An Eye For An Eye

•Chapter 2•

As soon as Shelby left, it was like I had been transported into another world. One no one else could know about or understand. I was in a bubble, shut off from the outside. My own personal cage.

"Come on, Lo, we need to talk." Rough finger tips curled themselves around my forearm. I snatched myself away.

"I can walk just fine on my own." I tugged on Chief, and he led me around my brother. I punched in the code for the garage, following the pattern on the keypad that I had forced myself to remember years ago.

The large door rumbled as it sucked itself upwards at a painfully slow rate. I could feel Casey next to me, radiating heat. I was beginning to radiate heat of my own from pure, concentrated anger.

Chief lead me through the garage and into the small hallway that lead you either to Casey's old bedroom off to the left; the kitchen and living room straight ahead; or the stairs to the right. I was temped to lock myself away in my room upstairs until Casey gave up and left, but I really did have to feed Chief.

And as much as I wanted it not to be true, I couldn't avoid Casey forever.

I went straight. Chief's dishes were beneath the window sill by the back door. I slid my hands across the granite countertops to guide myself until my foot bumped into one of the metal dishes. I poured Chief his dinner, and then stood back to let him eat.

I listened to the house.

Casey had gone into his old room. There were muffled sounds-- something rustling, things being set down, a zipper being undone.

My heart shot into my throat as Casey rounded the corner into the kitchen. I stood up straighter. "Why did you bring a bag with you?"

"Lola, listen--"

"I'm blind, Casey, I'm not an idiot. I hope to God you don't think you're staying here tonight."

"Just, please, listen to me Lo, I have--"

"Don't call me that." I snapped. "I haven't seen you in months. You missed my 18th birthday. You never call. It's like you don't even exist." Casey's tall, dark figure barely wavered. "So, please, tell me why the hell you're here. I'm listening."

Casey hadn't moved, and if his facial expressions said anything, I wouldn't know. It was when he spoke that I heard the slight twinge of defeat in his voice. "I'm sorry about Dad, Lola."

White hot fury like I've never felt before, not even when our dad had been arrested, rushed through my veins. "You don't have the right to be sorry!"

The crunch of Chief chomping on his food ceased. He brushed up against my leg with a soft whimper. I ignored him. "A police officer came into school almost two weeks ago to tell me that my dad had been arrested and would be in custody until further notice. I came home to an empty house! No word from dad. He hasn't written me, hasn't called. I haven't heard anything. And the same goes for you."

I gripped Chief's collar. I had started to shake and it was throwing me off balance. "Two weeks, Casey. Where were you?"

The house filled with a silence so heavy, it was deafening. Casey's voice felt small when he spoke.

"I got a call from dad."

My heart twisted sharply in my chest. "Good for you. Glad to know you're still the favorite even though you haven't lived here and have barely spoken to us in four years."

"He wants us to clean out the lake house. He's selling it."

Casey was purposefully avoiding the knives I threw at him, but I could tell in the way his sentences were short and clipped that he was having a hard time shrugging it off.

"Us?" I asked condescendingly. "Don't you mean he asked you?"

"Yes. But you're coming with."

"Like hell I am." I crossed my arms. "What is he selling it for all of a sudden anyway? He needs money for settling out of court, doesn't he? He's just going to waltz out like it never even happened."

"I want you to come with me." Casey took a step forward, moving for the first time since we had started talking. Or fighting. Or whatever this was. "Lola, I think you need to get out of here for a little bit. I think it would be... Good. For you."

"Don't act like you know what's good for me."

"I don't." It was the most honest thing he had said so far. "That's why I said I think. I think it would be."

"You don't think. If you did, I would actually have someone I could call my brother." My entire body, including my mind, felt like collapsing into itself. "That person is not you, Casey. Not by a long shot."

Again, that defending silence closed in on us. I wanted so badly to see his face instead of a blurred mass of flesh and clothes. Had anything I said made it through? At all? I felt a reflexive twinge of remorse for wanting to hurt him, but it passed as quickly as it had come. Casey had hurt me a thousand times, and so far, he'd shown no remorse. None at all.

"We're leaving tomorrow after you're out of school. Pack a bag." Casey's scuffing footsteps faded away until the slam of his bedroom door cut them off.

His voice had scabbed over. It was as calloused as his finger tips had been.