How Milo Fletcher became a Murderer

Part 6

Kaylyn and her family are here before I or the sun wake up. Mom drags me out of bed. Her bloodshot eyes suggest she didn't get a single hour of sleep. Kaylyn is quick to follow her into my room.

"Come on, Milo, we got things to do today! Move, move, move." Kaylyn's voice is too high pitched for this early in the morning. She begins rummaging through my drawers. I groan and swing my legs off the bed. The floor instantly chills my toes.

"I need to make coffee first." I grimace as the smell of my breath wafts to my nose, garlic and vomit lingering from last night.

"Then you should have gotten up earlier. We don't have time for nonsense." Clothes hit me in the face. "Get dressed and get your remaining stuff packed. We can stop at Starbucks later." She walks out the room, her blonde ponytail swishing back and forth, reflecting her attitude.

Mom smiles and shakes her head. "I swear, that girl." She turns her smile towards me. "You ready for today?"

"Beyond ready."

"I don't know why you're so desperate to leave me." She feigns a frown.

I roll my eyes. She's been saying things like that for the past two months after I told her my plans to move with Kaylyn. "You know it's not about you, Mom."

"If you say so." She pauses a moment. "How are you doing?"

The image of Gramp's tattered body flashes in my head. Just the thought rolls my stomach. "Yeah. Um, what did you do with... it." No longer a 'him' after what happened.

"I went ahead and buried him last night. Where we planted the daises last year."

Fitting. He'll be pushing up daisies. "We should mark his grave. He was almost as old as me. He deserves something."

"We will." She pats my back. "Now get dressed. I'll make you some coffee."

I stay on my bed attempting to convince myself to get up. Last night's dream lingers in my mind despite the real horror which occurred. Utter darkness. Utter emptiness. Totally alone. Running so hard, searching and yelling for someone to appear and save me. I shudder remembering the face. It loomed over me. The face of a girl. So pale, dark circles around her maroon eyes, eyes filled with anger. Stingy grey hair fell into her face. Then she smiled at me. Only her mouth blended in with the darkness surrounding us. I wanted to run but my legs were planted in their spot. The hairs on my arms stand up. I glance around the room almost expecting to see the girl standing somewhere in it. I'm alone.

When I come out of my room Kaylyn, her brother Ryan, and her dad are already loading what I have packed into their trailer. Ryan and her dad are struggling maneuvering my couch through the front door. Kaylyn leans back, her hands on her hips, telling them just how to do it. Mom hands me a mug of black coffee.

"I'm going to pack your clothes. Come help when you're ready." Ryan comes back in, sweat trickling down his forehead. He winks at me. I quickly look away.

"Oh, you were just shut down." Kaylyn laughs. Ryan blushes and disappears with a box. "I don't know why you won't love my brother. Especially since it would mean we would be sisters. He's had a crush on you since he tasted your cinnamon rolls."

"Yes because I want love to be based on my cooking. What if I married him but didn't want to cook for him. Next thing you know, we're ex sisters."

"You're going to cook for me though, right?"

"Everyday."

The moving process is fast despite us living on the top floor. We signed the lease last week and neither of us own many things. Boxes are stacked against the walls in every room. I can't help but laugh at the setup. A single couch against the farthest wall, the TV hung up on the other. No dining room table and no decorations.

"We're just minimalists." Kaylyn comments throwing her keys on the kitchen counter. "Now how shall we celebrate?"

"Take out?" Kaylyn gives me a long, sad look.

"Oh you poor, sheltered child. I was thinking something a bit more grown up." She walks over to a box labeled 'You Already Know', rips the tape off and pulls out a tall bottle of a clear liquid. She smiles and turns the label to face me. "GIN" is printed in large letters across it.

"I don't know if I'm ready for that yet." I've only had a glass of wine or two in my life. Never anything hard. I've always been told it's a sin to drink to excess. "Besides we need to unpack." I add hoping the excuse will be enough.

"Shot for every room we unpack. I brought soda for mixed drinks."

"And if we need to go buy stuff?" I'm grasping at straws. But I don't want to tell her no.

"Peyton will be here in about an hour. We'll make him drive us." She raises her eyebrows, daring me to come up with another excuse.

I sigh and throw my hands up in defeat, "fine. I'll get drunk with you." Maybe I'll like it. I need to say yes to more things anyway. Saying no has gotten me nowhere. Kaylyn pulls out two shot glasses from the box.

"This stuff is really hard to get down. I'm just warning you, but it gets the job done."
She fills the two glasses halfway. "We'll go easy on you."

I make the mistake of sniffing the contents. My eyes well and my hand springs to my nose. "I think it just burnt off my nose hair."

"Good those were getting too long anyway. Now come on, bottoms up."

"Peyton, you need to catch up. We'll take shots with you but you have to take three." I can hear Kaylyn arguing with her boyfriend in the kitchen. When did he get here?

Kaylyn's head peeks around the corner. She frowns at the sight of me sprawled on the floor. "We're doing more shots." I groan in response. Just the thought of alcohol rolls my stomach. My face is full of pins and needles.

"My legs don't work." It's what I try to say but my voice sounds distant and slurred.

She falls to the floor and throws her arm over me. "How you doing today, Milo?"

"It's been a weird day." I admit. "I think I killed my cat." I burst out laughing. The idea seems so ridiculous now.

Peyton comes in before she can ask what I'm talking about. "We doing these shots or what?"

"Bring them to us." Peyton walks in slowly, carefully balancing three shot glasses in his hands.

I throw my head back drinking the Gin in one quick gulp to avoid as much of the taste as possible. A warmth spreads across my chest.

"Adler wants your Snapchat." Kaylyn tells me, staring at her phone.

"Who? I don't wanna talk to a douche," I waggle my finger at her, "ever again."

"I sent it."

"Wha-" my butt buzzed when my phone dings. "He added me." I push add. I immediately receive another notification. I open my snap. One side of his mouth is turned up, clenching his slender jaw to make it appear more defined, his brown eyes shaded by his dirty blonde hair are staring off in the distance. His photo is simply captioned "hey".

"I'm not answering. I'll tell him I'm not answering."

I ignore the next buzz.

"Milo, it's 6." Panic sobers Kaylyn. "You need to get ready for work."

"Oh crap." I jump to my feet and stumble down the hall into my room, smacking into the wall the whole way. I can't be late for my first day.