The Batch Family

18 months old

"Pbbbbbt. Ppbbt."

Hunter blew a continuous string of raspberries as his little feet padded against the sidewalk. His eyes were focused on some unknown point in front of him as he continued to propel himself forward. He didn't know where he was going, to be honest, he just wanted to go.

Go, go, go.

But then every few steps, his feet would stop. He'd turn around to look back at his family, several feet behind him. His mom and his grandma, pushing strollers full of his brothers. He'd giggle a little when they gave him a wave and he'd wave back. And then he'd turn around and keep going.

"Ppbbt. Pbbbtt. Pbbb-"

Hunter gasped as his knees suddenly slammed against the pavement, his hands coming out just in time to keep his face from hitting the ground. He could hear his mom crying out his name, though he couldn't see the hand his grandma had laid on her arm, the knowing look she'd given to prevent her from rushing straight to him. Instead, he saw the cracks in the pavement below him, snaking beneath his knees and hands. Tiny green leaves poked out from them. He ran a finger over them curiously. They were so soft.

He let himself lean to the side until he was sitting down. He held out one of his hands, bright pink from his fall. They only hurt a little bit. With his other hand, he picked a leaf from the crack and set it into into his palm. One by one, he picked more, until he had a whole family of them.

"You okay, hun? Are you hurt?"

His mom finally reached him with Grandma and the strollers. She set down Echo, who she'd been holding on her hip, and knelt next to him.

"Look!" Hunter said, holding up one of the leaves for her to see. Her eyes were busy looking him up and down for injuries, so Echo reached out his one hand and took the leaf.

"Green!" Echo said, holding the leaf out for everyone to see.

Their mom sighed but with a smile. Her boy was alright. "That's right, green."

"Here," said Hunter, holding out another leaf for her. This time, she took it.

"Gween! Gween!" In the stroller next to them, Wrecker opened and closed his pudgy hands over and over.

Hunter closed his fist around the leaves he'd picked and got himself up. He wiped at his pants, like his mom had taught him whenever he got off the ground. He went over to Wrecker and put a leaf in his hand, and then he gave one to Crosshair in the stroller behind him, and then another to Tech, and another to Grandma.

And then off he went again.

Echo, who'd been admiring his leaf, saw his brother toddle past him and let out a delighted giggle before following. Wrecker then started crying to be let out, and so of course Tech and Crosshair had to be released from their stroller prisons as well. They each handed off their leaves to Mom to look after before they took off in pursuit of Hunter.

Beth watched the little boy with the shaggy hair, leading a train of squealing brothers behind, puttering away in their own little, happy worlds. She looked down at the leaves in her hand. Such budding, small things. Plucked from cracks and entrusted to her care. And then she looked up at her own mom standing beside her, a woman she'd spent her whole life trying to run away from.

"Go on," her mom said with a smile.

Hunter slowed his running to look behind him again. He laughed as he saw Mom running after them, her hands outstretched to grab ahold of theirs. Echo and Crosshair latched on.

"Let's go!" she called out with a smile.

Hunter kept laughing as he turned around and ran.

"Go, go, go!"

Six years old

"I know what to do!"

Raindrops trickled down the windows as four young boys looked out of them miserably. They'd eagerly dressed themselves in their raincoats and boots, only to be told by Mom that the yard was too muddy and she didn't want them catching a cold. Of course, the mud had been the reason they'd wanted to go out in the first place. So now their whole day was ruined.

But one boy hadn't skipped a beat. Hunter'd quickly shed his coat and kicked off his boots and was now standing confidently in the living room with a new plan. His brothers slowly tore themselves away from their longing stares out the window and waited curiously to hear more.

"Quick!" he shouted as soon as he had their attention. "Get off the floor! It's lava!"

Hunter ran to the couch and jumped on it.

Wrecker immediately followed. Crosshair took his shoes off first and then joined them.

"We're not supposed to climb on the furniture," Echo said with a frown.

Tech wavered beside him for a moment and then ran after the others, too.

"Echo! Quick!" Hunter made a hurrying motion with his hand. "You have to get to safety!"

"Yeah! Come on Echo!" Wrecker called.

"Hurry! Hurry!" Crosshair joined in.

"The chair!" Hunter pointed to the recliner in the corner closest to Echo. "It's the only way!"

Echo sat down on the recliner and worked on getting his boots off.

"We can't leave a man behind," said Hunter, turning to his brothers solemnly. "We have to save Echo."

"We can't reach him. He's too far!" said Tech, who stepped over onto the coffee table and reached a hand out in demonstration. There was too much floor between the table and the chair.

"What's this about?" Mom came from the hall, having taken a quick bathroom break before working on dinner. Three boys standing on the couch and one on the table. Though it wasn't the wildest scene she'd ever walked in on, Hunter knew he had to be quick to explain before she got mad.

"The floor is lava!" said Hunter.

"Lava!" Wrecker bounced on a couch cushion.

Mom looked over at Echo, seated quietly away from them.

"I wanna watch a movie," he pouted.

"Echo!" Hunter called back. He tested the limits a bit and joined Tech on the table. "You have to play with us. Come on!"

Surprisingly, Mom gave them a smile. "You boys can watch a movie. If you're all on the couch."

Hunter's face lit up, as did Echo's, only the latter didn't quite catch her meaning. He slid off the recliner and was immediately met with a chorus of shouts from his brothers.

"Echo, no!"

"You'll burn!"

"Go back! Go back!"

"You're in the lava!"

Mom rushed over and picked him up, setting the confused young boy back on the recliner.

"You can't touch the floor, darling. You'll have to find another way!"

Echo scowled back. "But you're on the floor."

"Mom is safe," said Hunter. "She's invincible to lava."

"That's right," Mom nodded along. "I defeated the lava monster so I can walk right through it."

As she left toward the kitchen, she stopped to ruffle Hunter's hair and whisper in his ear, "Don't let anybody get hurt."

He nodded at her with his best impression of a serious face, and then turned excitedly back to his brothers.

"Don't worry Echo. We'll save you!"

"I'll jump!" said Wrecker, joining them on the coffee table.

"No. He needs something to step on," said Tech.

"The pillows!" said Crosshair, still on the couch. He bounded across, collecting all the couch pillows. He handed the first over to Hunter, who tossed it onto the ground below and jumped onto it. One by one, they created a chain and passed more pillows down the line. Hunter placed each one just far enough in front that he had to actually jump to it. It was more fun that way.

"Take my hand Echo!" he said from the third pillow. He set a fourth down right next to it so Echo could finally stand up from the recliner. His brother didn't seem too thrilled to hold hands, but he still extended his one arm out and Hunter eagerly took it.

"Be careful! These pillows are hard to stand on."

"It's because they're sinking into the lava!" said Echo with a smile. "We have to hurry!"

He seemed to be having fun now. Hunter tugged him along, hopping from one pillow to the next and with only one wobbly close call. Wrecker helped them get back on the coffee table and then they all plopped onto the couch in a burst of giggles.

"We made it!

"Phew! That was close!"

"Mom! We made it!"

"Good job! I'll put a movie on, just give me one sec."

Hunter didn't want their lava adventure to end so soon. He sat up and tried to think quickly.

"Wait. We can't watch a movie without our jammies on."

"And our slippers!" agreed Wrecker.

Hunter stood back up and pointed toward the hallway. "We gotta get to our bedrooms. Come on!"

The idea of a movie all but disappeared from their minds as they spent the rest of the afternoon puzzling out how to get across all of the hallway floor with limited pillows. And once they had, and had dressed in their jammies and slippers, they then had to make it back to the kitchen for dinner. And then it was another journey across the house to get to the bathroom to brush their teeth. And by then, it was bedtime.

Hunter skipped across the trail of stuffed animals and leapt onto his bed with a laugh. Mom came over to kiss his head and whispered to him again. "Thank you for staying safe."

Hunter pulled her into a hug and whispered back in her ear. "Best rainy day ever!"

Eleven years old

"It's not fair!"

Hunter huffed at his brother's interruption. They were going to film their own action movie and he'd been in the middle of explaining what they were going to do for the next scene when Crosshair had abruptly stood up.

"Cross, for the millionth time, we're not doing a slo-mo fight."

Crosshair had his arms crossed and was glaring daggers back at Hunter.

"You don't want to do any of my ideas."

"Yeah, 'cause they suck."

Hunter could've been nice. He had been nice. All year, as they'd finished building this tree fort and making new friends at school and practicing soccer and now working on this newest idea of making a home movie... Hunter had ignored the whining and teasing and complaining from all of them. But Crosshair's jabs in particular had been getting harder to ignore. He wasn't going to be nice about it anymore.

"Your ideas suck," Crosshair snapped back. "This whole movie sucks. It's a stupid idea for stupid children."

He threw his notebook down onto the treehouse floor and stormed away, having to duck on his way through the door.

"That wasn't very nice," said Wrecker.

Hunter wasn't sure if he meant him or Crosshair, but he didn't really care to find out. He scowled as he watched Crosshair storm across the lawn and go inside the house. He was probably crying to Mom again. He was acting like a stupid child.

"His ideas don't suck, Hunter," said Echo in a small voice.

Hunter's eyes snapped over to his. Echo looked scared that'd he'd spoken up at first, but then swallowed and tried to shrug it off.

"I mean, I don't think they suck."

"Are you joking? A slo-mo fight? That's so lame."

"The bike chase scene is lame," muttered Tech.

Hunter looked down at Tech, criss-cross-applesauce on the floor with a notebook full of ideas in his lap. Ideas they'd all had, they all liked. Hunter was starting to get upset.

"What do you mean? We practiced that all day yesterday and now you think it's lame?"

Tech shrugged.

"What about the rest of the movie? Do you think the whole thing is lame?"

"I like the movie!" said Wrecker.

Echo and Tech stayed silent.

Hunter huffed again.

"It's just... " Echo tried to speak up again. "We've been doing this for a while now and it's getting kind of boring."

"Yeah," Wrecker nodded.

"What? Wreck, you just said you liked it!"

"I do," he agreed.

Hunter's fists clenched. They were all starting to get annoying now. Changing their minds, pretending to go along with things.

"Come on. We're almost done. We can't quit now. And Mom promised to edit it for us. We just need a few more scenes."

Echo gave another shrug. "Sorry Hunter."

He left the treehouse, and left Hunter speechless. Since when did Echo quit? It was hard to convince him to start something, but once he did, he was in it to the end.

Hunter looked over at Tech, who'd stood up and was looking regretfully at the list of ideas in his notebook. After a moment, he looked back up at Hunter.

"Maybe we just take a break?" he offered before following Echo out.

Wrecker shifted between his feet as Hunter looked at him expectantly, too. "I do really like the movie," he said, though refusing to meet his brother's eye. "But if everyone else is taking a break...."

And so then Hunter was left alone in the tree fort. He felt a surge of panic rising in his chest. He didn't like it when his brothers split up and did different things. He wanted them to finish this idea together. But he was also too proud to beg them to do it. He shook his head, clenching his fists tighter.

This was all Crosshair's fault.

Sixteen years old

"Hey, hun," came his mother's voice, proceeded by the usual hand in his hair.

"Hey, Mom."

Hunter tried to subtly shift his laptop screen away so she wouldn't see the search he had up of fun things to do in town, for the hooky day he was planning later in the month. Though as he looked up at her, he realized he didn't have to worry. His mom shuffled her feet through the dark kitchen, her shoulders pulled down in exhaustion. She dropped her purse in the seat next to him at the table and worked on getting a cup of tea brewing.

"You okay?" he asked, closing the laptop completely. The only light now came from a street lamp outside, but he was still able to see her attempt at a smile as she leaned against the counter to face him.

"Just a long day."

"You've had a lot of late nights this week," he pointed out, trying not to let his concern show too much. She hated when they fussed over her.

"Eh. You know how it is. Last month in the quarter and all of a sudden people care about getting things done. Don't you ever work..."

"...in IT, we know," he drawled. "Well, maybe not Tech."

"Tech is going to run the world someday, he can do whatever he likes in the meantime," she laughed.

Hunter had to agree with that. They were only juniors and already Tech had college credits under his belt.

The kettle started whistling. He watched as his mom went through her ritual of pouring the water, plopping in the tea bag, and squeezing in a bit of honey. She brought her mug over and sat across from him, cupping her hands around the ceramic and staring through the darkness at him with a relaxed look on her face.

"What's on your mind, hun?"

Hunter shrugged awkwardly. "I don't know. Just... thinking about the future."

She hummed. "The future. I know you kids don't like hearing what adults have to say about these things, but if you'll indulge me...?"

Hunter motioned for her to continue. He didn't like getting advice, it all ended up sounding the same, but he'd always at least hear his mom out if nothing else.

"The future seems scary when you're young. There's so much of it, and if you don't know what you want, it seems like a lot of time to have to fill. But at some point, I don't know when... for me it was probably when your voices started cracking... but you hit this point where you start to realize there really isn't a lot of time left in the future. That's when things really start to feel scary. And you think back to all those years you spent worrying and waiting for the perfect time or the perfect idea, and you wish you'd just gone for it."

Hunter nodded along, though secretly he wasn't taking too much of it to heart. He wasn't at that point in life and it really didn't sound like it was going to be any worse than the point he was at right now, where everyone suddenly seemed to have different interests and were looking into different colleges and didn't even have schedules that lined up for family dinners anymore.

But as easily as Mom had sensed some heavy thoughts on his mind did she also sense he needed a different resolution to the conversation.

"But you know something else? You don't have to worry about any of that."

Hunter's ears perked up.

"You've never run out of ideas to fill your time. Any time life's knocked you down, you've found ways to make the most of it."

He liked the sound of that. Making the most of it. Like he was trying to do with this hooky day he was planning. Finding a way to get them all together when everything else was pulling them apart. Maybe he could find other ways to keep things in tact.

"Thanks, Mom," he smiled.

Twenty-one years old

"Down, girl."

Hunter gently pressed against the dog's muzzle to get her off the couch. Batcher whined a bit but soon settled by her owner's feet instead. Hunter barely noticed as he scrolled and scrolled on his phone.

Another night staying in. Studying done, no plans, roommates out drinking, brothers off living their own lives. Hunter sighed as another hour went by and he finally tossed his phone aside in frustration. He leaned his head back, resting it along the back of the couch, and stared through the dim lights of his thrifted lamps up at the ceiling. A million thoughts vied for his attention - like how he was going to tell his mom about the extra semester he'd have to take before graduating, or how much money he'd need to scrounge to fix his car's A/C before the summer, or whether he should try apologizing to Jules again... But no one thought seemed to be able to take hold long enough, not before another barged in and tied up his stomach in more anxious knots.

Eventually he had to push himself off the couch and start pacing. Batcher quirked her head and watched as he took laps around the small living area. She used to follow him, thinking something fun was happening, but now knew better and stayed in her spot by the couch.

He made it around almost a dozen times, picking up random objects to fiddle with and then deposit elsewhere, a habit he drove himself crazy with, before the sudden knock came at the door. Batcher was hot on his heels as he went to open it.

"Cross," he stated in shock at finding his usually uncommunicative brother on the threshold of his apartment.

Batcher was more welcoming. She barreled past Hunter's legs and nuzzled against Crosshair's. He let out a low chuckle and knelt to give her a few head scratches.

"Well. You gonna let me in or what?" he eventually asked.

Hunter shook himself and opened the door wider.

"Didn't know you even knew where I lived," was all he managed to say as his brother entered. He suddenly felt self-conscious as Crosshair scanned the dingy apartment and all its messes.

"Did you not want me to know?" Crosshair quirked an eyebrow but otherwise seemed nonchalant.

"No. It's just... you know... been a while since I've seen you."

Crosshair didn't respond, only continued looking about. He wandered over to the IKEA bookshelf in the corner, the one piece of furniture Hunter hadn't found in a dumpster and had bought with actual money. He picked up a framed photo of the five of them throwing their high school graduation caps. Crosshair shook his head and set it back down.

"Well?"

"Well... what?" Hunter asked. He had shut the front door but was still standing awkwardly by it. He may need an escape plan, if this unexpected visit proved as tumultuous as the last time they'd seen each other.

"What're you up to? Friday night. You waiting for a date or something?"

"No," Hunter frowned at the reminder of the "it's complicated" status of him and Jules.

"Early plans tomorrow? Already bedtime?"

"No..."

"So you're just sitting around in the dark doing nothing?"

At first, Hunter couldn't tell if Crosshair was trying to tease or if he was genuinely concerned. But then he clocked the telltale flex of his hand, the one that'd nearly been crushed in that accident. Crosshair always flexed it when he was nervous, which was usually only in situations when he felt emotionally vulnerable. Hunter's eyes narrowed.

"Who sent you? Echo?"

Crosshair let out a long-suffering sigh.

"Mom?"

"No one sent me," he said. "Mom mentioned she hadn't heard from you since the New Year. Wrecker said you've been down in the dumps. Echo filled me in on your grade situation. Tech gave me your address. I put it all together and came on my own."

Hunter only blinked, causing him to sigh again.

"Look, I know we haven't always seen eye to eye. But out of all of them, I know you the best. And... you know me." He said the last part quieter, flexing his hand again. "That's why we hurt each other. Because we know what the other is saying is true."

Hunter folded his arms and walked away from the door.

"And so you came here to... what? Rub it all in again? You made it very clear at Christmas how pathetic my life is now. I really don't need to hear it again."

Crosshair's throat bobbed as he swallowed hard. His eyes flitted away and for a moment, Hunter feared he might actually cry.

"I'm sorry I came at you like that, but I meant what I said. You don't have anything to do. That's your problem. School has never been enough for you. You need plans. Places to go. People to boss around. You should have never stayed here with us."

Hunter couldn't help but open his mouth to protest with all of the same points he'd yelled the last time. But Crosshair raised his hand and finally met his eyes again.

"And I'm not saying we don't want you. I'm saying that we don't need you, not anymore. We're taking care of ourselves now. Or, at least we're figuring it out. We don't need you to tell us what to do. You can just be our brother."

Hunter's mouth was still open, though now he couldn't think of anything to say.

"Everyone else in the world, though? Maybe they could use your bossiness. Like, I don't know, convicts? Angsty middle schoolers? Couples in marriage counseling?"

Hunter rolled his eyes and Crosshair chuckled.

"Or what's that program? Where you pretend to be some kid's brother?"

"Big Brothers, Big Sisters," Hunter said. He was chuckling along with him now, but there was a little nagging feeling in the back of his mind at the idea. He hadn't considered anything to do with mentoring kids before, but there may be legs to it.

Crosshair didn't let him ponder it for long. He reached over and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Yeah, well, great chat. But my real plan was to get you drunk. That's what helps me when I'm depressed. So let's get out of here before the good bars get busy."

"I'm not depressed..."

"Sure." Crosshair was walking toward the door now.

"And you know I don't drink..."

"Just get your coat, dude. I'll be in the car."

Hunter shook his head as the door closed behind his brother, and then looked down and shook his head at Batcher. 

"This guy."

He waited a few minutes, just to be annoying, and then grabbed his coat and followed.