Annie,
I have some bad news, but I want to explain it. Your brother Kyriakos and me were going to meet up in Sticky’s last night. I sat drinking, waiting for him to come, but he never did. After a couple hours I left, but I ran into him on the corner at Sixth Street with Cody Faulker. He was wasted, bad. He could hardly stay awake. Beer and bluescaline, if I had to guess. Cody took off and left me there with him. Too fucked up to walk. One of his shoes was gone. I tried to get him up into the streetcar but Kyri wanted to go back to the bar and he fought me.
“Are you okay?” I asked him.
He said, “I’m not okay and I’m not-not okay. I’m just…”
His head lolled back against the brick wall.
“You’re just what?” I asked.
“I’m just… just.” he said. “I just am.”
Then his head lolled back and he passed out. He was right.
I dragged him, then, down to the platform into the next E-Tram. It was just three stops to the hospital. I had such a hard time getting him back down the steps that two men who were also on the Tram offered to help. I was so exhausted then that I just let them. One of them took Kyri under the arms and the other grabbed his legs, and then, well Annie, then they ran off into the dark.
I followed them three blocks, but I was too drunk and I fell and they were gone.
They just stole Kyriakos. They just stole him.
I’m going down to talk to a detective at the Freightside Station on Monday at two. Come, if you can, I could use your help.
Caw.