the things we do in the dark (+18)

1

August is annoyed. His mother won't shut up, his half-brother is across the room bedazzling their relatives with his boy-next-door charm, and his father has been ignoring him for the whole evening, and now, he is annoyed.

It's always like this. Every year he came to his father's Christmas function, August's sweaters felt just a little too tight and his jaw was constantly set in a tight vice. These things were always too long, a week and a half of mind-numbing meaningless pleasantries that always left him thoroughly drained; it had only been two days since he arrived, and he was already tired of them all.

I hate them all. But most of all, I hate you, he thinks, glaring at his brother.

Jonah got to have a father. Jonah got to have a normal life. Jonah got to have a good job, a beautiful girlfriend and live the American dream. Jonah won before August even had a chance to compete with him. Still, August has been fighting his whole life to get a fraction of what Jonah was born into.

August's wife tugs his sleeve. "We should go over and say 'Hi.'"

Her blue eyes sparkle against the room's chandelier when he gives her a curt nod. Things were always simple with Devon. She didn't push him too much to do things he didn't want to do, but her face almost always gave way to a satisfied grin whenever he did agree to do the trivial things that made her happy. August wasn't easy to be with, but she always obliged. She was easy, and he loved easy women.

"I need to down four more egg nogs before I can even stomach going over there," his mother says with a hearty laugh.

August ignores her as he usually does. Devon's blond bob bounces with a youthful conviction when she drags him towards Jonah, his girlfriend and half of the Westminster family tree.

Devon is always the peacemaker in situations like these. She is under the guise that August wants peace too. She is wrong. She doesn't know there is a part of him that is angry, vengeful, and downright wicked. August never intends to show her that side, but if she continues to prod this family wound, he will soon have to.

Beyond the ski lodge, a snowstorm is raging. Wind assaults the ski lodge with pebble-hard snowflakes. The flame under the fireplace dances in a hypnotizing rhythm. Soft chatter and the clinks of glasses, silverware, and plates drown out the gnawing ache in his heart. August doesn't know where this feeling came from. He doesn't understand it. He just discovered it one day, and ever since, it's been growing, eroding every semblance of control he has over his life.

His brother clears his throat. August gazes at the group. They are all staring at him: his father's second wife, his half-brother and his half-brother's girlfriend. Most of the group around them has scattered. 

Where did they go?

Jonah raises a thick eyebrow at August. His stepmother purses her lips. Jonah's girlfriend settles her gaze on him. The pout of her lips slightly parted, revealing the slight gap in her two front teeth. Her eyes are golden like amber, like his favourite whiskey. She stares at him like she sees him for who he truly is.