Right Where You Left Me | Reiner Braun

Chapter 8 - In Hushed Tones

851

E

The rest of that week, only one thing gave me enough energy to push through- and that was the thought that Jerome would be posted in Ingolstadt for a while. I'd be less wary of my surroundings especially when I was with my best friend- and I'd come home to a nice, quiet house, with no ghost of a fitful evening lingering in the alcohol-ridden air.

The threats that loomed over our jobs at Hudson Lane were ever ominous, following us around like storm clouds with every task feeling as if it were our last. Sienna was job hunting and informed me that she hadn't had any luck yet. She could try menial tasks that needed more legwork but she and I both knew we weren't the kind of people for that. Our strength relied on the power of our minds and not our bodies, and we'd be useless in industries that demanded us to move.

But Sienna had more choices than I did. She was able to attend school back then. She may even be married by the end of the month if she so wanted, given the number of suitors so willing to offer her matrimony- and marriage, for a woman, is always the most convenient economic choice. I knew in myself that I wasn't Sienna, so I would take any job at all so long as it could support me and my Mr. Pascal, and keep our beloved bookstore surviving where it was built forty years ago. It pained me to be aware of the fact that people like the Dewitts have no care for heritage, for buildings established out of love, for sites that continue to stand as symbols for something that prevailed against the unmerciful tides of time.

As Jerome ordered me to do, I kept the house tidy and prepared it for his drinking session with his comrades, all his age and all a version of his rowdy and rough disposition. I endured the night serving them and attending to their every beck and call despite having to listen to their horrendous conversations about the men they despise, the ladies they lusted after, and the people they'd love to knock the living daylights out of.

I endured it all despite the debilitating desire that burned inside me to just run away until they have all dispersed from the house; because after this, I'd have two weeks worth of freedom, away from the watchful eyes of my vindictive, grudge-keeping sibling.

The morning after Jerome left for Ingolstadt, he gave me the money to pay for the month's rent and slammed the door, still hungover from the previous night's heavy drinking. I stood there in the middle of the dim and dank apartment, the smell of rum and dirty men's clothes scattered in the compact air, and waited until he was completely out of earshot to jump around and shriek my happiness.

I opened the windows wide to let all of the trapped air out, freeing the house off of its muggy confines, every scent that reminded me of Jerome and his detestable companions. Then I cleaned the hell out of the place as if I was purging an evil spirit from it. I did this all very merrily that I couldn't believe the excitement surging through my body. At last, freedom. No matter how temporary.

After everything, I called Reiner on the phone as I lounged on the sofa, feeling relieved that the house was gleaming clean. He answered drowsily and only then had I realized it was only six in the morning, when the big guy only rolled out of his bed at ten when nothing was going on at the military.

"It's Braun." He groaned, annoyed to be getting a call before he'd even begun his day.

"It's Eden,"

"E!" He said, surprised, and snapping himself out of his fit of grumpiness. "G-Good morning."

"Good morning," I said, smiling. I really didn't know what to say. It was my first time ever calling him on the phone. I never found the need to before.