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Ed doesn’t say anything. He hulks over to his bedroom and slams the door shut.
“Well, it’s decided then. You’re staying till the storm passes,” I announce.
Artie smiles.
Susan looks at him suspiciously and then glances at the hot chocolate. “Wait, is this a bribe?”
Artie shrugs. Before I can say anything, he picks up her bag. “Come on, I’ll get you upstairs. You can stay in my room since you’ve claimed it for yourself already.”
I glare at my brother who pretends to ignore me.
Susan takes another sip of her hot chocolate and looks in the direction of Ed’s closed door. “Well, this should be interesting.”
4
ED
Ican hear them from my bedroom. I grip my bed’s frame so hard that it digs into my skin, forming little angry crescents on my palm. It’s all I can do not to bolt out of the room and do something that I’ll probably regret.
People say I changed after Fiona, but that’s not true. I’ve always been this way. She was the only person who could tame the animal in me, and now she’s gone. I’ve never let any other person in after her, and I vowed to myself a long time ago that I never will.
Laughter trickles in through the door. It’s been exactly one hour and one minute since I shut myself inside the room. I know because I’ve counted every second in my head. People say that they lose the sense of their surroundings when they’re angry or they black out, but I’m the opposite. My rage grounds me. Everything that happens is seared into my head like photographs I can’t get rid of.
I crack my knuckles. I’m desperate for some kind of release.
That’s why I built the shed in the back, complete with a home gym and punching bags filled with sand.
I stare out the window. The wind has picked up speed now, and it lets out a whistling sound as it crashes against the window. The glass shakes, and the howling increases like there are a thousand ghosts outside, beating their closed fists against the cabin’s walls and windows, vying for a way inside. But I’m not scared. I know the cabin will withstand it, as it’s stood through several storms before this one.
I almost enjoy the storm when it first picks up, when it’s at its fiercest. The morning after is calmer, when there’s nothing but a thick spread of white snow everywhere. It’s nature’s way of reminding me that I’m not alone in my rage.
A knock at the door distracts me. I ignore it. It grows more and more insistent.
“Go away,” I say.
“Come on, you need to stop sulking and come out already,” comes Ollie’s voice from the other side of the door. “Artie’s making chicken pot pie. You know that’s your favorite.”
“He better finish before we lose power,” I reply.
There’s a pause, then he swears under his breath and I can hear the footsteps receding. I wasn’t kidding about the power. It won’t be long before it’s inevitably cut. It’s almost always gone right after the storm surges, taking down the nearby station. Once that happens, we won’t have power for at least three more days.
We have a backup generator in the shed behind the main house. But sometimes it becomes difficult to access it when the storm gets bad. We can only get to it once it subsides, and even then only after shoveling our way through at least three feet of snow.
There’s another knock, quieter this time.
“I said go away. I don’t want any fucking dinner,” I growl.
“Hi,” comes a soft voice from the other side of the door. The sound travels all the way down to my cock, and I’m ashamed to admit that I become semi-hard. What the fuck is wrong with me?
“Can you please just come out and talk? I swear I really didn’t mean any trouble,” Susan—or so I heard my brother call her—says.
I turn my head to the door, knowing I’ve locked it shut.
A part of me knows that I’m the one being a total asshole, and the fact that she’s the one coming in here to offer up a white flag just further grates my skin.
“I know this isn’t something any of us thought would happen…” she’s saying. Maybe it’s curiosity, or maybe I just want the satisfaction of blowing her off in person. Either way, I make my way to the door and wrench it open.
Susan, who has been leaning against the doorframe, tumbles into my arms. I’m aware of the way her breasts are crushed against my hard chest. I put my arms under her to set her upright. She blushes deeply. “I-I’m sorry, I-I didn’t…” she stammers.
