“I don’t miss her, but…” He thought about her brown eyes and long brown hair. “Yeah, I miss her.”
“I thought so.”
“Did you hear anything else Mom and Dad threatened?”
“Yeah, they want you to see a shrink.”
“A shrink?”
“Uh-huh, they think it’ll be good for you. They think you’re too … dark right now.”
He smirked. “What do you think?”
“You’re dealing in your own way. You’re my big brother, and of course you’ll deal with everything in your own way. It’s what makes us, us.”
“You know, for a ten-year-old, you seem to know a lot of things.”
“It’s because I’m a girl. It’s a fact we’re smarter than boys on everything.”
“Smarter, huh? What about stronger?”
“Nope, we’re not stronger. We don’t hold as much muscle mass, so we’ll never be stronger than guys, but one day, you never know.”
He chuckled and rubbed her head.
She shoved his hand away. “Don’t mess with the hair, dude.”
“When did you get so damn grown up?”
The smile fell from her face. “I missed you, Noah. It wasn’t the same around here without you.”
“I missed you too. More than anything. Who took you trick-or-treating this year?”
“No one. We couldn’t go. Mom wouldn’t allow it.”
“Mom, you mean she didn’t even bother to take you?” he asked.
“It got really bad around here, Noah. I mean, really, really bad. People were scared.”
“I know.”
She threw her arms around him, and he held her tightly. “I don’t want you to go again, or ever. I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too.”
He hugged her, recalling how many times he wished he was doing exactly this. His thoughts drifted to Skye once again. He had to see her.
“Come on, let’s go downstairs.”
“Mom and Dad are there.”
“I know.”
“I’m going to sit this one out.”
Before he could say anything more, Kasey ran out of the room as if something was chasing her ass. He rolled his eyes but followed her out. Closing his bedroom door, he slowly made his way downstairs to where his parents were sitting in the living room.
“This isn’t healthy for him. You know that.”