Page 46 of Darkest Descent

“This was the first time nothing was mentioned about Dad,” Alice noted, switching the TV off after the evening news finished. It was the big moment we’d been waiting for, the tide turning. The world forgetting. Moving on.

We’d holed up back in my house to wait out the media storm before slipping away to start our new lives, and we were all packed, ready to go. Just awaiting a sign.

“Only some shit about a politician in New Mexico and a scabies epidemic in local high schools,” she said with a shudder. “The world’s churned over.” She smiled.

Asher leaned into her, nuzzled her hair, grinning wide. She was in the middle of us for a change. We’d fucked her in both holes at the same time, then collapsed on the sofa with a bowl of popcorn and the last of my beer. We were sticky, naked, and satisfied. More so now.

“I guess the time has come,” Asher whispered, looking up at me. There was no questioning in his eyes, only excitement.

I matched it. We were ready. This cabin held good memories now, but the walls stank of the bad, too. The torture, the pain and terror. We’d chosen a run-down house in northern California as our first place. Asher wanted to surf, and I wanted to see him peel himself out of a sandy wetsuit. All that remained was all of us being ready. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

“Let’s,” Alice added.

Asher and I leaned into her and we kissed her, the remnants of semen and pussy on our tongues, mixing with the popcorn we’d just eaten. We kissed each other deep, mouths smashing and throats groaning. We were so fucking ready for the rest of our lives.

Epilogue

Asher

Five years later

We had our slice of the world. Not a private island or a large stretch of land far from any civilization. We still had to deal with others, pretend we weren’t siblings, that we weren’t all in love. But it was still ours, still hard to find unless you knew where to look. It was a place we were free to be ourselves, love each other as we wanted. In the nearest town, Alice and Hunter were a couple, and I was their friend, their handyman, fixing up the house even though it was something we all did. Because they looked slightly less alike, it made the most sense.

No one came out here to see, so it wasn’t a massive concern, but Alice didn’t want anyone getting suspicious, asking questions. Our life was good. Moving from here would hurt us all. It had taken a while for us to settle, to get used to the new lifestyle, but now I couldn’t imagine anything different.

We hadn’t lasted long in Northern Cali, relocating within a month after I found surfing too fucking hard and we almost got recognized by some internet sleuths with keen eyes and a death wish. We were dead, and that couldn’t change. There couldn’t be any suspicions. Despite dying our hair, changing our appearances as much as possible, and keeping a low-profile, we didn’t feel safe somewhere so public. The house on the beach had neighbors on either side, people walking past. We moved before the lease ran out.

Then came the mountains, but it was too cold for Alice. I loved it, the chill in the air and the views stretching out for miles, but when Hunter and I got stuck on a treacherous road because of the snow, and almost froze to fucking death, we decided Alice was right and continued our search. As long as we were together, it didn’t matter. In every place we tried, we were fucking like rabbits, pouring our hearts out in between.

We turned a corner when we found an old ranch house in the desert that had been languishing on the market for years. We snapped it up cheap and got to work fixing it up. The money we clawed from the mansion went into rebuilding the foundations of our ranch house, replacing furniture, adding a patio and tall fencing. The three of us worked our asses off, and by the time we were finished, it felt like home. Something we’d built as a trio, no other influence. And watching Hunter, sweaty and grunting in the midday sun, well, that was something else entirely.

We spent the first few years there just existing and thriving, healing. And we had a lot of that to do. Between what we’d done to each other, and what had happened in the past. It took time, online therapy and lots of tears, but shift by shift, we worked through it.

None of us woke experiencing anything other than contentment now. This life was perfect, fulfilling all we needed. Private, but not too far from a town with a grocery store, a cafe, a shitty strip mall. Remote, but not so cold your dick might fall off if you left a window ajar.

I grinned to myself as I strolled out onto the porch with a tray of morning coffees and pastries in my hands, finding my siblings and lovers lounging on the porch chairs, deep in conversation about something unimportant. I nudged the screen door shut to stop the bugs flooding our home and settled with them. They thanked me and took a streaming mug each.

“What you guys chatting about?” I asked, sipping the hot coffee. The sun would be stronger soon, so we took the opportunity to enjoy the fresh air as early as possible. Come 10am, this time of year, we’d burn to a crisp in anything but powerful AC. We all had online jobs that worked to bring in an income, and though it wasn’t much, it was all we needed.

“I was just telling Hunter about my tomato research again,” Alice said with a smirk. She’d been teasing him about setting up a farm for months now. It was something she wanted as soon as she saw the land, but decided animals would be too much work. After a too-quick google, she settled on tomatoes, chillis, maybe olives. We listened to her ramble, taunted her about it.

“And I was just telling Alice that she would be shit at growing crops,” Hunter teased back, laughing at her mock-shock. It was the truth, though. We’d watched her kill dozens of house plants over the years. His eye had never recovered. Despite visiting a doctor when we could, he never regained vision in it. Alice and I found his scar rugged, and a good reminder of how everything started. It took him a long time to come to terms with it, but he had.

“Well, maybe you could fucking help,” she griped back, a huge smile on her face.

I threw a pancake at both of them. One hit Alice on the cheek, and Hunter caught his, gnawing on it obnoxiously.

Truth was, Hunter and I had a bunch of tomato plants on their way to us. We’d ordered them a few weeks ago for our upcoming birthday. We’d both done enough research to at least give it a good go, and we were both excited to try. Hunter was building a trellis in the barn out back, and I couldn’t wait for her to see.

“Never,” Hunter said as he chewed, smirking at her when she hopped up in pretend anger.

“You guys are such a pain in my fucking ass,” she grumped, beginning to walk away, yelling over her shoulder. “When I’m making delicious chutneys and salsa, you’ll soon change your damn minds.”

Hunter jumped up, and she shrieked at the sight, running down the porch steps and down onto the dry grass, laughing and giggling.

He chased her and caught her with ease, swooping her up into his arms and kissing her, before throwing her down to the ground, settling above her. “I can be a pain in your ass whenever you want, beautiful girl,” he promised, pretending to fuck her, humping his hips into her as they both laughed and she squirmed.

They continued to laugh and play fight, not letting up until I joined in, diving right into the fold and getting elbows out until I landed hard jabs into both their ribs. Joy radiated between us through our cries of pleasure and pain.

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