The Shuttered Ward by Jennifer Rose McMahon

Author:Jennifer Rose McMahon [McMahon, Jennifer Rose]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dubhdara Publishing
Published: 2019-05-01T16:00:00+00:00

Kaitlin jumped off her bed. “Shit!” Her hands ran through her hair. “What if my mom catches us?” She paced the floor.

“It’s okay, Kaitlin.” I fanned my hands at her to calm her down. “We need to see your mom’s expectations as guidelines.” I smirked. “She wants the best for you. She’s trying to be a good mom. But come on. We’re in charge of our own lives.”

She wrestled with what she wanted versus defying her mother. “I know. You’re right.” She bit her thumbnail. “I just don’t want to hurt her.”

“That’s why we’ll sneak.” I grinned. “She’ll never know.”

Kaitlin pressed her lips together and glared at me. Then she moved to her window. “Help me with the screen. You know how this thing works.”

I jumped off the bed as new adrenaline pumped through me. It wasn’t the first time Kaitlin and I snuck out her window to roam the neighborhood, giddy on stolen freedom and exhilaration.

“I love you so much,” I gushed as I wiggled the mountings of the screen.

“Shh!” Kaitlin stiffened. “Don’t make a sound. My mom will know if she hears.”

“I know. I got this.” I loosened the fasteners all around the screen, then gently pulled it from the window frame. It was the actual window I worried about. It always stuck, and the crank made a ton of noise. “Let’s wait to open the window later,” I said as I placed the screen behind her desk. “After she goes to bed.”

“I wish her bedroom wasn’t so close to mine,” Kaitlin whined. “She has ears like a hawk.”

“Umm, hawks have good eyes,” I teased. “I don’t know about their ears.”

“Whatever.” She laughed. “Either way, my mom has got ‘em.”

“Remember the last time?” I giggled. “You went out first, but then I got stuck, trying to squeeze out after you.”

Kaitlin coughed out her laugh. “Oh my God. I was sure we were gonna get caught. Your foot kept banging on the radiator.”

“That was so much fun.” I thought back to our crazy high school days. We had no idea how easy things were back then. Sure, the pressure of school and all the anxiety that went with it. But now—now the pressures were different.

“We’re too old to have to sneak out the window. You know this, right?” Kaitlin’s tone held teasing judgment.

“We are.” I agreed. “But, literally, it’s worth it. Just for the rush alone.”

Fingernails tapped on the outside of her door and we jumped like skittish cats. The door pushed open and Kaitlin’s mom poked her head in.

“You girls okay?” she asked. “Do you need anything?” Uncertainty filled her eyes.

“We’re good Mom,” Kaitlin said, and I sent an innocent smile to her.

She nodded. “Okay, well, you have a nice sleep. Everything will feel much better in the morning.”

She closed the door and a moment later, the sound of her own bedroom door closing made us grin.

“She’s probably gonna read for a while first,” Kaitlin whispered.

“Let’s make nachos. She’ll never suspect a thing.”

We crept to the kitchen like criminals, knowing we weren’t doing anything wrong, but still feeling guilty.

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