Fire And Ash Read Online Free
Author: Nia Davenport
me.
“It’s cool. It’s actually kind of fun.” I don’t say the words to make her feel better or to be polite. I mean it. In the last ten minutes I’ve fallen into a kind of enjoyable mindless rhythm as the kitchen knife sliced through one kind of fruit after another, cleaving two by two chunks of fruit.
“Liar,” Derek, the jackass, snorts as he steps through the partially open sliding glass door that leads from the kitchen to the fenced in backyard.
I stop cutting the kiwi in front of me and pretend to just happen to hold the knife in a way that it comes level with the spot between his eyes as he crosses the kitchen towards me. “No really. It’s fun to cut things.” I smooth my face into an innocent mask and make my voice drip with sickly sweetness.
He sits the foil pan with patties in it down hard on the counter beside me and glares at me straight on.
“Derek!” Cassie and his mom hiss at the same time.
His jaw clenches tight. I know he wants to respond to my none too subtle poke. But he doesn’t. He shoulders past me and heads for the sliding door. “The rest of the food will be off the grill in a minute. Is everything else ready? The sooner we eat the sooner she can leave,” he calls over his shoulder as he walks out.
Their mother’s mouth hangs agape and Cassie’s cheeks redden.
“I am so sorry,” she starts to apologize for his ill manners but I cut her off refusing to let her.
“You don’t have to apologize for his colossal rudeness.”
“Was he nice when she first got here?” She asks her mom. The suspicion in her voice makes it clear she is asking a question she already knows the answer to.
“You know how Derek can be. But don’t be too hard on him about it later. We both know the reason for his newfound attitude,” she says sighing. The oven chimes and she takes a pan that looks like it contains some sort of casserole out of it and puts a round pan that holds the cake batter she used the eggs to make in it.
“I know Mom but it’s starting to become a poor excuse. Him and his attitude is the reason we keep having to move. This is supposed to be our last clean start.”
“I know Cass. I’ll talk to him about it. I promise.”
“If y’all are done talking about me like I can’t hear you, can we eat already? I’m starving,” Derek calls from outside.
Cassie rolls her eyes and their mom gives her an indulgent smile.
I don’t stay long after we eat. I tell Cassie I have to get home because my dad is expecting me not to stay out too long. Truthfully, the way her brother spends the entire meal stone-faced and tight-jawed makes me feel like I’m imposing and I decide to go sooner rather than later.
CHAPTER THREE
Balance
“Ash!” Aunt Farrah screams upstairs. “Mom says to come eat!” My aunt can’t help but to be loud. She grew up in a house full of boys.
I pull on a pair of sweats over my sleep shorts, make a quick stop in the bathroom to brush my teeth, then head downstairs.
Today is the first time I’ve woken up to my family in residence and having breakfast together in days. Everyone’s time except mine and Grandma’s have been consumed by the search for the missing girl. I thought I missed everyone being around, but I rethink the sentiment when I open the refrigerator and am greeted by an empty carton of orange juice.
I scowl at Sean and raise the empty carton in the air. “Would it kill you to throw it away?”
“Why bother?” He says over a mouthful of pancakes. “That’s what I have you for, princess. ”
Aunt Farrah spits out the sip of water she’s just taken when the carton hits him in the face. Even Gerard doubles over in laughter and they’re thick as thieves. My grandmother doesn’t think it’s so funny.
She thinks it’s even less funny when the steak knife on the table beside Sean hurls itself at my head.
“Sean!” She shrieks at him. “That was uncalled for!”
“And her hurling an orange
“It’s cool. It’s actually kind of fun.” I don’t say the words to make her feel better or to be polite. I mean it. In the last ten minutes I’ve fallen into a kind of enjoyable mindless rhythm as the kitchen knife sliced through one kind of fruit after another, cleaving two by two chunks of fruit.
“Liar,” Derek, the jackass, snorts as he steps through the partially open sliding glass door that leads from the kitchen to the fenced in backyard.
I stop cutting the kiwi in front of me and pretend to just happen to hold the knife in a way that it comes level with the spot between his eyes as he crosses the kitchen towards me. “No really. It’s fun to cut things.” I smooth my face into an innocent mask and make my voice drip with sickly sweetness.
He sits the foil pan with patties in it down hard on the counter beside me and glares at me straight on.
“Derek!” Cassie and his mom hiss at the same time.
His jaw clenches tight. I know he wants to respond to my none too subtle poke. But he doesn’t. He shoulders past me and heads for the sliding door. “The rest of the food will be off the grill in a minute. Is everything else ready? The sooner we eat the sooner she can leave,” he calls over his shoulder as he walks out.
Their mother’s mouth hangs agape and Cassie’s cheeks redden.
“I am so sorry,” she starts to apologize for his ill manners but I cut her off refusing to let her.
“You don’t have to apologize for his colossal rudeness.”
“Was he nice when she first got here?” She asks her mom. The suspicion in her voice makes it clear she is asking a question she already knows the answer to.
“You know how Derek can be. But don’t be too hard on him about it later. We both know the reason for his newfound attitude,” she says sighing. The oven chimes and she takes a pan that looks like it contains some sort of casserole out of it and puts a round pan that holds the cake batter she used the eggs to make in it.
“I know Mom but it’s starting to become a poor excuse. Him and his attitude is the reason we keep having to move. This is supposed to be our last clean start.”
“I know Cass. I’ll talk to him about it. I promise.”
“If y’all are done talking about me like I can’t hear you, can we eat already? I’m starving,” Derek calls from outside.
Cassie rolls her eyes and their mom gives her an indulgent smile.
I don’t stay long after we eat. I tell Cassie I have to get home because my dad is expecting me not to stay out too long. Truthfully, the way her brother spends the entire meal stone-faced and tight-jawed makes me feel like I’m imposing and I decide to go sooner rather than later.
CHAPTER THREE
Balance
“Ash!” Aunt Farrah screams upstairs. “Mom says to come eat!” My aunt can’t help but to be loud. She grew up in a house full of boys.
I pull on a pair of sweats over my sleep shorts, make a quick stop in the bathroom to brush my teeth, then head downstairs.
Today is the first time I’ve woken up to my family in residence and having breakfast together in days. Everyone’s time except mine and Grandma’s have been consumed by the search for the missing girl. I thought I missed everyone being around, but I rethink the sentiment when I open the refrigerator and am greeted by an empty carton of orange juice.
I scowl at Sean and raise the empty carton in the air. “Would it kill you to throw it away?”
“Why bother?” He says over a mouthful of pancakes. “That’s what I have you for, princess. ”
Aunt Farrah spits out the sip of water she’s just taken when the carton hits him in the face. Even Gerard doubles over in laughter and they’re thick as thieves. My grandmother doesn’t think it’s so funny.
She thinks it’s even less funny when the steak knife on the table beside Sean hurls itself at my head.
“Sean!” She shrieks at him. “That was uncalled for!”
“And her hurling an orange
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