AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What?” She asked sharply. “What are you talking about?”
My eyes narrowed at a point across the lake where a deer had walked out through the trees and started drinking from water’s edge.
“I’ve called you a bazillion times in the past couple of days. You never called me back and always replied with the same message. I needed to talk to you.” I sniffled.
“Adeline, I never got any of your calls. I didn’t even have my phone. It died as soon as I got to Paul’s parents’ house, and I gave it to him to charge in his car. Every time I’d ask for it, he said to leave it. Said that it was rude to talk on my phone when I was visiting with someone. So I left it there.” She replied, sounding very confused.
I refrained from telling her that her boyfriend was a massive dick, and most likely had her phone the whole time. He’d had to have been screening her calls. Why else would he have replied with anything? I’d let her draw her own conclusions, though.
“You didn’t even call me for Christmas. What the hell was that?” I asked, as my anger evaporated. Knowing my sister would never do anything to hurt me willingly.
“I did call you. I called Kettle’s house phone. I didn’t know your cell phone number off the top of my head, and that was the only one I remembered since it was so easy. I would’ve left a message but the answering machine never picked up.” She explained, worry starting to rise in her voice.
That’s when I clarified what had happened in the last couple of days. What she’d missed with the fire. And then further with what happened at the funeral home, and what our brother had done.
“Your apartment burned down...again?” She gasped. “What the fuck? Do they know who did it?”
I was shaking my head, even though she couldn’t see it. “No. They had a video of it. That’s it though.”
“What about Monty?” She asked hesitantly.
My throat closed again, agitated with all the life that was lost in the fire.
From what I’d learned from Kettle and the news, over ten pets, Monty included, had been lost in that fire, along with Shannon. Luckily there were no other human losses, but the one was enough.
“He didn’t make it. By the time everyone arrived, the whole place was fully engulfed in flames. That’s why Shannon wasn’t able to be saved, either. It just burned too hot. The person that set the fire used what they think was jet fuel. It caught fire and burned so hot that nothing was left.”
“Jet fuel? Where the hell would you get jet fuel?” She asked, mirroring my own question I’d had when I’d heard Sebastian and Kettle talking about it that morning when I’d walked outside to find them on the dock together.
“I don’t know.” I replied truthfully.
“And what is all this with Jefferson? He hit you over the head, Adeline. Did you press charges against him?” She asked sharply.
Again, she was mirroring my own worries. “I don’t really know anything, Vid. I’m just as in the dark as you are. In fact, more so. I have all of this swirling around me, and I haven’t the faintest fucking clue what the hell is going on.”
“I don’t know what to say.” She said after a while.
I didn’t either. In fact, I was utterly flabbergasted that any of this had touched my life. I was a teacher for God’s sake. What did I ever do to warrant this? The worst thing I’d ever done was steal a couple of animals from a testing facility.
“Me neither.” I replied.
Looking for a change of subject after the silence ensued for too long, drew circles in the air with my foot and asked, “What did he get you for Christmas?”
I heard her murmur something in the background, but it was so low and garbled that I had to have her repeat it three more times before I actually understood.
“What was that?” I asked for the last time.
“He got me a picture of him.” She snarled.
I couldn’t help it. The laugh that burst free from my gut had me falling backwards in glee. I was wheezing and tears were streaming from my eyes. I could hear my sister snarling at me, and then the click of the phone as she hung up, but I still didn’t stop laughing.
“A picture!” I wheezed. “What the fuck is she gonna do with a picture of him?”
A large pair of boots stopped where they were straddling my head, and I looked up. Past a pair of blue jeans, past the most glorious package on earth, and then up further until I could see Kettle’s face. He looked happy. Smiling widely at my laughter.
“What are you laughing at?” He asked from above me.
I snorted. “Paul got Viddy a picture of himself for Christmas.”
