Waiting

Prologue

Our parents always used to fight, but Carter and I never fully understood how bad it was for them. When the two of us were younger, he would always cheer me up when our parents would fight.

“I don’t want them to get a divorce,” I muttered into Carter’s chest, wiping my tears with the palm of my hand.

I heard him breathe shakily as he rubbed my back comfortingly. I could tell that he was trying to hold in his own tears, so I attempted to calm myself down.

“I don’t want them to either,” Carter finally answered.

Carter’s small television was on full volume, and yet our parents’ arguing was audible through the hallway and his locked door. I mentally kicked myself for thinking that the locked door would make any difference to how loudly our parents were screaming.

I heard my brother clear his throat and I glanced up at him.

“Put some jeans on and we can get out of here,” he ordered softly, motioning to my nightgown with his free hand.

I nodded softly and stood from Carter’s bed, walking across his messy carpet to unlock his door. I tried my hardest to ignore the loud argument across the hall as I walked to my bedroom that was one door to the right.

Once I closed my bedroom door, I locked it and picked a pair of already-worn jeans up off of the floor and pulled them on my left leg, then my right. My parents’ arguing was slowly quietening and I could tell that they were almost done.

Just as I was buttoning the top of my jeans, a knock on my door caused me to jump.

“Kenz, you ready?” Carter’s voice sounded through my bedroom door.

“Yeah,” I nodded to myself, sliding a pair of flip flops onto my feet before taking a deep breath and unlocking my door, opening it.

“Come on,” Carter spoke softly, pulling me to his side, walking past our parents’ room quickly.

This was kind of a “tradition” for Carter and I. Every time our parents argued, we would leave the house and walk around the neighborhood over and over again. Now that Carter was 16, though, he could drive us far away from home.

“Where do you want to go?” Carter asked once we got into his car.

Before I could answer, he reached into the backseat and handed me one of his sweaters, motioning to the goose bumps on my arms when I furrowed my eyebrows at him. I slid the warm material over my head to cover what my nightgown wouldn’t for the top half of my body. It was odd that I hadn’t known how cold I was… I was completely numb emotionally and a bit physically as well due to the frigid air.

“McKenzie,” my brother called gently, breaking me out of my thoughts.

“I’m sorry… anywhere. Mesa, Tempe, I don’t care,” I replied.

Carter nodded, knowing that I was going to be very introverted until we were far away from home. He started his car and turned the heater on full blast.

As I watched the blurred object pass the car, I had time alone with my thoughts. Home was a place where you were supposed to feel the safest and most secure… a place where you could be happy. But here my brother and I were, driving as far as we could to get away from that house.

It was about a half hour later when Carter stopped the car. I glanced up to see the sign for In-N-Out Burger.

“Fries and a strawberry milkshake?” Carter asked with the hint of a smile on his lips.

I smiled back at him, “Yeah,” I spoke softly, leaning across the middle console to kiss his cheek.

“Thank you for being the best brother I could ask for,” I smiled, tears beginning to fill my eyes. If I didn’t have Carter, I would be completely lost.