-you after you...were arrested."

Aman squeezed his brother's hand. "Shhhh, take it easy. Who thought this?" Aman stroked his brother's cheek a bit noticing the tears that were escaping his eyes. He could only think of one person that has done this, Orson Luz!

"He was an older guy...." Nicholas stopped to cry out in pain, he lifted his head a bit trying to gasp for air.

"Lay back Niki." Said Aman helping his brother lay back on the pillow gently.

"He said his name was Orson Luz. Aman, don't leave me."

"I'm not going anywhere, you're the one that can't leave me. Just keep your eyes open for me, okay?" Aman reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He then went into his contacts and searched for Todd Heart. Once he found it he sent out a text saying,

 A-It was Orson Luz.

Then he reverted his eyes back to his brother he was beginning to fall back asleep. "Stay awake Niki, you're going to be just fine."

***

Officer Heart made it to the boy's house, he knocked and Dylan answered it.

"Hey Officer Heart, what's going on?"

"Dylan Orson Luz was the one that beat up Aman's brother, listen to me I need you to come with me."

"Me? questioned Dylan. He looked perplexed.

"Yes, you're the only one available right now and I trust you can do this. Come on"

Dylan hesitated, he never really thought he could do anything amazing, why did Officer Heart ask him? He never got the glory for anything, always fading into the back, this may be his chance to shine over the other boys for once. "Alright, let me tell Javier." As soon as Dylan let Javier know he was in the passenger seat of Officer Heart's car. "Where are we going?" Asked Dylan as they drove into the city.

"The Flats, that's where Orson Luz is." Replied Officer Heart. Dylan felt his stomach churn. He's never even won a game playing a sport, how on earth did Officer Heart expect him to do this? He must have noticed how nervous he was because ha gave his leg an encouraging pat. "Don't be nervous, I know you can do this."

The streets were dark, there were a few hoodlums hanging out, cars were cruising since it wasn't that late yet. The Flats were interesting to Dylan. The roads were steep, there were sharp turns everywhere. It was run down but quite like it's own little place down there, away from the rest of the city. There were some homeless people just laying out on the streets, Dylan felt sorry for them. He's seen a lot of people in those situations, living in Puerto Rico almost everyone was poor. There were old bridges that use to be lifted so that the boats on the river could pass by. Dylan felt a bit ill, something that was rare for him since he really never felt anything.

***

Corey was too drunk to perceive anything that was going on, but he could feel Orson forcefully pulling on his arm. He didn't know where they were headed but he saw that everything was dark. He had nothing on over his shirt but a ripped sweatshirt and he was freezing. The air felt clear in a bad way making it even colder. It seemed as if anytime it snowed it was never as cold as those clear nights and Corey wasn't used to it. He grew up in California where it was always warm and forty degrees felt cold. His palm was sweating as he held the beer bottle in his right hand. He's been drinking nonstop since they left Guatemala, at that moment he didn't remember a life outside of intoxication. He could see the darkness flashing before him, he was beginning to stumble feeling rather light headed. Orson pulled on his arm a bit harder which caused him to stumble over on the sidewalk. He fell to his knees and somehow in his state knew to keep his chin up so that he wouldn't smack it. But Orson was angry at him, acting as if he had no feelings.

"Get up Corey!" Then he swore at him pulling him to his feet by the collar of his shirt. His neck was sore from all the many times Orson has pulled him by the collar. His vision was blurred for a minute upon standing, the only thing he really saw was Orson's hand coming his way. Then he felt it, the cold slam across his face making his eyes burn.

"I'm so done with you, Corey Aaron! Give me that bottle." Orson took the bottle from Corey and through it across the street. It made a loud cracking sound and some of the beer flew toward Corey missing him a bit. "Officer Heart is following us, we have to hide." Orson pulled him along across the street that was clear. Only a few cars passed by since it was getting late. He brought him to the bridge. There was some landscape along the road beneath the bridge, that's where they stayed hoping to blend in with the shadows of the trees.

***

Aman in the meantime was panicking, he wanted to be out there finding Orson Luz. To tell the truth, he wanted to kill the man. It was one thing for him to injure Aman but his brother? The last thing Aman wanted was his family being involved. His brother was stirring, mumbling unknown things. Aman kept telling him to squeeze his hand in a way to keep him awake. "Come on Niki, you can do it."

"Mama," Cried Nicholas, he was only 18 and always looked up to Aman. Aman didn't know why he's been nothing but bad to his whole family since he ran away with the gang. Actually, it started before that when the incident with his Mama occurred. "Aman I can't do it, I can't do it." Nicholas started crying, it was clear the fever he was running was making him emotional.

"Yes you can, just squeeze my hand." Just then there was a knock on the door and the Dr came in. It was Dr. Maccartie. Aman didn't expect to see him.

"Aman? What are you doing up?"

Aman raised his eyebrows, he wasn't sure what the Dr. could mean, besides why was he in the ER? He wasn't an ER Dr. "It's my brother." Said Aman.

Dr. Maccartie looked worried as he neared the bed. "Take it, easy son." He felt Nicholas's forehead pushing back his wet curls. "I was told you were beaten up."

"No, it was my brother." Said Aman, he was feeling a mix of thoughts at the moment. He wanted to leave that depressed place and chase Orson down, but his brother needed him. He couldn't leave him now.

"You two look a lot alike. I stopped by when I was leaving my shift." The Dr. explained.

"Does he look bad to you?" Asked Aman.

The Dr. looked down at Nicholas. "I can't really say, I was looking over his records and he seemed to have taken a pretty good beating. His internal organs are fine. As long as he doesn't fall asleep things should turn up. Hang in there Aman, this must be hard on all of you." Aman watched the D.r leave then returned to focusing on his brother.

***

"Where could they be?" Asked Dylan as he watched from the car window. They were patrolling the streets literally but there had been no sign of  Orson or Corey.

"I can probably find them on surveillance back at the station. Since this isn't a swat car I don't have the equipment now. Dylan, I want to thank you for being so brave." Said Office Heart.

"Brave? You think I'm brave?" Dylan could feel butterflies in his stomach, this was like winning a race to him.

"Every boy is if you give him a chance. Dylan, you don't have to look a certain way, you don't have to talk a certain way. Sometimes it takes stepping forward and going through with something even though you are alone. God is always watching though and He's the one that really matters. Don't let the other boys overpower you with the things they can do. Your strong and mature, after tonight I really see the man that you're becoming."

Dylan had tears running down his face. "You think so?" He asked.

"Dylan I know so. Thank you for being so brave and calm. I knew you were the best guy to pick for tonight. You all have your own pros and cons, we all do. But you're the calmest of the five boys and I knew you would keep a level head."

Dylan repeated those words in his head. "Thank you, Officer Heart."

***

Corey was shivering as he sat with his knees to his chin. Orson was pacing, probably keeping warmer than Corey by doing that. Corey was shivering trying to find warmth in his own body. Strangely though his cell started ringing. He just looked up at Orson not knowing if he should answer it.

"Give that to me, if it is someone we don't want to hear from you won't be able to handle it." Orson dug for the phone in the pocket of Corey's torn skinny jeans. It was still ringing once he got hold of it so he answered playing it cool. "Hello?"

***

"Hello is this Orson Luz?" Asked the voice of a young man.

"Yes, and who is this?"

"This is Thian Varela, remember me?"

Orson was nervous. "What do you want?" He asked.

"I want to help you." Said Thian.

"With what?" Asked Orson.

"I want to help through Aman Trevino in jail. I'm being sent to Cleveland and this is a perfect chance. I will tell you later I have to go now."

***

"Javi?" Asked Brooks as he came into Javier's room.

"What?" Replied Javier, he wasn't in the mood to talk.

"Are you okay? I mean you use to talk to me, now you just hang out in your room. Dylan's back."

"I'm fine Brooks."

"No your not! Want to talk? I know you're upset about your friend but you're only hurting yourself more by locking up your feelings." Said Brooks.

"Brooks just leave me alone okay? You're always in people's business!" Javier felt sorry for acting that way, Brooks looked heart broken.

"You don't have to be mean Javier." Brooks left the room before Javier could even apologize. He felt like he lost a friend, this seemed even worse than death. At least when one dies you know what happened, what caused it. But prison? That's for the murder, the thief, Luis couldn't have been one of those. Javier needed to get hold of him somehow, so he did a search on the laptop computer trying to find ways to contact the Prison.

***

Brooks went down to see Dylan who just got in. He was in the kitchen making himself a sandwich. "Hey Dylan, what happened?" Brooks looked thrilled as if this was nothing more than a game. In a way he felt like that's all it was, it seemed fun and exciting to him! But tomorrow he his parents wanted to see him, they said they had a plan.

"Brooks, we didn't find him."

"What was it like?" Brooks took a seat at the table feeling a bit light headed.

"We just drove around a bit, nothing big happened. I wonder why he beat up Aman's brother." Dylan brought his sandwich over to the table and sat down. "You look pale, are you okay?"

Brooks didn't want him knowing he felt a bit ill, his head hurt and he was feeling very weak. Thankfully he couldn't' do any more explaining because the front door opened.

Agustin came into the kitchen a few seconds later. He looked tired and worried. He didn't say, a thing he just joined the boys at the table.

"Are you okay? What's going on?" Dylan asked.

"He was beaten up pretty bad, Aman wants to stay the night with him." Told Agustin, he rested his arms on the table then lay his head down.

Dylan gave his back a rub. "Officer Heart and I went out on the streets looking for Orson Luz, we didn't find him though. Why don't you get some sleep."

Agustin sat up and rubbed his eyes. "I just wish things could be okay again, I don't want anyone to be upset."

Brooks expected Agustin to be the one to feel that way, he liked happy things like anyone else only he enjoyed very little things. Things like puppies or ice cream made the 21-year-old happy, he didn't need anything big. "You should get some rest," Brooks said trying to seem perfectly fine.

Agustin looked over at him with a faint smile. "You should too Boo. You look all pale."

Brooks sat up straighter, his back was aching, in fact, his whole body was! But he had to prove to everyone he could do this thing, he didn't want to leave his contract. "I'm fine, but if you insist."  He grasped the table as he attempted standing. His legs were feeling shaky and his hands were trembling. As he stood he lost his footing and hit the chair so that it fell down.

"Whooaa, Brooks you're not fine!" Agustin said quickly standing to help him.

"I am too fine! Just let me be!"

"Not so fast kid, come on I'll help you upstairs." Brooks couldn't refuse Dylan's offer, there was no way he could even move another inch without completely falling over. "Come on, hop up." Dylan kneeled so that Brooks could get on his back with help from Agustin. "All good?" Dylan asked from over his shoulder.

"Yeah." Replied Brooks as he wrapped his arms around Dylan's neck. Dylan carried him up the steps into his room then dropped him off on the bed. Brooks lay back on the pillow feeling as if a burden has been taken off his shoulders. "Thanks, Dylan."

Dylan sat on the bed and looked down at Brooks. "You know Brooks, just because you're sick doesn't mean you can't still do great things. It doesn't matter if you seem different," Dylan pointed to Brooks' stomach in a way of saying he meant the feeding tube. "It doesn't matter if you act different, as long as you have God you can do great things. And I know you will Brooks."

Brooks never saw Dylan quiet like this, it was as if he had a new joy. "Dylan, you know how you were telling us about your past?" Asked Brooks. Dylan nodded. "I can tell you really have changed since then because you are on of the nicest guys I know. We don't feel any different about you."

"Thanks, Brooks, I just don't know how Aman feels. So many bad things have happened to him, he has to be broken by now. And Javier, he's so far away it's like he doesn't even know us anymore. Well, you better get some sleep, you did just have a heart attack." Dylan winked.

"Thanks for treating me like an adult tonight Dylan." Said Brooks.

"No problem, good night brother." Dylan reached in to give Brooks a hug.

"Good night big brother." Said Brooks.

***

Aman was filled with stress, his parents have found out about Nicholas, he had to tell them. It was all a part of his promise to Officer Heart. No more lies, no more secrets. As Aman sat in that hospital room trying to keep his brother from falling asleep, he got to thinking. Everything on earth felt so small, the Heavens are so big as if they're swallowing everything beneath. Anything could happen at any given moment, he's seen it with Brooks, with himself and now his own brother! What was the purpose of ever trying to do things on his own? Maybe he couldn't save his Mama but that's because he was just human! He could end up in the hospital, if it wasn't for God he could be dead! But for some reason God kept him alive, it was clear he had a plan for him. Aman looked down at the hand that held his brothers. The hands of mere humans, the very hands God had created. Aman blamed himself for what had happened with his brother, he still blamed himself for Brooks heart attack. It was the time he stopped running, running from the people God had put in his life The ones that were meant to help him. "Stay awake Niki." He whispered in tears. "Stay awake."

Morning didn't come quick enough, Aman was feeling over tired. Nicholas stayed awake that entire night and was finally able to go back to sleep. It was clear now he wouldn't slip into unconsciousness due to pain. Aman still didn't want to leave his side.

***

"Are you coming, Javier?" Agustin asked Javier who was sitting on the laptop at the dining room table. He always was alone now.

"Where are you going?" Javier asked.

"To see how Aman and his brother are getting on. I miss hanging out with you Jav."

Javier didn't expect to hear Agustin say that, he wasn't sure what it was but he felt as if the boys somehow hated him for tattling. He was worried about Nicholas and didn't want to look like a coward for hiding out. "Is Brooks coming?" He asked.

"Yeah, he's going to use the wheelchair, he's kind of weak this morning." Said Agustin.

"Fine, I'll be there in a minute." Said Javier. He looked down at the Email he had written to Luis. He found out that he had access to a computer sometimes in prison and got his address during ha phone call to the prison that morning.

Dear Luis, I don't know how to say this. I just want you to know I am worried for you and I really want to know what happened. Always your friend Javier.

***

Aman was sitting next to his brother's bed with his pounding head in his hands when there was a knock on the door. He looked up to see the other guys coming in. Even Javier who he expected to see the least.

"Hey, how is he?" Asked Agustin in a whisper, he was pushing the wheelchair.

Aman hated seeing Brooks like that, he hated all the sickness in the world at the moment. "He's finally able to sleep."

"Is he going to be fine?" Asked Dylan.

"Yeah, he just has some bruises across his chest and forehead. He has a broken wrist as well. Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, I think so." Replied Agustin.

Aman sighed, he knew he should just tell them everything. "Well, I might as well tell you why I ended up in such a bad way. You know I wasn't born evil. When I was fourteen my Mama and I were going out shopping. We didn't have a car so we were walking, I remember seeing a suspicious looking guy following us. I didn't think much of it so I ignored it. But after a minute he approached us. He was tall and strong looking. He was staring at my Mama at first looking kind of friendly. He asked us how we were then, we answered. Then he started acting strange, he neared my Mama saying things that bothered me. He was talking about her, about her body. Then he reached for her purse, I tried to grab it from him but he just pushed me to the ground. I got the wind knocked out of me pretty bad and before I knew it he was touching her!" Aman had tears in his eyes, he stopped for a moment to dry them.

"You don't have to tell us." Said Agustin gently.

"No, I can't keep it to myself anymore. I wanted to fight this man, but I couldn't, he was too strong. I ended up just watching him hurt her, once he finished I was clueless. She was bleeding and he was far gone. Ever since that day I knew I had to become a fighter. I had to be stronger. I lived a few years doing bad things, thinking somehow they would help me feel like that guy. For some reason I wanted to be like him, he was strong. Then I found my gang, the one I use to talk about. They helped me fit in and I began living a life of crime. I thought I could find that man again and get him back if I was working on the bad side. I never did find him, but at least I was one just like him. I was a fighter."  Aman put his head back in his hands. "Thank you, Dylan for paying Isla, I'm sorry for being rude about it."

Dylan came over to him. "Don't thank me Aman, were all in this until the end."

A/N Comment your opinion, please! Thank you.