The Spider & the Storm

by Kelsey Kingsley

Because sometimes, our memories were crueler than the ghosts that haunted us, and the only thing you could do to chase them away was to caffeinate and wake the hell up.

But despite my cries and my pleas for my parents to answer me, I knew I’d never hear their voices again.

But grief had a funny way of being evergreen, no matter how much time had passed, and it was as fresh as it’d ever been now.

And why hadn’t my parents haunted me? Why hadn’t they sent me any of those signs people talked about all the damn time?

He wasn't the type of man women made a family and a life with—he'd made sure of that, the fucking asshole.

so does that mean melanie left him?

“Where is he?” “Prison,”

WHAT

Having a brother incarcerated for ending someone’s life would do that to you.

so Luke is fucked

“I see you.”

“And I'm glad that, of all the witches in this city, you chose to catch me in your web.”

I wondered if it helped her nerves, to fill the dead air with the sound of something. I was the opposite; I clammed up when I was even remotely anxious.

“O-oh, wow,” Jersey replied with an awkward stammer, her eyes flitting rapidly between Melanie and Luke. “Married. That's … that's, uh … that’s really cool.”

Luke probably had an affair with this chick or something

The heat of the blood pooling against my fingers and dripping onto my bare feet.

did he kill someone and Luke took the blame?

The right chick’s gonna be like, Yes, Charlie, I will be your bride of Frankenstein. Let me just go sew myself a dress made from the skin of my victims, and I’ll meet you down at the courthouse,” he said in a mocking, high-pitched tone.

“Because you'll be there,” he said with finality. “And I just decided that, for as long as we have together, I'll go where you go.”

“She was sent for a purpose. You have no reason to doubt.”

“I … I killed Ritchie.”

And Soldier and I were just sitting there, like, what the fuck, man?”

oh my small world

It was just unfortunate for me that Luke’s blood was also mine.

Im guessing Tommy is the one who stabbed him

Maybe he was only meant to torment me from afar, to haunt me in death as he had in life because what if … God, what if … What if the one to leave the mementos at my door was Tommy Wheeler?

Wait does that mean you killed tommy?

and just the thought of being within a few hours of the scene of all our crimes—Luke's and mine combined—was enough to keep me awake for days.

oh he definitely killed him

“I'm so fucking tired,” I admitted, the weary agony dragging my voice down to a whisper.

“You just tell me what I'm fighting against, Charlie, and I'll go into battle with you.”

“Do I make you happy?” “More than anything.”

No, I knew without a fraction of a doubt that I would make her my wife if I only found the courage to ask.

Anyway, we heard footsteps coming toward the bathroom, and Zero shoved Shawna toward one of the stalls. Then, before I knew what this freakin' guy was doing, he grabbed me, yanked my pants down, and shoved me up against the wall where he’d just had Shawna. The guard walked in, saw us there, naked from the waist down, and he said, 'Huh. It's about time someone made Mason their bitch. I always knew he'd sound like a woman.'

“Let it go, Charlie,” she whispered, touching her forehead to mine. “And until you do, I'll love you enough for both of us.”

“My soul doesn't know how to not love yours. All I had to do was meet you to know that I had been put into this universe to hold you and protect you and shelter you from every terrible thing that had ever come your way until you were strong enough to face it on your own. And whenever that happens, if ever it does, my soul will stand beside yours, even while the rest of the world has been conditioned to run from us both.”

“Because the person who came in here, claiming to be his next of kin, was his wife.”

i already forgot her name but its definitely whoever lived with them for years and helped raise charlie

“It’s such fucking bullshit, and I'm not ready to say goodbye to you, okay?

Whatever they told you about grief dulling with time was bullshit. You just got better at hiding it while its deep cuts opened over and over and over again, bleeding all over your broken heart.