The Spider & the Storm

by Kelsey Kingsley

I cried again, wondering where my brother was and why he didn't care—why nobody cared—as

Everything changed a little when the person you saw as Superman took off his cape,

“But we can’t do anything about the hands we’re dealt, Chuck. All we can do is hobble our way through life and thank the man upstairs that things aren’t worse. Because they can always be worse, my friend. Always.”

Nobody cared about the dead after the living they’d belonged to were gone.

Take pride in what you do for them, but always take more in what you do for yourself.”

It was strange to be so simultaneously selfish and selfless.

I was wanted.

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

I had learned early in life that hope was often a foolish thing, meant only for those who hadn’t yet gotten sick of being let down.

Her eyes met mine with a touch of intrigue and a dash of sadness. “Is that what happened to you?” “I’ve never died before, no,” I countered with a smirk while avoiding a question way too personal for my liking.

“I don’t know what it is about you, but for some reason, kissing you feels like a privilege,”

Because they didn’t understand them, Charlie, and people … sometimes, they’re afraid of the things they don’t—or can’t—understand. They think it’s easier to fear than to accept.”

To be honest, her absence was annoying me more than her presence ever had.

Disrespect angered me. People angered me,

“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.”

“How a guy would handle a crying old lady says a lot about his character.”

“Because a drastic change requires a drastic reason.”

not all nightmares were created equally.

At this point, I'll just be lucky if I'm not dead or in prison.”

How the fuck could they not stop?”

Weird as hell, but aren't we all?” “Even the Misfit Toys had each other.”

“I love how I taste on your tongue,” she muttered in between kisses. “Like I've always belonged there.” “And what if you have?”

the right one won't run.”

“How do you do that?” Her lips—unpainted today, but just as beautiful and tempting—curved in a smile. “Do what?” “Make light of your demons.” The smile faded as she hummed a gentle sound. Then, she shrugged. “I don't know. I guess because they're not really mine anymore.

But I made the conscious decision to leave my demons where they belong, and that's that.”

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

“I'm just saying, I chose the path that brought me to you, not him. So, as far as I'm concerned, you're the real winner here. Because I'm a fucking prize.”

How can they not thank God every fucking day that their daughter hadn't faced the same fate as her friend, buried across the street?

“But I do know that she's the greatest woman I've ever known. God smiled at me for maybe the first time in my life when He sent her my way.

This is why fictional men are better.

if anything could convince me that I'm a good man, it's knowing that she, for some reason, thinks that I am.”

“I’m happy I could be your first,” she said, her elation now fogged by sleep. I pressed a single kiss to her shoulder and whispered back, “I’m even happier to be your last.”

“You want him to see that it was all worth it.”

“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.”

You always knew I hated being alone.

“Don't be fucking proud of me. I'm not living my life, you asshole. I'm running from it.” “Or, you know …” He paused for effect, pinning me with a meaningful glare. “Maybe you're finally running toward it.”

“I'd do it all again, Charlie, if it meant you finally, finally finding the strength to get out on your own,” he said, ignoring me. “That's all I ever tried to do. To protect you and to make you strong, and I guess, in my own fucked-up way, that's what I did.”

two little boys entered the dining room.

“We turned out okay,” I muttered to the door, to that scared little spider beneath the angry clouds and lightning and torrential downpour. “Not everything is okay, but we are.”

I'll be smoking a cigarette and watching from between the trees.