Ice Cold

16

Landon Reilly

I never imagined what Wren's house looked like, but if I did it would have been some house on a dead end street with a long driveway that practically put it in the middle of the woods, a suitable place for creatures like him to reside. But when he pulled into his driveway, his house was nothing like that. It was in a cul de sac neighborhood surrounded by houses that looked almost the exact same as each other. It was a normal, suburban neighborhood and absolutely nothing how I imagined the place Wren lived to be. However, that didn't make me regret coming with him any less.

"This is where you live?" I asked as he parked the car in front of the two-door garage.

"No, I'm just dropping you off here," he replied with a straight face. I rolled my eyes at him and the two of us got out of the car, Wren grabbing both of our bags from the backseat and throwing them over his shoulder.

"Are you sure it's okay for me to be here...?" I trailed, glancing nervously over at Wren as we walked up to the house.

"Fox isn't here," he said. "I would know it if he was and I wouldn't have brought you here."

That only made me feel slightly better. I wasn't ready for another confrontation with Fox anytime soon, not with the way he was giving me a death glare when I saw him at the diner a few weeks ago.

I followed Wren up to the house, him unlocking the door and letting us inside. The house was dark, seeming like no one else was here. I didn't know whether to feel more relaxed at that or more stressed at the fact that I was all alone with Wren.

He flipped on the lights and I took a look around the house. We were standing in the living room that was practically spotless except for the books stacked on the coffee table and the video games in a pile on the floor near the TV. There were a ton of pictures of the family all around the room. A family portrait hung above the fireplace and individual school pictures of all the children were scattered about the walls. I didn't realize Wren had so many siblings. I didn't actually know he had one other than Fox.

Before I had the chance to say anything, two little girls came out of nowhere, screaming, one holding a frying pan and the other a broom as if they were going to hit the two of us with them. I jumped back, but Wren looked at them with a blank expression.

"Seriously?" he asked the girls, raising his eyebrows.

"You asshole!" the one holding the broom exclaimed. She smacked him with it. "We thought someone broke in!"

"Through the front door by unlocking it with a key?"

She smacked him again with the broom and he took it out of her hands.

"You don't know what it's like being a girl and having to live in fear!" she yelled.

"Where are Mom and Dad? Where's Colt?"

"Mom and Dad are out with Dan and Mindy. Colt is upstairs, but he would be no help in a break-in situation."

"I don't doubt that," Wren replied.

The other little girl was glaring at me, still holding the frying pan up like she was about to use it. I recognized her from the diner a few weeks ago.

"Ava, you can put that thing down now," Wren told her, but she didn't listen.

"What is he doing here?" she asked him, never taking her eyes off of me.

Wren looked between the two of us and let out a sigh.

"Okay, what's it going to take to keep you two quiet about this?"

"Quiet about what?" the other girl, who I assumed was his sister, asked, placing her hands on her hips.