Chapter 7
"YOU BITCH!"
Daniel didn’t even get the chance to blink before his sister launched herself at him from behind the couch, her arms wrapping around his neck like a vengeful baby octopus.
Elowyn was absolutely infuriated.
"That was unnecessary and you know it!" she shrieked, attempting—somehow—to drag a fully grown man off the couch using only her scrawny limbs.
"What? Don’t be mad just because you're absolute shit at Mario Kart," Daniel replied, laughing as he tried to pry her small body off him.
The living room around them was an absolute disaster.
Three blankets, two empty pizza boxes from lunch, approximately seventeen juice boxes in varying stages of deflation, a bag of Goldfish crackers lying half-open on the coffee table, and one singular sock that no one could figure out when it had come off—probably during a wrestling match between the siblings.
It was Elowyn’s doing.
All of it.
The girl couldn’t game without nesting like a chaotic woodland creature.
And right now, she wanted to slap the stupid victorious grin off Daniel’s face.
She had been in first place the entire race— but of course her brother had hoarded a spiny shell like a sociopath and unleashed it three feet from the finish line.
“You saved that the entire last lap! You gave me hope only to destroy it like some sadistic moron!”
Her brother laughed harder, which only fueled her wrath.
“Honestly, you deserved it,” he said.
Their father walked into the living room quietly laughing at the sight of his daughter literally on top of her brother, attempting to put him in a chokehold.
"She lost again?" he said, still laughing.
This made Daniel laugh even harder.
"What do you mean again!" she said, letting out little grunts of effort as she struggled to get an arm around the man’s neck.
“I'll destroy you all!" she announced as Daniel finally managed to gently shove the girl off the couch and onto the carpet below.
She looked up at him with a scowl that made her look adorable rather than frightening.
Daniel loved it.
He lived for these visits.
He worked too much, but whenever he had a day off, he came straight to see her. And every time without fail, she begged him to game, immediately lost, and then tried to kill him.
“Okay,” she huffed, crawling back onto the couch, “I need five minutes to collect myself. And when I come back, you better be ready because I’m coming for you.”
Daniel gasped dramatically. “Oh no, I’m terrified.”
“That’s right, you better be. I’ve been eating dino nuggets for protein— I’m bulking up.”
She lifted her sleeves and flexed her arms in some sort of bodybuilder pose.
Daniel started laughing, staring at the two noodles she called arms. “Ellie, my ankles have more muscle definition than that.” He pointed at his sister’s scrawny little arms.
Elowyn scoffed. “Oh please. Just admit you’re jealous.”
“So jealous,” her brother said with a light laugh.
She giggled, then suddenly ran—waddled—straight to the restroom. Too many juice boxes.
?
As soon as the door clicked shut, their father sat beside Daniel.
“How’s she been?” Daniel asked softly.
His dad smiled. “Good. Really good, actually. Still volunteering at Miss Loretta’s twice a week.
Goes to the animal shelter whenever she’s feeling up for it.
William comes over often to do her nails—they had a sleepover last week and set up a whole projector just to fall asleep halfway through the movie. ”
Daniel nodded, warmth in his chest. “She sounds… steady.”
“She is,” their dad said. “More herself lately. Brighter. More energy.”
There was a pause.
Then his dad laughed quietly. “God, look at this mess. She’s like a raccoon.”
Daniel snorted. “At least she picks it all up when she’s done.”
And it was true. The girl could have her bedroom looking like a crime scene one day, then have it museum-level tidy the next.
“Good point.”
Another pause, then—
“Oh,” Atticus added casually, “I just signed a contract with Montrieux Atelier. Big renovation job, they want a whole floor redone. Should keep me busy for at least a month.”
Daniel nodded—
And then they both heard it.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Three juice boxes hit the floor.
Elowyn had frozen in the hallway, wide-eyed, pale, absolutely panicked.
“Sorry,” she whispered, ears turning pink.
Daniel frowned.
He knew her.
Something was wrong.
Her dad, oblivious, continued cheerfully,
“Ellie came with me the other day when I had to fix a few lights there. Beautiful place, right? Warm, cozy, really fancy. Ellie liked it.”
Elowyn swallowed hard.
Liked it?
Liked it?
Her brain short-circuited.
Atticus continued,
“And Ms. Monroe—you remember her?—she said you’re welcome anytime, Ellie.”
Her ears went neon red.
Daniel saw it instantly.
?
"Ellie, did something happen at that company?" Daniel questioned.
Of course he was going to bring it up.
Their father had gone to bed about an hour ago, leaving the two of them in the living room.
She curled into herself a little.
“No idea what you’re talking about.”
“Ellie.”
She sighed. “Nothing happened. I promise.”
Not a lie.
Not really.
Just… selectively edited truth.
The man stared at her for a moment longer before saying, “I’m here if you ever need to talk about anything, you know that, right?”
Elowyn gave him a soft smile. “I know.”
If the girl needed to tell him something, it would be at her own time, he reminded himself.
“Good,” he said, ruffling her hair.
Then he picked his controller back up. “Now can you actually try this next round? I’m getting tired of winning.”
A pillow was launched at his face before he even had time to react.
“I’m not even bad, you’re just a cheater,” she whined.
“Knowing the shortcuts isn’t considered cheating.”
“Whatever. You have Mario Kart, but we both know I'm better in PUBG.”
It was true. They could play any game, and Daniel would almost always dominate.
But when it came to that shooter game, he would rarely win when they played on separate teams. It was honestly a bit scary how good she was at sniping.
“One more round, then we’ll play some PUBG. Is your phone charged?” he asked, knowing the girl always forgot to charge it, so it died immediately whenever they played.
She side-eyed him. “I’ll go plug it in while we play Mario Kart for a bit longer.”
She then sprinted—if you could call it that—to her room. When she returned, she had a blanket wrapped around her, and in her hand was a giant bag of Takis… and chopsticks.
Daniel laughed. “You’re unhinged.”
“Are you judging me?” She squinted her hazel eyes at him.
“Who the hell eats chips with chopsticks?” he said through laughter.
“I do! Do you know how annoying it is when your fingers are stained red for the next several days? And besides, I don’t want to get the controller all dirty.”
“True, you got a point. It just looks funny.”
She laughed, just now realizing how ridiculous she probably looked.
When she plopped onto the couch, three more snacks fell out from the blanket folds.
Daniel blinked. “…Did you hide food in your blanket?”
“I hide food everywhere,” she said. “Kitchen cupboards, my desk drawer, under my pillow—”
“Under your pillow?!”
“Well I get hungry at night!”
A pause.
Daniel shook his head. “You’re literally a raccoon.”
“Thank you. Now quit stalling and press play. I’m feeling confident about this round.”
“Race or battle?”
“Let’s do coin runners.”
“All right,” Daniel chuckled.
?
After a few rounds of Mario Kart, the siblings switched to PUBG—where Elowyn immediately turned into a menace.
She sniped three people in thirty seconds without blinking.
Daniel stared in horror.
“Jesus Christ, Ellie.”
She shrugged, quietly proud of herself.
Around 3 a.m., she yawned mid-match and curled into his side, still holding her phone.
Daniel sighed softly and put an arm around her, letting her lean into him.
“You good?” he asked.
“Mmhm,” she mumbled, half asleep.
A moment later—
“Daniel?”
“Yeah?”
“…I think I’m scared of Ms. Monroe.”
Daniel’s heart dropped. “Why? What happened?”
Elowyn’s sleepy voice was barely above a whisper.
“…She’s really pretty.”
He tried so hard not to laugh as relief settled in, knowing nothing bad had happened.
So that’s what had been bothering her.
His little sister found the woman attractive.
Her reaction wasn’t surprising really. About two years ago, when they visited a museum, Elowyn had been crushing on their tour guide.
The man had been relatively attractive and quite smart. Whenever he glanced her way, she refused to make eye contact—though that wasn’t unusual—but when he tried speaking to her about an exhibit she happened to be looking at, she completely froze and immediately started blushing.
Daniel had wanted to tease her about it once he realized, but he stopped when he saw how confused she was.
The girl had not been in love by any means. That man had been just a small, passing crush, the kind you get when you see a stranger in a grocery store who happens to be really attractive.
And yet she had been so perplexed.
She probably didn’t even realize she had a small crush on Ms. Monroe, Daniel thought.
And the fact that it was a woman? That probably only confused her more since every tiny, bewildering crush she’d ever had were all men.
He knew that Elowyn always had a hard time naming emotions, and this always strangely saddened him in a way.
Daniel had witnessed too many times where his sister started crying out of sheer frustration, not knowing how to explain what she was feeling when asked. Whether she was stressed, a bit sad, or angry, she could never verbalize what she was going through, which often led to a meltdown.
He glanced down at her—this tiny, exhausted, blanket-wrapped troublemaker—her cheek squished against his shoulder, breathing slow and even.
Daniel let out a quiet breath.
She didn’t even know what she was feeling yet.
She never did—not at first.
Her emotions always arrived in shapes she didn’t recognize until someone gently helped her name them.
So for now, he just pulled the blanket higher around her and pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head.
“Get some sleep, Ellie,” he murmured.
She hummed at that, eyes barely open.
“Not tired,” she mumbled.
Her phone slid out of her hand mid-sentence.
Daniel caught it before it hit the floor, shaking his head.
He turned off the game, the phone’s glow fading to soft dark, then eased her down so she lay across the couch with her head on a pillow instead of his arm.
The living room was still a disaster—blankets, pillows, crumbs, controllers, juice boxes everywhere—but the chaos felt warm. Lived-in.
Daniel sat there a little longer, watching the rise and fall of her shoulders, realizing with a sudden and overwhelming clarity just how far she’d come these last few years.
How much brighter she was now. How she laughed more.
How she let herself be silly, loud, dramatic, and absolutely ridiculous at times.
And how this Ms. Monroe woman—whoever she really was—had somehow grabbed his little sister’s attention.
She’s really pretty. He replayed Elowyn’s words.
“Pretty, huh?” he whispered to himself, looking at the sleeping girl.
Ellie would figure it out.
In her own time.
In her own way.
He stood, stretched, and finally began picking up the empty juice boxes scattered across the carpet.
Behind him, the girl mumbled something incoherent and curled deeper into her blanket, a habit she’d had since childhood. She’d always burrow herself into her blankets like a little bunny, leaving a tiny opening near her face—just enough to breathe.
Daniel looked back at her with a fondness that hurt a little.
“Night, gremlin.”
He switched off the last lamp.
The room fell into a gentle, quiet dark.