Some Quiet Place

alone with Courage, who remains even though everyone is gone.

I stand and gather my books. “You’re not as beautiful as your opposite,” I inform him. “But you’re not so restless.”

Courage—brother and eternal enemy of Fear—looks down at me. He has a long nose, noble-looking, and his hair lodges against the back of his neck in tight black curls. “Of course not. I’m everything he isn’t.”

It’s true. As dark as his brother is pale, Courage studies me. He’s a formidable presence in the small, insignificant classroom. “You’re an interesting one,” he states, and there is a note of curiosity in his voice. “I had heard the stories of a mortal that we’re unable to touch, but I hadn’t given them much thought. Truly interesting. I can see why Fear is so captivated.”

“He hates what he can’t understand,” I say.

Courage takes this in with a thoughtful expression. “You are very young to know so much. And knowledge in our world is dangerous. Remember that.”

“You would encourage ignorance, then?” My tone is polite. His answer could be beneficial; it may aid in my survival.

The Emotion tilts his head, obviously distracted. Someone in the world is in need of a touch of bravery, no doubt. His body twitches and shimmers just the tiniest bit, an indication that he’s answering the summons by sending another copy of himself to the source. “What is that phrase you humans use?” he murmurs after a moment, focusing on me again. “Ah. Ignorance is bliss. Yes?”

Any second now he’ll vanish. I release him from the discussion by saying, “I’ll keep that in mind.” When Courage doesn’t move, I add, “Was there something else?”

He stands so close to me that I feel his heat, and it’s an unusual sensation because Fear is so cold. Courage’s voice is the slow smolder of lava as he tells me, “You should be kind to the boy who defended you.”

“The other plane doesn’t usually worry about human affairs,” I observe.

Courage walks away. He’s different from others; he’s not flashy and quick to disappear. In the doorway he pauses, but he doesn’t look at me again. “The other plane is changing. We’re learning more about what it means to be mortal. Be kind to him,” the Emotion repeats. “There is more than one among us who watches you; someone believes you will need that boy in the end.”

Before I can ask any of the questions that this new development brings—the end of what? Who watches? Why would I need Joshua?—he leaves. I let him go. After all, even if he is different, he’s still an Emotion, and they do love their riddles.

Five

The moment I slide out of the cab of my truck, gravel crunching beneath my tennis shoes, I know something is wrong. There’s a heavy silence hanging in the air, a bad omen. The cows haven’t been brought in for the milking. Dad’s pickup is gone.

I walk toward the house, shouldering my bag. The quiet rings in my ears. I let the screen door slam shut behind me, to announce my presence as usual, but Mom isn’t in the kitchen. Dropping my bag on the floor next to the table, I poke my head into every room, still sensing something … off. I climb the stairs, and just as I pass the bathroom a sob shatters the hovering gloom—Mom.

I recognize the situation immediately. My first instinct is to turn right around and hide, for the sake of self- preservation.

My second instinct is stronger: play the part. A normal person—a normal daughter—wouldn’t just walk away. On swift feet I go back down to the kitchen, grab a washcloth from the sink, wet it, and ascend the stairs again. Mom has locked the door. I run my fingers along the doorframe, looking for the small pick, and when I find it I stick it in the lock. Soon the knob twists in my hand.

“Go away,” Mom cries when she sees that it’s me coming in. Her mascara runs down her cheeks in black rivers, and there’s blood flowing from a cut in her lip.

“Are you all right?” I ask, knowing she won’t answer. And she doesn’t. She clutches her knees and rocks back and forth. The back of her head keeps knocking against the wall, and I reach out to grasp her arm, stopping her. She cringes at my touch.

“Here.” I hold out the washcloth; she won’t let me near enough to clean the cut myself. And of course she doesn’t take it. I’d guess that she’s thinking about Tim, about whatever it was that caused this. “It isn’t your fault,” I murmur.

That gets a reaction. “Shut up!” my mother hisses, glaring at me through her tears. “You’re not my child! You’re unnatural, and I want you to get out of my life! ”

I watch her for a moment. My presence is only upsetting her more, so I finally say, “I’ll go.” On my way to the door I pause by the window, noticing movement outside. I glance back at Mom. “Tim is coming back up the driveway. You probably should barricade yourself in the bedroom.”

It’s as if I haven’t spoken. She just stares at me. “What are you?” Her voice is a broken whisper.

Tim’s brakes squeal as he parks his pickup next to mine. I look back at Mom again. “Do you still want me to go?”

We both hear the screen door downstairs slam open, accompanied by a belch and a colorful string of profanities immediately after. Tim is still drunk, then. And angry. Mom’s breathing quickens. Fear materializes, kneeling down beside her to clasp her in his freezing embrace. Mom shivers, eyes glazing over.

“Help,” she whimpers to me. One word, seemingly so simple, but it’s so much more.

For just an instant, I catch a glimmer of true, undeniable compassion in Fear’s fathomless pale eyes. He smiles at me bitterly. “Ah, mortality,” he says. “Your kind is consumed by habits, traditions. The fact that she’s married to him keeps her trapped here.”

Mom is whispering something under her breath, over and over. I can’t make out the words. Tim is stumbling his way through the kitchen. He knocks a chair to the floor. I think quickly, flatly. If I save my mother now, she’ll feel as if she owes me, or that there’s a possibility I might be normal, and she’ll try to forget what’s happened here. The pretense of our lives can continue until I find a way to feel. Then, maybe, I can be the normal girl everyone expects me to be, and I will survive.

Mom’s whispers grow more intense as her agitation increases. “Stay up here,” I tell her, and shut the bathroom door. I go back down the stairs. Stop in the kitchen doorway. Watch my father as he falls apart. He doesn’t notice me there for a few minutes. He’s mumbling to himself, opening every cupboard, hunting for something else to drink, probably. When I shift my feet, deliberately making my heel scrape the floor, he slams the fridge shut, twisting in my direction. His movements are sluggish.

“You,” he slurs, red eyes latching onto me. “You’re the reason all of this started.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, unmoving, even when he walks toward me. But there are faint memories; I know exactly what he means. My strangeness drove my parents apart. First there were arguments, in low furious tones, over quickly. Then those evolved into loud matches that lasted hours. Tim began to drink and Mom sank into herself. Until our lives became what they are. So it’s true; I did do this.

Tim keeps muttering, but his words are so jumbled I can’t make any sense of them. He grabs my shoulder, slamming me against the wall. Pain slices up my spine. His breath is sour, his breathing labored.

“You’re different,” he mumbles in my face. Over his shoulder I see the shimmer of an Emotion that must be here for him. Guilt? Sorrow? I can’t tell with Tim’s red face in the way. “You used to be like Charles. You used to be a kid. Now you’re not. You … ” Tim loses his train of thought. “I need a drink,” he mutters.

As they usually do around this point, my instincts come to life again, rational and cold. Survive. Fight. Run, they hiss. I can’t release the mental image of my mother, though, so pathetic and alone up in that mint-green bathroom. So I ignore all the impulses and look up at Tim. My words are bullets, swift and calculated. “I think a drink is the last thing you need.”

And as I expected, this infuriates him. “Don’t tell me what I need.” He shakes me until my teeth ache. “You’re just … just a freak!”