Page 5 of Run Away Home: Tempered

I sit on the couch and rub my eyes, then look down at my hands. They’re covered in black smudges. I forgot to take my makeup off last night. Fuckity, fuck, fuck. I really look like a hot mess, don’t I? I’d be suspicious of me if I were one of these officers.

“And you’re her caretaker?” the officer asks Peter with one eyebrow raised.

I grasp my hands together and place them between my knees. Peter doesn’t answer quickly enough. The officer sees me gawking at him and peers back. I quickly look away. Is he still watching? I don’t want to draw any attention to myself.

“Well, sort of. I was one of her foster children until I aged out a couple of months ago,” Peter finally responds. “It’s me, Hayley, and then there’s Danny. He’s upstairs. Technically, he’s not a foster kid. She adopted him. He’s her son, and...uhm...that’s it. There were more kids, but all of them moved out already. I stayed to take care of her. Danny’s still a minor, and Hayley...well—”

Excuse me? I glare at him. He knows I won’t turn twenty-one for almost a month. Not technically aged out yet.

“She’s here too,” Peter continues.

I hear a lot of banging upstairs, then the two men carry the body bag down on a stretcher. I don’t want to see that. I’m not good with death. Is anyone?

“Danny!” Peter yells.

Danny’s following behind the stretcher, wearing a baggy sweatshirt and jeans. The black hood over his head makes him look like the grim fucking reaper. Fuck, even he got dressed?

Peter walks over to the stairs. I should have known this would happen today. My horoscope said someone in the office would be up for a big promotion. I didn’t know what that meant, but now I see I should have dressed for the occasion.

“Didn’t I tell you to stay in your room?”

“I wanted to say goodbye to her.”

“I know, I know. Come down here and sit on the couch with us.”

“I thought you said she wouldn’t die until after we moved out. I thought I had more time.”

“I was wrong.”

The men reach the bottom of the stairs and carry the body out of the house. Danny makes his way to the storm door and presses his face against the glass. He finally pulls his hood down. His light blue-hazel eyes reflect the sunlight. His thick black hair is messy, like he slept on it, but that could easily be fixed with a set of hands. Mine definitely needs a hairbrush.

Peter touches him gently on the back. “Come now. Death is hard. I know it. I know.”

Danny looks up at him. He’s almost as tall as Peter now, not even an inch shy. I don’t know if it’s that Peter’s very small, or Danny’s very big. I think it’s both. Danny thinks he’ssogrown because of his size, but he hugs Peter and hides his face on his shoulder like a child. Their hug amuses me. With Peter’s pale white skin and Danny’s dark complexion, they look somewhat like a yin and yang symbol. They finally let go of each other.

Peter leads Danny to the couch where I’m sitting. I haven’t said a word, but the brat takes a seat and stares right at me. I stare back. He thinks he’ssointimidating. I’m daring him to say something right now, but he looks away. Knew it.

“The hospital will help you set up arrangements.”

“I won’t be doing it,” Peter tells the officer. “Her sister wants her services prepared in a certain way. She’ll be taking it from here. I talked to her this morning.”

“All right. I’m sorry for your loss, and good luck to all three of you.”

“Thank you.”

I yawn as the officers leave. Danny snarls at me. What? Now I’m not allowed to yawn?

“I’m tired,” I say.

He covers his eyes with his hands and throws his head back. He sniffles a couple of times.

How am I going to live with these two? Peter and I have been friends for years now. Living with him wouldn’t have been so bad—honestly, it should have been fun. No Melissa? We could’ve done whatever the fuck we wanted? But he’s changed since he decided to become Danny’s guardian. He’s way more uptight and very...vanilla.

Moving into this apartment... What a way to kick off the new year, right? I guess I don’t have too many other options. I wish I did.

I glance back down at my smudge-covered hands. I wonder if Peter will let Tristian move in, too.

Peter

---