Stepped
Mason knew he was not equipped to have a step-sister the day a stiletto sent him flying down the stairs. Truth be told, Jessica left a trail of girl wherever she went. Shoes, stockings, hair-ties, lip balm...feminine items appeared mysteriously in her wake as if she were intentionally leaving a trail to find her way home.
The absent-minded professor,
his new step-mother said.
She'd lose her head if it wasn't attached.
Mason stared grimly at the treacherous shoe. The only thing in danger of being lost was his temper.
The front door creaked open. Jessica appeared at the foot of the stairs, snow crystals melting in her blonde hair.
"Hi!" she chirped. She proceeded to strip off her winter clothes. A hat here. A mitten there. A pink scarf cast across the room. Was there no end to her layers?
"I'd appreciate you cleaning up after yourself," Mason growled. Jessica had spent all of winter break snowboarding with friends. And each day, Mason vacuumed up the mad mess she left behind. Well, he stuffed it into the closet. But still.
Jessica looked down at the snowpants pooled around her feet. She wore nothing now but spanks and a crop top.
"Sorry, friend!"
She blew Mason a kiss and slipped lithely past. He followed her bottom's progress up the stairs with a mirthless lust. Jessica had the softly fit form of an off-season gymnast. How could something so infuriating be so appealing?
He pursed his lips and kicked her forgotten heel out of sight.
*
Mason stayed up late that night chatting with a friend. Tyler had managed to swing a date in the third week of his first semester. Mason listened to him describe the exact texture of his girlfriend's tongue for three minutes before interrupting. For Mason, college was not the sex-fueled bender he'd been promised by TV. And it could not, it seemed, be enjoyed vicariously.
He stared up at his darkened ceiling. The only girl who'd speak to him was the one next door. Typical.
Wind whistled past Mason's window. He wondered what made wind "whistle" in the first place. Perhaps this was what sparked belief in the supernatural. Didn't horror stories all take place on dark and stormy nights? He thought he'd read somewhere that when people lived in closer quarters, children invented ghosts to explain their parents' quiet moans. Wind
did
sometimes sound like moaning.