I groaned, rolling over onto my side before looking at the red neon lights of the clock on the bedside table. They read it to be quarter past twelve. No wonder I felt like total shit, Kale never let me sleep past nine am, and here it was, twelve fifteen in the afternoon.

Jimmy was nowhere in sight, but there was someone else laying there with me. I reached down and felt something furry. A little grey head popped up and pawed my hand. I smiled; the little kitten was cute as ever. I picked her up and almost immediately, she began to purr.

“Who are you kitty?” I asked, scratching her behind the ear. She turned her head and began to gnaw on my fingers.

“That’s Lyla.” Jimmy said. I’m pretty sure I looked surprised; he had caught me off guard.

“Oh, she’s a pretty kitty.” I said, noticing she had emerald green eyes, which were crossed.

“Yeah, she just showed up one day and looked like she hadn’t eaten in six months; she just sort of became my pet.” Jimmy said as I nodded and began to scratch Lyla again before watching Jimmy leave the room out of the corner of my eye.

I sat up and swung my legs out from under the bed. That’s when I remembered this morning in the bathroom.

Oh shit I thought, turning around and seeing a big red spot.

Shit, shit, shit I scrambled around to find a pad and a change of clean clothes, my panties and the shorts I had fallen asleep in were soiled with blood.

Oh dear god, Jimmy was going to kill me for bleeding on his sheets.

“Shit!” I said I couldn’t find any pads.

“Evan? You alright?” Jimmy called up.

“Uh…yea! Just fine.” I replied, searching like a madman through the plastic bag that I had brought along. You see, my uterus is tilted, meaning I can’t use damn tampons, besides; they hurt like a bitch anyways. Pads had always worked perfectly for me.

Lyla began to paw at the dust particles that got caught in the light so while the cat was enjoying herself; I was freaking the fuck out. I dumped the entire contents of my bag and found a single pad.

“Thank fucking God!” I yelled, grabbing a pair of jeans torn out the ass and a navy blue shirt, I grabbed a pair of clean underwear and ran to the bathroom.


I wasn’t sure how long I was in the bathroom for but it must’ve been a while because Jimmy came knocking on the bathroom door, asking if I were alright. “Yeah, I’m fine.” I answered. Pfsht, yeah fucking right, I’m dying here for Christ’s sakes! I thought, clenching my stomach. I hated cramps with a burning passion, and it seemed the older I got; the worse they became.

When I was finally done, the cramps were still persistent. And I was getting them everywhere, in my sides, my stomach, hell even my back seemed to cramp up. As I was walking down the hallway, the little grey kitten followed me. She was like a mini, colorless tiger cub. Freakin’ cute at that too even if she did have cross-eyes; I think it made her cuter.

“Jimmy?” I called, stepping into the kitchen. Safe to say, Jimmy’s house blew me away, I had never been in such a big house like his before. Pfft, the trailer I grew up in was a two bedroom, little shitty place really in one of the biggest crack joints ever; everywhere you turned; there’d be one of our neighbors getting busted for having a few grams of cocaine on ‘em.

That’s where my momma turned wrong; she hooked up with the wrong guy, who promised her everything under the sun. Who only fucked her up beyond belief, raped her, her daughter, beat the shit out of her son and took everything.

Maybe that’s why I fear so much, I feared love, because my mother had described love as something so vile. So evil, to rob you of your senses when you were vulnerable, and leave you stranded. Broken, bleeding and bruised, you were fucked.

“Evan?” Jimmy said, placing a hand on my shoulder, I jumped, out of my trance.

“Sorry.” I said, turning around, I placed my hand on his chest and felt his heartbeat.

He shrugged, “It’s fine….” He paused. “There’s someone at the door for you.” I felt my eyebrows rise in a questioning stare. “I don’t know who he is, but he’s asking for you, come on.” Jimmy said, I placed my hand into his and he squeezed it reassuringly.

Jimmy walked to the door and opened it; I stood a few feet behind him.

The boy standing at the door – well, not much of a boy, he was a man – made my breath catch in my throat. He had dirty-blond hair and green-grey eyes. Eyes that bore deep into your soul and just in a minute, he knew everything about you.

I knew this guy.
He was from my past.
Someone I thought I’d never see again.

“Riley?” I choked out.

The guy – Riley – nodded.

No, no way in hell I thought, grabbing onto Jimmy’s upper arm for support.

My brother was back.