Over the Wall: A Collection of Short Stories (NaNoWriMo 2014)

Day 30: Snow

Note: Here it is, the last story in this humble anthology. Hope you enjoy! Also this is dedicated to -chemichael for all her help on "Olympus (New and Revised)" :)

The snow was falling softly now. The doorbell rang and Claire jumped from her chair and jumped over the couch and fumbled with the lock before opening the door. She did a lot of jumping during study sessions, there always seemed to be people in her way when the doorbell rang.

It was Liam holding a container of Oreos. Claire grabbed the container from him with a smile and ushered him into everyone else at the table. Well, not everyone else. It was just Hannah, Dylan, and Ethan right now.

The three of them always got there early or at least right on time. Dylan and Ethan were twins and had their own car so they could and would show up as promptly as they wanted and Hannah was someone who always seemed like she had a stick up her ass so god forbid she be even a minute late.

She could show up at 7:05 when no one else was there and walk in and say “sorry I’m late” and not even hide her annoyance that she was the first one there.

Hannah and Dylan were sitting in their usual seats on the same side of the table but not next to each other and Ethan was in the kitchen staring into the fridge. Ethan was always in the kitchen and eating her food and drinking her sodas.

Claire sat in her usual seat at the head of the table next to the back sliding door, mostly for the practical reason of being able to unlock and open the door for her dog and cat as they went inside and out, and Liam sat down in the seat next to her.

“That’s Ethan’s seat.” She said, putting the Oreos in the middle of the table but slightly out of Dylan’s reach. Dylan also ate all of her food but he was slightly more polite about it but she still knew to keep the food away from him.

“What?” Liam said, looking around at the empty table in front of him. Ethan never brought much with him and if he did he would drop his stuff everywhere but by his seat.

“That’s where Ethan usually sits.” Hannah clarified, she was probably trying to be helpful but it sounded more annoyed than anything.

“Oh, sorry. I’ll move.” Liam said, already moving to the seat to the right of him.

“No, don’t worry about it.” Claire said, grabbing his sleeve and pulling him back.

“Yeah, Ethan can live without his seat and it will keep Claire from killing him.” Dylan said, laughing. Liam settled down and opened his backpack to pull out his homework.

The doorbell rang again and Claire jumped from her seat and edging around Liam and finding her way over the couch and to the door.

“Why didn’t she just ask me to scoot in?” Liam asked as Ethan came back in from the kitchen with his mouth full of cookies and a can of Coke in his hand.

“Because she’s used to sitting next to Ethan and he always makes a big deal about moving and takes forever and she can’t get to the door.” Dylan explained as he pulled the container of Oreos to him and opened it up.

“But I’m not Ethan.” Liam said.

“It must be a force of habit.” Hannah said, again probably trying to be helpful.

Claire opened the door and stood there for a moment before slamming it and doing her little jump dance until she got back to her seat and went back to her work.

“Who was that?” Liam asked.

“Andrew.” She said, not looking up.

“And you slammed the door on him?” Liam asked.