folklore; conrad fisher

25: for sale

I never thought I'd see that house again, until we arrived in its driveway.

The sea grey paint alongside the wooden shingled walls. The purple hyacinths that covered every bush. The large white coastal beams. The archway that led to the entrance. The rust on the aqua-colored door.

Jeremiah and Belly were already inside, but my hand trembled as it reached the doorknob. I twisted it slowly, carefully. I creeped inside to hear Jeremiah yelling at someone, and I knew who it was. I just wasn't ready to face him.

The house felt empiter now. Along the staircase hung the finished portraits of Conrad and Jeremiah by Susannah. It was wrong, walking in here and not being greeted by her friendly smile and warm hug.

I could hear their voices through the doorway but their figures were gone. It was still unreal. I held onto that for a moment. This would be the last time I could feel this house in its purest state. Whatever it held inside for me would change everything.

Except it was worse than I thought, because as I stepped through that doorway and looked at Conrad for the first time since the funeral, I heard him say something that made my heart drop.

"Jere, the house has been put up for sale."

"Wait, what?" I said.

He looked at me. He was wearing a blue, denim button down and green khaki pants. He was wide-eyed, with his mouth slightly ajar, and I was sure I looked the same. I couldn't process everything all at once as he held my gaze. It felt like nothing else was happening, and it was just him and I standing in that room.

But he broke the spell, "What is she doing here?"

I stammered, but Belly spoke for me, "Looking for you, asshole. We were worried about you."

Belly and Conrad's relationship had grown quite tense since she found out he didn't feel the same way about her that she did about him. Sometimes, in her anger, I wondered if some of those feelings still resided within her, and if she kept them tucked away. There was no doubt in my mind that whatever was going on between her and Jeremiah was the result of strong emotions between the two, but did that erase Conrad completely from her mind?

If she was anything like me, it couldn't have. What did Cole do for me when it came to trying to get rid of Conrad from my life? The answer: absolutely nothing.

Belly tried to shift the conversation by asking Conrad why Adam Fisher would've sold the house, except it wasn't his doing. After Susannah's death, the house went to her half-sister, their Aunt Julia. I vaguely remembered her from a Summer I'd spent here when I was younger. She wasn't very friendly, the way Susannah was. I knew then I didn't like her very much, but I'd never thought she could do something like this.

Jeremiah urged Conrad to call their father to find a solution, but Conrad told him he'd already tried. Now that Conrad was in college, and the family was still paying off Susannah's medical bills, it was impossible for them to buy back the house.

They kept going back and forth, until it became a yelling match. Belly and I stood there awkwardly, sneaking glances at one another. We didn't know if it was more inappropriate for us to stay or go, but we decided it was best to keep an eye on the brothers if the situation escalated.

"Jere, this was all happening so fast, I was going to tell you after I'd taken care of it." Conrad reasoned.

Jeremiah chuckled, "And this is you taking care of it? Going AWOL, ditching school, not talking to us?"

"Fuck school! I don't care." Conrad shouted.

"Connie, you have to go back, or you'll fail your class!"