Blood Storm

The Earth’s Tilt

I laid half-awake in my bed the next morning, staring at the wilted bouquet of red roses on my nightstand that I couldn’t bring myself to throw away.

I had been deep in thought this morning, and I couldn’t seem to pull myself out of my own mind long enough to decide what my plans were for the day.

A few things were on my mind this morning. This was my first morning in a week where I hadn’t woken up and been immediately brain-fogged by the presence of Jax on my doorstep. Although, on a normal day, I was both elated and excited to see him for any length of time— today I was glad that I at least had a while to gather my thoughts.

I had never in a million years would have thought that last night would have been the result of me meeting Jax that first day in Rockport. If you’d asked me a week and a half ago, I’d have told you that you were absolutely insane if you thought I was going to fall in love or settle down with anyone from this place. Jackson had definitely changed all of that for me, though. The anger and overwhelming waves of grief I felt when I arrived here were a fading memory to me now. I still felt the grief, to a great magnitude, but it was much easier to control.

In a week and a half, I had almost died once, been stalked and thoroughly creeped out, and found a person that seemed to piece all of the broken pieces of me back together. My mind was reeling a little bit, and I couldn’t help but stand back and look at my current position with a little bit of awe.

My phone dinged on my bedside table, and I reached over and grabbed it. I had two different text messages.

Aaron: Haven’t talked to you much this week. Hope everything is going ok. Don’t forget about us losers here in NC.

Madeleine: My parents are out of town and I’m bored. Come stay over! I need girl time, big time.

I was a little surprised that Jax hadn’t called or texted yet, but it was only just after ten in the morning, and I assumed he may be sleeping in. I had to keep reminding myself that his life didn’t revolve around me, as much as it seemed like it did some days. The silence made me a little anxious, considering our passionate moment in his car the night before— but I shrugged it off, deciding that I wouldn’t worry until I needed to. I definitely didn’t want to ruin the soft warm aura I was feeling this morning by worrying before there was even a reason to worry. I quickly typed out a reply to Aaron.

Me: I couldn’t ever forget about the hazbens back home. I miss you. Everything is good. Really good, actually. I’ll call you later and fill you in.

I scrolled back to Maddie’s text, quickly tapping out a reply to her too.

Me: Actually, that sounds really nice. I could use some girl time.

It was probably a good idea to show my mom that I was spending time with people other than Jax, anyway. I knew she had become a little concerned that he was taking over my life.. and she wasn’t entirely wrong, either. He definitely consumed a large portion of my thoughts on a daily basis.

It took a lot for me to motivate myself to get out of bed and get dressed for the day, but finally I pulled myself out of my bed and decided to go take a shower.

I started my normal routine, grabbing my favorite, soft, matching pair of sweatpants and a cropped hoodie. I figured I would be inside most of the day, so the crop top wouldn’t hinder me too much.

As I started to strip out of my clothes, though, I noticed a deep purple bruise on my forearm, exactly where Jason’s fingers had snagged me yesterday. I stared at it in confusion. I hadn’t felt like he was grabbing me that hard, not hard enough to bruise— I didn’t typically bruise easily at all. I did remember his grip being painful, but it had been very fleeting since Jax had showed up to my aide. With a confused grimace, I decided that maybe my iron was low. That was the only explanation I could think of.

The hot water felt good on my skin, though, and I quickly stopped thinking about it when the steam and warmth soaked into my pores. Hot showers had become a much bigger deal to me here, where the cold seemed so bone-chilling. I scrubbed my hair thoughtfully.

I took the extra time this morning after my shower to blow dry out my hair with a round brush, and it definitely made a huge difference. My brick-red curls were hanging in lose, billowy waves down my back, stopping just at the exposed skin of my waist from my cropped sweater. The sweatpants are sweater combo were black, and the pants came up just below my belly button, and the sweater was long enough that it only really left a small sliver of my skin exposed.

Paranoid, I yanked down the fabric on my hip and ran my hands across the flat surface of my stomach, checking for a bruise where Jax had grabbed my hip yesterday. If I really was becoming anemic, surely that was hard enough to bruise too— but nothing was there. I shook my head.

I walked out of the bathroom and smiled as the smell of pancakes hit my nose, and I immediately padded off barefoot to go find the source of the smell.

My mother was cooking breakfast, and her hair was piled up like a birds nest on top of her head. Her tiny little tattoo of a boat on the back of her neck was visible this way— her slight nod to her hometown.

“Morning, Mom,” I crossed the kitchen to plant a kiss on her cheek.

She jumped, whirling around to look at me and placing a hand on her chest. She took a deep breath. “Oh, Colette. Good morning, honey. You startled me.”

“Sorry,” I grinned. “You’re making pancakes?”

Pancakes were a thing we always used to do as a family on Saturday mornings. We all usually had our own weekend plans, but Mom, Dad, and I always got together when we woke up for a late brunch. Dad would try uncermoniously to flip them, and they’d land in the floor every time until Mom would laugh and take the pan away from him. Some of my fondest memories with my family were Saturday morning brunches. Shortly after my father had passed, the brunches stopped. Mom had stopped getting out of bed before late afternoon. The kitchen that was once filled with playful laughter had become a place where we went only for necessity and microwave meals.

I couldn’t help the joyful smile on my face or the peaceful feeling that washed over my skin at the familiar smell. I thought— for a brief moment— that an ache or sadness might follow, but it didn’t. Just joy.

She gave me a concerned look. “I thought maybe some normalcy would be good for us. If it upsets you, I can make something else—“

“Mom, no,” I reassured her. “This is great. Thank you.”

She smiled at me then, all of the worry leaving her face. “You wanna try your dad’s famous flip?”

I laughed, and the sound felt freeing. “It was famous because it sucked.”

“That’s true.” She chuckled.

“So.. um.. not to ruin the moment,” I began. “But Maddie’s parents are out of town and she doesn’t want to be alone. So do you care if I go stay over there tonight?” I asked, biting my lip. “If you don’t want to be alone here, I totally get it—“

Mom turned to look at me, raising one eyebrow. “No Jackson today?”

I shook my head. “I thought I’d hear from him this morning, but he must be busy. And besides,” I tried to fix the disappointment on my face from the fact that I had not heard from Jax. “I really want some girl time, anyways.”

My mom smiled happily. “I actually think that’s a great idea, honey,” her face fell. “I know you really care for Jackson, but I don’t want your life here to completely revolve around him.”

It already does, though. “I know, Mom. So can I go?”

“Of course you can. I may go spend some time with Stacey tonight, anyways, so don’t you worry about me. Go have fun.”

I smiled. “Thanks, Mom.”

The warm, happy atmosphere of the morning returned then, and Mom and I laughed and joked and picked fun at my dad’s cooking while we ate breakfast. I don’t remember the last time I laughed that much— my stomach hurt in the best way.

“He always thought he was Gordon Ramsey,” my mom chuckled, wiping a bit of maple syrup from her chin.

“Do you remember when he was trying to make himself instant noodles, and he put them in a bowl, in the microwave, without water?” I giggled.

My mom’s face turned red at the intensity of her laughter. The sound was beautiful. “The entire house smelled like burned cardboard for two weeks. I could hardly get the smell out.”

“He acted like he couldn’t smell it. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, Rachel’.” I mocked my dad’s embarrassed voice.

My mom’s laughter turned into a serious expression, and the gently moved the pieces of pancake around on her plate, her face deep in thought. She looked a little somber.

“I know things haven’t been easy, Cole,” she didn’t look up from her breakfast. “But I promise you that things are going to get better. Your father wouldn’t want us to mourn forever.”

My eyes flashed away from her face, unable to look in her eyes. “Mom..” I started. “Have you heard anything? About the case?”

I could see that my mother was apprehensive on telling me, not wanting my obsessive behavior on finding my dad’s murderer to come back out. I couldn’t say I blamed her. She bit her lip, a mannerism that I interhited from her.

“Last I heard, they were reviewing some doorbell and home security footage from a cross street from that night,” she mumbled. “That was about a week ago.”

I nodded. I was a little hurt she hadn’t told me when she got the call, but considering the state I was in a week ago, I didn’t blame her. I was glad she was telling me now and thought I was stable enough to know. “Thanks, Mom. Let me know if you hear anything else.”

She smiled and nodded.

We cleaned up the kitchen together, putting everything back in its rightful place. I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of emptiness I felt. Most mornings, I felt like I was being dragged out of my grief. Today, it felt different. Things felt like they were coming together just a little. Other than my time with Jax, this was the happiest I could ever remember being in Rockport.

My day continued pretty normally after that. Mom and I hugged and went out seperate ways. I went to my room to throw together an overnight bag for Maddie’s. It was slightly warmer today, the temperature hovering in the mid forties, and I was thankful. I decided that I would just walk to her house, since the weather seemed to be nice.

Before I left, I decided to check my phone one more time for any news from Jax. I was starting to worry about him a little bit. It was pretty unusual that I hadn’t heard from him yet— and I was instantly relieved to see I had a text from him.

Jax: Had to make a last minute trip for business. Hoping to be home sometime tonight. Please be safe and call me if you need me. My mornings are dull without you.

I smiled and quickly typed a reply. I was definitely sad that I probably wouldn’t see him today, but my relief over hearing from him definitely overshadowed that.

Me: Going to stay over at Maddie’s tonight. Don’t worry, I’ll be safe. See you soon.

Maddie actually lived really close to me, if you walked down my driveway and a few hundred feet to the left, she lived down a similar long, dirt driveway. I could have probably cut through the woods and get there way faster, but the thought of the huge black wolf that tried to eat me several days ago was lingering in my mind.

Maddie lived in a huge, two-story, light blue house with a wrap around front porch. It reminded me of a classic farmhouse from a lot of romance movies I used to watch with my mom— it was charming and screamed suburban family of four. And they were a family of four, her mother, her father, herself, and her older brother— who was currently away at college. It was a pretty house- but very boring and very standard.

Maddie was waving from the porch as I neared the house. She ran down the steps excitedly and yanked me into a hug, her sandy blonde hair slapping me in the face. I gently wiped it out of my face and hugged her back.

“I’m so glad you came!” She trilled. “I hate being here alone.”

I looked over her shoulder at the huge house, and I could imagine how lonely it would feel when it was void of the people she loved. “Of course,” I told her. “I needed to get out of my house anyway.”

“Well, what’re you waiting for? Come inside!”

I took Maddie’s hand and let her lead me into her house.

I didn’t know that this was the last time that I would ever call her house boring.