(chapter twenty.) yeah, you're not taking care of me
❝ YOU'RE REALLY BAD AT BABYSITTING. REALLY. ❞

☂

PARIS SAT NEXT TO DIEGO ON THE STEPS OF THE HOUSE DIEGO BROUGHT them at. After waking up and finding a single note that simply said, "Stay with Diego" and Paris, feeling a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, had nothing to do but follow after Diego, who is his babysitter for today.

"Yeah, you're not taking care of me," Paris had told Diego when they both read the note Poet left behind. "You're really bad at babysitting. Really. I can see from the fact that you keep forgetting I'm right here and only remember me when you think of my aunt."

Diego only rolled his eyes at his comment.

Turning to glance over his shoulder when he heard a door closing, Paris came across a woman who smiled confusedly at him and then looked over his shoulder to only let out a sigh when she saw Diego lying on the floor.

"What the hell?" She let out. Paris looked around awkwardly, asking whoever where the hell his aunt was at. "Who'd you piss off this time? And also, why is there a kid with you?"

"I gave it as good as I got," Diego answered. "This is Paris, Poet's nephew. Paris, this is Patch, you can call her Eudora if you want. It pisses her off."

"Oh, Poet's nephew, nice to meet you," Patch smiled at him and he gave a curt wave with a small smile on his face. "But you didn't answer my question."

Diego sat up, grabbing the cup Patch gave him. Paris groaned quietly, his stomach growling with hunger.

"How's all that paperwork coming along?" Diego asked. Paris walked backwards without the two noticing and sped away to whatever place he could see. He came back as quietly as he could, eating a hamburger and drinking soda. He also had a bag of donuts in the other hand. He had a fast metabolism.

"It's a real page-turner," Patch replied before staring at the boy with a confused look when he noticed the food and how fast he devoured it. "I've got two guys in children's masks, rare bullet casings, a random fingerprint from a 1930s cold case, and... I just learned that the tow truck driver from the doughnut shop didn't have any family."

"The boy."

"Not his, apparently," she sighed. "Kid's our only possible witness and he's a complete mystery."

"Jesus," Paris let out, munching on his burger as he listened to the woman's words closely. "Aunt Poet would've loved listening to this."

Noticing the man's serious face, Patch spoke up, crossing her arms. "Okay, what's going on?"

"What?"

Paris puffed out his cheeks, fixing his backpack straps and looking around some more. He saw a woman on the other street, hair familiar like Poet's. But his hope was gone immediately when the woman turned around and it was not his aunt.

"So why are you here?" He heard Patch ask before she asked the question that he and Diego were looking for an answer, too. "And where's Poet?"

"Nothin', I just, uh..." He trailed off, not sure whether to tell the woman. But Paris, knowing the clear signs of sadness and guilt, knew something happen that he might've caused. "My mom. She died last night. And for Poet, she's missing. She just left a note just saying for me to take care of Paris. But she hasn't returned."

Paris made a face and immediately regretted his thoughts. But when Poet accidentally broke his Lego masterpiece, he saw those signs etched on her face. Sadness because she knew how much that masterpiece meant to him and guilt because she was the reason that the Lego pieces were all over the place.

"Shit."

"Language," Paris let out without knowing he did. He covered his mouth when he heard the words slipping out of his lips. Patch apologized softly.

"Diego, I'm so sorry," she sat down next to him. "I remember how close you were. Is there anything I can..."

"I just... I don't..." Diego's eyes were blurred with tears as sudden flashes of memories coursed through his head. "I don't know how to... Uh..."

He struggled to find the right words and Paris stepped up, placing his hand on the man's shoulder.

"He doesn't know how to feel?" Paris said unsurely and unknownst to Patch and Diego, his hand was healing him mentally, feeling such pain. Patch glanced at the boy before she stared at Diego.

"Is this what this is about?" Patch questioned. She reached a hand out, rubbing his arm. "Hey. Hey. Tell me what's going on. Who did this?"

"Let's just say I didn't get a good look at their faces," Diego answered. Paris nodded slowly.

"You went after the guys in the masks, didn't you?" She pulled her hand away. She looked at Paris. "Don't tell me your aunt went after them, too."

Paris shrugged before he stopped midway and remembered what happened the day before. Klaus went missing. That means she most likely went to find him. Paris silently cursed under his breath and Diego slapped his hand.

"I didn't go after them," Diego said. "And one's a woman... by the way, so stop being so sexist."

"I specifically told you not to follow them," Patch sighed. Paris dropped his head, taking his hand away from Diego's shoulder when he felt slightly dizzy.

"No, they came to my house," Diego said, "looking for my brother. They tried to kill my family. They even made Poet bleed to death because they hit her so hard in the back of the head. They almost killed her dammit."

"Why?"

"I don't know," Paris bit his cheek. "He's been missing since yesterday. I need to find him. I need to find Poet. We've been worried about her."

"Diego, you need to let me handle this," Patch said. "You're not equipped..."

"Oh, you always loved telling me what I can and can't do," Paris stepped away, remembering what Poet told him when he found himself in a situation with two adults fighting. It's their business and he needed to just leave them alone to discuss. "You know, maybe for once try things my way."

A couple minutes later, Diego called out for him and turned around, jogging towards Diego.

"We need to find your aunt," he sighed. "It doesn't feel right without her."

☂

AUTHOR'S NOTE!

thank you to OfficialCarol for
this amazing edit. i really appreciate
it and i love it. so, thank you :)

also, i should've done this a long
time ago, but to my spanish readers
there's a translation of this book by
-vanxtae- so go check it out!