They Did Bad Things by Lauren A. Forry

Author:Lauren A. Forry [Forry, Lauren A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781950691449
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2020-02-04T00:00:00+00:00

Pp. 51–60

so fucking complicated. They had to come up with their own solution to the problem instead of just doing what they were told. Yeah, well, how did that work out? About as well as how they tried to “solve the situation” with Callum.

So in January 1995 a deep chill had settled over Caldwell Street. Christmas cheer kept many of the houses there warm, but the memory of New Year’s soon faded and dutiful husbands and wives and housemates returned to their dreary commutes in a world made barren by winter. Even the sky embraced a gray pallor which it refused to shed no matter how the winds changed. Under this sky, the wind making her nose run and whipping her hair into her eyes, Maeve returned to house number 215, dragging her dad’s old rucksack behind her like a disobedient dog. Placing a foot on either side of the crack in the pavement that led up to the door, Maeve brushed her hair away with a gloved hand and let the rucksack slip from her fingers. Since she last saw it, the house looked like it had been beaten and left for dead. The door’s green paint against the gray walls resembled a bruise. The roof sagged like a crushed skull. A smell of rubbish, like spoiled milk, drifted down the street from uncollected bin bags. A nagging tug pulled behind her sternum, and she pressed a hand there, hoping to push the feeling either away or at least deep enough inside herself that she would no longer notice it. In the end, it was not the cold that made her enter, or the promise of her large private room, or the new electric tea kettle she’d received for Christmas now clanking in the rucksack. She carried her bag to the door because Oliver’s car was not there.

Inside, a wall of warm air struck her. Hollis had promised to turn down the thermostat before he left. She supposed he could have forgotten, although that didn’t seem like him. Her fingers, frozen inside her thin gloves, warmed as she set the new kettle in the kitchen and carried the rest of her things upstairs. The heat of the house matched the burning shame she carried within. At least a quiet house meant she had time to decompress before the others returned. Time to pretend she felt perfectly normal. She was shedding her winter coat when she stopped outside the door to her room. The open door.

“What are you doing?”

Ellie spun round, Maeve’s package of Oreos in hand, crumbs on her lips, and red rims beneath her eyes.

“Oh! Maeve, I’m so sorry. I was really hungry, but I didn’t get to the shop yet. I promise I’ll buy you more.” She spoke too quickly, even for Ellie, and they both knew it.

“I didn’t think anyone else was back.” Maeve dragged her bag into the room, pulling it in a half-circle around Ellie who did not move.

“I got in earlier this morning. Daddy dropped me off.

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