Flutter by Carrie Aarons

Author:Carrie Aarons [Aarons, Carrie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-07-11T04:00:00+00:00

21

Forrest

A six-pack of beer sits two feet from me on the counter, and I stare at it like it might just ruin the world.

This is Fletcher’s favorite beer, a local stout that I’ve seen him down an entire pack of in just two hours flat. It used to be a staple in Mom’s fridge before we all stopped avoiding the elephant in the room and drove him to rehab kicking and screaming.

But now it’s sitting in my kitchen, and I damn well know I didn’t buy it. My twin claims he’s been sober for more than a year and a half … so what the fuck is this doing in my house?

The toilet flushes in my downstairs half bath, and I’m not surprised by the unexpected noise. I may have just arrived home, but I knew my brother was here without having to call out to ask. We have that twin thing, the sixth sense where you could feel each other’s presence. It was freaky and frankly just odd, but I couldn’t deny its existence, as much as my brain leaned toward the logical.

“What the hell is this?” I point accusingly to the six-pack as my brother enters my open-concept kitchen.

My house is a total bachelor pad, with dark wood and a blue-gray color palette splashed over everything. I had the entire thing redone to my exact specifications when I could afford it, after my first big consulting job for a fortune five hundred company a couple years ago. I am a man who likes nice things, and sleek efficiency, and I designed my house accordingly.

“I brought it for you.” Fletcher doesn’t flinch, and I don’t see a wave of guilt flash over his expression, but that doesn’t mean anything.

Growing up, my twin was my best friend. We did everything together, had our banter and our secrets that we kept even from our older two brothers. We played pranks on teachers, back when we were younger and looked more alike than we do now. Fletcher and I were inseparable, and then high school hit and something happened.

Fletcher matured faster, he had a better arm than I did in baseball, and computers took the forefront of my attention. I still remember the first time Fletch was invited to a party I wasn’t, and he came home with the stench of stale beer on him. That was when the change really happened when his addiction took over his body and mind like a virus that couldn’t be eradicated. For the next seven years, he’d drink himself to the bottom of the bottle, snort whatever was offered, and …

I assume worse than that, although we’ve never specifically talked about it.

“Fletch, if there is something you need to talk about, you know I’m always here …” I leave my statement open-ended because if he’s using anything again, I want to know.

As his best friend, I won’t lie and say I wasn’t hurt when we brought him to rehab and I had no idea of how bad his addiction really was.

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