Liam: Branded Brothers by Raen Smith Read Free Book Online

looking back at the gentle
shimmer of the lake. She’d miss the sounds, the smells, and the serenity the
cottage offered. It was off the beaten path, tucked into a deep corner hidden
by massive evergreens. She’d slept with the curtains closed for the last two
years, but tonight she wanted to hang on to the view of the lake just a little
bit longer. The only thing missing was Jack’s laborious snores. She never
thought there would come a day when she’d miss that sound.
    Her eyelids became heavy, blinking slowly as the ticking of
the clock softened in her mind. She could feel her breathing slow and her body fall
deeper into the bed. Then she gave one last desperate plea for her step-father
to leave her alone tonight. All she wanted was to sleep peacefully, just one
night. She caught a final glimpse of the canoe, its hull gleaming in the
moonlight, before her lids closed for the final time.
    Then she saw herself in her dream like she had every night
since Jack’s death. She was standing in the living room of the run-down
apartment on Fifth Street. It was the one with apple wallpaper in every room.
When she thought of the apartment, that’s all she could remember: the faded
apples she could peel off the wall with a scratch of her fingers. She could see
her mother passed out in her bedroom down the hallway. Charla could see the
latest ring of black around her eye.
    She looked down at the straps of her coveted Steve Maddens.
She worked extra hours at the hospital just to get these shoes. She was proud
to wear these shoes. All the others were a complete embarrassment to her as a
sixteen-year-old. She learned early that she’d have to take care of herself if
she was ever going to make it through school without being completely harassed.
She threw away the box and blacked out the label on the instep of the shoe
before her mother could get a glimpse. Her mother would make her return them if
she knew how much they’d cost.
    Charla reached down to touch the shoes when her eyes fell on
a body face down just a couple feet ahead. She watched his back for a minute,
not seeing the slight rise and fall of the intake of oxygen. She recognized the
blue pin-striped shirt and the faded jeans. He wore that shirt every day even
though he’d long ago lost his job as a mechanic. She knew she should feel a
sense of urgency or a jolt of panic rush through her body, but all she felt was
this sudden warmth of relief. A sudden sense of liberation and hope. She waited
for another minute, still not seeing any sort of movement. She knew she should
call an ambulance, and she would, eventually .
    She crept forward and bent down near her step-father. He’d
made her life a living hell for the last seven years. He never laid a finger on
Charla, but he unleashed all his anger on her mother’s face, arms, or whatever
he could get a hold of. He had beaten down and broken the woman who was
supposed to take care of her. Now here he lay, broken on the floor of the
living room. Charla had no will to fix him. She lifted his shoulder an inch off
the ground, but quickly realized she would have to put more weight into it. She
moved down to his torso and yanked with all her might, slowly gaining enough
momentum to flip him over.
    The body flopped on its back, his chest still not moving.
Her eyes moved up to see the blank stare of Jack’s face…
    Charla gasped, flicked open her eyes and shot up in her bed.
Her chest heaved in and out and sweat dripped down her forehead.
    “Just a dream. Just a dream,” she whispered in a chant,
hugging herself. She knew it was time for Jack to go. She had done everything
she possibly could to help him. There was, however, more she could have done
for her step-father. She had found her step-father choked to death on his own
vomit after a night of drinking when she was fifteen. She had known she should turn
him over and swipe out his mouth, but she couldn’t. Instead she’d stood
paralyzed in the middle of the living room,