Page 7 of The Other Side of Green

Jack.

Brother.

Jack was my brother, Jack was my brother, Jack was my brother. I sang it in my head until the words ran like acid.

Grams was dead, Grams was dead, Grams was dead.

“Kay.” Luca lifted me up in his arms, sweeping my feet out from under me. “I think you’re in shock.”

His words echoed. Hadn’t someone else said that to me only a couple of days ago…? Yes, Jack… Before he told me the truth. Before he’d told me what Luca did to his dad.

“Luca. You nearly killed someone.” I stared at him, trying to see my brother in the man I found holding me, blinking at the unfamiliar light my new knowledge cast him in.

“It’s not that simple, Lyra. Can we not do this now?”

“Not do this now?” I shook my head as the back door swung open in front of us with Luca’s gentle kick against the peeling wood.

The shake of the doorframe echoed the entire house, just like it always had. I waited for Grams to shout, ‘Leave the house standing’.

Of course, she didn’t.

I inhaled the air of the kitchen deeply, waiting for cinnamon to encompass me in a warm embrace, but it didn’t come.

Luca put me down and stepped back, espresso eyes flashing under the fluorescent strip light. “I can’t believe you’ve seen Jack.”

“I can’t believe what you did.” I folded my arms. I needed to grieve for Grams, needed to go and see her empty chair, but I couldn’t walk past Luca and not have this conversation.

“You understand why though?” He tilted his chin.

“No! What’s to understand? Why wouldn’t you just tell us both?”

He shook his head, lips pressed together.

“He hasn’t been home in four years, Luca. Because of us!”

“Poor Jack,” he hissed.

I shook my head but huffed out a breath. “And you’re sure?” I couldn’t actually speak the question out loud.

Luca met my stare. “Yes.”

Those three letters hammered into my heart like nails in the coffin of a dream.

With a stiff nod, I went to turn away. Luca caught my hand and held me back. “Lyra, I’m sorry.”

Slowly, I turned. “I don’t know who you are anymore, Luca.”

“I’m your brother, same as I’ve always been.”

I gave him a small smile. “No. No you’re not.”

The living room sat empty, no sign of Mom, unsurprisingly. The teak gated table Grams had always used to keep her daily belongings on held a giant bouquet of white lilies. I reached for the card, ignoring the gold wrapped toffees still sat in Grams’ cut-glass bowl.

Rest in peace, my friend.

Patience x

My eyes stung, but I blinked the tears away.