Silences of Fallen Stars by Vivien Dean

Author:Vivien Dean [Dean, Vivien]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: JMS Books LLC
Published: 2016-09-03T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

Though Jim wanted Ronnie to get his head looked at, Ronnie convinced him to go straight to the farm. What if they ran into someone who started asking questions? Or worse, what if they ran into his parents? He wasn’t willing to risk that. He would’ve preferred getting the hell out of Nebraska, but he settled for the McCutcheon farm as second best.

The ringing in his ears was still bad when they arrived, and he missed what Jim said as they parked. Rather than ask him to repeat it, Ronnie got out and pretended he hadn’t seen Jim talking. He had to stop, though, when Jim touched his arm.

“Go lay down,” Jim said.

Because Jim sounded like he was talking through a wind tunnel, Ronnie nodded. Fighting to hear every word would only make his headache worse.

Grandpa Mac greeted him at the door. “I put fresh towels in the room next to Jimmy’s. If there’s anything else you need, just say the word.”

In his emotional state, such a simple gesture hit him hard. “Thank you for letting me stay,” he choked out. “I promise it won’t be for long.”

Grandpa waved him off. “You’re family, so this is your home, too. You’ll always be welcome here.”

Ronnie fled up the stairs before he lost it. He was walking the knife edge of his emotions right now.

He closed the curtains, casting a veil of shadows over the otherwise bright room, but sagged against the wall instead of walking back to the bed. Was this really his life? Hiding in the dark until the world made him angry enough to come exploding out of his hole and tear it to pieces? The only way Father would ever allow him to move back was if he ate serious crow, but Ronnie didn’t know if he could promise not to attack the man again if he went after Mom.

At least he didn’t have to worry about the police getting involved. Father would never press charges. That would expose the family too much, and he was already self-conscious enough about their status in the community without adding more scrutiny.

Ronnie still leaned against the wall when a knock came at the door. He waited for Jim or Grandpa to walk in, but when there was another knock, he realized they really were going to respect his privacy.

“Come in!” he called out, then winced at the stab behind his eyes.

Jim appeared on the threshold, hovering there with his hand on the doorknob. “Grandpa’s going into town to get some groceries. Anything you want him to pick up for you?”

“Some self-respect?”

Jim’s lips thinned into a hard line. “I’ll tell him no. Hang on.” He disappeared for only seconds. Ronnie couldn’t hear if he was talking to Grandpa or not. When he came back, he ventured a step inside. “Have the drugs kicked in yet?”

He shrugged. “Sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s supposed to hurt and what’s supposed to be fixable.”

“Well, I can clean you up at least. That’s fixable. Come on.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.