Conrad rested his palm against the cool, smooth granite. The wind kicked up stray leaves as the barren branches swayed. He closed his eyes against the incoming rain. He didn’t need to read the words or dates since he already knew them by heart. Instead, he let his mind drift to memories of the first time they’d met. He’d been wholly unprepared standing in the sterile hospital room. Medical staff raced about, shouting in a language of their own. Then…
This heatwave was ridiculous, and the AC couldn’t keep up. Brittany lay sprawled on the living room floor under the ceiling fan which was pushing hot, sticky air around. She hadn’t moved in hours, limbs lethargic, sweat pooling under her arms and on her lower back. To amuse herself, she attempted to count the fan’s blades, but that made her dizzy. Instead, she imagined herself swimming through the heavy humidity. This was insane; she needed to get up and do…
Veronica switched the TV off despite the loud protests from her children. “Not cool, Mom,” Lochlan, her eldest, said. No surprise there. The only things he deemed cool were his phone and video games. “Get your bathing suits on.” Lochlan raised an eyebrow. “Uh, like we don’t own a pool.” “Did we get one?” Maybell asked. “Nope, but meet me out back.” Veronica didn’t wait for more questions as she hurried down the hall to get changed. Afterwards, she slipped…
Carly tossed her phone down. She hated staying with her grandparents. They lived in the middle of nowhere with terrible internet. And worse, they didn’t seem to care about the problem. Where was Ralph? Her brother never brought his phone with him when they came out here. Instead, he turned into a wild hooligan. Well, maybe not a hooligan, but how was she supposed to know when she couldn’t verify what the word meant? She huffed. Outside, she marched toward…