Chapter 55: Asher
“Yoni boya tan clean up,” my mom xays, getting sp from the ouch and stretching.”
*We’re heading to bed”
My dad echoes the sentiment with a salt, “Goodnight, you two And Asher – thanks again for dinner
Tyler groans diamatically, sinking deeper into the truth like he might disappear into it.
I glance at him. “Get up.”
He sighs like he’s been personally attacked,
“Come on,” I add “If we do it together, it’ll be done fast, and you can go chill or hang upside down in your room or whatever the hell you do at night
He laughs under his breath and drags himself up, following me into the kitchen with all the grace of a teenager bring asked to do manual tabor, even though he’s not a teen and this will barely take ten minutes.
We start with the dishes–plates, glasses, forks, everything gathered and stacked. I run water while he scrapes leftover food into the garbage. The tap hies, and the smell of roasted vegetables lingers in the air along with the faintest trace of Penny’s perfume, still hanging from the couch cushions and maybe from my brain.
Tyler talks while we work. It’s a stream of consciousness sort of thing – something about a guy on his team who brought the wrong cleats to praction, something about pizza toppings, something about how he’s going to get a better rink in whatever game he’s currently obsessed with
I let it go for a while. Let the nose fill the rooms like it’s supposed to
But then I can’t help it. My patience has limits, and tonight I’m already pushing past all of them
“Do you know the whole story?” I ask.
He stops stacking bowl. “What story?”
“The robbery.”
He blinks at me, “Oh Yeah. Kinda.”
Item to face him. “Kinda?”
He shrugs. “I know what happened. But Mom and Dad said not to talk about it.”
“They said not to talk about it in front of Penny,” I clarity. “This is just us.”
His hesitation lasts all of three second before his usual enthusiam kicks in, like I knew it would. He leans on the counter, drying his hands on a towel, Lace lighting up with that same gris he gets when he tells a story he’s not supposed to
Why he’s excited about a story like this, I’ll never understand. But I keep my face still. I want the detach.
“It was before I met het he starts. “But she told me a lot about it. Her parents told mine, too. And I read about it in the news.”
I narrow my eyes. “You
He scowls. “Shut up. I like to be informed. Sometimes”
I let that one go and wait.
He shrugs “Her parents were only gone far dhe night. Some quick work trip or something. Penny was sixteen you know, ald enough I mint a Ng
Until it was
“She went in sleep like nernal, But then in the middle at the night, sie head olar. Like stoff moving. Then voles, the so still half a parents came home early. So she went downstairs”
I can already feel it tightening in my chest, that slow pull of pressure that a cones before the explosion.
“She came face in face with a go. hist… right there. Some dode, maybe only a couple pars older than Rey
1 clench my jaw. “She recognized him?”
Tyles shakes his head. “She said no. It was dark, he had a hende or something. And she wanted to run, but before she could reart
there was another
He does neem to notice the way my hands have stopped moving. Water’s still running in the sink.
“That one shoved her to the floor. Pulled out a gun. Pointed it right at her. Apparently the guys started arguing about what they would do with her.”
My throat closes for a secund.
“She told them she couldn’t see their faces. That she wouldn’t be able to them. Told them to just take what they wanted and go
Smart.
“They made her lie on her stomach. Hands behind her back, One of them sat on her to keep her down while the other started grabbing stuff – laptrops, Jewelry, money, whatever they could find. She said she couldn’t breathe and couldn’t move ”
“And then?” I ask, feeling like I can’t breathe or move either,
Tyler keeps going like he’s reciting a campfire story. “Before they left one of the leaned down, showed her the gun apin and told her that if she called the cops, they’d come back and use it. Said they were watching.”
“Tesus,” i mutter
“Yeah.”
“What did she do?”
“Cried. Stayed there. She said she couldn’t move. Just laid there all night.”
1 shot the faucet off
“And her parents found her in the morning?”
He nods. “Yeah. Called the cops right away. She had bruises on her back, and they found DNA- but no matcher Not at first.”
I turn to face him fully how. “So bow’d they catch them?”
“A month later, another house a few blocks away got hit, Sase MD. This time, someone got a partial plate and security cam footage. They matched the DNA and bam. Caught ‘em both. Now they’re in prison.”
Ieshale slowly. There’s a tight, hot thread of fury running down my spine
“And that’s why she doesn’t like being alone, Tyler adds, tossing a dish towel toward the counter.
“She said nothing like that ever happened beef, or since. But, no matter how long it’s been she just can’t shake it
“It’s not something you shake,” I say.
Tyler shrugs. “I mean it’s been three years. And she fe. I tell her all the time that she should stop thinking–about it,”
That’s
‘s all it takes. One dismissive, careless shrug. Coe flippant statenint from someone who’s never had to sleep with fear folded under their thu like (pa
change.
I want to tear him a new one.
I want to grab him by the collar and explain exactly how long three years of trauma con love in a person. How it doesn’t fade it mots. Desp
But his phone buzzes, and he picks it up.
“Yo!” he says, grinning at the screen. “Yeah, I’m down. Just gotta log in, I’ll hop on
He heads toward the stairs, completely unaware.
I stare at the empty space he leaves behind, fighting the urge to run over to Penny’s house so she doesn’t have to be alone tonight.
