Page 159 of A Dead Man's B-Side
Akira Ishaan Jett, only thirteen, wouldn’t turn out to be like those lost causes. Rain would make sure of it.
The former looked at her with slight unease, hoping she would drop the matter and leave them to continue their silently stilted dinner. The latter didn’t blame her. She was seated right next to their mother, and her voice was grating enough in a low tone.
But something made her pause.
Your brother will join us when he is ready.
She’d done everything right. She achieved the highest scores this term, she reigned supreme over Castle Hill. She was a prominent player within the Founder’s Society. Does that mean…
Silently, she lifts her spoon and pushes it into the heavy soup in front of her. Watching the silver be swallowed and smothered by the liquid. An ironic metaphor for her reality, Rain thought.
Pushing open the door to Kayan’s bedroom was not an emotionally taxing act. She always found herself in her brother’s bedroom when she missed him dearly. When the walls of her own began closing in on her, and her throat tightened enough for her breath to come out laboured.
Her sleep was always dreamless in his bed, but she slept. That was all that mattered.
On any given day of the holidays, Kayan’s room was the epitome of cleanliness. His sheets were tucked tight under the mattress, and his floor was spotless, always remaining vacant.
Today, his floor was riddled with crinkled shirts that often had vulgar slogans printed across the front or a rock band that was so beneath the Jett family’s taste, they didn’t even know they existed.
Despite her surname, Rain knew that they existed, and it was all thanks to Kayan.
Bowie
Queen
Sweet
Led Zeppelin
She couldn’t get him to shut up about them once he started.
She paused at the rumpled sheets, the drawn curtains, and finally, the boy–man standing next to his nightstand.
“Kayan.” Her voice came out thick and watery as the image of herlittle brotherstanding there before her seemed to punch her gut. A wave of emotion tugged at her heart and pulled at her throat.
Kayan, despite only being sixteen, held formidable mental strength, turning at the door’s swing with steeled walls behind his eyes. However, they all came crashing down as he dropped the trinket in his hands at the sight of his sister, bright hazel irises softening. “Atty.”
“Kay…” Rain let the whispered nickname wash over her in waves of relief.
His hair was cut short in a tousled fringe, different from how he liked it. He always did have a hairband around his wrist for when he needed to tie the strands curling around his ears back, but that was how he liked it.
Then again, Rain wouldn’t know if his preferences had changed since she’d last seen him.
He was so different, taller, bigger, and appeared much older.
She stepped forward on shaky legs, and she must have blinked too long because her feet were lifted off the polished floors in an instant, and she was promptly engulfed in a lung-crushing hug.
She didn’t mind.
“Kay–oh god, Kay. You’re here.” Her words came out muffled against him, though she knew they would come out with struggle despite it, as pressure grew behind her eyes.
Rain, as opposed to how Castle Hill had her, was so full of love and happiness in that moment, she could almost burst.
Her brother, whom she hadn’t seen for close to a year, was in front of her, in the flesh.
She was distantly aware of the door shutting behind her, but she couldn’t be sure because Kayan was here and he was safe.
The last thought made her pause. She scrambled out of his embrace and began running her eyes over him. “Are-are you okay? Are you healthy? Where did they keep you? Kay, what happened?”
