Mine

Chapter 3

Frank, I decided, was one strange guy. We stood in his front yard and he wore a dark blue long sleeved t-shirt and jeans even though the temperature outside threatened to kick up to the nineties. Whenever he caught me staring at the sleeves he would tug them down to cover half his hand. Then Gale would give me one of 'those' looks, the 'grounded until you can't remember daylight' one.

Frank explained who all the neighbors were and how this house had belonged to his grandparents. Duh. I considered asking why he kept everything they owned but since Gale kept shooting glares my way I figured I should keep my mouth shut.

The really, really strange part? The part where Gale grabbed me by the shoulder to whisper, 'don't ask' in my ear when I saw the outside of the house.
Except for the door, someone had boarded up this entire house. Not one window could be seen from the outside. The plywood had even been painted to match the rest of the house, I guess so it wouldn't stand out. As if a house with no windows wouldn't draw attention.

Frank stopped in mid-sentence to stare at the far right side of the house. He frowned and his brow furrowed, not nearly as deep as Gale's but it looked strange on him. This guy seemed to be more of the always happy, Life can't knock him down type. Worry lines appeared across his forehead like a foreign invasion.

"Hang on." Frank held up a hand as he walked toward the house.

When I turned to see if my brother understood what the heck this was about, Gale stood there with distance in his eyes. He sighed as he stared at Frank's back. Stranger and stranger, I thought. When I returned my attention to Frank, I watched for a while to figure out what he was doing. Frank had both hands on the plywood covering the far window. At least, I assumed a window existed under there. He tugged at the wood, frowned and muttered to himself. Running his fingers under the lower edge he followed it to the other corner. Then he stooped to inspect the corner.

"What is he doing?" I stared harder as if with enough effort I could see into Frank's mind to discover what drove this bizarre behavior.

"Checking for tampering." Gale sounded defeated.

I peered at my brother over my shoulder. "He does know this house is a serious fire hazard, right? With the windows boarded up we'd probably die trying to escape."

Gale pinched the skin at the bridge of his nose. "Do me a favor. Don't bring it up."

"Why are we living in a death trap?" This stupid business of my mouth talking without checking in with my brain wore thin. Perhaps I should accept the fact I'd stay in trouble the entire time they kept me here. However long that was supposed to be.

"Would you rather stay at the motel?" His voice dropped to this low harsh whisper, something I had never heard outside of monster movies. I needed to process that it came out of my brother before the words registered.

"Motel?" I asked, alarmed. All the muscles in my body stiffened at the suggestion. The queasiness from the bathroom returned in full force. The edges of my peripheral vision sparkled with colorful confetti colors before turning gray. Then black. My vision reduced to an oval centered on my brother's face.
"N-n-no m-motel."

All the anger fled from his eyes as those deep worry lines returned. "Okay, you need to go back inside and sit for a while. You look like crap."

"Motel?" My voice sounded like a mouse squeak as a shiver shook my body.

"No motel." Those were possibly the sweetest words anyone ever said to me. "But you're okay with this death trap?"

Nodding, I crouched until my rear end hit grass. Then I sat cross legged in the yard while I waited for my vision to clear. After a couple of minutes Gale joined me. In silence we watched Frank inspect all of the boarded front windows. Then he disappeared around the side.