Arc 2: Remember Clearly

“What on earth,” I whispered, touching the point of the antler. “When did Dad give you your gift?” Jason asked. “We all got ours really young, so I don’t remember it.” “I… I don’t know.” I said, seizing the base of the antler and trying to pull it out. It didn’t budge and I started […]

He just hit me. My thoughts kept looping back to that realization, that another human being had just punched me. I’d gotten into scraps before with bullies in middle school, but that felt like a lifetime ago. Aaron’s expression was neutral, relaxed like he handled violence as just another farm chore. He gestured. “Come on.

I lurched out of bed, my mind buzzing with a euphoric feeling. Hand to my mouth, I clumsily left the room and crossed the hall to the bathroom where I sank to my knees and vomited into the toilet. My body shuddered in waves. Emptying my stomach wasn’t sufficient, I continued to dry heave, spit

I followed Aaron back inside the house. He paused with a hand on the kitchen door. “Go wash up, dinner will be ready in a moment.” He went inside and I heard him speaking to someone in low tones. I found the washroom at the back of the hallway, right next to the room I’d

I gazed up at the ceiling of my room, covered in spaceship and asteroid stickers, the kind that glowed in the dark. Not that they were glowing now, sunlight streamed through the window and I was restless. I tossed off my covers, dropping to the floor, which was a fair ways down due to how