Those Spoken Poisons

Words Easily Spoken Are Not Soon Forgotten

"Hey, look what I did in art class today. See? Jasper? Look."

Jasper Blackwell dragged his gaze away from his phone as a paper smelling faintly of cheap paints appeared just inches from his nose. With a growl he batted it aside and whipped around to shoot a fierce look at the petite boy that walked alongside him. "Callum, get your stupid paper out of my face! I don't care."

The smaller boy's lips curved into a frown. He lowered his paper, smoothing it out carefully against his chest. "I just wanted to show you my picture. It's of us— Mummy, and Dad, and you and me. The teacher gave me good marks."

Jasper shoved past his brother and looked down at his phone again. "It looks horrible. Like someone painted it with their ass."

Callum released a huff and scurried after him, his cat-shaped bookbag bouncing against his back evenly. The wind blew back his wavy brown hair and stung his cheeks until they were rosy. "Don't say that word, Jasper," he tutted.

"Bite me."

"If you do it again I'm gonna tell Mum."

They stopped at a corner. Cars whipped past in colorful blurs, paying no mind to the actual speed limit at the intersection. Jasper leaned over his brother and pressed repeatedly on the big silver button that was supposed to change the traffic lights, even though he was certain it never actually did anything.

"What's Mam going to do about it, huh? Yell?"

His brother puffed out his cheeks. "No..."

"Right. Stop nagging me then or I'll kick your tiny ass into the street here." Jasper turned away from Callum and squinted at the phone's screen, watching as his tiny pixelated character was crushed by the in-game enemy. His brother was silent, likely mulling over the severity of Jasper's threat. Jasper wasn't really going to carry through with it, but it wasn't like he'd never taken action in the past.

Once, when they were younger, he had threatened to lock Callum in the cellar and not tell anyone where he was if he bothered him again. Later that same day Callum had accidentally destroyed Jasper's Lego project with his pillow fort. It was close to midnight and his parents were on the cusp of calling the police before Jasper had given up his brother's location.

The crosswalk blinked, signaling that it was safe for them to walk. Jasper started up his game again and stepped out into the street. Callum hopped after him, surveying the area like a tiny secret service agent. Jasper ignored him. When they reached the turn off into the woods Jasper broke into a run, dodging the muddy puddles that dotted the dirt road, remainders from last night's storm. The cold winter air stung his face, making him feel awake. Alive. Behind him, he heard his brother shouting for him to wait up.

"Run faster then, you wuss!" he yelled over his shoulder as he picked up his pace. There weren't many roads that cut through the woods and even fewer houses along them, so it wasn't very hard to get lost. There was only one 'Coldwater Rd.' that wove through the woods with his address. And only a small handful of houses along that road... Jasper didn't understand his mother's concern that he would get hopelessly turned around on his way home from school. He was almost seventeen. He could damn well use Google maps if it came to that.

Jasper darted right at the familiar (and super hideous) bright yellow mailbox and let himself slide down the driveway. It wasn't even paved, just loose gravel over dirt, and went at a slight decline. It was hell to drive up in the late winter when snow and ice dominated everything, as Jasper well knew from the time he'd taken the family car for an unplanned joyride.

A petite woman sharing his brother's wavy brown hair stood on the screened-in porch, same as every day. He slowed to a jog at the end of the decline and trotted his way over to her, slipping his phone into his back pocket. "Hi, Mam."