by James Hannan
Sunlight threw lines of glare across the living room floor from the cracks in the vertical blinds. Nick thought about opening them. While he’d put the heater on because of the freezing morning, he wanted the warmth of the sun as well.
He hadn’t heard any noise from Jeremy’s room, but that wasn’t any guarantee he was asleep or even in there.
The pull of the light was strong. Nick sidled up to the edge of the windows where the cords were. Yanking down, the slats hissed as they slithered back to reveal the sky outside. A soft blue. He felt instantly better.
As Nick watched birds land and scratch at the ground outside, he remembered what their mother had come out with about Jeremy. ‘We can’t do it anymore. He’s too much.’
Nick left the curtains open. The sky didn’t have a cloud in it, and the birds kept fluttering.
Jeremy’s large figure appeared in the reflection of the window. His breathing sounded hoarse. Almost as if the environment outside hurt, Jeremy skulked past him with his hand in front of his eyes. Getting to the cord he snatched at it and everything outside vanished.
‘Why’d you do that for?’
‘You know as well as I do that it makes me feel miserable,’ Jeremy said.
‘Maybe it’s time to get over that?’
‘You know that doesn’t help, don’t you?’ Jeremy glared, turning to face Nick.
Nothing does, Nick almost said. ‘So, you going to tell me what happened with the girl?’
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