By the end of basketball practice Ryaan Asfour’s completely drained. He’s glad his dad agreed to pick him up tonight. After the beating he took, practice has been a challenge all week. Part of him wants to use the pain as an excuse to spend a few days in the trainer’s office. The days off would be nice and the trainer’s just out of college and pretty cute.

Ultimately that isn’t an option. He’s afraid she’ll ask about his bruises and he doesn’t want weird questions about his home life coming up. He also doesn’t want them calling his dad to tell him about the bruises. He’s ashamed he couldn’t handle himself and doesn’t want his dad poking into the vigilante thing. He might figure out what Ryaan has planned.

Dad’s all smiles tonight, talking about the progress on the new building he’s been working on. He’s in construction and they just started a new project. There’s no better way to ensure he’ll be in a good mood than to make sure he has a good day at work.

Driving home his dad plays an old Rolling Stones album. Ryaan definitely got his taste in music from his dad. They talk about school and the big game tomorrow. His dad’s hyped up, he never misses a game. His sisters will be coming too. They used to attend all his games but in high school they run later and lately his dad’s been leaving his youngest sister Lana at home with a babysitter. Not for a game this big.

More and more pressure keeps getting piled on this game. He tells his dad how terrible practice went. He defended but couldn’t make an open shot to save his life. He also seemed to have butterfingers and was turning the ball over left and right. It was a disaster. His dad tries to cheer him up, saying he’s getting the butterflies out now so they aren’t an issue tomorrow. It doesn’t work but he appreciates the effort.

As they pull into their driveway Ryaan sees lights on in the front room. His sisters are already home. Hopefully dinner’s ready. After a practice like tonight he’s starving. His dad orders in a lot but sometimes the girls cook. On the weekend Ryaan takes turns as well but he gets home later during the week and none of them want to eat right before bed. Sometimes their dad cooks but they’ve all asked him not to.

Before their mom left you’d never have caught him standing over a stove but he does it regularly now. If only he could learn to cook food they want to eat. Most of the time his meals look like food. They just don’t taste like it. They’ve all pointed out they’re fine handling the food but he insists his kids won’t do all their own cooking.

Walking in the door Ryaan can already smell something good coming from the kitchen. They find Nadia standing over a pan of cheesy chicken and rice. That’s one of her go to meals; something she makes at least once a week. It tastes good, it’s easy to make and she can get it done quick. Ryaan does an internal fist pump. Tonight they eat food that tastes good.

The only person who seems to like their dad’s cooking is their dad. It still puzzles Ryaan how he can eat his own cooking, then eat Nadia’s meals or take out, and decide he’s made something good. Most nights the food’s edible, though there are exceptions, but nothing he makes has any flavor. He’s not good at following directions so a lot of times his food ends up with a weird texture. Apparently he has no problem eating chicken that feels like flavorless rubber.

Gathering around the kitchen table their dad starts dishing bowls of the rice mixture. Ryaan asks his little sisters about their day. They can’t wait to talk about school and what they had for lunch, typical stuff. Before long Nadia brings up her friend Violet who she saw at school today. Apparently she won’t stop talking about the scary incident with the vigilantes.

Violet’s neighbors were the couple Ryaan rescued from the Goggle Guys. They went to the police who informed them the vigilantes had full discretion to interview people and there wasn’t much to be done. The police offered to arrange a sit down with the vigilantes but the idea of being in a room with those men terrified them. They high tailed it out of the police station as fast as they could. Their dad has made his disdain for this subject clear and his look makes them change the subject.

No one wants to do anything about these guys. The law is on the books and that doesn’t look like it’s going to change anytime soon. There’s a lot of mixed opinions on the VMUS Act but the president’s convinced it’s the greatest thing ever and his party is in complete control of the government. As long as he supports it VMUS will be a fact of life.

Enjoying their family meal, Ryaan keeps thinking about next year when Nadia will be in high school. She’s going to want to walk home sometimes like he does now. The idea of her doing so while these guys are out there terrifying anyone who doesn’t look like them fills him with dread. Someone has to keep her safe. Someone has to keep all the people like her safe. He’s tired of his dad avoiding the subject. He wants to believe this is the land of the free and everything will be alright if you ignore it but he’s pretty sure life doesn’t work that way. Somebody needs to stand up. Otherwise things are only going to get worse.