FATE

61. Lifeless Gray

BROOKE

"Brooke!"

Jonah shuts the door behind me as I smile, "good day"

Jonah's aunt grins, "how are you?"

"I'm doing great", I say, "and you?"

"Oh, I'm not doing good at all"

Jonah stands next to me with a small frown on his face, "what's wrong?", he asks her quickly.

"Brooke owes me dinner", she says to him.

He rolls his eyes and grabs my hand, "we're going upstairs"

I chuckle as he pulls me towards the stairs, "how about next week?", I ask his aunt.

Jonah and I pause at the base of the stairs. She grins widely as her blue eyes light up, "that would be amazing!"

I nod, "next week then"

"Is that all, auntie?", Jonah asks.

She pouts and stares thoughtfully at us before turning to me, "are there any foods you're allergic to?"

"Nope", I shake my head.

"And what's your favorite food?"

"Anything's good"

She claps her hair together, "amazing!", she says, "I'll see you next week then"

Before I can reply, Jonah's grip tightens around my hand and he pulls me up the stairs.

Upstairs, the sound of a rough, hoarse voice fills my ears. I grimace and Jonah chuckles as we walk towards his room.

"Francis is singing", he says.

"Well, can he stop?"

"Considering how loud he is, I'd say he has headphones on"

Francis' voice gets louder when we pass by his room silently. Jonah opens the door to his room for me to walk in first. It almost looks the same except a lot of things have been moved around. Jonah's bed is now on the other side of the room and the desk with the chair has been moved behind the door when we open it. Not far from the window, hanging from the ceiling is a large, heavy punching bag.

"Oh", I mutter as I hear the door shut behind me.

"What?", Jonah asks. I glance behind me to see him taking off his jacket.

"It all looks different"

He nods, "Yeah", he says, "with you grounded and with Hailee spending the whole day at therapy, I got bored and busy"

I smile, "and what's that for?", I point at the bag, "I've never seen it here before"

He snorts and walks around me. He runs his palm around its smooth surface, "Isn't it obvious?", he asks, "I hit it"

"That sounds fun"

He smiles, "you think?"

I nod and he moves behind it, holding it tightly, "try it then"

"What?", I walk over to the desk and place my purse and on it gently, "you want me to hit that"

"Just be careful not to hurt yourself"

I roll my eyes, "I'm not as weak as you think Jonah"

"I actually don't think you're weak", he says, "now, try hitting it"

I raise my hand slowly and take a deep breath. My fist slams into the bag, sending jolts through my bones but it doesn't move and my bones hurt.

"Ouch", I mutter, holding it in my hand.