Everleigh

  Emergency town hall;

  I offered my office. I always did.

  A gesture of good faith,

  a reason to include me,

  a reason to look past me,

  and I didn’t have to move.

  “Some of us can’t kill him,” Lidia said, “and even if we could, he’s too powerful.”

  Surprised,

  not surprised.

  The fox didn’t disappoint.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  The pride, the purpose, the puzzle of it all.

  The other brother was out of his box.

  But where?

  One spoke, “I don’t understand, why now? He was happy being miserable for what, three hundred—”

  Another said, “—actually, I think it was closer to four hundred.”

  A third added, “It really has to be over four hundred now.”

  “Ugh—everybody be quiet.” Lidia always ran the show. “It doesn’t matter why. The point is, Zacharias is awake, and the Partisans woke him up. By the time I heard the noise and got to the church, the damage was done. I wasn’t ready for a reunion with daddy.”

  The room sighed. I stared.

  “We could depress him again,” I said. “Make him want to go back to sleep.”

  “And how exactly are we going to do that, Everleigh?”

  “I’ll collapse him under the weight of my existential dread, Lidia.”

  One spoke, “Yeah, you are pretty depressing.”

  Another said, “Actually, that could work.”

  “Let’s try it—if you can even find him,” Lidia decided. “And honestly, Everleigh? You’ve been so helpful this cycle. I want you to know I notice, and I really appreciate that.”

  “Okay.”

  Rocks for brains,

  I swear.