The sun hit down hard on Tomas as he staggered towards the next tree. The sky was a faint blue with a tint of purple and he thought he could see a white marshmallow puff up in the sky. His skin burned and he could feel it, but dared not look for the fear that his skin may actually be red and dried up. As he trimmed the small tree, he saw a thin, scrawny little squirrel, and felt hunger, like a mouse gnawing at him from the inside of his stomach. By the time he had completed trimming that tree, the mouse had morphed into an evil coyote that wanted to eat him alive from the inside. He decided that if he was going to perform his best, he needed a break from all of this yardwork.

Tomas sauntered down to the closet in the hall, feeling quite relaxed. He thought about sweet little John, and that made him want to work again. John was a thin, scrawny little boy with big brown eyes. Tomas found John the day his house was burnt down along with everyone inside it, and John’s family had died the same way; they lived next to each other. They went to the motel together, and both earned their fair share of money. John earned his money by being an assistant teacher. He had always been the smartest in his grade, and he got paid for helping tutor kids after school. John had first met Tomas when he was in second grade for a buddy project. Since then, the two of them had been like brothers.
 
Tomas peered into his shirt pocket, fiddling for the keys. As he yanked out the rusted silver key, a paperclip fell out along with it. He bent down, feeling strain in his back, and put the paperclip back into his pocket. After a struggle with the key, he finally opened the door and grabbed his yellow cart. It contained a mop, broom, water, spray, towel, and many other janitorial supplies. He decided to head for the main hall and mop up there; he always received tips for cleaning up there. Being a seventeen year old orphan wasn’t easy, but Tomas wasn’t one to question the way things were. There was a phrase he learned in preschool: “You get what you get and you don’t throw a fit.” And that was how and why Tomas went on with his after school job.

Not many people were willing to give a seventeen year old boy a job. Teenage boys are usually associated with crime, stealing, and drugs. Although Tomas would never do any of those things, it was difficult to tell with his delinquent-type muscular build. The only reason he had obtained the janitor and gardener job was because Mr. Hamington, the owner of this elaborate mansion, was very good friends with Tomas’s parents before they passed away in an unfortunate fire when Tomas was twelve. But Mr. Hamington still didn’t trust him. But the worst part of having this job was his eighteen year old kid, Jack Hamington. They had gone to the same elementary school, and Jack teased Tomas every day back then. This was ironic, because Tomas wasn’t small or weak, but Jack liked teasing him, and he always got what he wanted.

After Tomas mopped the floor until it was sparkling, he headed over to Poor Man’s Corner, which was what everyone called the place in town where he lived. It was a poor place, with a very high crime rate. He had just received the monthly fee, and collected out the papers that stated how much he had to pay. As soon as he looked at the paper, he wished he hadn’t. At first, he thought he had looked at it wrong. It was impossible for the rent number to contain that many zeros! How was he supposed to pay for any kind of food? Or school? Maybe he should have gone to an orphanage when he had the chance.

Tomas kicked away pebbles and glared at everyone on the way to Poor Man’s Corner. He was in no rush to get there, especially because he didn’t have enough money to pay the rent, and the stubby, ruthless manager would not be pleased. Tomas kicked this last rock hard, and stubbed his toe, which caused him to look up and grimace in pain. And he was sure glad that he looked up, because he saw a sign that announced a big contest in hacking. Get this! The prize was a thousand dollars! This was his big chance!

“Enter the contest tomorrow,” a large man said. “It’s free. You just have to show up.”

Tomas stumbled over to him, all the while in awe. If he could win, he could pay rent, buy a cheap computer, and still have money left for months of food!

“Can I have the pen?” Tomas asked with a sense of hope. “I want to sign up for the hacking contest.”

The man replied with a smirk, “Of course, son. But don’t expect to win.”

Tomas was demoralized by this last sentence. He took a quite a bit of pride in his computer skills, and didn’t need some old man telling him he wasn’t good enough. Slowly, he raised the pen, all the while wondering whether the creepy old man was right. When he glanced to the side and saw the large old man laughing and pointing at his deep thought, he tightened his grip on the pen and scribbled his name down in anger. He slammed the pen down on the table and stormed away.

Tomas stared only at the ground as he shuffled home. With every step, his shoes were getting more worn out. He started flailing his arms in an attempt to punch something, but couldn’t find anything to punch. When he finally looked up, he saw that the sky was a midnight blue and the clouds had retreated. There was a bright moon up in the sky, and he was shivering. Tomas knew that the manager would definitely not be pleased with him arriving so late and not having money for rent.

That’s when Tomas decided that he would work an hour longer every day so that he could pay for school and the motel. Plus the competition, that should be enough to last him for a couple more months.

The roads shimmered in the moonlight and marked Tomas’s way to the motel. The homes on the way beckoned him, as if they were saying, “Come to us, Tomas. We would love to have you as our guest. Come in.”

Tomas so desperately wanted to listen to them. He wanted to go home to see a full family. All he had as a family was little John, and he was only twelve years old. He loved John more than anything else in the world.

By the time he reached the motel, it was approximately midnight. He tip-toed into bed and saw John sleeping silently. He looked like a little baby, and was chewing on his stuffed bear. At that moment, Tomas saw the young boy that he found and brought to the motel a few years ago. He whispered, “Good night, John.” And he let himself fall into the lovely yet dreadful world called sleep.

The light flooded into his eyes as he opened them. He felt something on his stomach, squinted, and looked up to see John sitting on him. He slowly, carefully pushed John off the bed, and smiled when it worked. After about ten minutes of playing with John, he rolled off of the bed, brushed his teeth, changed his clothes, and set off to the competition.

The whole way, John poked Tomas and asked about programming. Tomas was so glad that he hadn’t succumbed to the homes on the way, because his family was fantastic enough. John may be annoying, but he was the best brother anyone could have. As if sensing Tomas’s thoughts, John asked, “Will you be my big brother?”

Sensing he was about to cry at this emotional moment, Tomas whispered, “Forever and ever.”

He felt a boost of energy. If not for himself, then he would win the competition for John. And nothing in the world could stop that from happening.

He climbed up to the computer station, and his eyes flashed to each of his competitors’ eyes. Some of their eyes said, “I will win at all costs.” Others simply flicked away when he looked at them. Most of them were wearing shabby clothes like Tomas’s. It seemed like they needed the money as much as he did. All of them had their fingers on the computer, ready to start right when the stubby man said go. Tomas placed his fingers on the computer as well, bracing himself for the competition ahead. Just then, the man yelled a loud, “GO!”

Tomas typed and typed, hacking into different systems. Every time he fixed one, he put his left thumb up to symbolize it, and John whooped at the sight of it. But Tomas moved on and kept working. At about half an hour into the competition, he felt his fingers about to fall off. Then, after about five more minutes, his fingers weren’t there anymore. Or he couldn’t feel them. But he carried on. After a sidewards glance at the other contestants, he saw that some of them had given up, but most were carrying on. He could see the pain in their eyes, but they didn’t let it show on their faces. He figured that if they could do it, so could he.

There was a throbbing pain in his head, and he couldn’t feel his fingers. Tomas thought he could see the flabby, pudgy man commenting on his pain and discomfort. This just made him concentrate more on the screen and channel the rest of his energy into deactivating this virus. As his brain tried to figure out the next virus, the back of his brain was actually wondering how many viruses he had detected and fixed.

The sun hit down hard as the creepy old man yelled, “We have a winner!”

Tomas’s first thought was, “Oh no! I’ve been eliminated!” But then, he looked around and realized that he was the only contestant left. He won! For a minute, he just stood there, soaking the good news in. In the corner, the other boys stared at them. Some eyes pleaded him to share the money, and others simply looked away. Then, a man came to the stage, congratulated him, and asked him if he wanted cash or check. With no hesitation at all, he replied, “Cash.”

John hollered and screamed. He looked happier than ever before; just seeing him melted Tomas’s heart. He ran up to the platform and jumped into Tomas’s arms like he didn’t have a care in the world. The whole way home, they hugged, screamed or jumped with joy. By the time they reached the motel, Tomas couldn’t believe that the competition had been just half an hour ago!

The manager was very nice and caring when Tomas walked in; it was odd because Tomas had never seen him so nice. He warmed tea and crackers and put Tomas and John on the couch with a rich-people blanket. Tomas greeted him curtly and gave him the month’s rent, plus a tip. By the look on his face, you would have thought that he’d won a lottery! He waddled away like a penguin, grinning the whole time.

The sun shone bright and all of the windows were opened. Tomas tried to recall what had happened the previous night. His eyes got larger as he remembered what he won. One thousand dollars! An amazing amount of money for a poor kid like him. He thought about what his next move would be. After a moment of deliberating, he decided that it would be better if he and John quit their jobs. That way, both of them could enjoy life like normal kids. Well, at least for a couple months. Then, they would have to go back to the previous arrangements.

Three months passed, and Tomas was starting to worry about the amount of money he had left. With him sharing the money with John, it disappeared twice as fast. He wasn’t sure how much longer they could keep it up.

Finally, that day came where the money amount became $500. Not a penny more. When Tomas broke the news to John, it was like ripping off a bandage. He said, “John, you’re going to have to be a tutor again because we are almost all out of money.” John just stared at Tomas blankly like he didn’t process anything. Then, out of the blue, he had one of those lightbulb moments.

“I’ve got it!” he exclaimed, “You can just hack into a bank! It won’t be too different than what you did in the competition! We won’t ever have to do those boring and terrible jobs anymore!”

Tomas was intrigued and shocked. Not because it was a bad idea, but because he had the feeling that it may actually work. He muttered, “Wouldn’t that be stealing?” Then, he realized that it would be. A terrible kind of stealing.

John looked up at Tomas with his big, brown eyes and Tomas stared right into them. In there, he saw a young boy that didn’t want to spend his young days working. His eyes pleaded Tomas to agree to get money. Tomas looked out of the window and saw the clear, blue sky beckoning him to come outside. He looked back at John, and saw him staring longingly towards the window as well. A boy of that age should be able to play and run outside without worrying about any financial issues. Tomas sighed as he said, “Fine. I’ll do it for you. But just this once.”

John jumped with joy, and got his shoes. Tomas followed, and went all the way to the electronics store. John skipped the whole way there.The store had many different computer models. But Tomas was most interested in a sleek, gray computer with a small logo in the bottom left corner. The shopkeeper walked right up to him and said with a perfect poker face, “That’ll be exactly $500. If you want it, pay up.”

Tomas looked to John, who gave a slight nod. Tomas shakily brought the money out, and, after a moment’s hesitation, handed it to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper examined it, counted every dollar, and even scanned it to make sure it wasn’t fake money. In Poor Man’s Corner, you could never be sure. Scams happened every day, so you had to be very careful. The man gave a small smile, so small that it was barely noticeable. He immediately put the computer in a lovely case, gave a charger, and shooed the boys away. Tomas was elated and John was super excited the whole walk back. Neither of them had ever owned anything this expensive before, and the feeling was amazing.

As soon as they got back to the motel, they opened up the case and removed the computer. The small battery icon at the top was all green. They were ready to begin. First, Tomas just poked around and figured out how to use some keys. When he had finished, he muttered, “John,” quietly, and John instantly burst through the door.

John suggested some small banks, and Tomas agreed on one called Wall Street Oasis. This bank was perfect; small and easy to hack into. After hours of hard work, with no break whatsoever, Tomas finally completed the hack. He removed $300 from the bank, with the thought that he shouldn’t steal too much of somebody else’s money.

As soon as he leaned back and let out a sigh, John came rushing into the room and asked, “Are you done yet?”

In return, Tomas turned around, shocked, as he said“How did you know? And to answer your question, yes. I just finished. I took out a total of three hundred dollars.”

Jon stared at Tomas incredulously as his mind replayed what Tomas had just said. “Only $300?” he asked, his mouth open with shock.

Tomas responded by giving John one of those looks that makes you want to curl up in a hole and disappear. “What do you mean only?”

John just scanned the room for the money, and Tomas said in a softer, kinder voice, “We have to go pick it up from the bank, Johny. They think I am Mr. Makkhatan, a rich politician. But we need to dress well, so put on your best suit. Nobody can know about this.”

The boys went down to the bank and retrieved the money. All went well, they were not even asked to give a signature, even though they had practiced the man’s signature. The boys walked out of the bank rich. While they were walking on the old broken sidewalk to get back to the motel, a large kid walked out from the corner and said, “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing. And it’s wrong. So stop.”

After a closer look, Tomas realized that the boy was his arch-nemesis since elementary school started. His name was Jack Hamington. Tomas knew that Jack would remember this moment forever, and he also knew that it would be a good idea to never do this again.

Yet, in a couple more months, the boys found themselves in a great need for money. Tomas remembered the encounter with Jack all too well, and didn’t want it to happen again. However, last time hacking had worked very well for him, and he was willing to give it another shot. He said, “John. I want to do another bank.”

John understood all too well what Tomas was trying to say, and he broke into a huge frenzy of words. He blurted, “You wouldn’t… he won’t leave you… don’t try… it won’t work… I’ll join work again… just stay safe… ”

Tomas was surprised at what John said. After all, the hack was John’s idea anyway, and it worked splendid last time. He didn’t get why John was so scared about doing it again. He, for one, couldn’t go back to the yard work and janitor job. Especially with Jack breathing down his neck the whole time. No. Definitely not. “I’m gonna do it again. For both us.”

At this, John gasped and murmured, “I won’t be a part of it. Don’t drag me into this. Please Tommy. Don’t.”

Tomas was dumbfounded, but still decided to do it. He opened up his computer, and began to work. Afterwards, he put on a different suit and a fake mustache to play it safe, and walked down to the bank. He looked in every possible direction, checking for Jack or his friends. When it was all clear, he strutted into the bank, feeling quite confident. Just as he was walking out with the money, he felt a hard blow on his jaw.

When he looked down, he could see that his blood was dripping down in a slow-dance rhythm. His head jerked up and he saw brown, tousled hair. The only person that fit the description was his arch nemesis, Jack. He said, louder than he meant to, “Leave me alone. Why do you care what I am doing? My work doesn’t affect you in any way!”

In response, Jack just laughed. “You don’t know who my mom is, do you? Let me educate you. She is the bank manager, and she almost lost her job for last time’s robbery.”

Tomas was speechless. He needed that money more than Jack, but Jack did have a valid reason to send him to jail. He just stood there, thinking. He knew that Jack was studying him, and he couldn’t show any sign of giving in. So he just started walking back.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Jack said, “I am not letting you go. You know what? I’m gonna give you two options. Either give all the money back, or go straight to jail. Think about it all night. I’ll come and ask you in the morning. Meanwhile, I’ll take that.” Jack snatched the money out of Tomas’s hands, and stomped away.

When Tomas reached the motel, Jack stared at him a with his big eyes and Tomas spilled everything. About the money, and Jack. Every word he said, John’s eyes seemed to get bigger and bigger. Finally, when Tomas had finished speaking, John managed to stutter, “I told you not to. But you still did. Now what?”

Tomas replied by a nod. He knew what to do. For himself, and for John. He would meet Jack tomorrow and say what he had to. Tomas wouldn’t tell John, though. John would tell him to do otherwise.

John simply took out a crumpled up letter and said, “Read it when you most need it. You’ll know.” Then he walked away silently, and Tomas saw that his fingers were crossed.

Jack was right in front of the motel, and Tomas was feeling sweatier than ever. His hands were slippery and he mumbled a bunch of words that Jack couldn’t make out. Jack let out a small yelp. Why would Tomas say such a thing? It was impossible. He had to have at least some value for his own life.

The words came out like a needle to Tomas’s heart. He had never imagined that he would feel so much pain. It was as if the whole sky had fallen, and his shoulders were the only thing carrying its weight. And he sagged all the way down as he said, “Take me away.”

His shoulders drooped down and he stared right into the ground, not daring to steal a glance at Jack’s face. He kept biting his lip, and watched the leaves on the ground turn in little tornados with the wind. Tomas wished that the tornado would just take him away like it was taking the leaves away.

Jack’s jaw dropped all the way down; he let out a small gasp. All of a sudden, as if he realized what he’d done, he poised himself and took out his phone. Jack gave Tomas the phone, and he dialed 911.

Tomas stood there, trying to keep the tears from coming. This was the only way. If he had stayed, they would have found him anyway, but taken John with him. John had to stay safe, even if this was what had to be done. It was all about love. Oh, John. If he hadn’t felt like it was his responsibility to be like a brother to John, none of this would have ever happened. A single tear rolled down the left side of his face, and he realized that he hadn’t cried in a couple of years. Instead of trying to poise himself and wipe the tears, he let them roll down. Left, right, left, right. Then came the sniffling part. His nose blocked up and he started taking unsteady breaths. The whole time, all he could think about was John. Tomas hoped they wouldn’t go after him. He looked up to see Jack staring into his red eyes, and, for the first time, gave Jack a pleading look. In response, Jack said softly as he’d never said before, “They will leave him alone. I promise. And I’ll tell him what you did for him.”

The police car pulled in, and Tomas wished he had gotten a chance to speak to John before they took him away. He told himself that John would be okay. That he was doing this for John. That everything would work out. Even though, deep down, he knew John would hate him forever for not saying anything. On cue, the tears began once more, and he let them be as they put his handcuffs on. He just stood there and let them do it. For he knew that there was no point trying to get away. They would come back and find him, and John. He reached up and felt his face, wet because of the tears, and he wondered how much John would cry. Whether he should have left something for him. And with that last regret, the car pulled away, taking Tomas with it. He didn’t bother to look back; there were too many memories that he did not want to revive. 

He realized that this was the moment he had been waiting for. His eyes clouded up for the third time as he removed the crumpled up letter from John. All it said was:

I love you, Tommy. Never forget it.