Through Glass by Rebecca Ethington
Chapter One of Elfin By Quinn Loftis
Everyone remembered the day the sky went black. The day the sun was wiped from the sky. They remember the wind as it brought in the darkness; the way the earth shook and everything changed.
Everyone remembered the screams as the darkness ate those who were out in the open, those who had surrounded themselves by light, and those who made noise.
Everyone remembered the voice from the sky and the way food disappeared.
At least, that’s what I hoped. I hoped that there was an ‘everyone’ that would remember because I am not sure how many are left, how many survived. Or if anyone did.
I hoped that I wasn’t alone.
I remembered that day.
I remembered because it was the day I became alone.
It was the day that everything was perfect until the monsters took it away. The house went silent and the birds stopped singing. It was the day everyone disappeared, everyone except Cohen who was the only person I had seen in two years.
I had seen him every day; and each day, I think of that last, perfect day and of that kiss I had stolen from him.
It made it so I was not alone in the dark, even though I was. Because Cohen was not really here. He is there, just through the glass.
I had thrown the window to my bedroom open, letting the fresh spring air swirl into the room as I only partially attempted to finish my Trig homework before school tomorrow. I didn’t want to admit that I had given up on school, but it was only a month before graduation and it was getting harder and harder to focus. Not like the warm weather was helping much, either.
I stared at the block letters of my name and tried to focus through numbers and cosines, but nothing was taking. They all blended together into jumbled squiggles. I didn’t really know why I was still trying. I had already secured my 4.0 and the last term didn’t matter. At least that’s what Cohen had always told me, but my mom had a different idea.
Either way, I already had my acceptance letter to The University of Cincinnati.
I perched myself on the old kitchen chair I used at my desk and let the numbers turn into a blur again. I briefly contemplated if I should continue my final project on avian mythology before I became lost in the smell of spring lilacs that filled my room.
I breathed in the fresh scent and leaned against the back of the chair, my eyes closing as I absorbed the smell I loved so much.
We had planted the lilac bush right below my window when my grandmother had passed away, and every year it blossomed in the spring. This year, though, for some reason it had held off and waited to bloom until just a few days ago, even though summer was almost here. Not that I was complaining. It made the room smell like a salon and gave me even more of a reason to keep the window open.
I hated being indoors for too long. It made me feel like a trapped animal, which probably meant it was good that I lived in a warm climate. I would go mad being shut indoors for months on end. Plus, the cold. Ew. I didn’t know how some people did it. That only made it even more ridiculous that I would be trucking myself off to Ohio. I’d been told it snows there. Ugh.
“Alexis!”
I jumped at my name, practically falling off my chair as I turned toward my door, expecting to see my dad scowling at me for whatever reason. However, the door was closed.
“Alexis!”
The voice came again and I jumped even more; the action sending the chair sideways while someone else’s laughter filled my room as I tumbled to the floor.
Oh, no way. I knew where the voice was coming from now; that menace. I jumped up as indignantly as I could with my long, red hair fanning around me. As I turned toward my window, I came face to face with the object of my unobstructed infatuation since fifth grade.
I hadn’t seen him in months, not since he came home for Christmas break bearing gifts not only for me, but all four of my younger brothers.
“Cohen! You’re back,” I practically yelled at him, my excitement at seeing him making my words twice as loud as they needed to be.
“Took you long enough to figure out it was me, firecracker,” he teased, flashing me his bright white smile. I only scowled in return, the subtle reminder of my irritating hair color unwelcome. He only smiled more, obviously glad his jab had wound its way under my skin. My irritation instantly melted. It was hard to stay mad at him when he smiled like that.
I smiled at him, my heart beating heavily at how familiar he was. He looked almost the same as he had the last time I’d seen him; his eyes dark enough to match the black of his hair. His ebony hair was still short and casual. However his jawline, complete with the scratchy stuff of a few days growth, seemed stronger and more defined. It made him look like a younger version of the Brawny man. I liked it. Everything about him was familiar and warming while at the same time different and older.
I tried not to focus on the super sexy attempt at a beard he had going on; or the way the short, patchy scruff darkened his features when he smiled, but I could already tell it was a lost cause.
“Got back a couple hours ago. Nan was making me do laundry or I would have stopped by to pester you sooner. I guess college kids smell.” He smiled again and moved to sit on the large desk in front of his window, the same way we had always done.
I moved to mirror him, fully aware I was wearing my fuzzy pink pajama pants, but not caring. Cohen and I had done this since the day he moved in with his grandparents after his parents died eleven years ago. We would sit for hours in our windows and “shoot the ten foot gap”, as my mom called it. I didn’t even have curtains in my room until I hit puberty and became aware that a boy was able to look in my window.