Page 31 of Wicked Ends
I rushed home from school, desperate to write down the last few bars of the song I was composing for my piano final. They’d come to me in the middle of calculus, and wouldn’t stop repeating in my head. As I’d studied music, I’d realized that this is what I loved the most. Creating new songs.
I spent hours and hours in the music room, both at home and at school, and today, I was finally going to finish my project. A huge truck was easing out of the gates of my grandparents’ old place, and I stood aside to let it pass, then ran up the driveway. Inside, I shed my bag and shoes, putting them away so that Dale didn’t lose it, and wandered through the house.
Humming the tune, I reached the doors to the music room and pulled them open… and then stopped.
It was empty.
Everything was gone. All the instruments lining the walls, years’ worth of collecting, gone. Most terrible of all was the huge gaping space in the middle of the room, where my piano used to sit. The place where I used to see her when I played. My happy place. Gone.
I tore through the house searching for my brother. Pain lashed at my heart, betrayal and disappointment and hate, hot and black. I hated him more than anything. I needed to leave here no matter what. I needed to get whatever I could together and go. I couldn’t stay.
I found them in the kitchen. My brother was sitting at the table looking at the racing papers, and he wasn’t alone. A pretty woman stood at the island, making a sandwich. She was young, a little older than me, I guessed. She was pale, and fragile, and when she turned, her face immediately lit up with a hesitant smile.
I slid to a stop.
“Who are you?” I heard myself ask.
Dale glanced over and saw me. He stood and went behind the kitchen counter to wrap an arm around the woman.
“Oh, you’re home. Arianna, meet Claire.”
My brother had a girlfriend? It seemed impossible. As far as I knew, he filled our grandparents’ house every weekend with drugs, booze, and whoever he could pay to spend time with him… sometimes multiple women, all on his payroll. The sounds they made haunted me at night.
“Hi, I’m so happy to finally meet you,” Claire beamed at me.
God, she was young, and sweet. How had she fallen for my brother’s lies? But then, he wasn’t ugly, and he was wealthy and wearing his cop uniform. To outsiders, maybe he was a catch. It was hard to tell. I’d seen him for the devil he truly was for too long.
Dale squeezed her shoulder hard and pressed a kiss to her temple. Claire gazed up at him like he was a hero. I felt sick. I had to warn her. I had to let her know who he really was, before he trapped her somehow. I couldn’t leave until I’d helped her.
“Where’s my piano?” I cleared my throat to ask.
“Gone. I’ll get you a keyboard or something. No need to have that huge old thing just for you… and did you know how much that was worth?” Dale rolled his shoulders back and gave me a shit-eating grin. “Claire here doesn’t have any parents, so the piano will help pay for the wedding.”
Fear coated my mouth. I studied that beautiful young girl, not much older than me. No parents. That made sense. Dale knew how to pick his next victim.
“The wedding?” I repeated dully.
“Yes, we’re getting married.” Dale smirked. He stepped out from behind the kitchen counter and tugged Claire with him. “Next week, actually. I know it’s fast but…”
Free of the counter, I could see all of Claire, my brother’s fiancée, and my heart sank to my shoes.
“Before the baby comes,” Claire finished, putting a hand to her swollen belly.
The sounds of students packing up and shuffling out jolted me to the present. I blinked up at the student who I’d zoned out on. She was eyeing me curiously.
“Sorry, low blood sugar. I’ll play it for you next time,” I promised.
She nodded and headed off, leaving me sitting at the keys.
Slowly, the classroom emptied, and I was alone. Still, I turned and glanced over to the right, where my grandmother’s ghost used to sit and keep me company. I longed to see her, but she wasn’t there. No matter how much I wished for it, she never was.
My hands dropped to my lap, unbidden. My happy place was still hiding from me. And I didn’t know if I’d ever get it back.
Marcus
The buzzer splitthe air like a whip.
For a second, everything froze—crowd, teammates, my heartbeat. Then the roar hit.
