Cogent

ELEVEN

Cold blue light sifted under the door, as thick as dust. Noah lifted his head from his arm, wincing at the stiffness in his shoulder and neck.

"Mmmwhaat?" Kaleb stirred beside him, his head only a few inches away. "Whasss wrong?" he slurred, eyes still closed. "Is it Derek?"

"Nothing." Noah said, grunting softly as he moved his arm out from underneath his brother's head. "There's nothing wrong. I think Derek left."

"You're so warm," Kaleb snuggled closer, patting Noah's face. "You should sleep here all the time..."

"Get off," Noah shoved him over and got up. He moved slowly, his body aching. But the pain wasn't from sleeping on the floor. Pushing aside a piece of cardboard covering the window, he let in some light. Noah peered down and lifted his shirt, surveying the fist-sized splotches of purple and blue covering his sides. He touched his ribs gingerly, sucking in an involuntary breath. An unpleasant word or two fell in a hiss from his lips.

"Why do you let him do that?" Kaleb asked. Wide awake now, he stared up at Noah.
"You could just tell him to stop."

"Mom would kill me. Or worse. I'd end up in here, with you," he answered, dropping his shirt. "It's not that bad, anyway."

"He has no right to touch you." Kaleb said darkly, eyes shifting away from Noah's face to the door of the shed. "I want him to stop."

"Shut the fuck up, Kaleb." Noah snapped. His fists were clenched at his sides, fingers twitching. It looked like anger, but the ice in his voice was from cold fear. "Keep your stupid-ass thoughts inside your head. Better yet, don't think anything at all."

Kaleb blinked, looking down. "I'm sorry."

Noah shook his head. "Just shut up."

"What was it about this time, anyway?" Kaleb mumbled, pulling his knees to his chest. The heater clicked on beside him, glowing red on his pale skin.

"What did I just say?" Noah snapped, pulling out his phone. There were a dozen messages for him, texts and voicemail, of Jen begging him to come back inside so that they could talk it out.

Talk. She always says 'talk' but she really means listen. Listen to her scream at you, spit lies at you. Her truths are your purgatory.

"Shut up," he hissed at himself.

"Fine." Kaleb sighed and got up, doing some stretches. He didn't know that it was their mother's rampage last night that had sent Noah running to the shed. Derek had made the bruises, but she was the one who always left scars. The only place that was safe from her was the shed. She refused to go out there, sending Derek instead. Even he wouldn't go in unless he had to. She had told him about Kaleb. Not the whole story, just what he was capable of. That was enough to hold Derek back...for a while. But Noah could sense that the initial wariness was fading. Derek would test them both soon.

The sound of the screen door slamming set them both on edge. A moment later, the board slid aside and hit the ground. The shed door swung open. Derek stood in the doorway for a while, just staring at them, his breathing ragged, his hair disheveled. He looked like he hadn't slept at all. The screaming from the house hadn't stopped until the early hours of the morning. Their mother was shouting and fighting with Derek, over money and drugs and whatever else they could think of before everything had gone quiet. It was on nights like that when the neighbors usually called the police, but not this time. All the noise had stopped, replaced by the roar of Derek's truck and rock music blaring from the radio in the bathroom. The fight was over. Derek had left in the truck and that was supposed to be the end of it.