Aunt Chloe

It was surprisingly easy, explaining to the police what had happened with my father. During my story, Aunt Chloe became paler and paler, and looked as close to throwing up as I felt.

The police officers took pictures of Lily’s wounds for evidence before they let Aunt Chloe tend to her. They brought up my wrecked car, but I declined to press charges.

“It’s not a big deal,” I said. “Lily hated that car, anyway.”

The officers asked if we had a place to stay, and Aunt Chloe insisted that we would stay with her. The two men left, promising to let us know when they had found our father.

It wasn’t until after they were gone that I felt my composure slipping. I rested my elbows against my knees and buried my face in my hands, sighing heavily.

Tyler sat beside me, carefully touching my shoulder. “Jai, are you okay?” he asked quietly.

I couldn’t speak, so I simply nodded. My throat felt tight and I knew I was trembling. I couldn’t bring myself to look at either of my siblings. Not when I was so close to breaking down and crying.

“Jai,” Lily murmured. The couch shifted slightly as she sat beside me, and rested her head on my shoulder. As though she knew exactly what was bothering me.

‘How could she know?’

Aunt Chloe returned from showing the police out. “Jai, honey, are you all right?” she asked gently. “Do you want to go lie down in your room?”

I shook my head and raked my fingers through my hair, pulling several locks out of the ponytail I’d tied it into. I looked up at her. “Is Lily okay?” I asked, grimacing inwardly when my voice trembled.

“She’s fine,” Aunt Chloe assured me. “I’m sure she’s smarting, but her wounds weren’t bad. I’m more worried about you, you were almost hit by that truck!” She sat in an armchair across from us and sighed, rubbing her temples. “I could have throttled that idiot driver. Dropped his cell phone… hmph!”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said, shaking my head. “I don’t care that I almost got hit. Lily did get hit, a lot, and it’s because I left her alone.” I felt myself choke, but forced myself to keep talking, knowing that if I didn’t get it out now I never would. “If I’d been there, or if I’d made her come with me, Dad never would have -”

“Jai, you can’t think like that, “Aunt Chloe interrupted, pained. “It’s not your fault.”

“It’s mine, if anything,” Tyler put in bitterly. “I forgot my stupid project and made you bring it for me.”

“It’s no one’s fault,” Aunt Chloe insisted. “It was a huge mistake, and no one’s to blame, so stop talking like that.”

I pushed myself to my feet and was relieved when I didn’t wobble. “Is it all right if I go take a bath?” I asked, startling them both.

Aunt Chloe’s eyes softened. “Of course, honey,” she said gently. “You know where everything is.”

I nodded and left the room, heading upstairs. There were four bedrooms in Aunt Chloe’s house, one prepared for each of us. She had often suggested that we live with her, and kept the rooms ready ‘just in case’.

I locked myself in the bathroom and turned the water on as hot as it could go before turning to the mirror. A large bruise had appeared on my cheek where Dad had hit me.

I sighed and undressed as fog covered the glass, leaving me as a tannish blur with a black blob that was my hair. I climbed into the tub, wincing at the hot water, but quickly getting used to it as I sat. After a few minutes, the heat was only soothing.

For a while I merely soaked in the hot water and steam, eyes closed, my head rested back against the rim of the tub. I tried to relax and avoided thinking about anything, but it was difficult; especially when Tyler and Aunt Chloe came to the door every few minutes to check on me.

‘Are you okay?’ they wondered. ‘You’re not sleeping, are you?’ they’d ask half-teasingly. ‘How does pizza sound for dinner?’ Eventually I stopped bothering to answer with anything more than a hum of confirmation that I was still alive.

X X X

When I finally returned downstairs, I found Lily standing in the hallway, staring at the basement door.

This was nothing unusual; Lily had always had an odd fascination with that door. Every time we visited Aunt Chloe she would spend most of the time simply watching the door, though it was always locked and Aunt Chloe insisted that we never go down to the basement.

Tyler and I had always been curious about the basement, but we’d written off our sisters’ total enthrallment as ‘one of those Lily things’.

Now I wasn’t so sure.

“Lily? What’re you doing?” I asked, rubbing at my wet hair with one of Aunt Chloe’s big fluffy towels. I had dressed in a pair of pajamas that came from a closet filled with clothes Aunt Chloe had insisted on buying for me; in an attempt to make us feel more at home in her house, she liked to keep a full wardrobe of clothes for when we visited.

Lily didn’t respond, her eyes roaming over the wooden surface of the door.

I watched her, chewing my lip thoughtfully. Down the hall, Tyler and Aunt Chloes’ voices came from the kitchen; they wouldn’t hear me. I shifted closer to Lily and observed the door, but could see nothing remarkable about it.

“Is something down there?” I asked before the question was fully formed in my head.

Lily looked at me, and her eyes showed surprise clearly before it was swept away by some other conflicting emotions.

I was surprised with myself, as well. Honestly, what a stupid question. What did I expect to be down there? A dragon?

Then a new possibility struck me. ‘Lily’s not surprised that I asked. She’s surprised that I knew to ask.’

I shivered, staring at the door, which was suddenly much more forbidding than it had been a moment ago.

‘What would Aunt Chloe be hiding in the basement? Why would it interest Lily so much? How does Lily know it’s there?’

“Something…” Lily murmured, looking back at the door.

“You don’t know what it is?” If I was going to be involved with whatever was going on, I might as well get all the answers I could.

Lily didn’t answer my question, though. Instead, she whispered, “I want it.”

I looked at her, surprised. “How do you know you want it if you don’t know what it is?”

‘How does she know any of this?’

“Wish,” Lily said abruptly, before falling silent, a dazed look crossing her face. Her eyes danced over the door, before drifting elsewhere. “Puzzle?” she requested softly.

I blinked, then sighed. Apparently the conversation was over. “Leg’s go see if Aunt Chloe has a puzzle for you,” I said, and took her hand, leading her to the kitchen.

Aunt Chloe and Tyler were sitting together at the little round kitchen table, cups of tea in front of them. Tyler gazed into his cup, his chin rested in his hand, slowly stirring the dark liquid with a teaspoon.

“Aunt Chloe, do you have any puzzles? Jigsaw, crossword, Rubix cubes…”

She looked up and smiled. “Sure. For Lily, right?” She stood and gestured to the stove. “Help yourself to some tea,” she added to me, before bringing Lily out of the room to find a puzzle for her.

I fixed myself some tea, adding more sugar than usual, and took a sip as I sat across from Tyler. The only sounds were the ticking of a clock on the wall and the faint, distant scuffing of feet as Aunt Chloe led Lily upstairs.

“I’m going to kill Dad, the next time I see him.”

I looked up to find Tyler staring at me, tea abandoned. His gaze was unwavering, his face darkly serious.

“Are you?” I asked quietly. “Why?”

“Why do you think?” Tyler retorted. “He hit you, he almost killed Lily, he completely ditched us, and I’m sick of him. I’m going to kill him.”

I watched him quietly. I burned my tongue taking another sip of tea and ignored it. “We’re fine,” I told him.

“You’re not fine.”

“We’re a little battered, but we’re fine.”

Tyler leaned back in his chair, slim arms crossed over his chest, eyeing me suspiciously. “Physically, you might be fine,” he said. “But mentally you’re not.”

“What, are you calling me crazy?” I tried to smile and drink my tea, but I couldn’t swallow.

“Not crazy,” he corrected. “You’re shaken up. You’re scared.”

“Lily isn’t shaken up at all.”

“When is she ever?”

“When she was in my car, she never stopped screaming.”

“Maybe she thought you were a lousy driver, I don’t know.”

I hesitated, observing my brother. If I spoke my thoughts aloud, would he believe me? Or would he think I was even crazier than he already suspected?

I had to hope for the former.

“I think…” I began carefully. “That Lily knew that the garbage truck was going to hit my car.”

I wasn’t sure what kind of reaction I was expecting. Questions, maybe. Laughter, probably. An odd look questioning my sanity, definitely. What I wasn’t expecting was the pensive look that crossed my brother’s face. “Why do you think that?” he asked seriously.

For a moment I could only stare at him, startled. “W-Well… she was always afraid of the car,” I said slowly. “She didn’t mind other cars, even when I drove, so I don’t think she was scared of my driving. And the way she ran when we got here, if she hadn’t we wouldn’t have had to chase her and might have still been in the car when it was hit. And she was perfectly fine after it was totaled.” I took a breath and fell silent, watching Tyler carefully.

He studied me in return, as though trying to gauge my sincerity. “So what would that mean, if she did know it was going to happen ahead of time?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Maybe she’s psychic. Maybe I’m making too much of nothing.” I paused and glanced into the hallway, making sure Aunt Chloe couldn’t overhear. “She said there’s something she wants in the basement.”

“Something she wants? Like what?” Tyler asked in a hushed tone, sensing my unease.

“I don’t know, and I don’t think she does, either,” I told him quietly. “She said something about a wish, but didn’t explain it.”

Tyler thought it over. He suddenly brightened, looking at me with eager eyes. “Let’s check out the basement.”

“No,” I said immediately, without thinking.

“Why not?”

“Aunt Chloe’s only rule is to stay out of the basement,” I said firmly. “We’re not going to break it just because of curiosity.”

“But that’s suspicious, too,” Tyler insisted. “What’s she hiding down there that we’re not allowed to see?”

“What, you don’t trust her?”

“Of course I do. But what if we shouldn’t? We won’t know unless we look.”

“You know,” Aunt Chloe said as she entered the kitchen. Tyler and I started, and dread filled me as I wondered if she’d overheard.

It quickly became apparent that she hadn’t. “I don’t think there are enough jigsaw puzzles in existence to satisfy that girl. I dug one out of the hall closet, and in the time it took me to put the rest back, she had it finished on the floor.”

I managed to relax and gave a weak smile. “Yeah, she loves puzzles.”

“I noticed. I left all the puzzles with her, so she wouldn’t have to get them out of the closet.” Aunt Chloe sat beside me, sighing. “I’ll give her ten minutes to get through them all.”

“She won’t need that long,” Tyler mused. “You should see their room at home. She’s got puzzles everywhere.”

Aunt Chloe smiled softly. “Well, I’ll have to buy some more for her,” she said. “I’m glad you three are here. I have to admit, I was getting worried about you all, alone in that house. You’re too young for that responsibility.”

“I’m nineteen,” I reminded her with a soft smile.

“You’re still young. You should be going to college, getting a life of your own,” Aunt Chloe said firmly.

Tyler looked to his tea, discomfort crossing his face.

“Well, thank you for letting us stay here,” I said in an attempt to change the subject. “We appreciate it.”

“It’s no problem, honey,” Aunt Chloe said. She went along with the subject change easily, having noticed the shared unease between Tyler and I. “I’m happy to have you. Please, stay as long as you want.”

We didn’t get to stay nearly as long as we would have liked.