We Are the Ants(61)

I opened Audrey’s laptop to hunt for my father again, but I typed Diego’s name into the search box instead. Less information existed about him than about my father. Then I remembered that his sister had called him Valentín. That search returned few results, but I found an article dated three years earlier about the trial of a Brighton, Colorado, boy arrested for assault. The details were vague, and the majority of the article was hidden behind a paywall.

“Sorry.” Audrey shut the door behind her and flopped onto the floor. “Dad’s been harassing the neighbors again.”

I showed Audrey the article. “What do you think it means?”

Audrey took a minute to read it. “I don’t know. It might not even be about him.”

“How many Valentín Vegas do you think live in Colorado?”

“Good point.”

“Maybe this is why he moved to Calypso.”

“Have you asked him?”

I nodded. “He won’t talk about it.”

Audrey took the laptop from me and shut it. “I’m sure he has his reasons. You’re making this into something it’s not.”

“That’s what I used to tell myself about Jesse.”

“Diego’s not Jesse.”

“Nobody is.”





18 December 2015


An object must travel at approximately 11.2 kilometers per second to break free of Earth’s gravity. This is known as escape velocity. Escaping the pull of a town like Calypso requires much higher velocity but is easier with money and a car.

The days between Thanksgiving and Christmas break passed in a blur of exams, aliens, Diego, and Audrey. I haven’t been abducted since the barbecue, but I’ve been thinking about the sluggers more than I care to admit. I want to believe the sluggers told me about the end of the world and gave me the choice to prevent it for some purpose other than because they simply want to see what I’ll do. That they chose me for a reason and not at random. But if that’s true, then it would mean they’d considered what would happen if I do decide to press the button. It would mean the sluggers had thought about my future beyond January 29, 2016, which is something I’ve been afraid to do.

If the world is irreparably f*cked, it doesn’t make sense for the sluggers to give us a second chance. If my life is meaningless, it makes no sense for the sluggers to spare it.

Unless that’s part of the experiment. They want to see if I’m willing to endure a lifetime of misery simply to keep breathing.

I’ve been driving myself mad thinking about it, but I haven’t come any closer to an answer.

Diego hasn’t kissed me since Thanksgiving, but we still spend much of our free time together. He even tagged along with me to visit Nana in the nursing home. I tried to find a way to ask him about the article I’d dug up but never found the right time.

The last day of school before winter break, Ms. Faraci played a movie about the life of Nikola Tesla. I tried to pay attention, but the monotonous voice of the narrator kept lulling me to sleep. I was grateful for the distraction when Marcus sent me a text.

ALL-STAR PLUMBERS: behind the auditorium at lunch?

ME: why?

ALL-STAR PLUMBERS: want 2 talk I glanced at Marcus, but his head was on his desk with the hood of his sweatshirt pulled up. I didn’t answer because I didn’t know how to. It should have been an easy decision—don’t acknowledge the guy who attacked and humiliated me—but Marcus had been there when no one else had, and I couldn’t ignore him when he needed me.

I was still debating whether to meet him, when the bell rang. I lingered behind, waiting for Marcus and his friends to leave before gathering my things to walk out with Audrey.

“Have a nice break,” Ms. Faraci called after us. I wondered whether she had family or if she was going to spend her vacation preparing lessons and grading tests. I wondered if teachers were people who, for whatever reason, couldn’t reach the escape velocity of high school. Ms. Faraci deserved better than to be marooned on such a lonely planet.

“Tell Diego I’ll catch up with you guys in the cafeteria in a few minutes.”

Audrey eyed me suspiciously. “What’re you up to, Henry?”

“Who says I’m up to anything? There’s just something I’ve got to do.” I tried not to sound evasive, but I’m pretty sure I failed miserably.

“Please tell me you’re not going to see you-know-who.”

“He just wants to talk.”

“Are you stupid or what, Henry?”

I pulled Audrey to the side of the hallway to avoid being trampled. “Jesse called you before he killed himself, right?”

“Yes.”

“And you regret not answering, right?”

Audrey glared at me like she was considering kicking in my teeth. “This is different. Marcus attacked you!”

The bruises were gone, but the memories persisted, especially when I closed my eyes. “If he needs help and I ignore him, I’ll never be able to live with myself.”

“If you have to,” Audrey said, “you can learn to live with anything.” She shook her head. “Be at lunch in ten minutes, or I’m coming to find you.”

? ? ?

Marcus was waiting behind the auditorium, pacing in front of the back door. It was an open space with few hiding places, and I scoured the area for signs of a trap, but as far as I could tell, Marcus was alone. The weather had turned cooler, but I was still sweating, anxious to get this over with, paranoid that Adrian and Jay were going to jump me and do worse than pour paint over my head.