Maelstrom (Inferno 5)

CHAPTER SIX

Kalen

––––––––

Dalton’s in the living room watching TV while we wait for the pizza to get here, while I keep working on my Biology homework in the dining room.

He’s clearly got something on his mind that has to do with more than just Hailey. I already know that getting him to tell me what it is will be like pulling teeth.

He likes to pretend that everything is okay, that this is a normal home life, and that we don’t really need anyone to take care of us.

I drop my pencil onto the table when my vision starts to get a little blurry, then stretch my arms high over my head and shake out the cobwebs as I flip the textbook closed. I’ll finish the rest during first period, tomorrow.

Study hall is a great place to catch up on any missed work, extra credit assignments, or just bullshit I didn’t feel like completing the night before.

As I push my seat back and stand up, I hear a knock at the front door and raise an eyebrow. There’s no way the pizza got here this quickly; Dalton only ordered it about ten minutes before he went into the living room.

I start down the hallway toward the front door, but my brother beats me there, casting a glance over his shoulder and meeting my eyes.

We share the same confused look, and I shake my head, letting him know not to open the door until I get to him.

We don’t get visitors, and if this is someone from some kind of official office doing a check up on Hailey again, we both need to be in the room.

It’s the only way we’ll be able to keep up whatever lie we intend to tell—by hearing the other instigate it.

And when Dalton pulls the door open, I think we’re both a little taken aback.

There’s a pretty young woman on the doorstep, probably five to six years older than us, giving us a bright, toothy smile.

Her eyes are light brown, her hair is long, blonde, and straight, and I like the small lines that appear at the corners of her eyes when she smiles.

It almost makes her seem happier than she probably is.

“Can I help you?” Dalton asks her curiously, putting one hand on the back of the door and closing it about an inch.

“I’m Luna Thompson. I saw your ad for a babysitter. Is this a bad time to talk?” she asks as she clasps her hands behind her back.

The tenor of her tone is almost ethereal. Like she’s some kind of mystic creature that doesn’t exist, but should.

It’s calming, gentle, and somewhat raspy, and it strikes something in me that I’ve never felt before.

I can’t tell what the emotion is but I don’t like it.

It almost feels like it’s something that would make me weak.

Regardless, I nudge Dalton as imperceptibly as I can and he nods, opening the door the rest of the way.

“Yeah, come on in. We’re actually just waiting for some pizza to get here, so we can have a chat until it arrives. Then we can do a quick interview while we eat. Is that okay?” he asks her suspiciously.

“Sounds good!” she replies enthusiastically.

He nods toward the next room where he had been sitting watching TV, and steps to the side so Luna can enter.

But before he has a chance to follow her, I gently grab him by the shoulder and give him a tug backward.

“Babysitter?” I ask in a quiet tone.

“Someone needs to watch her while we’re in school,” he replies with a shrug.

“And what happens when this one freaks out too?” I press him as the familiar frantic feeling starts to rise inside of me.

Any time we introduce Hailey to a babysitter, she barely acknowledges them, but when we leave for school and come back, we usually find her alone again.

It's almost as though she purposely runs them off to ensure we’re being run ragged keeping the house in order while taking care of her too.

“We’re done with school in two weeks, Kalen. If she can last that long, we won’t need any more fucking babysitters,” he hisses as he peels my fingers away from his elbow then starts toward the living room.

I rub my temples tiredly, take a deep breath, then decide that maybe, just this once, big brother might know best.