My Volatile Stepbrother

Scream and Shout

We both stared at Chetum as he marched into the house.

"Chetum, calm down."

"No, I won't calm down. I'm tired of you talking sh*t about me!"

Once again, Brad rose from his chair. The same pressure from the chair legs marked the floor a second time. Chetum didn't back down and they stood chest to chest. Audrey finally hung up and returned to the kitchen.

"Oh, will you two settle down? I'm out here trying to talk on the phone and there's shouting. My daughter asked me if I was visiting Parris Island during boot camp."

Both men turned to Audrey and stepped back from one another. Chetum wasn't finished with being angry though. He went to a box, rifled through it, and pulled out some clothes. He rushed past Cassie, entered the bathroom, and exited in shorts and a T-shirt.

When he left through the garage, he let the screen door slam against the door frame. Cassie jumped from the sound. It was time to talk to her mother alone. Without needing to say a word, Cassie went up to her bedroom. She heard her mother say, "Family meeting. Be right back."

Once the two were in her room alone, Cassie closed and locked the door. Audrey faced her daughter and exhaled in exasperation. She clenched her fists and mimed screaming at the sky.

"Right?" Cassie asked. "What is it you're thinking?"

"They're driving me up the wall!" Audrey took a pillow and screamed into it. "Do it." She pointed to it and handed it to her daughter. Cassie cracked a smile and then screamed into it. The muffled sound of her voice made her laugh. The two passed the pillow back and forth several times.

When they had tired themselves out, they sat on the bed and giggled quietly.

"Mom, do you think this is a good idea?"

"It's part of the plan. Trust me."

"What does that mean?"

"It means we just need to hang in there as long as we can."

"That sounds shady to me."

"It isn't. I'm just concerned about our future. Your father's life insurance was hefty, but Brad's—"

"Mom! You're already thinking about Brad ... dying?" Cassie could barely voice the last word.

"No, sweetheart. I guess it did just sound pretty bad," Audrey confessed. "I'm just saying that marrying purely for love is no longer on the menu for me. It's a legal arrangement to build a future and there's nothing wrong with that."

"I guess," Cassie remarked.

"Besides that, Brad and I get along and we have fun. I truly believe in my heart of hearts the four of us can blend as a family. It's just strange right now, but we'll be okay."

"But Mom," Cassie began. "What is going on between him and Chetum? He disciplines so strongly that Chetum cowers. Then he ignores him when Chetum is trying to get us killed in the SUV. I feel like I'm going to be walking on eggshells and I can't do that again."

"I'm still trying to figure that out. Let's try to get to the bottom of it together. Maybe you can talk to Chetum—"

"No way," Cassie said, cutting her mom off. Audrey tilted her head nearly to her shoulder and sighed.

"He has ... problems. Can you see that?"

"Sure, but that doesn't justify him being mean and cruel to me. He's acting like a child."

"Well, boys do mature later than girls."

"Geez, Mom," Cassie sighed.

"I'm sorry to boil it down to such a platitude. You're right. He behaves more like a sixteen-year-old than twenty-one."

"Could it be that he's having a hard time with the divorce?" Cassie whispered. Audrey nodded.

"That's a strong possibility."

The two exhaled again in frustration but also relief. They still had one another to lean on and that wouldn't change.

"What happened with Caroline?"

"Oh, sh*t," Audrey began. "She's all fired up because the group home she's staying at doesn't have enough coffee or enough cigarettes."

"So, it was to ask for money?"

"Basically," Audrey answered. "Have you thought at all about visiting her when she gets her own place?"

"I don't know. She's been about to get her own place for years and then she backslides."

Audrey couldn't argue with that.

Cassie glanced toward her window. The sun was getting lower in the sky.

"Let's decorate for Halloween soon," suggested Audrey. Cassie nodded excitedly. "Look out the window and tell me where you see the ghosts hanging this year."

The two peered down to the steep driveway just as Chetum was slowly walking up. His face was flushed, and he was sweating. The droplets were making his ash-blond hair appear black. After wiping his forehead off with his hand, he caught them peeking. A mischievous half-smile crossed his lips.

Cassie angrily backed up.

"Now he thinks we were trying to see him. Great."

"Oh, let him imagine whatever story he wants to. There's no harm."

"Yes, there is. He's so ... conceited and foul. Ugh." Cassie shuddered. Audrey laughed.

"Let's go look at my wedding dress."

"Wedding dress?"

"Yes, I need your opinion."

Cassie sighed and walked across the hall to Audrey's room. Hanging in the closet was a dress covered in several protective layers. Audrey reached in and unzipped one of them. She squealed like a young girl when she saw it.

"Isn't it great?"

"Yeah, the little square I can see looks fabulous."

"Oh you. You're so hard to please. Here, help me take it out."

Together they pulled the garment bag out and laid it on the bed. Once it was draped and fully supported, Audrey slowly unzipped it.

Cassie hadn't thought much about getting her own wedding or a dress, but this one was beautiful. It was strapless and there were thick white flowers stitched into the bust. The bottom wasn't as constricting since there was a train.

"Put it on, Mom!"

"Put what on?" a deep voice asked. Brad had sneaked up the stairs. Quickly, Audrey put the dress back into the garment bag, hastily zipping it up.

"Brad, you shouldn't surprise me like that! You almost saw the wedding dress."

"I'm sorry, honey. I was getting lonely downstairs."

"You were lonely? Aww poor baby." Audrey walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck as he picked her up.

"Ew," Cassie said, only partially in jest. She walked past them and down the stairs. She wanted to continue their train of thought about the decorations. The year before, they had hung the ghosts in a way that the string appeared invisible, so anyone walking by would think they were suspended in the air by their own magic.

Cassie glanced at her watch. It was almost 4 pm. Where had the time gone? The yard needed raking. Was there a way to make it fun?

She walked out the front door and down the cement steps where the pizza delivery person had stood the night before. That reminded her ... the previous night someone had been creeping into their landscaping. Maybe they left footprints in the mulch.

She crouched and began looking at the ground underneath the first hedge closest to the driveway. The ground had what could be footprints but when she scanned the other hedge, the same marks were there. It was probably from their leaky gutter that the indentations came from.

On guard in case Chetum tried to scare her, she quickly rose and turned around. The lawn was lush with green but sprinkled with crimson-red, apricot-orange, and golden-yellow leaves. She playfully kicked some of the leaves. Several were stuck to her jeans from yesterday's rain.

A scarecrow! That's the way to make raking fun. Cassie ran into the garage. The boxes were aligned on the metal shelving screwed into the walls.

The box marked, "Halloween stuff" had all their props and fun holiday decor. She picked it up and set it on the epoxy-speckled floor. Cassie didn't have to worry about getting dirt or dust on her clothes. Audrey made a habit of cleaning and washing the garage every week.

When she pulled out the jeans and flannel shirt they had tucked in there, a strong scent that reminded her of her dad infiltrated her olfactory bulb. The association was so powerful that when she closed her eyes and breathed in, she felt like he was beside her.

"What weird thing are you doing this time?" Chetum asked.