Glass House, Amberlynn

Chapter 2

The trip to the market had been amazing. Never before had I seen so many vendors and children gathered in one place. It made me think of the years before my mother’s passing when she would take me to the market for food.

“Did you have a good time?”

                I looked up at my cousin and grinned from ear to ear. It was a fake grin, but I could feel it making its way to my eyes. The feeling as a whole was, of course, shot down when I saw Jonah standing at the top of the porch steps.

“It’s late,” He said, his voice both loud and antagonizing.

                I felt my body slink back slightly. I was afraid of Jonah when he was mad. My cheeks could feel the faint stings and burns of my previous punishments. Joel rested his hand on my shoulder and I could only guess how I had reacted to Jonah. Did Joel really find me that petrified?

“What are you doing here, Jonah?” I could feel him press slightly harder on my shoulder as he stood beside me.

“So you brought her out.”

“Well she’s not an animal. I should be allowed to go to the market with her.”     

                The two men produced more tension in the air than I had ever felt. I had known about their deepening hatred for one another, but had never experienced it for myself.

“She broke my daughter’s vase,” Jonah noted. His lips were pressed in a thin line that he often had when he was angry.

“So this is all about a vase?”

Jonah scoffed in response to Joel’s question.

“This is about more than a vase,” Joel said, his tone suspecting “Why don’t you want me hanging around my cousin?”

                You could see something flicker in Jonah’s eyes. I wasn’t sure if it was anger or grief, or even happiness. He was such a complex yet simple man. I figured that is why he scared me so.

“Why are you standing beside a man who is hiding the truth from you?”

                The question was directed at me, catching me off guard.

What had he meant by that?

What could Joel possibly be hiding from me?

                My mind racked over the possibilities and I felt my blood run cold. Jonah had just opened a box that wasn’t meant to be opened. Not yet, I could feel it.

“Jonah,” My cousin said in a tone that sounded threatening. It was as if Joel was willing to hurt him if he were to say another word to me.

“Go on, Joel,” He said, urging him to say more. Jonah had him in the palm of his hand. I could tell because I had been there so many times myself. “Tell Amy about the letter!”

                I turned to my cousin, tears threatening to escape. So it was about a letter. I felt my heart sink a little by knowing that.

“What letter?” I asked, knowing I was asking for my world to fall apart. I knew the answer though I refused to believe it. I wished, prayed, hoped, and everything else that I was wrong. I wanted to –no- needed to be wrong.

“It was delivered just the other day,” He started, reaching behind himself, “I wanted to tell you sooner, but I was worried—“

“Show me the letter.”

                I watched as he sighed and brought the letter from out of his back pocket. Instantly, I felt my heart crush under the weight of the grief. I didn’t have to read the paper in his hand to know what it said. I saw the typesetting. It was what the military used.