Page 33 of Death

I shudder again.

It was just a dream.

Right?

I plop back down on the pillows, my chest still heaving as blood pounds in my ears. After a few moments, my skin cools and my sweat dries and I finally start to notice the voices from elsewhere in the house.

I slide off the bed and rush to plant my ear against my door. One voice stands out — distinctly my mother’s excitable laugh. The other, my father’s. There’s a third voice, deep, almost raspy and...

Ari.

What the hell is he doing here?

I reach for the knob but quickly stop when I realize I’m wearing next to nothing in my tank and shorts. And I don’t even want to imagine the state of my hair right now.

“Shit,” I mutter before turning back to my closet.

I rush to the bathroom to clean myself up before slipping into a cardigan and jeans. Laughter carries from downstairs and I grow even more annoyed. What are they so happy about? Doesn’t this whole thing bother them at all?

I ease out into the hallway and slowly make my way down the stairs. Even without making any noise at all, I feel the moment Ari notices me. His eyes track me through the walls like an x-ray but still, I twitch when I round the corner and his eyes are on me.

“Tannis!” My mother smiles wide with a spatula in her hand. “Good morning! Want some eggs?”

I squint at Ari sitting at the kitchen table across from my father with his own plate of scrambled eggs and toast. He stares right back at me over the rim of a coffee mug as he takes a long sip.

“Tannis?” my father asks, clearing his throat. “Earth to Tannis?”

Ari says nothing. He sits back, rarely even blinking his soft eyes.

My mother sets the spatula down by the sizzling skillet. “Honey?”

I shake my head. “Are you fucking kidding me?” I blurt out.

“Tannis,” she scolds me, forcing a pleasant smile. “We have company.”

“No, we don’t have company,” I say, losing my cool. “We have the man you literally sold me to without my consent drinking coffee and eating breakfast! Am I the only one who sees how messed up this is?!”

“Tannis, don’t be rude.”

“No,” Ari says. “It’s all right. Let her speak her mind.”

“Oh, how gracious of you, sir,” I say with a scoff. “For allowing your property to speak.”

“I don’t own you, Tannis,” he says.

“Yet.”

His head tilts.

Dad clears his throat and rises from his chair. “Tannis, could we sidebar here for a second?” he asks as he gestures to the laundry room door across the room.

I exhale hard, casting one last harsh glare at Ari before following my father inside.

He closes the door behind us and waits a moment until my mother’s voice starts back up again before speaking.

“So,” he says, “how ya doing, honey?”

I cross my arms. “Not so good, Dad. You?”

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