Kindred by Adrianne Lemke Page A

while since he’s been around other kids his own age.”
    As I spoke I could hear Sam talking excitedly from the living room, and I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face at his happy tone. There had been too little of that around here, and it was nice to hear. Alice and I joined the brothers who were sitting next to each other on the couch, Sam bouncing around in elation at the idea of going to school the next day.
    Jason seemed uneasy with his brother’s happiness, but was trying to hide his discomfort. I couldn’t figure out why Jason would be upset about his brother being happy. Logically, he should be pleased his brother was able to get past what had happened enough to be happy about going to school. But of course, logic had little to do with emotional states.
    He ignored my questioning glance and kept listening to Sam go on about how much he was looking forward to school, and I hoped it would be everything he was anticipating. Sam was open and friendly, not afraid to express his opinion. But he didn’t have the same kind of background as the other children, and I knew kids could be cruel. Still, it was hard not to get caught up in his optimism.
    “Hannah! I’m going to school tomorrow! It’s gonna be awesome! The others aren’t as sure, but I know it will be. And I’ll see them at recess, except Paul. He’s at a different school, but he’ll be coming to pick me up after we’re done every day, so I’ll see him a lot too!” Sam exclaimed.
    “Breathe, buddy,” I said with a laugh. His entire dialogue had been without a breath. “It’s almost time for you to get to bed.”
    “Aw, man. Do I have to?” he whined.
    “Hannah’s right, bud; the sooner you go to sleep, the sooner you get to go to school,” Jason agreed.
    Sam crinkled his eyes, unsure. “Really?”
    Jason shrugged. “No way to know for sure without testing it, right? Let that be your first lesson, young one,” he joked. “Go on, kiddo, I’ll tuck you in when you’re ready.”
    “Okay.” Sam ran to his room to get ready for bed, leaving me with Jason in the living room. Alice was in her room, probably getting into her sweats in preparation for relaxing in front of the TV.
    Jason sighed and leaned into the couch cushions in a gesture of exhaustion. “You all right, Jason?” I asked.
    “Fine,” he said wearily. “Just tired.”
    He’d slept all afternoon, and was still dead tired. It said a lot for the quality of sleep he’d been getting. It must take a lot out of him to have Kindred take over his mind. “You should try to get more sleep. There will be other times to just relax in front of the TV.”
    “Soon,” he agreed absently. “I need to say goodnight to Sam before he goes to bed.”
    Alice came back in, dressed in black sweatpants and a t-shirt. “Where’s Sam?” she asked as she looked around the room. “I thought he’d be breaking a hole in the floor with all his bouncing around,” she said with a laugh.
    “He’s getting ready for bed. Jason convinced him to test the theory that the sooner he went to bed, the sooner he’d be at school,” I said. “He still seemed a bit skeptical though.”
    Jason stayed silent, leaning into the couch as if he were trying to disappear inside it. I could tell Alice wanted to say something, but she held back. He wouldn’t welcome any questions about his well-being right now, and Alice evidently sensed that. We continued talking about random stuff until Sam rejoined us. Jason forced himself to relax when his brother came back out, plainly trying to hide the agitation that had been present since he’d woken from his nightmare earlier.
    “Ready for bed, Sammy?” he asked, standing to follow Sam into his room.
    “Yeah, I guess. Will you be up in the morning before I leave?”
    Jason shrugged as he closed Sam’s bedroom door behind him, meeting my eyes briefly before the door closed all the way.
    “What’s going on? Jason’s acting like something else