The kitchen is muggy with steam. The air outside is restless, and the thunder is steadier, more insi

The kitchen is muggy with steam. The air outside is restless, and the thunder is steadier, more insistent. She wishes that she could get up and go outside, sit on the porch swing to watch the storm roll in. But she would have to ask someone, and they’d look at her and worry and pity her.

In truth, if she could get up, she’d walk out of this house and keep walking. Nothing would stop her. She’d keep going and going until she got to her brother in Maryland. She’d take his hand and walk both of them into the sea, far away from here. The thought feels like a betrayal, leaving home, leaving her mother, and her grandfather, leaving Jonas, wherever he is, but more than that, she’d like to take her brother away because this seems like the only way to protect him from the inevitable hurt of their grandfather dying without forgiving, kissing and making good.

RUMPUS ORIGINAL FICTION: Grace by Brandon Taylor. Art by Trisha Previte