Page 1 of Lies in Promises
CHAPTER 1
BENNETT
EIGHT YEARS OLD
There’s something about rain I don’t like.
Maybe it’s the way it makes everything in its path wet. Maybe it’s the way the sky darkens that makes it look like a scary movie. Or maybe I hate it because whenever water falls from the sky, it feels like something bad happens.
Like a hole opens, and all the good stuff gets sucked up, replaced with rain and everything bad.
When my brother broke his arm while playing football, it was raining.
When my dad got rear-ended last month, coming home from work, it was raining.
It was raining when someone broke into my mom’s gallery downtown and stole some of her pieces.
Bad things happen when it rains, and seeing the droplets on my window now makes me feel like it will happen again.
What is it going to be this time?
Will it be my turn? Am I going to slip and break a bone? Will I ask Henry to take me to the store, and we will get in a car accident?
I don’t know.
What I do know is that I want the water to stop coming down.
My eyes follow the rain lashing against the window, and I’m too occupied wishing them away I don’t notice my brother in my room until he is right next to me, pulling my ear.
“Hey!” I yell out, hitting his hand away.
Robert is older than me, already in high school, and he picks on me every chance he gets.
He rolls his eyes before saying anything. “Mom and Dad are going out. Henry said we can have anything we want for dinner. Do you want pizza?”
Usually, I’d be excited Henry is letting Robert and me eat whatever we wanted for dinner. He’s usually strict, always telling us how eating junk food is bad for us and if we want to eat right, we have to eat home-cooked meals.
But I’m not smiling at the thought of pizza like I usually do. No, instead, I start getting scared at the why.
“Why are Mom and Dad going out? It’s raining. Bad things happen when it rains.”
My brother gives me a frustrated look, but still answers my question. “It’s for some party or something. Do you want pizza or not?”
Party? Since when do parties happen on Sundays? Usually, Mom and Dad go to those things on Fridays or Saturdays. Why is this one so special?
I don’t ask my brother that, though. I just give him a nod and answer his question. “Yeah, I want pizza. Cheese, please.”
Robert gives me a nod back and walks out without another word.
As soon as I can no longer see my brother, I turn back to the window and try to wish the rain gone again.
I can’t wish hard enough, though, because within seconds, it starts coming down harder.
Feeling something rolling around in my belly, I get up and head to my parents’ room. Maybe if I ask them, they will stay home.
Robert is too old to ask them to stay, but I’m not.
I walk down the long hallway to my parents’ room and when I reach it, I stand in the open doorway and watch as they move through the room, getting ready.
