Read Online Arson by Estevan Vega - Free Book Online

and—”
    â€œGet abducted? Maybe  you  should sit down and talk about your feelings, Mom.”
    Emery waited for the words to settle in and disturb the living daylights out of her mother.
    â€œFeelings?” Aimee replied. “I’m fine, a little uneasy about this place, that’s all.”
    Emery sank into the pillow, could feel the goose bumps on her arm. It became cold all of a sudden when her mother’s hand once more reached out to her. “Why do you keep trying to touch me?”
    â€œI’m your mother, and I love you. You’re acting so strange.”
    Who was she to start making accusations? Did she have to spend seven years afraid of her own reflection? Emery hated how parents and shrinks always thought they had the answers when, in reality, they didn’t have a clue. “I’m not acting strange; I just don’t want to be touched right now, and I don’t want to talk about the rain or this new house. I want you to leave me alone.”
    â€œIt’s perfectly normal to have feelings, Emery,” Aimee tried.
    Emery’s eyes rolled back. “There you go again.”
    â€œWhat did I say this time? What?”
    â€œNothing.”
    â€œNo, tell me.”
    Emery adjusted her mask and retreated under the covers.
    â€œIt’s that terrible mask. I never liked it, but your father insisted. I can’t believe you wear that creepy thing every day. It’s awful.”
    â€œI know. It’s not like your opinions are anything new.” Emery groaned. “I’m tired.”
    â€œSo am I,” Aimee spat. “Think what you will about me, but you and I both know that masks can’t hide everything.”
    Emery buried her head beneath the pillow. “You have me all figured out.”
    A defeated sigh pushed its way out. Aimee turned the light off as she left the room.
    Emery could hear loud footsteps outside. She leaned up in bed and stared out the window, noticing a dark figure. The strange boy her mother couldn’t stand. Possessed with curiosity, she hopped out of bed and moved toward the windowsill. The blurry figure danced intermittently across the glass. She watched it stretch against the gray world before it vanished inside the neighboring cabin.
    â€œWho are you?” Emery wondered, rubbing the flesh of her mask, its leathery material more real to her than the skin on her face.
    Down the hall, Aimee strolled into her room and quickly got into bed, nerve-wracked. The sound of her husband nestling up beside her never reached her ears. He whispered something, but she didn’t respond. She remained in the argument with her daughter.
    Joel’s hand reached for hers as he tried to smell her hair before he kissed her. But his lips felt unusual and unwelcome.
    â€œI’m not in the mood, Joel,” Aimee said under her breath, rolling over.

 
    Chapter 10
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    AIMEE AWOKE ALONE. Her eyes had glazed over, and there was a bitter taste in her mouth. Brushing the hair out of her face, she yawned and glanced down. The spot beside her was empty. The imprint of where Joel had lain for the past seven and a half hours betrayed him. Nothing left behind but damp, wrinkled bed sheets. She assumed it was her husband’s anxiety back to play the devil after a quiet, loveless evening. Aimee felt somehow refreshed, though. She tried hard not to gloat inside, but it was the first decent sleep she’d caught in weeks. Was it wrong for her to feel some satisfaction?
    It amazed her how different they were. How different they’d become. There had been a time when she longed for Joel, even cried sometimes when he left for conferences and meetings. Now, she found herself welcoming the quiet, quite content with the empty space beside her on the bed. Joel was a different man, or perhaps it wasn’t until this moment that she’d noticed he hadn’t really changed at all.
    â€œYou’re making