Chapter Two

Jeff’s first letter still hadn’t arrived.

“Don’t worry about it, Bee. Letters take a few days to get where they need to.” her mother said, despite the fact that her voice was shaking.

Maybe it the fact that he’d only left yesterday, or that he probably hadn’t had the chance to write it yet. But, Jaedyn’s letter had arrived only two days after his departure. Was it wrong to assume that Jeff, who happened to be Bee’s favorite brother, would send his letter faster?

Without Jeff’s deep voice resonating in the house, Bee felt unnaturally bored. Again, she found herself staring at the poster in Jeff’s room.

“Who is Will Brusch?” Bee asked herself for what must have been the seventh time that week. Jeff didn’t have the answer, and, two years earlier, Jaedyn hadn’t had it either. After Jeff’s departure, she’d consulted every website known to man, and each one found a way around the answer.

What Bee had learned was that the young men on the WBSB poster had a name. The WBSB Band of Boys. The discovery had left her feeling naïve, as many probably already knew that. Tabes definitely did.

Bee snapped to her feet. “Tabes!” she exclaimed.

“Everything alright, Bee?”. Her mother’s voice was still shaking.

“Yeah, Mom! I’m going to Tabes’ house.”

Bee rapped on Tabes’ door, shivering. Maybe she should have put on a coat before up and running to her friend’s place.

The door swung open, and Mr. Cheng’s looming figure stood there.

Mr. Cheng was a short man, roughly six inches shorter than his wife. Tabes was his height already. She had his narrow eyes and slightly tanned skin. Unlike Tabes, Mr. Cheng’s hair was black and his eyes were a light brown.

“Hello, Bianca. Tabitha is inside.”

⌁

“Tabitha, your friend is here!”

Tabes appeared at the door to see Bee. Hopefully, Bee wouldn’t notice Tabes’ eyes twitching. Or her gaze shifting from left to right repeatedly. Or the red marker staining her fingers.

“Is that… blood?” Bee didn’t miss a thing.

“What? Oh, no, it’s just marker.” So much for keeping secrets.

Bee followed Tabes into the kitchen. The ceiling light was becoming dimmer by the day, and Tabes was suddenly conscious of it. She’d been conscious of everything lately.

“Tabes?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you… okay?”

“Um…”

Tabes was tempted to tell Bee that she really wasn’t okay at all. That she’d been keeping secrets from her parents and from her best friends. But, some things weren’t meant to be told.

The red marker on her fingertips taunted her every thought. The dimming ceiling light burned her eyes, and the entrance to the basement seemed far too obvious.

“Tabitha, come here!”

Thanks, Dad. “Coming, dad!” Swiftly, Tabes lifted herself from her chair, ready to retreat to wherever her father was calling her from.

Bee grabbed her arm. “Tabes!”

“What?”

“I asked if you were okay.”

Tabes sighed. “I… I’m fine.”

Bee released her, and before Tabes turned into the hallway, she could faintly hear Bee mumbling.

“Liar.”

⌁

“Zaryana! What is the meaning of this?” Zara’s mother stood at the door facing Louis the delivery man. His face held the same smugness as before. “This man says you have harassed him.”

Of course he did. “I apologize, Mama. But, it was no fault of mine.”

“I did not ask if you were at fault. Apologize to the boy.”

“But, Mama-”

“Zaryana!” Her mother’s words were stone hard.

Zara’s tiny sister, Alyona, giggled from the kitchen. Zara bowed her head toward Louis. “I am very sorry for-” She glared at him. “-harassing you yesterday”, she finished, almost choking on her words.

“Don’t worry about it. Sometimes it’s hard to remember your place.”

Backhanded insults, huh.

“Good day, misses.” With that, he left for the truck.

After eating dinner, Ms. Dmitrikov had sent Alyona to her room. She’d been obedient and complied quickly. But, Zara knew Alyona’s ears were pressed to the door, waiting to hear how her mother would shame Zara tonight.

“Zaryana.”

“Yes, Mama?”

“Sit down, please.”

Zara placed herself next to her mother. “I’m sorry, Mama.”

She sighed. “I do not know what to do with you, Zaryana. You sleep with a knife under your pillow, and you want to do all these bad things.”
Zara kept quiet.

“I raised a lady, Zaryana.”

“I know, Mama. But-”

“I raised a lady!” Her mother had stood, and was towering over her, despite her small figure. “It’s time for you to start acting like one.”

Reviews

[Anjali]

Glad that you have chosen unique names for the characters and have involved their meanings as well.