Page 17 of Almost Ravaged

By the time I hit the first step, Atty and Tytus have crossed the porch.

They pause at the threshold, and Atty yells into the house. “Mom. Dad.”

The silence that follows is deafening, serving to amplify the worst-case scenarios running through my head.

A forebodingthudresounds from inside.

“Sawyer, stay out here,” Atty demands over his shoulder. Without waiting for a response, he darts through the front door.

“Atty,” I holler. Anger and fear coalesce inside me. Anger because he took off without me. Fear because staying on the porch doesn’t seem any safer than going inside.

“Ty,” my brother replies, his voice breaking on a sob.

The answering pain in my chest is almost enough to send me doubling over. An instant later, I respond to his sob with one of my own.

Tytus’s eyes lock with me, but he doesn’t speak.

“Don’t,” I warn, Ibeg. I don’t want him to go in. I don’t want him to leave me here. I don’t want to know why Atty’s crying. I don’t want to know what he’s discovered.

“Tytus!”

Tytus grips my shoulders and guides me backward until my body is firmly pressed against the side of the house. With his face inches from mine, he growls, “Stay right here.”

He takes off inside without a backward glance.

In that moment, I’m well and truly alone.

Chapter eight

Sawyer

Seventy-eight.

Seventy-nine.

Eighty.

I’m giving them until the count of one hundred, then I’m going in.

Eighty-one.

Eighty-two.

Eighty-three.

The silence is eerie. I’m desperate to call to them, to demand they come out here. To insist they tell me what the hell is going on inside, even though, ninety seconds ago, I was certain I didn’t want to know.

If it was nothing, they would tell me.

If it was okay, they would have assured me by now.

Eyes closed, I push my head back, grinding the back of my skull into the vinyl siding until it buckles slightly from the force.

Courage evades me as I get closer to one hundred.

Ninety-two.

Ninety-three.