Things That Should Stay Buried - Casey L. Bond Page 0,6

calendar that hung on a nail in my bedroom wall.

The stars were my constant when everything changed, a comfort when nothing was comfortable.

I watched them and listened…

I listened so that if the thing living in my brother’s body went after Mom and Dad, I’d be there to stop him.

I spent many nights like that. Sleepless. Worried. Terrified, if I was being honest.

But after a while, things settled. It turned out that Kes wasn’t lying. Life really did become peaceful after that.

Kes wore sleeves and slept in the dark, and on the bus on the way home from school, he would sit with me and ask how my day was. We helped each other with homework and even played outside together. Kes and I became friends.

We’d lived together as brother and sister for eight years now. I knew this Kes like the back of my hand. This Kes loved me. He also loved Mom and Dad.

It was wrong to think it, but I couldn’t help what popped into my mind as I walked back to my room, steam from my shower wafting from the bathroom and into the hall.

I liked this version of Kes much better than I had my own flesh and blood sibling, and the feeling was mutual.

So maybe in the end this was meant to be, and it was better this way for all of us. My fraternal twin brother was dead – yet lived.

All was well in the world – most of the time.

2

By the next day, things had simmered down. Mom was rested, and though she was still upset, she wasn’t angry cross-stitching or on the verge of tears. Dad kissed my head before he grabbed his lunch and left for work, his hands stained with the grease from all the engines he’d repaired during this insanely long week. “So, you’re going to prom with the girls, right?”

Even though it was already Thursday, Friday seemed an eternity away. And Saturday seemed even longer.

“Actually, someone asked me.”

His graying brows popped as he leaned a hip against the counter, crossing his arms over his chest. “Who?”

“Xavier, but we’re going as friends.”

“I remember how I went on dates with friends.”

I groaned. “Dad. Don’t. He’s just being nice since Brant was a complete dick.”

“Don’t let your mother hear you talk like that,” he admonished, unable to keep his lips from turning up at the corners.

“I want to talk to him before you all leave,” he said, more seriously.

“I’ve already warned him. He’s cool with that. Somehow.”

Dad pushed off the counter and started toward the door. “You’re my only daughter. It’s my duty to threaten your dates while you live under my roof.”

“Well, we’re just friends, so don’t take that duty too seriously.”

“I’m proud of you,” he said out of the blue.

“For what?”

He shook his head. “For becoming a young woman who knows her worth.” He glanced at his watch. “Talk later?”

“Yeah, Dad.” Around the knot forming in my throat, I added, “Have a good day.”

“Love you. This’ll all blow over. In a month, you won’t remember the dickhead’s name.”

I snorted a laugh as he left the kitchen and headed out the door.

That morning, I caught a ride to school with Kes and went through the motions of trying to preserve my pride and shun Brant and Reagan. I didn’t see Xavier the Prom Savior at lunch, and cross-country practice was cancelled. The coach’s sister was having a baby, and while we were more than capable, at the ages of seventeen and eighteen of running as a group, the school’s rule was that after-school sponsored activities had to be chaperoned, and she couldn’t find anyone to volunteer at the last minute. So… I jogged home and vegged with Mom on the couch, watching the remnants of bad daytime television talk shows. Sometimes it was nice to have a heavy show to invest in and binge, and sometimes, mind-numbing nonsense about baby daddies was just the medicine.

Dad came in with pizza, followed by Kes with a container of Snickers ice cream, and for a school night, it looked like things were starting to look up. It seemed like everything would be okay.

I should’ve known the rug was about to be pulled out from under our feet.

Kes found me in my usual perch, staring at the night sky instead of the biology book in my lap and the empty notebook page I was supposed to fill. The galaxy’s haze stretched lazily across the sky’s dusky canvas, disappearing behind the trees in the