Dead Pretty

that a lot recently when we talk. And he also says that every time we speak—that he won’t bring it up again, but he always does.
But I can’t be angry with him. He’s done so much for me. Taken care of me my entire life.
“Thank you,” I say softly, trying to appease the situation, not wanting the only family I have left to be angry with me. “So, what have you been up to since we last spoke?”
“Just the usual. Work. Go to the gym. Got a haircut yesterday.”
“You change the style? Dye it? Let me guess … you got a blue Mohawk.”
He chuckles, and the sound makes me smile.
“Nothing that interesting. Just a trim.”
“Damn. I think you would rock a blue Mohawk.”
“Hardly.” He laughs again.
My brother is a handsome guy. Dark brown hair, brown eyes, six feet tall.
We don’t look much alike.
“Have you been to the cemetery recently?” I ask him.
Our adoptive parents died in a car accident. Just before Tobias made his appearance in my life.
“No.” His answer is short and blunt.
Cole doesn’t like to talk about our parents’ deaths. Their deaths hit him hard. They hit me hard too. Losing them was devastating. I loved them so much.
Cole and I haven’t been lucky … if that’s the right word … when it comes to parents.
Our biological parents died when I was four and Cole was eight. They were murdered.
I don’t recall much about them, only the vague memory of what they looked like. But Cole remembers them. Not that he will talk to me about them either.
I think it’s harder for him because he has those memories of our biological parents.
Cole has lost two sets of parents that he loved. And I’m sure I would have loved our biological parents too. But it’s hard to mourn what you barely remember.
After our parents were gone, we were placed in a foster home, and we were lucky to both be adopted by our foster parents. Not many kids in the foster system get to stay with siblings. Honestly, I don’t think I would have coped without Cole.
Well, I know I wouldn’t have coped without him. He’s definitely the stronger of the two of us.
But it wasn’t until Tobias that I started to think that maybe I was cursed. First, my biological parents had been murdered. Then, my adoptive parents had died. Then, Tobias started stalking me and killing people.
Death follows me around; that’s for sure.
I think that Cole is safer, not being around me. Not that I would tell him this. He’d just say I was thinking crazy.
“I’m sorry if I upset you,” I say softly.
“You didn’t. I just don’t like talking about … them.”
And that’s why I ask, why I bring them up. Because I don’t think it’s healthy, not to talk about things.
But still, I say, “I know. I’m sorry.”
“Stop saying sorry and tell me what you’ve been up to this week. And don’t give me the same nothing answer that you give me every week.”
“Actually, I—” I’m about to tell him about the cat and then stop. Because that conversation would lead to Jack, and for some reason, I really don’t want to tell him about Jack.
My brother is overprotective of me. He always has been. I think that’s why he finds it hard, not knowing where I am.
I know if I tell him about Jack, he’ll worry.
Not that there is anything to worry about.
I think.
“You what?” he prompts.
I quickly change gears. “I went to the grocery store yesterday. They had those Caramel Apple Pops that we were obsessed with when we were kids. You remember them?”
“Yeah, I do,” he says.
I can hear the smile in his voice, and I’m glad that I put it there even if it was due to a lie.
It is scary to me just how quickly I pulled that lie about Caramel Apple Pops out of the air. I don’t even know if you can still buy them, to be honest. But I won’t overthink it.
“So, yeah, I grabbed a handful of them. They’re gone already.” I laugh. “And I checked out a new book from work, so I’ve been reading that. What else? Oh, I started a new show on Netflix called Stranger Things.”
Okay, so I got curious about it after Jack said how good it was.
It’s not been too scary so far. But I am only two episodes in.
Plenty of time to change my mind on it.
“I’ve never watched it,” Cole tells me.
“Not your kind of thing, to be fair.”
Cole is more of a movie watcher, usually action films rather than TV shows. I love a good binge-watch of a new television show.
“So, have you made any new friends?” he asks me.
That comes out of left field. Cole knows my reason for coming out here was to be alone. That making friends is not part of my plan.
I’m trying to not freak out that he asked the question. But it’s weird that I have only recently just met Jack and then Cole asks me that.
Not that Jack and I are friends.
Far from it.
Either it’s a coincidence or my brother is psychic.
I don’t believe in coincidences, so I’m going with psychic. He always does seem to know my business.
“Nope.” I let the P pop. I’m not fessing up to him, psychic or not. “You know that I’m not here to make friends.”
“I know. I just wondered if that had changed. You can’t stay away from people forever, Audrey.”
“Yes, I can.”
He sighs. “Isn’t there anyone at work who you talk with?”
Not more than a few sentences.
“Nope. That’s the beauty of working in a library. It’s silent. No one talks.”
“Audrey …”
“And anyway, I don’t need anyone, except for my big brother.”
There’s silence, and if I couldn’t hear him breathing, I would think the line had been cut.
“You know I love you, right?”
I smile. “Love you too, Cole. I’m going to head off now. A hot bath is calling my name.”
“Call me in a week.”
It’s not a request.
I roll my eyes, not