Page 25 of Clouded by Envy

Brenik needed to figure out how he was going to do this, how often this situation would occur. Gazing down at Jeremy, Brenik scanned his body, knowing they were the same size. Not fully wanting to, he scrambled around the house, filling a trash bag with clothing, money, and other essentials he would need.

Hate consumed him for what he was doing, but he told himself that Jeremy was dead—there was nothing he could do to change that.

Brenik scurried back to his new home. The other cabins close by were empty, so he wasn’t sure how long it would take for Jeremy’s body to be discovered.

Without pause, he dropped the bag in the living room and went to the bedroom to sit down, smacking his hands against his face.

“What iswrongwith me?” Brenik stood up and paced back and forth across the wood flooring of his room, his whole body thumping along with each step. “I hate myself. I love myself. I hate myself. I love myself. It felt good doing it.”

“But you feel pitiful now, don’t you?” he answered himself, needing to talk to someone. The only person he could talk to would be Bray, but he couldn’t tell her what he had done.

Slamming a hand hard against the wall, he left a small dent. So Brenik did it again, but he didn’t feel any better, so he tried several more times as his hair bounced in his face.

“I don’t know what I want. I never know what I want. I have what I wanted.” Minutes passed as Brenik took in slow breaths, repeatedly trying to calm himself down, until he felt good again. Brenik had no other choice—he would get used to this, and then maybe he could figure out a way to do it on the side as he lived a real life.

Walking back into the living room, Brenik picked up the trash bag filled with the things from Jeremy’s place. He dug his hand around and around, until he found exactly what he was looking for.

Biting his lip, Brenik pulled out one black dress shoe, followed by the other one. He slipped both on his feet and stood to full height. Without any shape of a smile, he looked down at his shoed feet. “I knew we were the same size.”

10

Bray

For the past week, while Wes was at work and Luca was at school, Bray kept herself busy by unpacking moving boxes—since the job was not getting done.

She arranged the movies first in alphabetical order, and when Wes saw what she had done, he gave her a smile and said, “You should have ‘consulted’ with Luca first. He’s going to arrange those from his most treasured to his least favorite.”

Bray only puckered her lips at him for that comment. But sure enough, Luca came home and arranged the movies beginning withHook, next cameTheGoonies, and so on. “Goonies Never Say Die,” he had said when he placed that one next toHook,then turned around to put the rest up.

The croquet ball was already beside Bray’s bare foot, ready to be struck by the mallet when Luca came home, backpack slung over one shoulder.

“Why don’t you wear that thing properly over both your shoulders?” Bray asked as Luca shut the gate behind him.

Glancing down at the strap that was missing from his shoulder, Luca brought his head up and smiled. “This is the cool way to wear a backpack.”

She didn’t see what was socoolabout not balancing the weight properly on his back, because she was sure one side of his body would gain more strength versus the other one.Oh well, it was his choice after all.

Luca hurried inside the house to set his backpack down while Bray practiced her swing. They had played the game together over the weekend while Wes finished in the garden—that time Wes did remove his shirt, and Bray had to keep her eyes from shifting in that direction. Then she had thought that maybe he should have left it on.

“Okay, I’m ready, and look who’s joining us today,” Luca called as he stepped outside with Wes.

“You practically forced me,” Wes grunted as he picked up a red-striped wooden mallet from the grass.

“You mean, you practically begged me. ‘Oh, Luca, you’re going to play croquet again?’” Luca said in a deep voice that was strikingly similar to Wes’s monotone sound.

“I’m not even going to qualify that as begging, but be prepared to be taken down, Lu.” Wes pointed the mallet head at Bray’s face. “Bray, I saw your skills over the weekend—you’re going to be taken down, too.”

“We’ll see about that,” she said. They were only going to play one round, because Luca had to get ready for Halloween as Rufio. She had already watchedHookthree times with him, and she found herself quite enjoying it.

With focused precision, Bray eyeballed the space where she wanted to tap her ball to land. She squinted her eyes and lightly hit it. The ball moved a couple of inches. She thought she had it that time.

Huffing sarcastically, Wes set his mallet against the grass and shuffled toward her. “Let me show you how to properly hit the ball.”

She did need a little help—okay, maybe a lot of help. Croquet was not as easy as it looked—only for Luca.

Centering himself behind her, Wes tucked Bray closer to him until his chest was planted to her back. Well, Bray may have leaned back into him. Either way, she shook off the feeling of his warmth, along with whatever good smelling scent he was wearing, and positioned herself forward to hit the ball.

“Ready?” he whispered next to her ear.

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