The Lads

Where It All Began

“What the hell happened here guys?” Mike said, laying his head in his hands. “How could one night get so out of control that you all could let something like this happen?!” he said, holding back his tears. Mike was fighting off showing his emotions. Usually, anger would come into play, but not today; not in a situation such as this. The lads all came to him for help. He was basically their leader; if anyone could help them it was him.

Something told Mike not to go out that night. Usually, he was all for a night out with the lads, but today something felt off. Mike and the lads were supposed to go to a party that night. Mike was totally ready too. He waited all week, but something in his gut told him to forget it. Instead, Mike decided to hang in and play video games online with his cousin, G. After the party, the lads were supposed to swing through before calling it a night. Of course, it didn’t work out that way and now the lads were all sitting in Mike’s room trying to make sense of Frank...dead.

All of the lads were there looking at Mike for help and he’s trying not to think about the fact that if he would have went, would he be dead too? Why Frank? Now Mike felt it was up to him to figure this all out and get justice for his friend. Where did he start? He had to figure out who exactly went to the party first. The lads made a list with Mike. One by one they went down this list of names ruling out anyone who they knew, for a fact, could not have murdered Frank. Slowly, the list made its way down to four names...the lads. All of the lads were on the list and they were all just sitting there in pure disbelief.

Mike, being Mike, stood up and locked the door. He turned to the lads and said no one is to leave this room until they figure out which of them is the one responsible; hoping deep down it was all a freak accident and not a single one of the lads could be so villainous as to take the life of their friend. Four names...Ry, Nicholas, Joe, and Vinny, but which one killed Frank? None of them wanted to believe any of them were capable of doing this, yet this was real life.

First on the list; Ry. Ry was a very respectful and somewhat quiet young man. That is, until he felt more comfortable around you and could vibe with your energy. He is just an extremely positive person who always has a smile on his face. He really takes the time to appreciate nature. You can tell he spent a lot of time with his grandparents growing up because he will come out with some old school sayings sometimes that can shock you and make you laugh at the same time. Ry did have a serious side, however. When he was serious or something was bothering him, he wore that across his face. Times like now; Ry was not smiling at all.

Next was Nicholas. He was an extravagant one. A year older than most of the lads and a homosexual male. This boy had to face many obstacles due to his sexual orientation alone. A Catholic high school senior as well, Nicholas was definitely not accepted by many. All of the lads accepted him for who he was. He seemed to find a lot of comfort in his friends. It wasn’t often that you would find brothers that actually hung out together, but Nicholas did with his little brother, Joe. They were both a part of the lads and both now suspects in the death of Frank.

Joe was the complete opposite of his brother. He was very spiritual and believed in karma. He was very proud of his Italian heritage. To describe him in two words; I’d say Guido Hippie. Joe was a ladies man who took pride in his appearance and in everything he did. This kid had an old school class. His aura was filled with positivity, but being so accustomed to his Italian heritage he held loyalty and respect higher than anything. The lads were more than just a group of friends; they were family. Families may get into spats here and there, but they stick by each other through any and everything. It’s just what you do and Joe lived by that. To be a suspect in the killing of one of his boys is an absurdity in his mind, but not just the fact that it was just him suspected, the lads were too.

The final name on their list was Vinny. Vinny was a likable child. Very polite and well mannered. You could tell he came from a good home. The typical happy family. Vinny’s mom and dad were happily married. He had an older brother whom he idolized. Both of the boys were liked by basically everyone they came across. Vinny was often quiet, but could be very comical with witty satire around the lads and those he was comfortable with.

It was so far out of left field that one of the lads could have done this that no one could fathom even the thought of it. Mike thought for a while, looked at the lads, and said, “In order to figure this out, we need to retrace each one of your steps from the time you entered the party to the time you got to my house. This is insane. Ry, you go first.”.

Ry’s Night

Ry walked into the party with Julio around 6:55 p.m.. Julio lived over by Ry and was friends with the lads as well. They didn’t see much of him since his girlfriend was always around and didn’t care too much for the lads. There was no love lost since the feeling was mutual. Julio’s girlfriend was away with her mother that weekend, so he was out with the lads.

When Ry and Julio entered the party there were only a handful of underclassmen there, so Julio got annoyed after about 15 minutes and decided to leave. Ry was waiting on the lads, so decided to stay. Julio left the party and about 5 minutes later, Nicholas showed up with his boyfriend, Joe, and Joe’s girlfriend. Ry handed Joe a drink and they were having a great time.

Around 7:45 p.m. Frank and Vinny seemed to appear out of nowhere, but Ry was vibing and was just glad they showed up since nobody could convince Mike to come. Ry is an extremely emotional young man, so he tended to get into his feelings when all the lads weren't together and alcohol was involved. The new girl he was talking to was a great distraction for a while.

Vinny and Nicholas decided it was getting late and if they were going to stop by Mike’s they better get going. Ry agreed and went to find Joe, who was pretty out of it singing loudly while sitting next to his girlfriend. He helped Joe up and the four lads said goodbye to Joe’s girl and Nicholas’ boyfriend, then headed out of the party. Nobody seemed to know where Frank was though. Ry even asked different people at the party on their way out, but didn’t want to take forever since Mike was expecting them. He just figured they’ll link up at Mike’s and was hoping Frank met a cool chick or something.

Nicholas’ Night

Nicholas and his boyfriend were sitting out front of his house waiting on Joe to come out and his girlfriend to get dropped off. He was super excited about the party tonight because everyone was going to meet his new man. The only laad to meet him so far was Joe and that was only because they shared a room. Of course Joe’s girl was running late, so Nicholas was beyond annoyed already.

Once the four were all out front, Nicholas was rushing them all to leave. That kind of pissed off Joe which really set the tone for his night. They all entered the party and Joe belined for Ry who had the drinks next to him. Nicholas didn’t question that since Joe always was mad at him for some reason or another. He started with Ry and made his way around the entire party introducing his new beau.

Nicholas has a very flamboyant personality and was not afraid to hide it. He was on top of the world that night because this was the first boyfriend that all of the lads seemed to like. They usually found something to dislike about every guy he brought around, but this one seemed to make a good impression. Nothing could ruin Nocholas’ night. After a good while Vinny asked Nicholas if he was ready to go to Mike’s and they went to gather Ry and the rest, but couldn’t find Frank. He called his phone, but it was dead. He figured he’d see him at Mike’s eventually and decided to go.

The new boyfriend grabbed an uber with Joe’s girl because she lived along the way. Nicholas said his goodbyes and headed to Mike’s with Ry, Joe, and Vinny secretly hoping Frank was already there. He wanted his opinion on his guy.

Joe’s Night

Joe was running a little late, but was okay with it since his girl hadn’t even been dropped off yet. He was in the mirror, of course. Joe was extremely proud of his looks, especially his hair, so he spent a lot of time in the mirror looking at himself. His phone blew up to hurry from Nicholas who was waiting out front to go. Joe could not stand when his brother got like this and was getting really irked. He didn’t want the night to start off in a bad mood, but Nicholas was not helping.

Joe finally went out front at the same time his girl was walking up the driveway. He jumped off the front step and yelled, “Let’s go! What are you all standing around waiting for?!”, with a laugh. Off they went to the party. As soon as they walked in, Joe headed straight to Ry and grabbed a drink. That was probably a bad idea since he was irked, which resulted in him drinking way too fast and way too quickly.

He saw Vinny and got super excited to have him listen to a new song he was really into and knew he would love. Between singing loud, hanging with his girl, and running to the bathroom, Joe was occupied most of the party. He was three sheets to the wind before he noticed Ry helping get him up to leave. He made sure his girl got to her uber and left the party with the lads to go see Mike.

Vinny’s Night

Vinny took out the trash for his mom and was running late for the party, but so was Frank. They decided to meet up and go to the party together. When they got to the party, Vinny noticed that Joe was about a 6 pack deep. He walked over to make sure his buddy was okay and then decided to mingle a bit.

He noticed he hadn’t seen Frank since he had gotten there and found it odd because usually if you came together, you left together. One of the lad codes. Vinny took that stuff seriously. He kept calling Frank’s phone which eventually just started forwarding straight to voicemail.

Vinny walked over to a group of junior girls and asked if they had seen Frank. One girl, slurring badly, stated that she saw him walk away to “take a piss”. Nobody saw him come back though. He walked around asking a few more groups of people hanging around the party, but no sight of Frank around.

Nicholas found Vinny and seemed to notice his worrisome look and tried reassuring Vinny that Frank obviously left with a girl or maybe to go home or something. Since Frank wasn’t drinking that night, that made sense to Vinny enough to agree that it was time to go to Mike’s.

They Found Him

After Nicholas’ boyfriend left in the uber with Joe’s girl, Ry noticed he had left his speaker back at the party. The lads decided to go grab it before someone else took it. Thankfully, when they returned the speaker was there. Ry grabbed it and they headed back out.

From a distance, Nicholas saw something shining like a little light of some sort. Enough so that it made him walk over towards it curious to see what it could be. The lads followed suit and noticed a hand from a bush with a tiny LED flashlight laying loosely upon the fingers of whom they were about to discover was their good friend, Frank. Vinny walked closer and lifted a branch to unveil the body. All four lads gasped at the sight of Frank’s body with his head, bloody, from whatever had occurred there that night.

Immediately, Ry was on the phone with 911 and Joe was on the phone with Mike. Soon the police were there with the coroner. Frank was dead and the lads were told to go home after some statements were taken. They didn’t go home, however. They all walked over to Mike’s.

Who Did It

The lads were all there, in Mike’s room. Each one still in disbelief that one of them could be the killer. How? They were so close; they were family. Now one of their brothers could be a cold-blooded killer? It just didn’t seem possible.

The one girl said she saw Frank walk away, but alone. Each one of the lads accounted for the whole night. Frank wandered pretty far just to urinate. None of it made sense. Then, almost out of nowhere, Mike asked where Julio was. He was the only person unaccounted for. To no avail, Mike decided to call Julio. All of the lads called and sent text after text.

The lads then made the call to walk over to Julio’s house. The house had no lights on. It would seem nobody was home, but Julio specifically said he was going home because he was so impatient. That intrigued Mike since Julio was usually extremely laid back. He decided he would walk around back to the basement door. After all, Julio’s room was the basement.

As he walked around the house, Mike noticed the gate left open and felt a crisp chill down his spine. He slowly approached the basement door, slightly ajar. There was Julio sitting in the dark, with his head in his hands, sobbing. He looked up at Mike, who was sure he must have heard about Frank, and said, “I didn’t mean to do it.”. Mike’s jaw dropped in pure horror, shock, rage, and so many emotions he didn’t know what to do. He froze just as Joe was walking up with Vinny.

“You ready Mike?”, Vinny said. “No. No, Vinny. We need to get the hell out of here! Julio killed Frank. I don’t know what happened, but I think I may puke.”, replied Mike. Julio still sobbing and shaking in the corner did something no one ever thought would happen next. He stood up, picked up his phone and called the police. He turned himself in.

The Aftermath

Julio decided to tell the lads what actually happened while waiting for the police. He told the lads that he wasn’t feeling himself lately and that’s why he left in the first place. He walked home and noticed a note from his mom letting him know that her and his stepfather took his younger brothers out for the night. He immediately started drinking, but didn’t want to sit there drinking alone. That’s when Julio decided to return to the party.

Walking into the woods, Julio bumped into Frank. Frank, under the influence himself, made some sly remark about Julio being late to the party. That made Julio just lose it and push Frank. Not thinking clearly, Frank started pushing him back. Next thing Julio can remember was being hit with a flashlight and him grabbing a thick branch and swinging. He said he must have blacked out cause after blood splashed him in the face all he could do was run.

He said he never meant to kill Frank. If it wasn’t for him drinking alone before he came back none of that would have happened. Now Julio has to face the charge of first degree manslaughter at 16 years old. As for the rest of the lads, they will never again be the same.