The Worst Kind of Wonderful

TWENTY FOUR

✖️The Worst Kind of Wonderful✖️

"A sister can be seen as
someone who is both ourselves
and very much not ourselves -
a special kind of double. "
- Toni Morrison

Chapter Twenty Four~

"What's going on?" My sister's voice indicated some subconscious knowledge of Ben's presence. "What's was that-"

"Andrea, don't take another step!" I warned as she approached, making her way in Ben's direction.

"Mia... what are you hiding?" A glimmer of mischief showed clear in her eyes as she took that step closer. "I heard you say Ben." One more stride and Benjamin would be in her line of vision.

"It's nothing, I-"

"Don't lie to me baby sister."

"I wouldn't dare," I lied, rolling my eyes to avoid meeting hers. I could feel curiosity coming off of her in waves and I feared it would get the best of her. I drew in a ragged breath and she knew. I could feel a shift in the air as she realized with new certainty that I wasn't being honest.

She closed the gap I so dearly hoped to maintain with a single step. The charade was up. Big eyes grew wider, wisps of hair fell over face. The dead had risen in her mind. The buried clawed his way from the dirt of the earth.

"Mia!" She screeched, stumbling backwards into our refrigerator knocking over old pictures held by alphabet magnets. "He's, he's in jail! What did you do?" Horror painted over her soft features, harsh and unforgiving. My brain scrambled to find words that would make it all go away. That which would illuminate some shiny obvious form of understanding, was lost to me.

I looked to Ben for answers, now noticing the uncertainty he held in those bottomless eyes which went down to his soul. He looked out of place, his stature and build dwarfing our kitchen, but he wasn't nervous-- or if he was he didn't show it.

"Hello Andrea." He acknowledged her with a nod of the head. He was of a different time. Like a cowboy tipping his hat, he greeted her respectfully but carefully; gunslinger with that trigger finger at the ready.

They locked their gazes in a fight for clarity, speaking the lost language of fear and respect through the eyes. I couldn't understand entirely what was happening but after dragging seconds that felt like dragging hours they came to a shaky conclusion. I couldn't make out who had won the silent battle, maybe both, probably neither but they both looked to me in the same moment and I knew I had some explaining to do.

"We need his help, and he needs ours." I began. "That means yours too if you're willing." I challenged my sister, testing her loyalty against her best judgement.

"Mia this is crazy, you have to understand that. He's-- sorry Ben-- a criminal; a killer!" Her fear was replaced with clear concern for my safety.

Ben shifted uneasy in the corner looking out the window, fingers tapping on the counter. The wind bent old trees making them creak relentlessly. The sound escaped through walls and bounced off the walls of the house. Wind rattled the glass panes of our windows so that my home was screaming with the song of storms.

"There are some details you don't know. I've learned a lot over the past month, things I never thought possible have come to life before my very eyes, great people have helped me realize impossible truths and... And I think it's time I tell you just that: the truth."

"The truth? So what have you been feeding me lately?" Andrea was... Well, pissed off was a bit of an understatement.

~*~