The Spider & the Storm

by Kelsey Kingsley

A solitary creature, the black widow. Feared and often misunderstood for her venom, yet her only true desire wasn’t to terrorize, but to simply be left alone to live her life and do her work. I knew the feeling well. I’d known it for years.

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 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.

So very true!

“Come on, Charlie. Give her your number.” Luke broke through the fog, and I huffed in reply.

Ahh, older siblings. 😂

“I’ll be back later. Don’t forget a condom, all right? I don’t want any baby vampires running around here.”

“I seem to remember you threatening to annoy me, yet it’s been five days, and”—I shrugged and dipped my hands into the pockets of my jeans—“I haven’t been annoyed once.”

“You shouldn't keep her waiting, Charlie,” she said casually, palming a smoky quartz point and holding it up to the hazy light filling the shop. “You've both waited long enough.”

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

“Your brother … oh my God, your brother … we called him Zero.”

“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.”

“Oh, come on, Charlie,” he said, laughing. “After everything you know now, you really think that was all you and her?”