Caged

5

On Sunday, I woke up feeling disorientated and dreary. The air felt humid and my sheets clung uncomfortably to my skin. Confusion washed over me as I tried to make sense of my surroundings, before I quickly realized that I was back at home. Swinging my legs over the edge of the bed, I threw the covers off of me and reached for the lamp sitting on my bedside table.

A quick glance out the window told me that it was evening, and the nap I'd taken after coming back from Mia's house had run longer than I'd intended.

After I'd walked away from my brothers, I had called Mia and spent the night at her house. We had pulled an all-nighter at her place, and when I got back, I was out as soon as my head had hit the pillow.

In the distance, I could hear the husky rumble of a few deep voices coming from downstairs. Still half-asleep, I changed into a pair of leggings and pulled a hoodie over my head, quickly tying my hair in a ponytail. Grabbing my phone, I shuffled out of my room. When I reached the living room, I noticed that the TV was on, but there was no one watching it. I followed the trail of voices I could hear into the kitchen, pausing at the threshold when I recognized the man standing with his back facing me.

"Uncle Landon!" A smile broke out on my face as he turned around from where he was standing, and he enveloped me in a hug.

He reminded me of a father, and I valued the feeling of having someone like that still in my life.

Although Elijah was my guardian, at the end of the day, he was still just my brother. Uncle Landon was my mom's brother, and he had always been someone I could go to. Someone like a dad. Elijah was only twenty when he had to take us all in, including Sophia, and Landon had stepped up to help whenever he could. When Elijah was too busy, he would make sure we all got everything we needed. Whether that had been driving us places we needed to go or watching over us while Elijah was away on a business trip—he'd been present.

"Isabella, how are you?" He asked gently, pulling back with a smile. He had the same eyes as my mother too.

"I'm okay, what are you doing here?" I asked, glancing over at Elijah and Ethan. Elijah was talking to Ethan quietly, but I didn't catch what they were saying.

"I wanted to visit you kids. It's been a while, hasn't it?" he asked, ruffling the top of my hair as he sat back on one of the stools surrounding the island. I took a seat on the one next to him.

"How long are you staying?"

"Not long, just a few hours," he told me. "How's school going? I expect you're getting good grades and all?"

"It's going fine." I didn't answer the last part of the question as I placed my elbow on the counter to hold my chin up. "Where's Caleb?"

"He and Kaiden left to grab some take out," Elijah replied as he lit up a cigarette and slipped it between his lips.

"Kaiden hasn't gone home yet?" That was unlike him. I was surprised he had even spent the night here, even though I hadn't been around to see it.

"No," Elijah replied, but his eyes weren't on me as he answered.

I frowned when I suddenly realized how intently he was watching Uncle Landon now, like he was trying to silently communicate something but I couldn't read it.

"What's going on?" I asked hesitantly when neither of them would break their silent stare. I met Ethan's eyes and he immediately looked away from me, clearing his throat.

"Ethan," Elijah began. "Landon and I have to talk about something, why don't you and Izzy go pick out a movie or something?"

"What? No, I wanna stay here w-" I began to protest because I wanted to spend time with them, but trailed off when Elijah's eyes darkened with a silent warning as they met mine.