They Promised Every Birthday, They Kept None Chapter 05

They Promised Every Birthday, They Kept None Chapter 05

The day after Mia left, the three of them took Ashley to the mall to pick up a custom jewelry order.

Driving through the south side, Derek’s eyes caught something in a pawn shop window-a familiar glint of gold.

The car had already passed it, but he suddenly turned his head.

“Stop the car.”

Ethan braked hard.

“What is it?”

Derek didn’t answer.

He got out and ran into the shop.

Ethan and Liam exchanged a look before following him.

There, in the display case, lay the charm bracelet.

The gold was tarnished from years of wear, and faint scratches marked the links.

But they recognized it instantly.

The bracelet they’d given Mia when she was ten.

That

year, she was in and out of the hospital, crying through the nights.

Ethan sat by her bedside, wiping her forehead.

Liam cried in the stairwell, then came back with a silly face to make her laugh.

Derek, barely a teenager himself, held her cold hand and promised, “We’re never leaving you.”

They’d searched a dozen stores before finding that bracelet.

Ethan had clasped it around her wrist himself.

“This bracelet is going to keep you safe until you’re old and gray. And when you’re better, we’ll all go see Lake Serenity together.”

Little Mia, pale and thin, had smiled with her whole face.

She said she’d lose herself before she’d lose that bracelet.

Now it sat in a pawn shop window, waiting for a new owner.

Ethan’s face drained of color.

“How did you get this?”

The owner glanced up.

“A girl sold it to me. Skinny, looked rough. Coughed up blood on her way out. Poor kid.”

Ethan reached for the bracelet, but his fingers were shaking too hard to grab it.

Liam stared, his eyes reddening.

That bracelet brought everything rushing back.

Mia trailing after them, calling them “big bro.”

Mia clutching his sleeve before every needle, trusting him when he said, “It won’t hurt.”

When did her tears start to annoy him?

When did her pain become drama?

Derek was already dialing Mia’s number.

Over and over.

Dozens of times.

Each call went to voicemail.

Ethan finally snapped out of it and called the landlord of Mia’s apartment.

The landlord’s voice was annoyed when she heard Mia’s name.

“That girl? She’s gone already.”

“Gone where?”

“How should I know? She dragged a little suitcase out and said she probably wouldn’t be back. Told

me to clear the place when I had time.”

Ethan hung up and ran for the car.

Liam and Derek chased after him.

They raced to the apartment building.

The hallway was narrow and grimy, with old flyers plastered on the walls.

The air was thick with dust and mildew.

Ethan stood in the courtyard and, for the first time, truly saw where Mia had lived for three years.

They went upstairs.

Knocked.

No answer.

Knocked again.

Nothing.

Derek remembered something and reached above the door frame.

There, hidden, was an old spare key-a habit Mia had picked up years ago when she was always forgetting her keys.

The door swung open.

The smell hit them first.

Disinfectant. Medicine. And that faint iron tang of old blood.

The living room was tiny, shabby, and silent.

On the couch sat three rag dolls.

One like Ethan.

One like Liam.

One like Derek.

They stared at the door with round button eyes, as if waiting for someone to come home.

But Mia was gone.