July 19th
3 weeks before Leo's disappearance
2 days before Corey's death.
Arbel heard the shouting from the hallway.
The noise and voices are wasn't a special occasion, Arbel always preferred her silence, but Leo?
Leo hated silence. He had once told her that a sound meant life.
Well, according to that sentence, their house was really full of life now.
It wasn't until she opened the door that the indistinct shouting turned into words.
Arbel was surprised to see a person she didn't know coming out of the kitchen angrily.
"This is not fucking funny Leo-" he screamed, his face red with anger
"- this is psychotic, you are a fucking psychopath"
Arbel stood for a second in the doorway, not sure what to do.
This situation was so strange for many reasons. One of the reasons was that she didn't know the man.
Leo may have had a large circle of friends but she could count the number of people he invited home on one hand.
Part of it was because he only hosted his closest friends and part of it was because Arbel demanded it of him.
A few years ago they had an incident where Leo hosted half a class at their house and completely turned it upside down. Since then Arbel has used the very little authority she has over Leo and made it clear to him that their house is not a hostel for the whole world.
So Leo is now more of a guest at others' places than a host at his own.
Arbel likes it that way.
The point is that it is very surprising to see a friend of Leo's that she doesn't know at their house.
Although the way he screams Arbel wasn't sure that he was at all Friend.
"Do you really think I did that?"
Leo's voice finally came out. He didn't shout like the other boy, Leo hardly ever shouts, but he did speak in an angry voice. Which was even more surprising.
The guy finally turned around and noticed Arbel.
The first thought that came to her mind was that this guy was on drugs or something because he looked completely shaken. His brown pupils were wide and his eyes were red.
The guy narrowed his eyes and returned his gaze to Leo who had also just left the kitchen.
Unlike the stranger, he immediately noticed his sister, sending her a quick glance before returning to the shouting man.
"We'll talk about this later-" Leo stated
"-Get out of here"
The guy's mouth dropped a little, probably surprised by Leo's order.
But Leo left no room for doubt, he repeated it "We'll talk about this later-" he hissed and pointed to the door "-Out"
For a second, Arbel looked at her little brother, the same brother who always insists on stopping and petting stray cats, and saw someone different.
Someone who was commanding a boy who was clearly older and bigger than him, and the other boy was actually listening.
"Okay," the guy waved his hands to the sides.
Arbel thought there would be more resistance, but the guy, without another glance back, walked past her and out the open door.
The door slammed behind her and Arbel raised an eyebrow
"Lovely guy," she remarked, taking her bag off her back.
Leo sighed, his brow furrowed
"Sorry, that kid has issues"
For a second Arbel wondered whether to continue asking. It was a strange situation, no doubt, but simply, not strange enough to raise a red flag.
Arbel shook her head and motioned for Leo to move out of the way.
"Please tell me I won't have to see him again?"
Leo moved and let her pass. "Don't worry-" he called after her
"-You don't"
x x x x x x x x x x x x
It turns out that Leo wasn't exactly right. Arbel did see the young man again, just not in the way she expected.
The same face that had been red with anger in her house a few weeks ago was now in the newspaper article. And those eyes that had been red and wide were crinkled with a smile.
Arbel could have laughed if it weren't so disturbing. She thought she didn't know Corey, but it turns out he was at her house less than a month ago.
And when he was, he screamed at Leo until he almost lost his breath.
Arbel didn't know what had happened between Leo and Cory before Cory's death, but she had a terrible feeling that it was much worse than she had thought.