Through Glass: Episode Four by Rebecca Ethington Read Free Book Online Page B

don’t know. It didn’t
really seem appropriate given the situation. I couldn’t exactly say
‘I’m sorry you have been sentenced to death, but the girl who just
saved you is my wife…’” He said it like it was a joke, but I
couldn’t bring myself to smile, or even to chuckle as he did. I
only sat, my body stiff and uncomfortable as ice seemed to run over
my skin, the same thought running laps through my mind.
    Travis was married.
    I could still remember my dad giving
his deep, stern talks around the kitchen table, the way he talked
to the boys and to me, pled with us to grow up to be good people,
go to college, find someone that makes you happy and marry
them.
    We had all laughed about it at that
time. Travis and I especially since we knew what he was talking
about, knew how far away it was. Now it was here. Travis had done
it.
    “ Are you okay?”
    My head jerked up as he pulled me from
my reverie. “I’m just stunned, that’s all.” I could barely get the
words out.
    “ Well, next time I will
make sure to send you an invitation,” Travis said with a smile, his
lips pulling in a way that I could see as being heart
stopping.
    “ Gee, thanks.” I couldn’t
keep the shock out of my voice, the sarcasm running through it in a
deadpan.
    “ Anytime sis.” Travis’s
smile only grew as he threw himself back on the bed, a small plume
of dust moving up from where he collapsed against it.
    I watched the dust settle and lay
myself back against the bed, pulling the stiff cotton comforter
that I had hoped would be soft over me. Part of me wished I could
just curl up and sleep, but I still couldn’t stop my mind from
running rampant with the information Travis had just given
me.
    “ Wife?” I suddenly spewed
into the darkness.
    Travis’s deep chuckle was unsurprising
to me. “You are really stuck on this, aren’t you?”
    “ Well, forgive me if I
can’t think of my fourteen-year-old brother being married.” My
voice was somewhat hysterical, but I didn’t stop it; I only propped
myself up on one elbow, turning to face Travis who was already
turned toward me, staring at me with a wide grin on his
face.
    “ Well, first, I’m not
fourteen. And, it really isn’t that surprising given the whole end
of the world.”
    “ Yeah, well… I guess it’s
good you aren’t fourteen. You were awfully grumpy.”
    The playful look on Travis’s face
melted away as if I had slapped him, the dark brown of his eyes
growing dim. My stomach twisted at the look he was now giving me,
my head darting around wildly, dread that whatever Abran had sent
after us had already found us.
    We were surrounded by nothing but the
darkness. Nothing except the dark grey of a shadow that moved as I
turned my head, as if it was escaping my sight. My muscles clenched
in fear as I watched it move, part of me relaxing at the thought
that Travis might have seen it as well, that I wasn’t losing my
mind. One look back at my brother’s bulky frame, though, and I
realized it was only me.
    My heart pulsed once in fear before it
evaporated, the soft look in Travis’s eyes taking my fear
away.
    “ I never did thank
you…”
    “ Thank me?” I inquired,
suddenly confused at the change of pace the conversation had
taken.
    Travis looked at me intently from
where he lay, his shaggy, brown hair falling over his eyes a bit.
The Nintendo blanket was not big enough to cover his hulking form,
or his booted feet that stuck out of the bottom. I wanted to laugh
at the image of him cowering under such a small piece of fabric,
but I couldn’t make the sound come. Not with the way he was looking
at me.
    “ For what you said. Mom
didn’t even really notice, but you did.” Travis whispered, “What
you said… it made everything feel less hopeless. I kept that with
me even when I thought you were gone.”
    Realization hit me like a battering
ram, the weight heavy against my chest as I ran over the events of
that day, the same as he had. So many times.
    He had