The Aftermath (Book IV) [NaNoWriMo13] (On Hold)

Chapter Ten - The Messenger

                                                             Chapter Ten

                                                          The Messenger

I sat by the fireplace with my eyes on the dancing flames. Everything seemed to stop around me when I was in front of the fire. I held a cup of mouth-burning coffee between my freezing hands and placed my feet even closer to the flames. I hate winter. I hate the way it numbed parts of my body and how it would sometimes keep me from leaving my warm bed. The snow was well past my knees outside, which made it impossible for Cassie to walk through it without me to make a path for her. So today—my second day home as an unemployed woman—I decided to just stay inside with a fire going. Jack didn’t let me start it because, let’s face it, bad things happen to me. He was sweet enough to start it before he left to transport goods. Of course, Jack being Jack, he filled up a bucket of water and told me how to use it and had Zoey check on me in case I caught myself on fire. It’s comforting to know that he thinks I have no common sense.

Cassie and Daniel were in the living room with me. Daniel was napping in a playpen Jack had made him while Cassie sat bundled in blankets with her doll. She kept brushing the doll’s hair over and over until every single knot was brushed away. She sang some tune I didn’t know, and was actually creeping me out as she kept repeating it. I went into the kitchen and poured the warm cocoa into her sippy cup, making sure it wasn’t too hot for her by taking a sip of it myself. I gave her the drink and reminded her to be careful to not spill before returning to my seat by the fire. I wasn’t sure how long it would take Zach to get here. I had thought it’d be sooner considering I had asked him yesterday to come over today.

How was I supposed to tell him what the Keepers told me? This entire time I’ve been going over different ways to say it, but each way was pathetic. I began to worry that Jack would come home when Zach would be here, which would force me to tell him everything. Jack would most likely do something after hearing the news, and Zach being here during it would have really bad results. I planned to tell Zach today about everything and to warn him to maybe keep a safe distance from Jack for a few days. I’d then tell Jack everything, preferably at night when the Keepers are all in separate homes, and then wait for him to calm down. It seemed like a decent plan. It was logical. Well, maybe not logical in the Twiad way, but it seemed logical to me.

“I spilled,” Cassie announced her eyes on her legs.

I sighed and shoved myself away from the chair and into the freezing kitchen for a towel. When I returned I began dabbing at her sweatpants as she sang the tune over and over again. She patted my face when I finished like a dog and introduced me to her doll. Got to love that girl for her strangeness she most likely got from me.

There was a light tapping at the door that made Cassie stop singing. I stood up and went to the door, completely forgetting everything had planned to say. When I opened the door I was immediately blasted with a coldness so bitter that I cursed under my breath. “Sorry. Come in,” I told Zach, who was giving me a strange look.

Zach came in and knocked the snow off his brown boots before taking them off and neatly setting them by the door. He shrugged out of his thick black coat and placed it on the hook with the rest of the coats. I could tell he was freezing because he kept flexing his fingers, so I gestured for him to sit by the fire. “Want some hot cocoa? Coffee? Tea?” I offered.

“I will take some tea, if that is not too much trouble.” He shuffled next to the fire and held his hands out to the flames.

As I was leaving I could hear Cassie introducing Zach to her doll. He pretended to be very interested in the doll, even speaking to it. I couldn’t hear the entire conversation because the sound of water pouring into the kettle drowned out the sound. I turned on the stove and sat the kettle on it. Thankfully these stoves heated so quickly that it only took a few minutes before the water boiled. I grabbed a mug from the cabinet and placed a simple black tea bag in it and poured the hot water in. Jack and I weren’t ones for hot tea, so our selection was pathetic. But, then again, Renton’s tea supply was dwindling because no one has produced any tea yet. We’ve simply been using what was brought in bulk from earth.