Mateo rolls his eyes and absentmindedly nibbles a cracker. "This is way too coincidental. First your mom gets stabbed, then my little brother gets himself stabbed-and for once it's not because he's trying to find pins for his tackboard-and then the two people who are related to them happen to meet."

"Sure, but what if it's only our family? What if nobody else gets stabbed?"

"And why would they target our families? Like, why would anyone want to hurt a 14-year-old who doesn't do much more then draw all day in a tree? That's so random." Mateo unknowingly clenched his fist. Just because he hadn't been smitten with the idea of having a sibling 7 years ago didn't mean he didn't care about Meinke.

"I'm not sure. You have to remember I'm brain dead right now."

"Then why are you down here sleepign over your food instead of crashed out on the couch-thingy in the hospital room?"

"Because my mom wanted me to eat something. To get rid of me for a while."

"What, you stayed too long?" Mateo joked. THen sobered. "Yeah, my brother's still unconscious so I'm just eating to pass the time."

He wasn't eating. No appetite. He just didn't want to be in that room until Meinke was awake and wasn't hooked up to at least 20 machines.

"Naw, my mom gets depressed every time she sees me because I remind her of Dad."

"Oh." Mateo nodded. He got it-Nicote was the only one in the famil yto get their dad's loooks and their dad was....questionable at best. "That sucks."

He nodded. "Yeup."