Hooked by A.C. Wise

Author:A.C. Wise
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags:  
Publisher: Titan

LONDON – 1916

Wendy follows nervously behind her brothers, her hands constantly rising as if to reach out for them, then falling back to her sides. Michael’s arm is slung about John’s shoulders. He left the hospital with a cane, but he’s still getting used to it, and John takes nearly all of his weight. Their steps are slow, the tilted angles of their shoulders and bodies all wrong, as if a hard wind were blowing at them both from opposite sides. She wants to help, and she has no idea how.

“Careful, now. This is the tricky bit,” John says as they reach the steps.

Just three steps up to their front door, but it seems an impossible mountain. If they could fly, Wendy thinks, and shoves the thought down as soon as it occurs, biting the inside of her cheek.

John’s breathing is rough. One step. Two. A catch of breath from Michael, a sound of pain. Wendy’s heart lurches through the space between them like the useless fluttering of her hands. Her brother, her baby brother. A grown man. Old enough to put on a uniform and go to war and come home again broken, but a child in her eyes still, and there’s nothing she can do to help him.

She keeps her hands ready, stretched to catch them both if they fall, even though she knows their combined weight would knock her down. She holds them that way until John has the door unlocked and they are both inside.

Wendy spent the morning making up the small room at the back of the house that used to be their father’s study. Until Michael’s leg is further healed, it seemed sensible to install him on the ground floor. Wendy did her best to make it as cozy as possible—she’d even put in a vase with fresh flowers to make the room cheery and bright—but she can’t help but fret. There wasn’t space to put a bed, but their father’s old chair is there, and an ottoman so Michael can stretch out his leg. Michael has said he prefers to sleep sitting up now anyway, when he sleeps. It helps with the pain in his head, the ringing in his ears, which the doctors have assured them will fade.

She watches her brothers, standing awkwardly in the doorway as John installs Michael in the chair. It’s high-backed, the wings of it rising up above Michael’s head as he slumps down, making him look even smaller—a child’s abandoned doll.

“I’ll make tea.” John’s tone is brusque with strain.

Wendy is about to object, to say she’ll do it, but he’s already brushing past her, back into the hall. It strikes her that John is afraid to be alone with Michael, afraid of his drawn expression and the way the color seems washed from his eyes.

After a moment, she approaches, folding herself into the space beside Michael’s chair and looking up at her brother. Michael’s face is turned slightly away. The angle of his neck makes his collarbones look sharper, just visible beneath his shirt.

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.